"It's time to accept that the sport is in a much better place than it was 10 years ago, but it's not the next great sport that's going to give the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball a run for its money in terms of nationwide relevance."

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That's Darren Rovell writing for CNBC about...NASCAR and its second straight year with a big ratings decline and the dreadful 10-race chase inspiring no one.
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Some Gobble Up Tiger's Mac And Cheese, Some Don't

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Those cynics who didn't buy into Tiger's Newsweek column and the anecdote about making the kids mac and cheese will find comfort in knowing my colleague Tim Rosaforte mopped it up!.

So what's the message? That Tiger realized what he lost, and he's doing everything he can to save what's more important than a green jacket, player of the year honors and a $10 million FedEx bonus.

It's easy to say Tiger should have come to this realization earlier, but that's in the past. His renewed commitment to his children seems as real as a side dish of macaroni and cheese on Thanksgiving Day.

Who eats macaroni and cheese on Thanksgiving?

Robert Lusetich wasn't quite as taken by the PR offensive, but he also was not as offended as some.

The knee-jerk reaction among most of my peers was to decry it all as a cynical stunt. Woods, they cried, is a phony.

I disagree.

Each of those acts reveal exactly who he is, just where he’s at a year after his life was deconstructed by a sex scandal, and why from here on out we should only care what he does as a golfer.

The Newsweek piece shows that while he’s trying to reach out to fans, he’s still listening to IMG and that they’re both clinging to the dream of rebuilding the Tiger Woods brand with big sponsors.

Good luck with replacing those 50 rocks a year, fellas.

And John Feinstein unleashes.

It is clearly just another image-rehab attempt by Woods and his sycophants to try to win back corporate money and fans—the fans being important because their support leads to corporate money. It is no coincidence that the latest blitz comes a couple of weeks prior to Woods’ 18-man exhibition event in California which he hasn’t played in for two years. (First year injury; second year, um, injury so to speak). He’s trying to keep his sponsor on board after two disastrous years and unveiling the latest version of his new self all at once.

Do I believe Woods when he says he’s learned the joys of giving his son a bath in the last year? Maybe. But if it is so joyful and SO important to him why was he in Australia chasing appearance money a couple of weeks ago when he could have been playing a couple of miles from his house at Disney? Why is he going to Dubai early next year to chase more appearance money?

If We Could Just Get Tiger To Add An Event...

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....ya, that's the ticket!

In a Golf World Monday item on the Tiger accident anniversary, Ron Sirak reports that Camp Ponte Vedra and specifically Tim Finchem are feeling the pressure to get ratings up in early 2011 as they head into television contract negotiations. Part of the grand plan is to beg Tiger to add a west coast event.

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