What Would Ari Fleischer Have Done?

It's a question I ask of myself every morning, and it's the question that keeps coming back to me after Tiger's whirlwind, out-of-the-blue, totally bizarre Sunday interview hits with ESPN and Golf Channel.

Remember that Fleischer client Mark McGuire sat down for a long, tough interview with Bob Costas along with several other Q&A's. The New York Times' Richard Sandomir called it a "how to" strategy that, while not perfect, allowed McGuire to return to baseball as Cardinal hitting coach:

In his repeated confessions Monday, he had no defiance or anger, just sadness and tears.

“I like the door-to-door strategy, in that he is telling his story in long form and in less confrontational settings,” said Kevin Sullivan, a former White House communications director who runs a strategic-communications company. “He needed to rip the Band-Aid off before heading to spring training.”

With that in mind, it's hard to fathom that Fleischer would have concocted today's first step, which was poorly timed on many levels. It took away from what little attention a regular tour event would have received, it arrived on the first weekend of the NCAA tournament and on the day of the health care bill vote.

Then there was an enormously strange arrangement (5 minutes?) that exerted too much control over the media agencies for the interviews to have any lasting credibility (except with the Golf Channel studio analysts).

It makes me wonder if Fleischer really did leave the Woods advisory team because he had become a distraction?

Comments

[DRM]

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

[Golf Lover]

Sure, he could've done it on Monday. But that would've detracted from the grandeur of the Tavistock Cup.

[Geoff]

Golf Lover,
Good point. I was in such deep denial hoping that event would just go away...

[Mike T.]

Pure speculation of course, but could it be that Fleischer left because Tiger's camp only accepted advice they agreed with and refused to do follow guidance that they didn't like?

[Drew]

Geoff - It's McGwire, not McGuire. Aren't you a sports writer?

[Media driven]

Was Ari F. at Isleworth for the Sunday interviews? Got that impression from a little of what Tilghman allowed, but haven't seen any follow-ups. She wasn't asked about it on "Today'' show appearance.

He may have drawn up a blueprint and up to Tiger/Steinberg to do as they see fit now. I can see "60 Minutes'' up ahead, possibly timed to the Masters altho they've got to be careful there. Masters doesn't want hype, and to air it on the Sunday afterwards (if taped) runs the risk of being outdated, badly, say, if he wins the toooo-nament...and they can't promote it during the Masters anyway!!

[Miss Priss!]

Ari Fliescher saw, sensed, felt, heard ... something he did not want to be associated with. Usually when you quit a job after a few days or a couple of weeks, things didn't look so sweet and wonderful, did they? N ... you ran.

God, I wonder how Tiger articulates a strategy to a professional. My gut feeling, based on his actions: the greatest golfer in the world is a mental case.

[GolfFan]

Fliescher did the man-up thing, he bailed. Kudos. someone with balls that aren't Nike Black/Calbin/whatever ..