Tiger's Indefinite Leave Clippings, Vol. 7
Tim Finchem actually made Tiger second-hand news Thursday and maybe even into Friday...unless Tiger surfaces or his Citation overruns a short runway in Wickenberg, Arizona near a certain rehab clinic made famous by David Duchovny.
Unfortunately for Finchem, the reviews weren't so hot for his whirlwind press tour that commenced on CNBC, included a teleconference with scribes, and wrapped up with Golf Channel and ESPN appearances.
Jim McCabe says you got the feeling that Tim Finchem's "at the helm of the S.S. Good Ship Lollipop," and while he really enjoyed Finchem's praise for the President's Cup, he couldn't quite let the Dr. Galea component of the press conference and Finchem's brush-off go unnoticed:
While it’s documented that Dr. Galea is under arrest for drug-related charges, no one is suggesting Woods should be the subject of suspicions. Still, it was alarming to hear Finchem state, almost brushing it aside like a three-putt bogey, that “I have no reason to have a concern with respect to him and a doctor (Galea) who has used HGH with patients for whom it’s not an illegal drug (which is true of HGH, in Canada).”
Dick Pound wonders. The former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency said, “You would have a heightened awareness. I would not put it any further than that.”
Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the WADA, does take it a step further. Asked if he thought Finchem should have expressed a little more concern, Dr. Wadler said, “You can’t be dismissive. I’ve seen that for years and years and years. Let’s put it this way: As a doping expert, when I hear in the same sentence ‘blood-spinning, HGH, and Actovegin,’ I intend to straighten up and have a better look.
“(I hear) that combination, those three things, and I immediately think about doping. At best you look into it.”
“That’s what clean athletes expect,” said Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. “You believe what they say, but also, you have the responsibility to verify.”
Bill Huffman also wasn't impressed.
But even more than the media’s unquenched thirst for Tiger’s secret life and his, some might say, “pending’’ divorce, is the way the Tour seems to be protecting Woods, who "reportedly'' is on his way to an addiction clinic in Wickenburg. And the big question that goes along with that is, does Tiger deserve such protection?
More than one reporter has brought up the fact lately, that despite being independent contractors, Woods seems to get the kid gloves from Finchem when compared to, say, John Daly. And, yes, that exact question came up Thursday and here’s what Finchem had to say about the insinuation that Tiger’s behavior had smudged the Tour’s guideline for “conduct unbecoming,’’ which is an area that allows the commissioner to level fines or suspensions.
“Historically, the PGA Tour has never, to my knowledge in our history, taken a situation in someone’s personal life and dealt with it from a disciplinary matter or considered it conduct unbecoming as it relates to our regulations,’’ Finchem said, adding quickly: “Our regulations relate to conduct unbecoming that’s either in the public arena or law enforcement arena.’’
OK, so Tiger didn’t hit the fire hydrant with his Escalade at 2:30 in the morning when he was high on Ambien, right? And he didn’t lie to the cops when he said that his distraught wife knocked the back window out of the car – on both sides! – to rescue him, correct? And, well, the hookers and the steroids are just ill-timed rumors as long as they don’t end up in the “law enforcement arena,’’ and so there is no reason to look into them, huh?
Steve Elling noted the Commissioner's often contradictory statements and finds it hard to fathom how golf wasn't damaged by the last three weeks.
Playing defense because of the manifold ties Woods has to the tour product, as well as the game's general health, Finchem came out swinging with his driver, although plenty of the missives missed the mark. Deny and defy it loud enough, brother, and somebody might believe it.
Thanks to Woods, golf news has been almost uniformly brutal for 21 days and counting. He has more alleged mistresses than majors. Porno videos are being shot with Woods' life as the punch line and plotline. He has been linked to a controversial physician who is facing drug charges. Every day brings another hurtful revelation.
Nobody is suggesting that golf will crash and burn because Woods' reputation is tainted or he's gone underground. After all, the tour survived when he missed eight months in 2008-09. But Finchem's insistence on soft-pedaling the impact, to use one of his favorite terms, is just plain counter-intuitive.
Mike Walker had a hard time telling the difference between Finchem's appearances and SNL's sketch.
The silver lining for the Tour is that when Woods comes back, interest in him and the game will be greater than ever. Finchem told Rovell that Woods is not bigger than golf. That's wrong. After what happened these last two weeks, he's bigger than sports. When he comes back, the Tour will have Brangelina on the course 16 weekends a year. Someone ought to be able to sell that.
Jay Busbee summed up the teleconference this way:
Regarding Woods, Finchem pursued an it's-unfortunate-but-let's-give-him-his privacy approach. One wonders what Finchem would have said if it were any other golfer, with the possible exception of Phil Mickelson, who had acted in the same way Tiger Woods apparently has been over the last few years. I'd expect he'd have far harsher words for any other golfer who had, by his own admission, subverted the very "gentleman's code" upon which golf so prides itself.
