Before I start, I just want to clarify that, yes, Tiger Woods will be mentioned in this post. And why not? This has definetly become one of the biggest non-serious story of the month, the fall season, and possibly the year. I'm starting to love every minute of it. As Bill Simmons put it in his ESPN.com article on Friday:
"With five weeks remaining in the aughts, pre-teens, double zeroes or
whatever we end up calling the 2000s, the title for "Biggest Sports
Story of the Decade" was up for grabs. Michael Vick? Tim Donaghy? The
Mitchell report? The Artest melee? Barry Bonds? Pat Tillman? Eagle,
Colo.? Roger Clemens? Andre Agassi's admission that he won Wimbledon
with a weave? You could have made a case for any of them.
whatever we end up calling the 2000s, the title for "Biggest Sports
Story of the Decade" was up for grabs. Michael Vick? Tim Donaghy? The
Mitchell report? The Artest melee? Barry Bonds? Pat Tillman? Eagle,
Colo.? Roger Clemens? Andre Agassi's admission that he won Wimbledon
with a weave? You could have made a case for any of them.
And then ... Tiger happened.
Game over.
I'm
calling it the "Tiger Zoo" instead of "TigerGate," only because we have
to break the habit of slapping "gate" at the end of everything. But the
Tiger Zoo nailed every gotta-have-it component for a big-time story
with legs. First, it involved one of the most famous living athletes.
Second, it started definitively with a specific incident -- and not
just any incident, but something that made us say, "Wait, this seems
fishy, I wonder what really happened here ...," and quickly became more
complex than we imagined. Third, it built steam over the next week,
crossed into the mainstream and dominated conversations, e-mails and
tweets. Fourth, it transformed our collective perception of a famous
person and made us re-evaluate every opinion we had about him. Fifth,
it grew so enormous so quickly that everyone with a forum (radio show,
column, blog, whatever) felt obligated to come up with an angle on it.
calling it the "Tiger Zoo" instead of "TigerGate," only because we have
to break the habit of slapping "gate" at the end of everything. But the
Tiger Zoo nailed every gotta-have-it component for a big-time story
with legs. First, it involved one of the most famous living athletes.
Second, it started definitively with a specific incident -- and not
just any incident, but something that made us say, "Wait, this seems
fishy, I wonder what really happened here ...," and quickly became more
complex than we imagined. Third, it built steam over the next week,
crossed into the mainstream and dominated conversations, e-mails and
tweets. Fourth, it transformed our collective perception of a famous
person and made us re-evaluate every opinion we had about him. Fifth,
it grew so enormous so quickly that everyone with a forum (radio show,
column, blog, whatever) felt obligated to come up with an angle on it.
Sixth,
it doesn't show any signs of slowing down; if anything, it's gaining
steam like a hurricane plowing toward Florida. Seventh, it involves
three of the gotta-have-it basics in any gigantic story: sex,
(possible) violence and a (possible) cover-up. Eighth, there's an
unanswerable question looming over everything: Even if Tiger did cheat
on his wife, should it matter to anyone other than them? (My answer: It
shouldn't. But that's the rub of being a public figure. If you don't
want to be a public figure, don't do commercials, don't cover yourself
in Nike logos and don't sell a video game with your name on it.) And
ninth, it's a conspiracy-friendly saga that lends itself to all kinds
of inventive angles, an absolute must for any story to maintain
dominance."
it doesn't show any signs of slowing down; if anything, it's gaining
steam like a hurricane plowing toward Florida. Seventh, it involves
three of the gotta-have-it basics in any gigantic story: sex,
(possible) violence and a (possible) cover-up. Eighth, there's an
unanswerable question looming over everything: Even if Tiger did cheat
on his wife, should it matter to anyone other than them? (My answer: It
shouldn't. But that's the rub of being a public figure. If you don't
want to be a public figure, don't do commercials, don't cover yourself
in Nike logos and don't sell a video game with your name on it.) And
ninth, it's a conspiracy-friendly saga that lends itself to all kinds
of inventive angles, an absolute must for any story to maintain
dominance."
Now, I wouldn't go as far as calling it the best sports story of the cecade. But it is fun to read about. In my opinion, it's the whole conspiracy theory that has made this whole thing great. Also, everyone can talk about the story, whether they don't know anything about golf or not. Finally, it's the best non-golf related story since John Daly admitted to a gambling problem. Now, I understand that there are those of you who are starting to hate everyone talking about it. Also, it doens't really appear that this story will end in a while. Who knows, maybe there will be another great story invloving Woods to appear in the next seven days.
But, unlike last week, this story will not dominate my column. After all, there were some other interesting things to come out of the past seven days. Here, as you already know, are some of the best:
Quote of the Week: From a statement by Tiger Woods:
"I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has
caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children. I want to
say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask
forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but
I want to do my best to try.
After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break
from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better
husband, father, and person.
"
Picture of the Week: Lady Gaga Meets Queen Elizabeth
Everytime I look at this picutre, I think of tow things. The first is how the Queen thought when she saw this picture. The second is the time it took for Lady GaGa to pick this outfit. I imagine both were hilarious.
Video of the Week: "Shy Ronnie"
Very different aproach for an "SNL Digital Short" by Andy Samberg. Usually when he does a song, it invloves mostly im singing about something crude. Still, this was pretty good. Not "Dick in the Box" or even "On the Ground" good, but it's still good in it's own way. Also, Rihanna and Shy Ronnie are a deadly duet when together.
Non-story of the Week: Tiger Woods's Mother-in-Law Taken to Hospital
Now, it wasn't the news of it that I found to be unimportant. What I really hated was how media outlets (mainly ESPN) treated this like it was another problem for Tiger Woods's life and treating it like it was a top story. I mean, in the beginning when it was identified as a "blonde" woman from Tiger Woods's house, even I thought of the worst. But it ended up being his wife's mom, who just had stomach pains. The major media outlets didn't have to play the entire 911 call and call it "another problem in Woods's life). That's TMZ's job.
Story of the Week: University of Tennessee's "Hostess" Program Gets Under Investigation
Gosh darnit! First Tiger Woods, now this! You athletes are some lucky a-holes, that all I could say.
Person of the Week: Tiger Woods's sponsors, Gillete, Gatorade, and Accenture
Boy, I hated to be them when this whole Tiger Woods "Zoo" unfolded. Not counting their family, they were the ones who had to watch this whole thing unfold with more grief than anyone, and after take hours of their time to decide what they are exactly going to do. I also couldn't imagine the shock that surfaced through when they heard that Tiger, yes Tiger (!) was the one who's image was being destoryed. But, they had to go through it and in the end they each made the tough decision to limit Tiger's exposure.
Gatorade did it by eliminating their "Gatorade Tiger" energy drink (the flavors sucked, so it really doesn't matter to me if they did it). Gillete did it by not showing commercials of him during his leave of golf. Finally, Accenture did it by eliminating his picutre on their website. Grant it, they didn't officially drop Tiger, but it still a pretty tough and balsy move from them. And we salute them for that.
And with that, I would like to thank you for reading another one of my posts. The next "End of the Week," as expected, will be on Saturday. It will be quite interesting to see what stories (and more impotantlt, Tiger Woods related stories) will occur. It might also be the last "End of the Week" of 2009, but I'll get more to that next week. So, enjoy your weekend and may your final pre pre-Christmas week days be great.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you want to suggest anything to mj15 on his next blog entry, e-mail him at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mail might be addressed on a future post.
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