A Tiger's Tale.....

I wanted to stay away from the Tiger Woods story until the dust had settled to see what was exactly out there to observe. At almost a month since “The Accident”, I think the dust is settled and we can see what we have, and to me it has really opened my eyes.

We all know the story by now. Tiger Woods ran his car into a fire hydrant and tree, just outside his driveway, in the early morning on the day after Thanksgiving. There was a National Enquirer story about a possible affair(s), and when combined with the accident, the whispers started getting louder about what really was going on in the Woods household.

The day the accident became known, and I became aware of The Enquirer story, I told my wife something that I still stand by today almost a month after the incident. I don’t care that Tiger Woods was unfaithful to his wife (or maybe soon to be ex-wife) Elin. The matter is between the two of them, and their two young children.

Now, I do freely admit that I am curious to know exactly how he came to run over a fire hydrant and hit a tree without setting off his air bags, and how and when the windows were broken by the golf club Elin processed. This invasion of privacy has nothing to do with Woods. If I came across the same scene in my neighborhood while out for my walk, I would want to know how my neighbor “John Smith” did the same thing, even if I never normally speak to Smith at the cul-de-sac block party.

The fact that he was unfaithful makes no difference to me in my feelings towards Tiger as a golfer (I like and respect his game, but I am a Phil Michelson fan.), and because I do not purchase items based on who is endorsing them, it had zero effect on my buying habits.

Even Woods’ silence about the accident didn’t bother me like it did some others.

Thoughts were that others have been unfaithful and bounced back from it, so I assumed it would be the same for Woods. Let the holidays come and go, and there would be another story overshadowing Woods “indiscretions” by the time he returned to the PGA Tour. Win the Masters and/or US Open, and all would be forgotten and forgiven.

Those thoughts were two mistresses and five days removed from the accident. Who knew the floodgates were going to open and change the landscape of this whole story and show us what Tiger Woods and those around Woods really care about?

I still don’t care that Woods was unfaithful to his wife, but when the number of affairs reaches double digits, it is no longer about just being unfaithful. It is about a total disregard and lack of respect on Woods’ part toward his wife and their marriage. It is about how someone with such reckless acts has been groomed, molded and shielded from us, but at the same time been put into our face to try and get us to purchase products from sport drinks and razors, to high end watches

To me what perked my interest in this story was to see how Tiger would handle his deception to the public, and what would be the response of those products which Woods has become the face of through marketing. Tiger is a huge asset and tool for these companies. How companies would handle the asset that showed this “depreciation” in its value would tell a tremendous amount about all those involved. Also, how Woods himself decided to proceed would show where he was trying to guide the matter. What happened was that nobody disappointed me by disappointing me.

Before we get to the Woods, his handlers and the advertisers, let’s get one thing out of the way. Any and all people who use the “it’s a guy thing”, or “men are wired to cheat”, or the “you don’t know what it is like to be a rich, famous athlete” need to go back under the rock and keep quiet. You want to be with any skirt that passes you by and gives a wink? Go ahead, but maybe not stopping off at the alter should have been a thought if skirt chasing was still going to be a Tiger hobby. And the lame argument by some that Woods only got married because it was “the right thing to do” and that the public likes to see a family man, really need to see if they can say those remarks with a straight face. Yes, getting caught cheating with 11 different women while your wife was home pregnant and/or taking care of your children is a much better thing then just knowing Tiger was a single playboy all these years. Please.

Skip all the preliminary material, and go straight to the heart of the matter. A man who has made close to one billion dollars in endorsements was now seen by many as more then just an adulterer. In some eyes he was creepy because of the sheer volume of affairs involved.

What would come next?

Would Tiger ask (through his handlers and agents who make money if Tiger makes money) his advertising partners to pull his image from their marketing until he could get through it? Woods certainly doesn’t need the money that he might be giving up for maybe three to six months of quiet time.

Would those advertising partners see a flawed asset and pull back his image on their own, as a sign of respecting Woods, to lower his profile while he worked with his family to try and repair the situation, while at the same time showing a respect to Elin and his family for the pain he was putting them through?

When left on their own, all of the above decided to do nothing and hope the public would not notice. It was not until the whispers starting getting louder that someone finally blinked, and blinked in a big way. Accenture released a public statement distancing themselves from Woods. While they could have been quiet about it, they decided to make sure the public knew what they were doing. It was oblivious at this point that distancing yourself from Woods worked well at this time, so while Accenture gets points for taking a stand, their reasoning was not 100% noble.

Once Accenture stepped forward others like Gillette and AT&T followed suite in lowering Woods’ profile with them, but not extinguishing it. While others, like the watch maker TAG Heuer at first claimed that Woods’ situation had no bearing on their endorsement agreement with him. A few days after that statement, with some pressure mounting because the statement sounded so cold, and it was, TAG finally decided to scale back some of Woods’ presence with them.

The one high profile holdout and I never thought for a second they would do anything differently, is Nike. Phil Knight’s statement that Woods’ personal situation does not impact their deal because their deal is with the best golfer in the world was typical Knight and Nike. We should not expect anything less for the “Just Do It” company. Nike and Knight are arrogant to the end.

Also, let’s not forget the stories coming out from this that Woods was trying to keep quiet these women from telling any further stories, and that included the report about possible payments to Elin for not going public with her side of this mess. If true, that was another piece of damage control to keep the Woods image shiny, which once found out, actually threw more tarnish on his image.

Tiger Woods had a chance to get some positive spin from this situation by stepping out front and asking these partners to ease off for a short while, and he failed to do so. These same partners could have also taken the first step and all failed to do so until they read the public’s take on the situation, then decided to react. Every single participant in this played wait and react, while the ones that actually drove the story were these women themselves.

So at the end of the day, Tiger, in trying to keep control of everything, instead got nothing. He played “whack a mole” in trying to defuse the different fires that kept arising with these different women coming out of the woodwork. He and his people seem to be hoping we will forget about it all by the time he emerges from his self induced hiatus. Does anybody really think that is going to happen?

There were many chances to quiet this situation and let it settle. There were many chances to get in front of the story, and take the reins of control to keep Woods’ image from sliding down the mountain. There were many chances for Woods, his people and his partners to not make it seem they were only concerned about dollar bills. All those chances were wasted and are gone. All to keep a grip on a situation which is / was slicker then an US Open green during the fourth round of the tournament.

Now we wait and see how Tiger Woods emerges on the other side of the curtain. Again, I don’t care that Tiger Woods had an affair. I do care how someone represents and fixes themselves when caught in a situation that needs repair. For me, he still needs to call a good repairman.