Woods the Human Hurts Woods the Brand
It seemed a tiny bit fitting that the day Tiger Woods officially fell from grace, the New Jersey Nets fell to new levels of futility, losing their record-setting 18th straight game to start the N.B.A. season in astonishingly incompetent fashion. Even though Woods did not set any records — he became roughly the zillionth athlete to be nabbed for dreaded “transgressions” —the depth of his plunge was astounding. He went from the richest athlete in the world to tabloid fodder in 3.8 GHz. The already pathetic Nets only fell from a four-inch curb.
The sporting world seemed to spend Wednesday measuring Woods’s freefall. It got so bad, the human train wreck John Daly was offering Woods advice (“come clean”) on how to deal with his scandal, which is like getting navigational tips from the captain of the Titanic. Christine Brennan of USA Today tried to take measure of what we learned about Woods since Thanksgiving and found that none of it was good. Robert Lusetich of Foxsports.com was flummoxed by how Woods could have felt he was so bulletproof.
While Michael Bamberger wrote on Golf.com that he did not believe Woods would end up suffering professionally (read: $$), Gary Van Sickle wrote on the same site that Woods’s “brand” has already taken a beating. Dan Wetzel of Yahoo.com points out that this is the bargain you get when you become more of a brand than a person: the culture that makes you ridiculously famous can crush you in a millisecond. Given that culture, Greg Couch of Fanhouse.com is sympathetic to Woods’s pleas for privacy, while knowing they are ludicrously unrealistic. And Jay Busbee writes on Yahoo’s Devil Ball Golf blog that Woods did not help himself with a series of wrong-headed responses, or lack thereof, since last Friday.
Rick Reilly writes on ESPN.com that Woods could actually help himself morphing back into a human and David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune suggests Woods can take tips in overcoming the revelation of that you are a supremely talented jerk from the master, Woods’s friend Michael Jordan. Whatever Woods does, he should steer clear of fellow golfer Jesper Parnevic, who is none too pleased about having introduced Woods to Elin Nordegren, now his golf-club-wielding wife.
The golf clubs being waved at the Nets are all merely metaphorical, with no one doubting they are all deserved. As Mike Vaccaro wrote in the Post, it’s really hard to be this bad and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo.com details just how the Nets have earned it. Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger wrote about how the team added insult to injury to its few remaining fans and Ken Berger of CBSSports.com regales us with 18 lowlights in Nets history. Foxsports.com helpfully provides a slideshow of the 10 most pathetic teams in history.
Perhaps it could be worst for the Nets. They could employ Ron Artest, currently mystifying the Lakers, who revealed in an interview in The Sporting News that he used to drink cognac during halftime of games. Of course, that does help explain a lot.
The N.F.L., meanwhile, is still feeling a bit dizzy because of concussions, with Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner the latest to reveal a player’s conundrum when he feels peer pressure from teammates to play through one. A USA Today article discusses why it is so hard to change the sport’s “tough it out and play” culture. Elsewhere, The Sporting News’s Clifton Brown explains why head coaching jobs are tough transitions for coordinators and CBSSports.com’s Pete Prisco and Clark Judge predict Michael Vick will get a warm welcome in Atlanta this Sunday.
Hockey is still debating how Capitals’ superstar Alex Ovechkin will respond to his two-game suspension for kneeing an opponent, with Ovechkin vowing not to change. Others are thankful the Montreal Canadiens will finally stop celebrating themselves this week and perhaps consider focusing on hockey, writes Michael Farber on SI.com. Many teams are happy they do not employ the goalie unfriendly defenseman Keith Ballard, a joy reserved for the Florida Panthers, who followed his stick-swinging K.O. of his own goalie, Tomas Vokoun, with an injury causing tumble into Colorado’s Craig Anderson. The N.H.L. should make him wear a cowbell.
That sound, however, may start to make you cringe if you consider there are people in South Africa proposing a cow sacrifice before World Cup games next summer.
Here, we prefer to watch sterling reputations die, in spectacular fashion.
