Tiger's Indefinite Leave Clippings, Vol. 1

Before we get to the initial reactions to his take-out-the-trash-day statement, I must say that the admission of infidelity and Tiger Woods' decision to take an indefinite leave provided the most striking example of the tabloids being out in front of so many elements to this story. This ought to give us a three or four day reprieve from the hand-wringing "Tweets" of golf writers preaching to their limited followings about the sheer outrage of bloggers citing tabloids as legitimate news sources and daring to cover this tawdry, ugly, nasty...GOLF story.

Just to refresh, a Sun story I decided not to link yesterday because of its preposterousness nature turned out to be accurate: Tiger is leaving the game to save his marriage. And while they're hot and probably not exactly going out on a limb, The Sun also says Elin Woods has ordered her husband to put their homes up for sale after the New Year. While the Daily Mail showed photographs of Tiger's yacht Privacy in obvious preparation for a voyage.

Now for the reactions to Tiger's statement. Bob Harig at ESPN.com puts the sheer absurdity of the last two weeks into perspective:

Who would have ever dreamed Finchem and the PGA Tour would be in favor of Tiger skipping tournaments?

And yet, that is what this Tiger tale has come to, the game's best player benching himself for his own good.

Steve Elling has been tough on Tiger but he likes the move he's made with this statement:

It was the smartest thing he has done in weeks -- and anybody associated with the game should be saying a silent prayer of thanks.

Simply put, Woods had dragged the tour and its players into the mud with him. The splatter and collateral damage had not yet been tallied, but it was palpable. Players were angry, like everybody else. Not that they had been misled or betrayed, a sentiment conveyed by many Woods fans, but because they had done nothing wrong and were being painted with the same broad brush.

That game of honor and integrity had been besmirched like at no other time in its 500-year history. It was a stain that no amount of Clorox could remove.

"He screwed all of us," a prominent player said earlier this week.

Randell Mell at TheGolfChannel.com hopes this is the turning-point the story needs:

Maybe we’re finally nearing the bottom of this awful story, but there’s no guarantee with media outlets continuing to dig. The appetite for the scandal is staggering. The depth of the allegations is equally staggering.

The story still needs a bottom, and here’s hoping Woods moved us closer to it with his statement. Here’s hoping he’s on his way to turning this story around and leading us all out of this mess.

Ron Sirak noted the Friday timing in his lede:

One of the things learned after decades working as a journalist is that when news is announced on a Friday evening, it's never good. The announcement made on Tiger Woods' website that he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf falls into that category. The statement sent shudders through all who care about the game, in large part because it is such an open-ended proclamation.

I wonder if Alistair Tait's reaction to the statement will be the first of some tough-love pieces from what has been a shockingly quiet golf media to this point:

We were sold a myth. Instead all we got was a well-worn cliché: Another brilliant sportsperson whose real life doesn’t even come close to resembling the myth.

We all bought it. Swallowed it whole and were hungry for more. We even helped perpetuate it. We took pride that our hero was a cut or three above other sporting heroes. We were willing to forgive the F-bombs, the occasional sulkiness and the club throwing as part of the pressure that came with being the best.

We scoffed at other sports, where scandal and salaciousness seem to come as part of the package. Our sport was above that. The honorable game.

What saps we are.

Doug Ferguson managed to get an email reaction out of Tiger agent Mark Steinberg. You have to wonder if the timing of the indefinite leave announcement along with the suddenly humble sounding agent suggests he is working with a bunch of companies on the verge of jumping ship:

“The entirety of someone’s life is more important than just a professional career,” Steinberg said in an e-mail to the AP. “What matters most is a young family that is trying to cope with difficult life issues in a secluded and caring way. Whenever Tiger may return to the game should be on the family’s terms alone.”

And..

Steinberg said it would be “premature and inappropriate” to talk about Woods’ specific business relationships.

“Suffice it to say, we have had thoughtful conversations and his sponsors have been open to a solution-oriented dialogue,” Steinberg said. “Of course, each sponsor has unique considerations and ultimately the decisions they make we would fully understand and accept."

Radaronline reports that AT&T is reconsidering its relationship with Tiger, at least according to their unnamed source: an AT&T spokesperson.

"We support Tiger's decision and our thoughts will be with him and his family,” the statement read. “We are presently evaluating our ongoing relationship with him."

Earlier in the day, Stephanie Wei did a nice job piecing together circumstantial evidence to suggest deteriorating relations between Tiger and sponsors, including the disappearance of Tiger's image at Accenture's site and suggestions by this FoxNews.com story that there were intensive meetings taking place Friday.

A cynic might suggest the meetings, the campaigns magically meeting the end of their life cycles and the Woods statement are all linked. But of course, I'm no cynic.

Prior to the statement, ESPN.com's Bill Simmons suggested that the Woods accident and scandal is the biggest story of the decade.

Sixth, it doesn't show any signs of slowing down; if anything, it's gaining steam like a hurricane plowing toward Florida. Seventh, it involves three of the gotta-have-it basics in any gigantic story: sex, (possible) violence, and a (possible) cover-up. Eighth, there's an unanswerable question looming over everything: Even if Tiger did cheat on his wife, should it matter to anyone other than them? (My answer: It shouldn't. But that's the rub of being a public figure. If you don't want to be a public figure, don't do commercials, don't cover yourself in Nike logos and don't sell a video game with your name on it.) And ninth, it's a conspiracy-friendly saga that lends itself to all kinds of inventive angles, an absolute must for any story to maintain dominance.

If you ever want to see a sign of how shallow and introverted the golf community can be, check out Ben Crane's agent's remarks to Steve Elling about the Life and Style tabloid report that incorrectly quoted his client yesterday. He says that if that story got it so wrong, the other tabloid stories must be wrong too. I think Tiger kind of killed that theory with today's statement.

Oh and I loved this from Crane agent Tommy Limbaugh...as if bloggers control the world:

“Once something is out there, how do you pull it back when it’s wrong?” Limbaugh said. “When the bloggers get hold of it, how do you fix it?”

And finally, not to take away from the gravity of Tiger's statement, but there was this other little item in the ongoing mainstream media feuding over sourcing of stories. From golf.com:

The Associated Press has never cited TMZ.com or Radaronline.com as sources in its news stories on Tiger Woods, as was stated in this week's PGA Tour Confidential.