The Best Theological Team On Television Chimes In On Tiger's Faith

From Mediaite:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Best F**king News Team Ever - Tiger Woods' Faith
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Tiger's Indefinite Leave Clippings, "Jesus Christ offers Tiger Woods something that that Tiger Woods badly needs" Edition

I've been astounded by a lot of things over the last month. But the ability of Vanity Fair to generate so much buzz over some photos locked in a drawer and accompanied by a revelation-free story in a magazine usually so rich with detail?  Check out these headlines procured from a Google search for the article about nothing:

"Tiger Woods shown shirtless, pumping iron"

"Tiger Woods gets the Annie Leibovitz treatment for Vanity Fair"

"Tiger Woods strips for Vanity Fair photo shoot"

Vanity Fair' on Tiger Woods: 'A sex addict who could not get enough'

Vanity Fair: Tiger Woods Paid Big Money For Sex, Goes Topless for Cover

As for the date of that cover photo, Annie Leibovitz herself isn't saying (yet) but she chimes in with this reminder why she should to stick to taking photos: “Tiger is an intensely competitive athlete—and quite serious about his sport. I wanted to reveal that in these photos. And to show his incredible focus and dedication.”

Steve Elling is having trouble understanding how Conde Nast's Vanity Fair is sensationalizing Tiger as Conde Nast's Golf Digest puts him on a sabbatical:

Then there's the completely reverse philosophy espoused by Vanity Fair, which, rather unbelievably, is also a Conde Nast publication. The latter features Woods on the cover of its latest edition, sans shirt and doing biceps curls, and includes a feature story that seemingly was written in 15 minutes by a guy with no apparent knowledge of the PGA Tour. So while one Conde Nast mag was skirting the Woods situation entirely -- he has a seven-figure contract to pen the tutorial pieces for Digest -- another was exploiting his situation to sell magazines. How consistent, huh? Maybe Woods can pen an instructional piece when he gets back called, "The left hand should know what the right hand is doing." Good picture, though.

Elling also touches on the tour's decision to remove Tiger as host of the AT&T National event and notes this discrepancy.

When asked how that differs from two years ago, when Woods was on the shelf after having knee surgery and skipped attending the event entirely, the tour declined to elaborate further. ... Add it all up and the impression is clear: AT&T, a huge player in the tour's sponsorship pantheon, wanted to sever its ties to Woods across the board.

And don't miss his final "Up and Down" item on Tiger mistress Ashley Samson talking to the New York Daily News.

Gawker features this follow-up video of Brit Hume appearing on The O'Reilly Factor to clarify his remarks and not really doing a very good job convincing the Buddhists of the world that he thinks very highly of their philosophy. From the interview:

He needs something that Christianity especially provides and gives and offers, and that is redemption and forgiveness. I was really meaning to say in those comments yesterday more about Christianity than anything else…I think that Jesus Christ offers Tiger Woods something that Tiger Woods badly needs.

You mean a blood platelet spinning doctor south of the Canadian border?

The New York Daily News' Nancy Dillon reports that Buddhists were not happy with Hume's homily.

"Could Hume get away with saying something like this about Jewish people or black people or the Muslim Faith?" asks Kyle Lovett on TheReformedBuddhist.com.

"You betcha he couldn't," Lovett continues. "Why should he be able to skate away scott free when speaking about Buddhists? Because we are only 3 or 4% of the population of the US? Hell No! Sometimes we have to speak up."

Adam Satariano says that EA Sports is sticking with Tiger and keeping his name on their games.

“Regardless of what’s happening in his personal life, and regardless of his decision to take a personal leave from the sport, Tiger Woods is still one of the greatest athletes in history,” Peter Moore, president of EA Sports, said in a statement today.

Titles featuring Woods have generated $675 million in U.S. sales since 1998 for Electronic Arts, the second-largest video game company, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. “Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online,” to be released this month, is the first in the series that can be played through a Web browser. The game is part of Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello’s strategy to expand sales of non-console titles.

Dave Shedloski reports on the reduced PGA Tour Media Guide (no more photos of all VP's, no wonder it's 100 pages shorter). He also says a certain somebody is still on the cover.

Jon Show looks at the PGA Tour's "inventory" issues and notes this from a consultant close to a couple of key sponsors:

Despite the developments surrounding the sport’s biggest star, agency executives do not expect the controversy to have a short-term effect on sponsorship sales.

“You should pay what you’re going to pay for your title sponsorship regardless of Tiger,” said Sarah Hirshland, senior vice president of consulting at Wasserman Media Group, which works with tour title sponsors Northern Trust and Travelers. “You can’t make a decision based on one guy that you can’t control where he’s going to play.”

They're saying Tiger's visit to Australia generated $31 million in revenues and tourist dollars. Boy, those National Enquirer expense accounts must be generous.

And finally, add Africa and South Africa to the list of places Tiger may be hiding.

"The long-term effect on the tour from Woods’s loss of sponsorships, if any, will probably not become evident for years."

