Tiger Accident Clippings, Vol. 5

Still plenty of bickering about the PR side of Tiger's post-accident reaction, but Steve Elling sums up the feelings of most when it comes to the Florida Highway Patrol's investigation and Tiger's $164 ticket:

Its probative hands tied, the FHP was whipped, 9&8. Even after speaking with state attorney Lawson Lamar, it was agreed that there was no legal reason to seek Woods' medical records. The FHP still doesn't know if any blood was drawn when Woods went to the hospital. He was never given a DUI exam. Lamar must have winced when his name was dropped by Williams during the drive-by press conference -- he's up for re-election soon.

Finishing off his lopsided win, Woods not only dodged the cops, he gave the general public a straight-arm worthy of the guy on the Heisman Trophy. Rather than play this week at his charity event in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where every camera on the property would have been photographing his facial lacerations, Woods withdrew, claiming he was too bloodied and bruised by the accident to play. He won the U.S. Open with a blown ACL and multiple leg fractures, but he couldn't compete with a fat lip. Hey, it's plausible deniability, right?

On the silence issue, the opinions continue to vary. Sally Jenkins, writing as Tiger's thought bubbles for the Washington Post:

Let me pause to express my disapproval of the vicious rumormongers who continue to spread untruths, when no actual truth is being offered by me as an alternative. I don't see why people won't just accept my evasions at their word. Especially given my many good and charitable works, like keeping dangerous fish away from my yacht, "Privacy," and smiling for TV cameras, and studying the word "disingenuous" so I will know it when I see it or hear it.

Tom English in the Scotsman takes the opposite view:

If there's turbulence in his marriage what business is it of ours? If Woods and his wife had a domestic, let them sort it out.

There is a voyeurism going on here that is unpleasant and hypocritical. We're seeing the worst of some people in this vexed business. A thirst for scandal is being dressed up as a pursuit of truth. People want to know what happened, not because it is in the public interest, but because of a naked hunger for gossip, particularly gossip about one of the most glamorous couples in the world. All this stuff about 'he owes it to his fans to come clean' is duplicitous garbage. Let's be honest. We would like to know if Tiger is screwing around and we'd really like to know if that was the source of what happened in the early hours of last Saturday morning.

Len Shapiro spelled these thoughts out today for WashingtonPost.com...

But this time, Woods is making a huge mistake in not being more forthcoming about what really happened outside his home last week. By doing so, he essentially has lost control of the story, and in this new age of 24/7 information, that can be very dangerous, particularly to a man with a virtually spotless public reputation. Various gossip Web sites are publishing all manner of salacious rumors about Woods and the status of his marriage and whether that had any relationship to the events of Thanksgiving night.

Brett Haber in the USA Today, keeping with our left-right, left-right theme here:

Ever since the TMZ's of the world succeeded in mainstreaming themselves onto the landscape of acceptable media, we the public have slid down their slippery slope to a place where it's OK to probe with impunity the private lives of public figures. And if those figures don't give us what we want when we ambush them with a camera outside the restaurant where they're eating, then we'll climb up a tree outside their homes with telephoto lenses or chase their cars on motorcycles until we've succeeded in trampling on what little privacy they maintain.

That's not journalism; that's stalking.

Perhaps the most interesting read comes from one of Tiger's oldest foes. Thanks to reader Bob for Charles Pierce's forthright assessment of the situation, which doesn't come as a surprise from the man who was embroiled in the 1997 controversy over remarks Tiger made in a GQ profile.

Tiger made some distasteful remarks and told some puerile and sexist jokes. Seeing as how they occurred during my limited interview time, I included them in my story, along with some not-overly-subtle intimations that Tiger had a reputation even among golfers as something of a chaser. The quotes were a Media Thing for a brief time, and the ensuing dust storm looks positively charming compared to what's certainly coming after the events of this past weekend, which already appears to be something between Al Cowlings on the highway and an episode of The Real Housewives of Gated Communities.

And...

But the more impenetrable Tiger's cocoon was, the more fragile it became. It was increasingly vulnerable to anything that happened that was out of the control of the people who built and sustained it, and the events of last week certainly qualify. Now he's got one of those major Media Things on his hands, and there is nothing that he, nor IMG, nor the clinging sponsors, nor anyone else can do about it. He is going to be everyone's breakfast for the foreseeable future. (Among his many headaches, there is absolutely no way that the Enquirer quits on this story. See Edwards, John.) And he's going to be some kind of punch line for the most of the rest of his public career. There is some historical irony in all that, and not just for myself.

Jim McCabe talked to players at Sherwood today about their views on the case and writes:

But off the record? Well, a handful of players expressed surprise that Woods did not go through with his commitment to a tournament that means so much to him personally, that it outweighs the media scrutiny he would be subjected to, scrutiny that is going to be there no matter when he comes out.

Brian Keough fills us in on Padraig Harrington's press conference today and his views on the situation:

"It's a phenomenal story. The spotlight is massive," Harrington said at Sherwood Country Club. "It's pretty legitimate for people to be discussing it and talking about it, but as I said, we just don't know what the facts are. We do know there was a car crash, we do know he was injured. I'm sure if I was unconscious for six minutes I wouldn't be playing golf the following week, wouldn't be high on the agenda.

Ed Sherman suggests that ads with Tiger will now be viewed differently...

Yet with all the furor swirling around him, won't it seem strange to see Mr. Woods pitching Gillette razors or Nike golf clubs? Admit it: You're not going to think of him as a 14-time major winner. You've going to view him as fodder for the National Enquirer, TMZ and much idle gossip. At least in the short term.

And finally, David Wild writes: "I'm a tremendous fan of Tiger Woods. This man has done so much to make golf more interesting. Also driveways."

With that, he compiles an itunes playlist for Tiger fans. Some highlights:

"TIGER RAG" - Louis Armstrong
"NIGHT DRIVER" - Tom Petty
"I GOT A TIGER BY THE TAIL" - Buck Owens
"SINNER'S SWING!" - Van Halen
"IT DON'T MEAN A THING (IF IT AIN'T GOT THAT SWING) - Ella Fitzgerald
"ACE IN THE HOLE" - Paul Simon
"WOODS" - Bon Iver