Steinberg: "Apparently the Times like so many other news outlets on the Tiger Woods story, has abandoned principle."
An ESPN.com wire story features a new and much improved denial from Mark Steinberg in response to today's New York Times story on Dr. Anthony Galea (the quote above was taken from the broadcast item linked below).
Interesting though that he chooses to prioritize his attention on IMG first, Tiger's knee a distant second.
In a statement to media outlets Tuesday, Steinberg railed against the paper's story.
"The New York Times is flat wrong, no one at IMG has ever met or recommended Dr. Galea, nor were we worried about the progress of Tiger's recovery, as the Times falsely reported," Steinberg said. "The treatment Tiger received is a widely accepted therapy and to suggest some connection with illegality is recklessly irresponsible."
Of course the story never suggested that the platelet work was illegal or that Tiger receiving that therapy was illegal behavior.
It is interesting that Steinberg notes the practice is "widely accepted," and according to the Michael Schmidt interview below, it's fairly common now for orthopoedic surgeons to use it. So why did Dr. Galea, pioneer or not, fly all the way from Toronto to Orlando to administer the treatment? I know it's Tiger Woods, but still, the story clearly states that most athletes were taking red-eyes and going out of their way to get to Canada to see Dr. Galea.
Oh and the tour also chimed in:
"We have read nothing with respect to the published reports regarding Tiger Woods and Dr. Galea that would suggest a violation of our anti doping policy."
As mentioned above, ESPN is featuring an interview with one of the NY Times writers of the story. It's worth listening to, particularly when he refutes Steinberg's claims that IMG was not involved in linking athletes with Dr. Galea.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Reader Comments (35)
The reason Galea flew to treat Tiger Woods is because he's Tiger Woods...or at least he was!
Tiger's ops are stand alone from IMG, go back and read the "Uchitel anatomy of a negotiation" thread for an explanation.
"Hey Joey, check this out, right here. I think this ball moves when he grounds his club. It's really hard to tell in super slow-mo and zoomed in 500%, but I think we may have nailed him."
"Yeah, and check this one out Billy. It's hard to tell because of the angle, but when he takes relief from this cart path, it looks to me like he might have dropped that ball an inch or two closer to the hole."
In unison: "Busted!" High fives follow, maybe even a couple of (ironic) fist pumps.
The next day's (or should I say minute's) headline: "Did Tiger Also Cheat At Golf?"
No, RM, the one place that Tiger was safe was on the golf course. Maybe, if his marriage is broken, and if his IMG relationship is ruptured, and if all of his sponsors abandon him, the one place that he will be able to find security and success is on tournament golf courses.
Here's what I don't get: Why would anybody say that Tiger's surgical recovery was delayed, or was taking an unusually long time? None of us know the details, but just objectively, Tiger was "on schedule" by most accounts that I am aware of. He was ahead of Ernie Els' (a different kind of knee injury, perhaps) objectively-viewed schedule. I think his performance in 2009, a matter of months after surgery, was amazing under the circumstances.
...but you have no idea what you are talking about relative to IMG and Tiger's crisis.
Just as happy to roast IMG-Steinberg when they have it coming to them...like in the Stanford situation.
Just trying to point out what's right.
I believe you were asked early on if you were an IMG plant and you said no.
At the least, you sure seem infatuated with them.
So:
'You guys need to get off the IMG bashing on this one...Tiger's ops are stand alone from IMG, go back and read the "Uchitel anatomy of a negotiation" thread for an explanation.'
'...but you have no idea what you are talking about relative to IMG and Tiger's crisis.'
You know these things as facts, how?
Sometimes you muddy fact vs. speculation so dramatically it seems like a disinformation campaign.
For example, this thread* post, where:
You say:
'...so we should just ignore the facts and trade in speculation?
- "Tiger's a billionaire", no he's not.
- "Gatorade dropped Tiger", no they didn't. (not yet anyway)
- "Steiney bribed the DA and greased the politicians", no he didn't.
- "IMG blew it", no they didn't.
- "11 confirmed mistressed', no there aren't.'
I have you batting 3 for 5.
Neither of your 2 IMG related examples are facts argued either way. They're purely speculative. I'd guess 'Did IMG blow it?' will be an MBA class case study for years to come. And either side of the argument may ace the course.
http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2009/12/10/tiger-accident-clippings-vol-13.html#
Well, there was that funny bounce in the PGA Championship against Bob May.
K
Have you closely read Geoff's "Clipping's 4" post? That's a good place to start taking a close look at reporting that's somewhat accurate.
Specifically read the part about how Tiger's camp is bifurcated into a damage control portion, and a sponsor relations portion. Also read the part about how Steinberg was "caught flat-footed by Tiger's indiscretions..."
And even if available facts fall short of what many people wish to speculate about, so what? I think Chuck and any other lawyers around here will tell us there is no such thing as a fact or truth only evidence...something about the "truth of the trial." What we are doing here is tackling an increasingly interesting and complex story about a man who is without a doubt the most interesting sports figure to live in my lifetime. Constantly running around slapping everyone's wrist and telling them to go to detention for not paying attention isn't terribly interesting, nor does it add much to the discussion.
By my unscientific count those "other news outlets" are bating about .757, which is decidedly better than Tiger's fairways hit percentage in the last 5 years.
Your third sentence, the content before the first comma, correct. Between comma 1 and comma 2, not sure how you reached that conclusion.
Look, I can't even remember the name of the girl that sold Uchitel out to the Enquirer but I'd suspect the Enquirer wasn't the first publication she contacted, several probably sent her packing (just a guess). But someone at the Enquirer figured maybe they could learn something, and boy did they.
E.P., not denying that there's a story here, it's a bigtime story. But the story is Tiger Woods and his transgressions/shortcomings...the story is not how IMG f*cked it up. It's as simple as the difference between a salesman and an order-taker, the former is proactive, the latter is reactive. IMG's role with Tiger on a day-to-day basis has effectively been reduced to order taker, and only Tiger gives the orders.
And I'm happy to take the other side of the trade with IMG, just look back on Geoff's post from way back about Virginia Wade - IMG - Stanford...
But in this instance Steinberg's only role is to shuttle the extortionists to the lawyers, and then make his best attempt to assuage the sponsors -- but he's the small stack at the table and was dealt really crappy hole cards.
The "damage control" effort overall basically looks conference room table with Tiger at the head of it. He takes input, and then tells them what to do. Steiney has a seat, and an audience, but control resides with Tiger. IMG as a shaping force in the whole thing is a complete non-factor.
McCormack has a couple great books out there for those of you that have not read them...
Unfortunately, I don't think this is finished being sad.
Did you read Clippings 4, closely, yet?
If Elin bolts after the New Year I think Tiger is left with a lot of time on his hands, what else is he going to do but play golf? HEY, get your mind out of the gutter!!
Sure is looking like she's going to bolt, hard to see why she wouldn't, if she does I think Tiger plays Bay Hill and possibly one other, and then the Masters...JMO.
Ky--your last post here is pure genius--you're really at the top of your game here.
Elin is gone (Thank God and hopefully where there is extradition). She's forgotten to be grateful that she got away with domestic violence. Tiger is preparing to set sail with his Rachel U. His teeth are fixed by now, but he is not going to be smiling any way soon. The narcissistic blow to his fractured psyche when he has to divide his kingdom is going to prevent his playing any golf for a long time--doubt he could putt on the rug in the yacht or hit a bucket of range balls with this division of assets weighing on him. This is a guy who doesn't think he should pay for anything. It's about time those children went to work, too!