Just now weighing in on the saga is a once big Tiger fan Gene Wojciechowski, who writes:
How many times will we get burned by corporate -- and, yes, media -- image inventions before we learn?
Mark McGwire … fraud.
Sammy Sosa … fraud.
Barry Bonds … fraud.
Roger Clemens … fraud.
Alex Rodriguez … liar.
I could keep going. The list is as long as a Wrigley Field bathroom line.
Woods is the latest name on the disgraced sports hero time line. His descent is stunning because we never saw it coming. The Ice Man melteth.
I'm not sure Tiger was beloved. He was admired, respected, even feared. We saw his sharp edges but rarely saw the sanded-down parts of his personality. He was in total control -- or so we thought.
In an improvement over his last piece, Huffington Post's Matthew DeBord takes shots at just about everyone in the golf establishment from The Golf Channel to Phil Knight to the National Enquirer to Tim Rosaforte to Dubai, then says this about Tiger:
The game is in no way bigger than Tiger. In fact, Tiger is so immensely, hugely, ginormously larger than mere golf that golf may never recover from this monumental fall from grace. You could go nuts and say that Tiger is golf, except that he's even bigger than that. Tiger, truth be told, is bigger than Tiger. He is, or was, so mega, so money, that he transcended even himself. The complexity of this scandal, the depth of psychological and emotional trauma that must have been and may still be present to enable it, is of Hegelian dimensions. More than a decade of intricately orchestrated deception. Nixon wasn't this good.
Phillip Reid features lengthy comments from Padraig Harrington.
“That’s what amazes me, I thought the guy was, and I’m particularly loath to use the word, but let’s say had a quiet life, went back to his hotel room every night . . . (to) sit in your room for six hours is not a pleasant experience, he couldn’t go out.
“I felt sorry for him in that sense, (because) I could go out (for dinner) every night. I assumed life on tour was real tough (for him). You knew when he was off tour he enjoyed his boat and going fishing and that was the only freedom he ever got.
“I’m amazed by both sides, that if somebody goes down that road you usually can tell, there’s a bravado in it and all that sort of stuff . . . the odd time he’d be in a hotel and you’d see him going getting his ice to have an ice bath for his knee and things like that, you’d see him in the gym, always just incredibly diligent.
“You’d kind of often think (of asking), ‘do you want to go out for dinner?’, and not (ask), think he is trying to do his own thing and trying to be special in that sense. I felt for the fact he was absolutely in a fishbowl, life was tough in that sense.
“The only thing I can give on the whole story is ‘wow’, I was out there on tour with him for 10 years and often Tiger himself has said I’d be (considered) a friend, and I had no idea this was going on in his life . . . a triple life: golf, home and when he was away.”
Bookies are offering some unusual bets.
Bookmaker William Hill is taking bets on just how much Nordegren will get if she decides to divorce the world's No 1 golfer. As the scandal widens with claims of more mistresses, punters can get odds of 25-1 that Nordegren will receive more than half a billion dollars in a divorce settlement. The odds drop to 6-4 for a settlement under $100m. William Hill offer 1-2 that she gets between $100m and $500m. William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: "It's largely a bit of fun."
That's nice.
Besides the divorce rumors getting picked up just about everywhere, US featured this about Tiger's current routine:
After those grueling sessions -- which a source describes as the golfer "just apologizing over and over again" -- Woods heads to a nearby course to hit golf balls "to clear his head," another local says. "He goes after dark so he can't be seen. For him, what's more therapeutic than hitting golf balls, the thing he's best at in the whole world?"
And finally, several outlets seem to think Tiger is headed to Meadows Rehabilitation Center, former home to celebrity sex addicts like David Duchovny, and Halle Berry's former hubby, Eric Benet.
Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 08:53 PM 18 Comments | in Steroids, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods Accident, Tim Finchem
Reader Comments (18)
But his Tiger dependency is just another addiction: it needs to be broken. Tough Love Tim!
Either head to the rehab facility of your choice or man up and ensure TW plays say 20 PGA events in a calendar year if/when he returns.
In the past two years, the economic model for tournaments, in terms of purses and sponsorships, has become untenable if not indeed unsustainable. Corporations appear to be realizing that the cost to do business with the Tour are overly high and unacceptable. While the Tiger Woods saga is tragic for him and his family, there may be a positive out of this episode. This storyline might be the catalyst for an economic realignment of tournament purses and costs.
Look at the explosive growth of Tour winnings since Tiger arrived on the scene and grew the tv ratings and attendance and marketing for golf. The rate of growth for tournament winnings has far outgrown the economy over the last 12 years. Much like housing market fluctuations, adjustments, or realignments (choose your favorite apocalyptic word for when housing prices crash), perhaps the Tour needs this to be more sustainable. (And for the record, I loathe Brad Faxon's comment that the Tour really needs Tiger. What he means to say is that, without Tiger, purses will drop, imho).
So, my theory in short is that the Tiger Woods saga may result in a beneficial adjustment of Tour sponsorship costs, with lower purses and a more sustainable business model in a fluctuating economy.
