Tiger Woods - Sportsman of the Decade - or Swordsman of the Decade

CDfm

He has won 64 times and 12 majors.

Now I have never got this thing about a sportsman being a role model and squeaky clean. More like Jimi Hendrix with a Golf Club or Hugh Hefner of the PGA Tour.

I didnt know he was sponsored by Gillette or Nike and it wouldnt put me off buying either product. A friend of mine a sports journalist met him and felt priveleged to interview him having travelled all the way from Ireland - nice guy he said he knew my flight had been delayed. That really impressed me.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ikX-J9szR7SvQKFtkhHIwP26dlDAD9CKFO5O0

Woods was selected Wednesday as the Athlete of the Decade by members of The Associated Press in a vote that was more about 10 years of performance than nearly three weeks of salacious headlines.

I am not a golf fan and I was not let down. I was not let down when Bill Clinton's scandal broke either or when Ronnie Woods took off with the waitress. Martha Stewarts jailing left me unmoved as does Victoria Beckams weightlessnees. It doesnt bother me that there is a gay hurler on the Cork team or whether all of them or gay.

Kylie has never let me down even when I discovered the missing knickers in a pic was a photographers airbrush.

Should I care - well I dont think so. His marriage is his own business. I dont care.

Pherekydes

What sport does he play? :pac:

I only know him as a golfer.

What he does to his wife is their business.

Whosbetter?

CDfm wrote: »

He has won 64 times and 12 majors.

Okay, he's good at hitting a ball with a stick.

Other than that he's no better than the rest of us.

Thing is, is that he marketed himself as a squeeky clean role model for a lot of people esp African-Americans.

This is something he for many years very successfully cashed in on.

Now, he's just seen as another 'Black Lad' who just couldn't keep it in his pants.

A major let down for a group of people trying to find mainstream acceptance.

CDfm

Whosbetter? wrote: »

Thing is, is that he marketed himself as a squeeky clean role model for a lot of people esp African-Americans.

There is only one Roy Keane

This is something he for many years very successfully cashed in on.

He is still just a golfer - its a marketing image - just like a movie chartacter -no more -no less

Now, he's just seen as another 'Black Lad' who just couldn't keep it in his pants.

A major let down for a group of people trying to find mainstream acceptance.

I think bord failte & the K club should sign him up - just think ofthe exposure

Whosbetter?

CDfm wrote: »

There is only one Roy Keane



He is still just a golfer - its a marketing image - just like a movie chartacter -no more -no less



I think bord failte & the K club should sign him up - just think ofthe exposure

Roy Keane? Squeeky clean?


Thing is ,is that he wasn't just a golfer. He was a black golfer, & as such was a role model for blacks everywhere.

K club, for the exposure?
I think ol Tiger has exposed himself to enough at this stage.
Is it 13 at the last count?
More sure to follow!

PopUp

Whosbetter? wrote: »

Thing is, is that he marketed himself as a squeeky clean role model for a lot of people esp African-Americans.

I keep seeing this myth all over the place. It's rubbish.

He has never marketed his personal life in any way. He didn't sell pictures of his wedding. In fact he got married as privately as humanly possible. He never, ever talks about his marriage in interviews - in fact he doesn't give personal interviews. He only talks about golf. He released pictures of his newborn children on his personal website to preempt himself being harassed by paparazzi. He's never attempted to make a penny from his children, though he could make thousands selling photos.

He has also never marketed himself as 'African-American' or even black. He doesn't consider himself black. He's only one-quarter black and he says that if he identifies as anything it's the fact he's half-Asian. He refuses to talk about Obama or Jesse Jackson or any kind of 'black issues'. They do not interest him.

It's the media who latched on to him as the 'black golfer' and it was the hook of the earliest stories about him. For the past ten years he's been known for being intense, arrogant (though he is the best) and a bit petulant (though in fairness he keeps most fans onside because his temper tantrums on the course are always directed at himself). And for being the best golfer playing today.

It's only people with no interest in golf who think of Tiger Woods as the black golfer. Anybody with half an interest in golf no longer thinks of Tiger Woods as the black golfer. They think of him as the best golfer in the world, which is what he is.

This whole stupid saga is the most childish voyeuristic rubbish. I think he's a **** husband but I don't see why that fact is any of my business.

Whosbetter?

