"The unwanted Golf Channel sideshow also shortchanged Buick, which paid $7 million to puts its name on the tournament."

Steve Elling prepares us for Kelly Tilghman's return on today's Buick telecast, and includes a couple of excellent points:

As Tilghman returns from a two-week, in-house suspension, the Golf Channel discussed making her available to media this week to address her misstep. But network officials instead declared her off-limits, a spokesman said, leaving Woods to deal with the fallout alone.

I did think she would have wisely just walked in the press room and started picking up some homework, allowing for a quiet return alongside her media peers. Instead she was probably locked up in some hotel room eating room service and practicing her apology speech.

The unwanted Golf Channel sideshow also shortchanged Buick, which paid $7 million to puts its name on the tournament. At the Golf Channel, poor judgment has been compounded by poor leadership.

And he's not done... 

Woods, meanwhile, is getting hammered for not being Martin Luther King in spiked shoes. Last week, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts wrote, "One has to wonder what it would take to get a rise out of this guy: burning crosses on his front lawn?"

Rob Parker of the Detroit News, appearing on ESPN, insisted that Woods "has a responsibility to respond to this."

Parker added: "Tiger Woods would rather be a pitchman than a man."

Woods, who has never been particularly political about anything, said he does plenty on the cultural front with his foundation, to which he has donated millions. Monday, which coincidentally marked the MLK holiday, he announced a new program to inspire kids to reach for their dreams.

Randell Mell also publishes a nice rant about some of the silly things asked of Tiger. 

Comments

[Brad]

Who are these bozos' to be righteous enough to tell Woods how he thinks and feels?

[Tighthead]

I am not a huge Tiger fan by any means, but no matter what he says or does in this situation, he will catch heat. Some will say it is not enough, others will say he is fuelling the Sharpton types. I think he has handled it in a reasonable manner.

[mediaguru @ hookedongolfblog.com]

I'm REALLY sick of this story and I wish it would die. The PC thing is getting way out of hand.

[Chuck]

Leonard Pitts' specialty is liberal-Democrat grievance politics. So his column was thoroughly predictable.

Rob Parker is mostly a regular beat sportswriter for the Detroit News. The News' regular golf writer is the very fine and very experienced Vartan Kupelian. I care less than nothing about anything that Rob Parker says about golf.

[Hawkeye]

After the "Cablinasian" incident 11 years ago, Tiger has stayed away from the race issue. He won't touch it now, and he won't in the future, either.

[Jason]

Here's an idea- by simply playing, and excelling in a game that has been historically white, and has certainly had racial issues in the past, Tiger's doing more than enough to advance the cause of minorities in this country.

Also, Rob Parker is about the stupidest person writing in the Detroit papers today, only surpassed by Drew Sharp.

Go easy on the liberal-Democrat stuff, Chuck. Not all liberal Democrats are this way.

[jneu]

Can we have a moratorium on the use/abuse of the term PC? Avoiding words that are offensive isn't "politically correct," it's simple manners and common sense. If you want to defend using those words, do so instead of hiding behind a weaselly acronym.

Also, if you want to attack or dispute Rob Parker's ideas, great -- liberal Democrat craven PC tree-hugger that I am, I disagree with almost everything he writes or says - but calling him an idiot doesn't do much to further the discussion.

I agree with Jason's first paragraph. I know a woman whose father had always been somewhat racist. About eight years ago, he informed her that if she wanted to marry Tiger Woods, that would be fine with him. Not a small victory for the good guys.

[Phil the Author]

Jneu,

You said, " agree with Jason's first paragraph. I know a woman whose father had always been somewhat racist. About eight years ago, he informed her that if she wanted to marry Tiger Woods, that would be fine with him. Not a small victory for the good guys."

So tell us, did she?

[Jason]

Problem is, jneu- Parker has nothing to add to any discussion about anything.

Parker's theoretical point presumes that black people in America are this monolithic unit, and all have common interests and that there is only one solution to the problem of race in America, and that's just SO wrong on every level.

[Four-putt]

"The unwanted Golf Channel sideshow also shortchanged Buick, which paid $7 million to puts its name on the tournament."

I think not. I think it called an extra level of attention to Buick's event -- the return of Tiger and Kelly Tilghman on the same day.

I'll bet that when the numbers come out, the ratings for Thursday's first half hour will set an all-time Golf Infomercial Channel record.

4p

[jneu]

Phil the Author, surely you know there are no Swedish racists. They save their scorn for Norwegians. (Right, Hawkeye?)