Thoughts?
I'd imagine in almost every negotiation if push came to shove up came Tiger's name "well he might play.. " , "well he's playing the week before so golf will be fresh in peoples minds" etc etc in order to support the PGA asking for more dough... can they still use that ?
I've seen some people theorize that indeed maybe they will... that there will be even more people watching tournaments after the scandal.... to me if thats true it would be sad in a way
Tiger's problems will put a big hurt on television golf, on golf as a spectator sport.
His problems won't hurt recreational golf much, at all.
I know you can't completely separate the two, since the spectator sport is the stimulus for some people to take the game up recreationally. But I don't think Tiger's problems will put a serious dent in interest in golf as a hobby or recreational pastime.
When you look at his obscene compensation, based mainly on hanging on to Tiger's tail (maybe he was in on some of those threesomes?), he sure isn't earning it right now...he's blowing it and looking foolish in the proce ss. Come clean Tiny Tim, admit there's some issues, and that the Tour is working on them, and your "product " will weather the storm better than if you continue to swim in that sea of garbage your putting out to the public.
As the television contract re-up is still almost two years out, with the serial shagger's saga still in the early chapters....it's really impossible to speculate where this mess shakes out. But you have to figure, the ratings will be titanic when he returns, as folks will want to see the drama and Tiger's ability to perform under all the scrutiny. Now if he used illegal drugs....nah, I won't go there!
For the record . . . PGA Tour purses (and player winnings) are not excessive. . . Tiger Woods can "only" win $10 million - as the most dominant player in the history of his sport and the "athlete of the decade" - while numerous professional athletes in other sports have "guaranteed contracts" paying them $20 to $30 million or more. Can we not agree that golf is a sport where you must perform to earn your money on the field of play. . . And, the money is substantially less than in some other sports. . . I believe the total purse for the PGA Tour last year was under $300 million. . . The Yankees - alone - payroll including luxury tax is near $250 million . . .
What John Daly said-
http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3801877
Of course, the top guys aren't really underpaid because golf is something of a fringe sport - but it is certainly not obscene.
As for suspensions: It is clear to most sentient beings that Daly was suspended for being a terminal, but somewhat lovable, party animal of Rabelaisian proportions; Jonathan Kaye for being a smartass; and Doug Barron for being a little slow on the uptake when it comes to the TOUR's drug policy. It escapes me how the "transgressions" (see Woods, Tiger: Statement 1.0) of these three TOUR members come anywhere near to those that have left us gobsmacked since Thanksgiving.
Good points, gents. My point was not that the purses are obscene, that comes from other folks who post here. I wanted to pass along my ponderings on how this whole affair could cause a market re-adjustment that may ultimately benefit golf. More sponsors may enter the arena as the cost to do business with the Tour drops. Heck, we may see fewer "old-man-car" and erectile dysfunction commercials and draw in new life from other aspects of the commercial sector. I'm simply wondering how a re-adjustment like this may look and what the end-effect would be on the Tour.
I agree with each of you. Tour players must earn their keep rather than hold guaranteed contracts as in the major tv team sports. Certainly, this makes things more exciting for golf. I'm especially happy when I see some newcomer strike it rich for the first time, or when someone makes that last cut/high placing to keep his card.
Now, here's another economic thought. With a potential economic re-alignment coming, do you think it's possible that this could actually draw sponsors toward the LPGA and increase events/purses there? I can see a situation where sponsors may want to stay involved in golf, and see the LPGA as a less expense entry into this sector, "testing the waters" of the golf market.
Regarding the LPGA Tour, I hope so. But the ladies have had a rough go of it on TV since the advent of the Senior Tour, especially in the early years with Arnold, Lee, Chi Chi, the occasional Jack, Billy, and good stories like Jim Albus, Larry Laoretti, and Larry Gilbert. They were sometimes more compelling than the regular TOUR during the 1980s. The LPGA product is arguably better, and certain to be less expensive, than the Champions Tour, so with proper management maybe they can attract a few sponsors. Then there is this. Although it will be difficult to navigate these particular shoals, I believe that the female backlash against Tiger is going to hurt a lot more than anyone in Ponte Vedra can imagine. I can see it now all across the nation: Wife/girlfriend/significant other walks through the room and asks why that no-good, rotten, 14-timing, skankmeister in the red shirt is on her TV screen. A reasonably smart man is going to say, "Your're right. Let's go for a walk." Or something like that, unless Tiger, Phil, Ernie, and Rory are shooting off fireworks on the second nine at the Masters. Other than that scenario, this catastrophe is not gonna help the TOUR.
BTW, I am proud to be a fellow Luddite. Long live Ned Ludd! And Ed Abbey!
Also, if there are so many people, including the World Anti-Doping Agency, perking their ears up at the mention of Tiger's rondevous with that Dr. Galea, shouldn't Finchem investigate? Or when he said "random testing" he meant "random excluding the likes of Tiger, Phil, Sergio, etc.", a la MLB's apparent testing of only minor-leaguers?