Tiger's Indefinite Leave, Vol. I've Lost Track

Even TMZ sounds skeptical about the latest report that Tiger is shacked up at the Trump International Plaza and thankfully no major media outlets picked up on the...wait, what is that, reader Tom? Oh, CBS reported it during halftime of the Cowboys game?

Maybe they saw the flight data posted by Stephanie Wei? Or they just really, really trust TMZ nowadays?

Thanks to reader Mel for David Paisie's calm, cool and collected analysis of Tiger's muscle gains and association with Dr. Anthony Galea. No new revelations and only a basic grasp of the facts, but it is a plausible explanation why it's fair to ask questions about what transpired over the last few years.

Most reactions by both fans and media to date regarding this subject matter, in my opinion, have not been very rational and, in most cases, totally biased.

Further stated in the article, Tiger’s Las Vegas-based trainer, Keith Kleven, said Tiger was working out five to six days a week with weights.

I read elsewhere at about the same time, I think in Golf Digest, that Tiger also runs, hits practice balls, and plays at least 18 holes of golf, as well, on these five or six days.

Kleven went on to say in the article that Tiger’s lifting was “off the charts” and that he had a much higher endurance to high reps then seen in most golfers.

Kleven would not mention specific amounts lifted, but did share that Tiger had recently reached new highs. Kleven went on to say the following: “Pound for pound, I put him with any athlete around.”

Most weight lifters don't lift anywhere near six days a week.  Tiger's trainer, in the article, basically admitted that much by saying he didn’t know why most other athletes only lifted two or three days a week.

Playing golf, hitting balls, running, and lifting weights that much in a week would certainly lead to sore muscles and sore joints.

I am amazed if Tiger or anyone could do this constantly without seeking something to help to ease the soreness and swelling and to increase recovery time.

Harvey Araton in a front Sports page NY Times "analysis" says "Digitalization is the watch word for sports industry power brokers and planners" who worry that "a fast-changing home viewing experience — 3D television, in particular — could make pro sports more of a studio event than a public spectacle. Others wonder if sports could be the new decade’s print news media, reconditioning consumers with online alternatives that diminish traditional revenue streams."

The general topic of the future and athletics pushing the edge led to this summation:

Assuming athletes are better protected, will they continue to surreptitiously endanger themselves in the interests of seeking an edge? Irvin and Hiemstra agree that by 2020, the steroids scandals of the decade past will be history as we move toward the age of biogenetics. The first decade of the 21st century will have served as a performance-enhancement primer, the term becoming less of a pejorative, as advancements in technology fundamentally change the discussion.

“By 2020, people will think of performance enhancement the way we look at Lasik eye surgery or a hip replacement,” Irvin said.

Will history, then, be kinder to those now shamed? Will future fans even have the time or inclination to emotionally invest themselves in celebrity athletes, or will Woods’s fall from grace be recalled as a breaking point?

Richard Lapchick, a University of Central Florida professor and longtime sports industry watchdog, said no matter how technocratic the world became, past would always be prologue.
“There’s no question that O. J. Simpson was revered on television and in movies, but after the death of his wife, people said, that’s it, athletes can’t be heroes anymore,” he said. “We always seem at some point to come back.”

That’s the good news — or the bad news — for Tiger Woods, provided he’s still in our 3D 2020 purview.

Kevin Robbins reports having seen ESPN's first Masters preview and guess who isn't prominently featured?

Can you say Cuba Gooding to play Tiger Woods in a TV movie?

And finally, in yet another sign this story has hit rock bottom, windbag extraordinaire Brit Hume weighs in on how Tiger can rehab his life and image.