Follow Leading Off on Twitter: twitter.com/zinsernyt
It seemed a tiny bit fitting that the day Tiger Woods officially fell from grace, the New Jersey Nets fell to new levels of futility, losing their record-setting 18th straight game to start the N.B.A. season in astonishingly incompetent fashion. Even though Woods did not set any records — he became roughly the zillionth athlete to be nabbed for dreaded “transgressions” —the depth of his plunge was astounding. He went from the richest athlete in the world to tabloid fodder in 3.8 GHz. The already pathetic Nets only fell from a four-inch curb.
The sporting world seemed to spend Wednesday measuring Woods’s freefall. It got so bad, the human train wreck John Daly was offering Woods advice (“come clean”) on how to deal with his scandal, which is like getting navigational tips from the captain of the Titanic. Christine Brennan of USA Today tried to take measure of what we learned about Woods since Thanksgiving and found that none of it was good. Robert Lusetich of Foxsports.com was flummoxed by how Woods could have felt he was so bulletproof.
While Michael Bamberger wrote on Golf.com that he did not believe Woods would end up suffering professionally (read: $$), Gary Van Sickle wrote on the same site that Woods’s “brand” has already taken a beating. Dan Wetzel of Yahoo.com points out that this is the bargain you get when you become more of a brand than a person: the culture that makes you ridiculously famous can crush you in a millisecond. Given that culture, Greg Couch of Fanhouse.com is sympathetic to Woods’s pleas for privacy, while knowing they are ludicrously unrealistic. And Jay Busbee writes on Yahoo’s Devil Ball Golf blog that Woods did not help himself with a series of wrong-headed responses, or lack thereof, since last Friday.
Rick Reilly writes on ESPN.com that Woods could actually help himself morphing back into a human and David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune suggests Woods can take tips in overcoming the revelation of that you are a supremely talented jerk from the master, Woods’s friend Michael Jordan. Whatever Woods does, he should steer clear of fellow golfer Jesper Parnevic, who is none too pleased about having introduced Woods to Elin Nordegren, now his golf-club-wielding wife.
The golf clubs being waved at the Nets are all merely metaphorical, with no one doubting they are all deserved. As Mike Vaccaro wrote in the Post, it’s really hard to be this bad and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo.com details just how the Nets have earned it. Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger wrote about how the team added insult to injury to its few remaining fans and Ken Berger of CBSSports.com regales us with 18 lowlights in Nets history. Foxsports.com helpfully provides a slideshow of the 10 most pathetic teams in history.
Perhaps it could be worst for the Nets. They could employ Ron Artest, currently mystifying the Lakers, who revealed in an interview in The Sporting News that he used to drink cognac during halftime of games. Of course, that does help explain a lot.
The N.F.L., meanwhile, is still feeling a bit dizzy because of concussions, with Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner the latest to reveal a player’s conundrum when he feels peer pressure from teammates to play through one. A USA Today article discusses why it is so hard to change the sport’s “tough it out and play” culture. Elsewhere, The Sporting News’s Clifton Brown explains why head coaching jobs are tough transitions for coordinators and CBSSports.com’s Pete Prisco and Clark Judge predict Michael Vick will get a warm welcome in Atlanta this Sunday.
Hockey is still debating how Capitals’ superstar Alex Ovechkin will respond to his two-game suspension for kneeing an opponent, with Ovechkin vowing not to change. Others are thankful the Montreal Canadiens will finally stop celebrating themselves this week and perhaps consider focusing on hockey, writes Michael Farber on SI.com. Many teams are happy they do not employ the goalie unfriendly defenseman Keith Ballard, a joy reserved for the Florida Panthers, who followed his stick-swinging K.O. of his own goalie, Tomas Vokoun, with an injury causing tumble into Colorado’s Craig Anderson. The N.H.L. should make him wear a cowbell.
That sound, however, may start to make you cringe if you consider there are people in South Africa proposing a cow sacrifice before World Cup games next summer.
Here, we prefer to watch sterling reputations die, in spectacular fashion.
Follow Leading Off on Twitter: twitter.com/zinsernyt
Source: New York Times
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