Tiger Woods car/life crash

we believed in his transformative ability & his potential to change ilx forever

Interesting. In all the back-and-forth here, it's probably worth pointing out that the media in swarm mode is *completely* childish - when they're howling THINK OF THE CHILDREN to get a reaction from a public figure, it's pure self-interest. BTW, famous sportspeople who sign endorsement contracts usually have to agree to a morals clause that is more onerous than a normal person's employment contract where you can lose your job by bringing the firm into disrepute or whatever. When you're adjudged to have sullied a brand, it's the reaction of your paymasters that matters most - the demand for public apology and the idea that one is seen to repent comes from even more powerful people than Woods, not the wife and kids. Sure, the family is hurt, too, but it's the third or fourth most important thing, in business terms. Public contrition is mostly theatre where normative things are said to placate the public, at the insistence of paymasters.

There has just been something similar in Britain with the captain of the England football team having to resign because he was fucking everything that moved while showing up to collect Dad of the Year prizes; the man in question is also a prize asshole and bully who lashes out at 'little people' all the time and goes running to his lawyer to protect him from the consequences. For example, normally a person who smashes a bottle over someone else in a nightclub, in front of witnesses, is convicted of a serious assault that carries jail time. Sometimes there's a whole pattern of behaviour that is heavily policed by the figure's gatekeepers.

The general public may never know the extent of a public figure's transgressions but reporters on a beat usually do - and figures who are Not A Role Model Behind The Scenes are a special subject of ire when they come with an injunction-spitting legal team. When an unflattering story gathers the critical mass that makes it lawyer-proof for journalists, BOOM. Everything the gatekeepers were trying to keep quiet comes out ten times as noisily.

Tiger Woods has no idea who any of us are. True.

BTW, famous sportspeople who sign endorsement contracts usually have to agree to a morals clause that is more onerous than a normal person's employment contract where you can lose your job by bringing the firm into disrepute or whatever. When you're adjudged to have sullied a brand, it's the reaction of your paymasters that matters most - the demand for public apology and the idea that one is seen to repent comes from even more powerful people than Woods, not the wife and kids. Sure, the family is hurt, too, but it's the third or fourth most important thing, in business terms. Public contrition is mostly theatre where normative things are said to placate the public, at the insistence of paymasters.

that's right. but "he needs to make a public apology to mitigate his breach of a contractual morals clause" and "he owes the public an apology" are different notions.

the interesting part was how boring and monotonous his words and delivery were. was it really him or just a tigerbot?

Bill Simmons:

Say this much about Tiger: People give a crap. I don't know anyone who didn't watch this morning's speech. There isn't another athlete -- not one -- who could have made the world stop from 11 to 11:15 like Tiger Woods did.

And with that, we're done with the positives.

lol

jordan u are fuckin insane

Someone may have already raised this point, not sure: just like with steroids in baseball, the sportswriters who are passing judgement on the "sincerity" of Tiger's mea culpa like they're Romanian figure skating judges or something are being laughably disingenuous. I don't believe for a second that any sportswriter who has covered Tiger closely for years didn't have at least a sense of what was going on. No one pursued the story because a) they decided it wasn't a story, and b) (the parallel with baseball) records were being broken, and records are good copy, so who wants to put that at risk? So a tabloid puts it all out there, and now they're all running around trying to cover their tracks.

Just stumbled over this: excellent.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_posnanski/02/20/tiger.apology/index.html?eref=sihp

Simmons was on fire in that piece, I mean he totally nailed it. And of course Tiger's apology was done to please his sponsors and the PGA (i.e. the places where he earns his money). Plus, guys who are all-time greats in their sport usually reach a point in their careers where they're worried about protecting/promoting their legacy. Tiger desperately wants to beat Nicklaus' record and be known as the best golfer ever, he doesn't to leave behind any loopholes so that people have an opening to claim that Nicklaus or whoever was better than him. Lots of great athletes have had their careers retroactively downgraded because they didn't get along with the press/other players/etc. and I think that might scare Tiger more than the prospect of losing future income.

i think woods' biggest worry in that regard is having to take off months to address this issue (e.g., SEX THERAPY -- what happens in SEX THERAPY, anyway?), depriving him of the chance to win many tounaments in his prime.

"the man made hundreds of million dollars off endorsements that he secured -- and "we" paid for -- because he presented himself as a moral stalwart, a consummate role model who was an anecdote to the allen iversons & alex rodriguezes of sports'

He made his billion because of his performance on the golf course, period. Michael Jordon and Babe Ruth were sort of scum bags too. I don't think it's that big of a deal. They didn't kill anybody. It's seems like it would be hard being a saint and an alpha male sports superstar.

I totally agree with your basic premise, but I'm not sure why you'd call MJ or Ruth scumbags. Jordan gambled, Ruth womanized and ate a lot of hot dogs. By all accounts, Ruth was immensely popular with the other players. How about "less than perfect"? It's a long way from there to scumbag.

