The Tiger Voice Mail Released...

Gawker reports US Weekly paid $150,000 for it. For the amount of damage this will do to Tiger's image, it does make you wonder if he turned down the opportunity to pay for this himself?

From USWeekly.com:

Comments

[Steven T.]

This will be even bigger than MJ's divorce settlement IF there's a divorce.

[Scott]

Why would she offer this to Tiger? That would be blackmail.

[thusgone]

yokes!

wait, wait. let's not rush to conclusions or jump to judgment here. i'm sure there is an innocent explanation for this. maybe she was doing some work for the tiger woods foundation and tiger wanted it to be a surprise when elin found out. plenty of other things this could be besides what it obviously is. . .

[thusgone]

that's "yikes!"

[Press Agent]

Tim Finchem is hoping there is a slow trickle of items like this through the length of the winter, then when next season starts on the PGA tour the ratings will go through the roof.

[Warren]

Sponsors domino effect may be near. Isleworth bunker must be a crazy place.

[Michael Moore]

Geoff -

I have appreciated your aggregation of coverage to this point, but this post is grotesque.

Are you aware that visitors to your site will automatically hear what should be a private conversation unless they scroll down, figure out which movie is blaring, and click pause?

[Kevin]

I am not expert on this stuff, but that certainly sounds like Tiger. I am sure that it could be a doctored message, but this is a very interesting development.

[Chuck]

First, I expect that there's a considerable supply of photos in bars, text messages, voicemails, etc., out there, and a market for all of it.

Second, while the car-crash legal jeopardy is now removed, there may still be (unclear to us but known to Tiger) legal reasons for him to make no statements concerning infidelity, etc.

Third, it just seems to me that the model of Tiger's freind and mentor Michael Jordan -- never give the press anything that you don't absolutely have to, no matter what, irrespective of image managers and corporate sponsors -- is probably the most attractive model to Tiger. But I don't presume to know everything that Team Tiger knows.

Fourth, if this continues as a drip-drip-drip of salacious items in the tabloids, I think that Tiger's image will take a permanent hit, but then level off as people conclude, "Okay, we get it. Tiger is a poon-hound. A world-class poon-hound. We won't ever look at him the same way. But, if that's all, can we return to regularly-scheduled programming?"

[E.P. Richardson]

I think the statement on his website now will help him. By tacitly but not specifically admitting to infidelity, he allows everyone to draw their own conclusions about the veracity of any additional salacious rumors which come out. We are free to believe that he had an affair, but that perhaps some of the more bottom-feeder stuff which may follow is false. But I guess it's a double-edged sword, because many people will simply believe anything which is said from now on. I agree, Chuck, his image will take a hit, and depending on what comes later, he may lose a little in his sponsorship deals or endorsement value. But VERY little, I think. In the end, most people won't care, or will forget, and will be looking for a reason to embrace him again.

[E.P. Richardson]

Erik J. Barzeski: Do you still believe that Tiger didn't have an extramarital affair?

[Shankapotamus]

Chuck, nothing "world class" about leaving a voice mail like that; I couldn't even listen to more than a few words. Ouch! "Mouth-breathing-stupid class" is more like it. In the end, Tiger will still be sports' first billion dollar man, though.

[Not going to happen]

Geoff,

How do you keep this thing from continually playing the music everytime we visit your web site?
Pls advise or remove it, enough is enough!
TKS

[UB]

Curse you Caller ID!!!

[Geoff]

Agreed on the annoyance factor, have posted a different version from YouTube.

[UB]

And, where is our Voice Modulation analysis? We need evidence Man!
Curse you Caller ID!!!

[AA]

TIGER IS A DIRTBAG. Should have divorced first. Slept all over Vegas second. The voice mail is hilarious. He deserves what he gets for not taking care of his women and wife. Long live PHIL

[?]

I really don't understand what good removing her name from her phone would do for anyone.
Once it is in the receiver's phone it doesn't change the name.
Calling a number doesn't give you that person's name.
Better helps me understand why it was always the agent texting with Tim Finchem.
Please.
Quickly.

[Chuck]

Shankapotamus - I stand corrected as you indicate. Certainly not "world class" in terms of any attempt at an effective cover-up, which so far rates and merely idiotic, desperate and juvenile. ("Change your voice mail announce?" Sure that'd fool an Elin who was suspiciou enought to scroll through all of Tiger's saved numbers. "Huh? That Vegas area code? That's just Butch Harmon's number...")

When I wrote "world class," I was thinking more in terms of "world-class appetite for reckless relationships."

There are some amusing takeaways from that message if indeed it was Nov. 24; it tells us that Tiger was trying to cover his tracks from Elin as late as just last week. And of course it really is an almost endearingly dumass response on Tiger's part.

This is an unusually bad and certainly unintended way for Tiger to start humaninzing himself to the world, but if in the end what we get is a humbled, humanized, chastened Tiger who was more honest and open in the future, I guess that could be the silver lining in what has been a massive cloud for all of golf. The world might think, "Tiger finally decided he didn't want to be like Mike, and that's good..."

[Steve]

While that voice mail doesn't sound good...at least he didn't leave a voice mail like Pat O'Brien did to that one girl when he was drunk and went on and on about what he wanted to do with her.

[AA]

Good point Steve. This one is much better. No mention of coke really lessens the damage being felt by Elin. Thank god he's not a drug doer too!

I did just see Pat O'Brien on with Wolf Blitzer on CNN talking about this. Too ironic!

[OB]

I'm with you ?, what on earth was he thinking by leaving this message? What would changing his ID in her phone have to do with his wife?

[Joey]

Does Tiger not understand how caller ID works?

[Ma Bell]

Come on guys, he was trying to get her to remove her name from her voice mail greeting and replacing it with the generic, computer generated phone number option. That way if the Mrs. called it and got voice mail she would not hear the girl's voice.

[Texaswedge]

I believe he wanted her to change her incoming message to her phone to just be her phone number and not some quite little personal signature type of greeting. So when Elin is going through his phone and dialing numbers, the voicemail greeting on the whores phone is just a phone number greeting....I think?

[Texaswedge]

Yeah.... ma bell has got it

[Chuck]

Yeah, I knew that - that Tiger hoped that the generic vm greeting would somehow conceal (?) that the owner of the phone was a Vegas nightclub waitress and sometime-reality tv star. And that works, how, exactly?

I gotta say, this reminds me of the Seinfeld episode in which George Costanza put Jerry's number (the famed Vandalay Industries) on his resume as a reference. But Kramer picked up. Makes about as much sense.

Because in fact, it now appears that Elin DID call the number, with caller i.d. blocked, and Jaimee simply answered her phone.

~"Hello?"
-"Hello"
~"Who is this?"
-"You know who this is because you are f#@&ing my husband."

This is so pathetic, so totally Seinfeld, it is hilarious.