PopUp wrote: »

I think he's a **** husband but I don't see why that fact is any of my business.

He's a public figure & has made millions on the back of it.

If I or you cheated on our wives, nobody outside of our immediate circle would care..

He, by virtue of having a specific talent has a lot of exposure.

Also, he became a marketable product from a lot of sponsers, who bought into his 'clean' image.

He took their money, knowing full well that he could not live up to the image they were paying him handsomely for.

PopUp

They didn't buy into his clean image. They bought into the fact he is the greatest sportsman playing - without doubt in golf, and arguably in any sport at the moment.

This 'clean image' crap is imagined by people with no interest in golf (or knowledge of actual black people) who apparently have confused Woods with Will Smith in Bagger Vance.

He had the most private wedding possible. He never talks about his wife and kids. He's never claimed to be a good person, or any kind of person other than a brilliant golfer.

You can wish those facts weren't true, but they are, and as long as they are, the implosion of his personal life is nobody else's business.

CDfm

Whosbetter? wrote: »

Roy Keane? Squeeky clean?

Yes and he is very good to his mother and likes dogs.

What more do you need.

Thing is ,is that he wasn't just a golfer. He was a black golfer, & as such was a role model for blacks everywhere.

He is not the president

K club, for the exposure?

Well - I think it would do them both good.

Pherekydes

Agree with nearly all of your post, but...

PopUp wrote: »

It's only people with no interest in golf who think of Tiger Woods as the black golfer.

A gross generalisation there. I have no interest in golf, but I don't view Woods as being a black anything, either. To me he's just a rich golfer and a crap cheater. But to be honest, how many men would turn it down if it was being offered on a plate? I'd say half the media types who are excoriating him now are being just a tiny bit hypocritical.

Otis Driftwood

Whosbetter? wrote: »

Also, he became a marketable product from a lot of sponsers, who bought into his 'clean' image.

He took their money, knowing full well that he could not live up to the image they were paying him handsomely for.

Mr Muscle has a clean image and you dont see him sporting a Nike hat or a Tag Heuer watch or an American Express card.

If Tiger was a crap golfer he wouldnt have any of the endorsements and to even imply anything other than that is frankly ridiculous.

If anything this makes him more accessible because he has being proven to be a human and to be fallible and not just a golfing deity.

This wont effect his pulling power,so long as he gets back on the course ASAP.

Macha

nedtheshed wrote: »

This wont effect his pulling power,so long as he gets back on the course ASAP.

It might not affect his pulling power at golf championships but I have heard that it could negatively impact on some of his sponsors. For example, in general women do most of the shopping for the home and they might be less inclined to pick up Gillette.

CDfm

taconnol wrote: »

It might not affect his pulling power at golf championships but I have heard that it could negatively impact on some of his sponsors. For example, in general women do most of the shopping for the home and they might be less inclined to pick up Gillette.

Would this matter.

Surely he could pull the SATC smart and sexy routine. It works for women.

God forbid he goes on Oprah:eek:

CDfm

Pop up - thats so true.

I have a very good black friend who Ive known for years. He had to remind me once that he was black.

I never thought he(Tiger Woods) was from the Brady Bunch.

Otis Driftwood

taconnol wrote: »

It might not affect his pulling power at golf championships but I have heard that it could negatively impact on some of his sponsors. For example, in general women do most of the shopping for the home and they might be less inclined to pick up Gillette.

Do you not think that when this blows over (which it undoubtably will) that he will be as popular and as lucrative as ever?

Id bet my bottom dollar that this wont impact his earning potential (from sponsorship) in the long term so long as he gets back to winning ways on the golf course.

CDfm

nedtheshed wrote: »

Do you not think that when this blows over (which it undoubtably will) that he will be as popular and as lucrative as ever?

Id bet my bottom dollar that this wont impact his earning potential (from sponsorship) in the long term so long as he gets back to winning ways on the golf course.

Yup _Tag Heuer the Watchmaker have renewed his sponsorship.

He might make golf sexy. while no doubt his use as to a company like Accenture is limited as a global spokesman for s business to business image his consumer product endorcements should be undiminished. john Daly a bon vivieur and golfer is sponsored by Hooters

CDfm

Tiger Woods is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oTMosZ76b8

Not this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM-0Pwgr7-E