Tiger's Indefinite Leave Clippings, Vol. 11

Don Ohlmeyer has signed on to serve as an ombudsman for ESPN and he analyzes all elements of Tiger coverage blasted by concerned ESPN.com readers.

ESPN's handling of Woods on "SportsCenter" and other news and opinion programs can be debated, but it appeared the network tried to walk the line between satisfying the audience's inquisitiveness about the self-destruction of arguably the world's most famous athlete and trying to avoid the trap of sensationalism. There were exceptions, but in general the network covered problematic subject matter seriously, avoided rampant speculation and provided context.

Ron Sirak finds more crisis managers to recommend how Tiger can "get up from his fall." Each spells out how the accident and ensuing fallout should have been handled, assuming Tiger's face was in a condition to be seen publicly. This from William M. Moran of 
McCarter & English seemed most on target:

"It wasn't handled correctly when this whole crisis first began. After the accident, the news the next day was that he refused to speak to the police. And then a second day passed and he refused to speak to the police. And then a third day. By then every editor in the country was sending out his investigative reporters saying, 'Find out what he is hiding.'

"He might have done better to speak with police with his lawyer and say, 'Hey look, I had an argument with my wife, I'm not going to tell you why. I flew out of the house in a rage, and I cracked up my car. I was an idiot. I made a mistake, I feel embarrassed. But I think that answers your questions.' Then he goes back to his website and says, 'Give me privacy. I'm embarrassed and, by the way, I fully cooperated with police.' He lost control of the story, which in crisis management is key.

"He needs to miss a few [tournaments]. It will demonstrate his value to the game. And when he does come back, the story is not just about his infidelity, but also about his comeback to golf. Then he regains a measure of control. I don't know if he will ever get to the level of income he has now.

In the latest CNN opinion poll, Tiger's disappearance has apparently further damaged his image. Not that he probably cares at this point.

The popularity of golfer Tiger Woods has plummeted in the weeks since his now-infamous car crash and infidelity admission, according to a new poll.

In the survey conducted December 16-20, Woods' favorable rating dropped to 34 percent. That compares to a rating of 60 percent in early December, days after Woods' crash.

In 2005, the star golfer's favorable rating was at 85 percent.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicated the drop in Woods' popularity was not as dramatic among African-Americans.

About two-thirds of blacks still held a favorable view of Woods, while only 28 percent of whites felt the same way.

Carlos Frias talks to Palm Beach retailers about Tiger apparel sales and shares several interesting anecdotes, including this:

There's a certain percentage of people who don't want anything to do with Tiger Woods," Sugarman said.

In some stores, Woods is drawing a visceral reaction from shoppers.

At one South Florida Golfsmith store, which sells golf equipment, women shopping for their husbands have come in, seen a poster of Woods that hangs over the section of his trademark clothing line and shouted, "Philanderer! Cheater!" said a store clerk, who asked that his name not be used.

Diane Dimond rented a boat and scoped out the Woods home in search of some sort of deep, hidden meaning.

Think of all the lives changed by the selfishness of his acts. His mother, Kultida, must be mortified by his alley cat ways. His children's lives are certainly affected and while Woods recently declared he was indefinitely giving up his beloved golf so he could "work on being a better husband, a father and person" it seems as though Elin's character prohibits her from continuing to live to lie.

The gentleman who drove me to the airport also asked me why "we seem to take such joy in the demise of others." I think it's more like fascination we feel, like the kind experienced when driving by a road side accident. We crane our necks, riveted by what we might see but taking no joy in the destruction.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about TMZ launching a gossip site, which was actually not first reported on SportsByBrooks as he says, but in Sunday's SI/golf.com Confidential by Jim Herre.

The Woods story probably played a role in increasing TMZ’s traffic to five million unique visitors in the week ended Dec. 6, up from 3.2 million in the comparable week in 2008, according to comScore, an online research firm.

“I’d say that most sports fans associate TMZ with updates on the Kardashian sisters, the latest paparazzi videos from the terminals at L.A.X. and the kind of news that US magazine readers enjoy,” Bill Bastone, the editor of the document-rich site The Smoking Gun, said via e-mail. Once it starts, he added, TMZSports would be the first major sports Web site “waving around cash for tips, stories, etc.”

Speaking of those folks who pay for stories, several are suggesting that the elusive Tiger is spending the holidays in Palm Beach with Rachel Uchitel, while In Touch claims that he was even in LA to see her on December 4th. Huh. Wonder why he didn't make his Chevron World Challenge press conference that day!?

I found a fun site today called Gossip Cop. It seems to work on refuting incorrect tabloid reports and they filed this one on Uchitel with a quote from her.

Meanwhile the National Enquirer suggests that any reconciliation between Tiger and Elin reportedly will hinge on Tiger disbanding Team Tiger in some form. For what it's worth:

"He has quit the PGATour to show Elin he is serious about changing his ways. But Elin also wants to relocate the family to Sweden and have Tiger fire key members of his entourage to make a clean start.

"And, of course, he has promised her that he won't ever cheat again."

The biggest hurdle could be Elin's determination to clean house by firing some members of "Team Tiger," says the insider.

And finally, about 6 minutes into his monologue Jay Leno has some news on the search to find Tiger.