Larry Dorman makes that point in reviewing the year and decade. And it's a good point to remember since now every time the PGA Tour loses a sponsor Tiger will be blamed. In this economy, that's pretty ridiculous even though his potentially diminished appeal will surely sway some companies.

So Much For The Friday Afternoon News Dump: AT&T Drops Tiger**

Though I do think New Year's Eve is kind of your basic Friday afternoon no matter what day it falls on.

Some good news in the announcement: they are not dropping their sponsorship of Tiger's PGA Tour stop. Oh, and they wish Tiger well.

Update on 2009-12-31 18:16 by Geoff

**CNBC's Darren Rovell, who is often agent Mark Steinberg's first stop for revealing Tiger business news, paints a bleak future for the Tiger Woods Foundation's future now that AT&T is not renewing its deal to sponsor "Tiger Jam." He also suggests that while Nike is likely to pick up Tiger's bag sponsorship, Chevron could be the next corporation to pull out of its Woods related deals.

If there's a natural next sponsor to go, it's likely Chevron, which is in a similar situation in terms of having a less visible role with Woods, but a more active role with the foundation. It's clear that the foundation, which has done a tremendous job in raising money over the last decade, won't do as well in the near future.

Tiger's Indefinite Leave Clippings, 34th Birthday Edition

With Furman Bisher's stamp of approval, publications galore (and heavily trafficked blogs) have picked up the "real story" email details, with some now quoting Bisher directly! (Give credit to the Daily Mail for taking down their version that originally said "Bisher writes" every other sentence.)

Deadspin's A.J. Daulerio details how many times he's received the email and notes the added details in later editions. (My favorite is the stuff about Mark O'Meara playing poker with Tiger Thanksgiving night, even though he moved out of Isleworth a while ago and lives in Houston.)

Leslie Gornstein of E! analyzes the validity of the email and even manages to get a quote from agent Mark Steinberg about the contents:

"This is just another patently false rumor being circulated," Steinberg tells E!

Note to Steiney: just a few details from your end would put a stop to a lot of the speculation and absurd stufff. For example, you could explain that you weren't in Orlando the night of the incident, so that would make it kind of hard for you to have hopped in the car and headed to the hospital. Just a thought!

Gornstein also notes this regarding the Bay Hill aspect of the chain mail:

The email says: Woods is now staying in golf legend Arnold Palmer's upscale golf community, Bay Hill, in Orlando. Apparently, Woods' sports agency implored Palmer to coach him through this tough time; Palmer is seen as possibly the only person who can get through to Tiger.

The truth: That's news to staffers at Bay Hill Country Club, who tell E! they are unaware of Woods visiting since the incident.

Stephanie Wei tracks the source and puts out an APB on the culprit.

I'm just disappointed the version I posted hasn't been picked up by Bisher yet.

Just four years removed from the "Tiger at 30" orgy of columns, features and other assorted essays, Randell Mell is the only golf writer daring enough to tackle Tiger's 34th birthday needs.

But if you were going to get him a gift, what would you get him?

A compass? To find his way back?

A chauffeur? To avoid driving into fire hydrants at night?

Ear plugs? To shut out the jeers that may be coming?

Forgiveness? If you haven’t granted it, will you?

Words of encouragement? And if so, what would they be?

A prayer? If you believe, what would you pray?

Speaking of his birthday, X17 says he's spending it at Wickenberg, Arizona clinic for PR purposes.

"He has been there for a few days since his handlers forced him to enter the program. They feel that if he blames his cheating on addiction, the public will forgive him."

Jose Lambiet talks to several folks in Palm Beach and Tiger definitely is not there living the good life with Rachel Uchitel. (Thanks reader Steven T.)

It seems several people are taking issue with the UC Davis study that has now been picked up all over the place. Holes are punched here, here, here, here and here.

Steve Elling praises Golf Digest for benching Tiger's column:

We'll probably never know who made the editorial call and why, but the game's most popular publication, Golf Digest, has benched playing editor Tiger Woods indefinitely in the aftermath of his trysts with various women in various towns at various times in various positions (hey, that's about as nice as I can phrase it). After enduring ridicule for having Woods on the cover this month with a photo-shopped picture of President Obama -- the cover was in production weeks before the Woods scandal broke -- the monthly magazine elected to give the world No. 1 some time off to plot his personal and professional course. Besides, the next cover story was probably something like, "Tiger Woods: Escaping the Ultimate Bad Lie." Just wondering aloud: How many of these firms that have, somewhat controversially, stood by Woods have signed binding contracts they cannot escape from?

And finally, Bob Harig talks to several players about Tiger's play golf over the last decade.

As for anyone else putting together this kind of 10-year stretch?

"You never say never," Cink said. "When Jack was doing it, we all said, 'Nobody will ever do this again.' I think it probably will happen again, just because of the way that history does repeat itself.

"But at this point, it's hard to imagine. It's hard to imagine someone getting a lot better. Except if Tiger was an extremely straight driver of the ball. The next guy to come along to be the greatest ever will have to be a really accurate driver. That's the only thing someone could do better, and even then it's not guaranteed."