Maybe "scum bag" sounds harsh, but they both cheated on their wives. I know people have different views on this.

just a little fuckin' around, let's be cool

it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission

tbh jordan is on to something but i'm hung up on the concept of "apology"--yes technically it is correct that target did not "hurt" the public and does not need to "apologize" to them, HOWEVER, his entire public presentation was of a clean-livin' dude who could endorse literally any product and whatever and ultimately what "the public" dislikes is the shameless hypocrisy of his actions.

so if tiger chose to tell us all, along with the media, to fuck off so he could be some supervillainous golfer who didn't care about anything then fine, that's a choice he could make. however, he is clearly trying to rehabilitate his image and just going about it totally wrong and i think as "the public" it's fair to say "fine dude if you want to rehabilitate your image we'll help you, but don't get up there and blatantly condescend and front like the real crime here is that your privacy got invaded, show some humanity and answer a gd question or two"

don't get up there and blatantly condescend and front like the real crime here is that your privacy got invaded

he didnt do this tho! the privacy thing was about 30 seconds of a 15-minute speech

he said, like, over and over that he was to blame, and he was the only to blame, and that he was deeply sorry

but ultimately, none of it matters. he'll be back on tour this year and everyone will have forgotten about this by the time he wins two majors.

i mean i dont really give a shit about him apologizing the way jordan does so maybe im being more lenient but i thought it was a fine, sincere apology

yeah i know max i still think "leave my family alone" was megalol in that speech

i thought it was a silly, transparently insincere apology but i otherwise agree with max.

eh. i think its pretty fucked up that ppl are following his kids to school.

but ultimately, none of it matters.

this - I still shake my head that kobe is lauded and given hi fives all around despite being accused of rape. and aren't there nfl players playing right now who have been accused of murder? ray lewis, I think?

i actually dont know what woods could have done to convince any of you that his apology was insincere? i mean this is a ridiculous debate to be having since a) none of us really have the right to demand an apology from him so our observation of his sincerity is beside the issue and b) none of us know the guy personally so judgments of his sincerity are gonna be totally abstract

i agree but, tbf, big difference is "accused/beat the charge" v. "convicted/admitted" (xp)

oh, i don't care if his apology was sincere or insincere. he didn't owe me an apology. just saying it sounded insincere to me (and maybe that's because of something innocuous, e.g., my feelings about the matter coloring how i viewed the apology; his generally stiff demeanor; etc.)

i actually dont know what woods could have done to convince any of you that his apology was insincere?

ended his speech by lasciviously winking @ a sexxxy pr chick and asking how she was doin'

p sure tiger woods owes me an apology for never once hitting on me i mean cmon

anyway i think its p sickening the way jordan and sportswriters and whoever else are all demanding their pound of flesh from the guy but i dont really expect any different from this country, everyone just wants to be offended and watch ppl cry

whores, all of you

anyway i think its p sickening the way jordan and sportswriters and whoever else are all demanding their pound of flesh from the guy but i dont really expect any different from this country

i'm not sure what this means

oh i misread you, nevermind

i guess my thing is that i don't understand how getting in front of a camera and saying "i'm sorry, i fucked up" is a pound of flesh, but w/e

a pound of adulterous semen

i guess my thing is that i don't understand how getting in front of a camera and saying "i'm sorry, i fucked up" is a pound of flesh, but w/e

― /b/ OK (J0rdan S.), Sunday, February 21, 2010 1:30 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the pound flesh bit is that a) he doesnt owe this to you, and b) he did it anyway and c) youre still complaining!

well, i want to emphasize that i don't personally care about the sincerity of his apology -- it didn't come off as sincere to me, but that's really besides the point of if he should've done it or not in the first place -- speculation upthread on whether or not it was "good" was solely from the standpoint of "how will this play with the public"

basically the pursuit of worldwide fame and the attainment of it turns people into insane robots who are seemingly incapable of having emotions or actions that aren't overly studied.

i think woods' biggest worry in that regard is having to take off months to address this issue (e.g., SEX THERAPY -- what happens in SEX THERAPY, anyway?)

Hope it's not anything like this album:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DU2WkCLq3SY/SzEaCaEdw9I/AAAAAAAAAXs/ZJeleLph_hw/s400/Robin-Thicke-Sex-Therapy-Official-Album-Cover.jpg

sex therapy: officially a bad album. you heard it from stephen ilxor

I wasn't referring to the album (haven't heard it and I'd like to keep it that way, thanks) so much as the disembodied hands creeping all over Robin's body -- a pun on the phrase "sex therapy" that I'm sure you can figure out, kevin.

Hence why I hope sex therapy for Tiger isn't anything like what's on the Robin Thicke album *cover* (key word "cover" missing in my original post, fwiw).

I don't get the pun :/

Sex therapy = using sex as therapy...

why so unhappy, robin thicke?!?

they don't look like menacing zombie hands, or anything.

That wasn't my point...

xp was thinking the exact same thing and trying to come up with a horror pun. sex the rapy? ???

oh i wasn't addressing ilxor's pun at all. i just think robin thicke should be happier!

What gives you the impression he's not happy? Dude gets to tour the world with Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson, making millions belting his white boy R&B tunes to his fans, and gets to bang his high school sweetheart/wife on the side.

i know nothing of him (never heard of robin thicke). but if he gets to hang-out with beyonce and jennifer hudson, he should be a happy guy. smile, robin thicke!

he also put a ring on this:

http://images.askmen.com/galleries/celeb-profiles-actress/paula-patton/pictures/paula-patton-picture-1.jpg