Tiger Woods: The Butterfly Effect

I can’t believe we haven’t seen a slew of fake Accenture adds. Those adds are just too easy to mock now. “Go on. Be a Tiger.” indeed.

Thanks – great stuff. Golf prickery aside.
 
The HGH angle is REALLY interesting. That’s more damaging to the PGA than the bimbos if it explodes.

Tiger’s just another facet of the sports bubble that’s either on the verge of popping or in the midst of it.

It could be just as ugly as the housing market collapse, though with fewer casualties. We’re seeing the opening rounds of it with the WNBA acting like the subprime canary in the coal mine. Lower-table British FA clubs and Div 2 college football programs too.

I think Jerry got his boondoggle in just under the wire.

CJD, I almost posted something just like this.

What are the odds that Tiger doesn’t end up in historians’ lectures on our age of excess?

Anyone who hires accenture derves what they get – overpriced undifferentiated generic consulting usually delivered by underqualified BBAs waiting around for their next job.

They go to trade shows in my industry and must roll out a $50k-$100k booth full of Tiger posters and giveaway crap. I legitimately feel sorry for people who talk to them because they are about to pay way more than they should for what they’re going to get.

I know there are some good people who work there, but the money they spend on this marketing effort, IMO, shows what a poor choice they would be for consulting advice.

Relating that post back to the point of the article – I think everyone on tour is about to take a massive pay cut as accenture realizes it was not money well spent. Others are going to catch on as well.

Golf and baseball — two sports (and that’s assuming golf is a sport) about which increasingly nobody gives a damn.

If it is proven that this loser was juicing, he can kiss what is left of his career good bye

I remember “way back when”, like, 2 weeks ago, when people on this board told the rest of us that his transgression would have no effect on his sponsorship. A similar concept was that the transgressions wouldn’t cost him anything more than his “air tight” prenup, which has since been upped by $60million.

I think it is naive to posit that if he comes back and wins, things go back to the way they were for Woods. He has pulled everyone down the rabbit hole with him, and there isn’t any going back. And it isn’t pretty.

Have an affair with someone and get busted, then apologize and straighten out or get divorced, and much of the world can forgive you. Fuck 20 whores, porn stars, and waitresses, get associated to an ongoing performance enhancing drug investigation, admonish the public for following you as they did when you were king, and never stand up and own up, and I am not sure folks are going to be that willing to embrace you.

“But everyone loves a winner!”. Not really. We have plenty of those. Ask Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds about being loved as a winner. Or Roger Clemens.

You are wrong on his ability to have a complete comeback. I did enjoy the post, though.

Yeah I should have been clearer CTJ, I don’t share the opinion of some PR types that all will be forgiven. I think it is a huge mistake for Tiger to go on his yacht and just disappear for a while. A mea culpa would seem to be in order right about now.

Phil Knight thinks it will all go away. He said, that when Woods’ career is over “you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip,”

Of course if any of Woods sponsors can feel that way it is Nike. Maybe they lose a few of the casual or part-time golfers, and they probably don’t sell as many red shirts for a while, but I think the hardcore golfing fan drawn to Nike golf equipment will still be there.

My bad, then, srr50. I think those guys are wrong, as opposed to you, since that isn’t your position.

Knight and Nike have been rewarded for standing by their guys before. Michael Jordan was busted for affairs and being a motherfucker, but it did little damage. What Knight isn’t accounting for in this situation is that this isn’t 1993. Things like the blogosphere, Twitter, camera phones, and the ubiquity of the Internet make transgressions much more front of mind for the average viewer.

There isn’t a ton of risk for Nike, compared to the other sponsors. Tag, Buick, AmEx, and Accenture, these are products for the elite or pseudo-elite in some manner. Nike isn’t. Nike is about winning, pure and simple. If they did a commercial with Pete Rose, OJ Simpson, and Jose Canseco, I doubt most folks would bat an eye.

Plus Nike’s entirely married to Woods — he essentially started their golf brand. Without him, they’re truly Israelites wandering in the desert.

Meanwhile, we need a GB&U on the Woods harem.

“overpriced undifferentiated generic consulting” – I can’t stop giggling over this. I’ve often thought the same thing tho – who the fuck pays for this bullshit?! Don’t these large companies have enough in-house brains to figure out their own problems? And to think Accenture makes enough to spend $15 mil per year on Tiger Woods ads while I’d be willing to wager 99% of Americans do not even know what Accenture is or does.

Crazy Joe, great point about the sports bubble. I think we’ll see a free fall in terms of dollars spent across the sports spectrum from here out. There definitely won’t be another Jerry World for the forseeable future.

I think he should just take this opportunity to re-brand himself. Instead of Gillette adds, go for Axe. Contact GoDaddy.com. He could be the star of the ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ campaigns! Embrace his new tabloid magazine driven self and be the next playboy. He could then target Will Chamberlain’s legend and be all he can be and do all he can do.

I plan to spend some time discussing steroids and baseball if I can get free of performance reviews and do my next installment, but the HGH thing is huge if there’s some fire with that smoke. Golf, as I understand it, may have a double secret testing regime that is kept out of the media limelight, but it is largely unregulated in that regard. Generally, folks dismiss use of PE in golf because of basic misconceptions about PE. Folks think of bulked up body builders unable to straighten their arms and teetering around in comical outfits. PE come in many forms, and a whole wing of them involve the ability to recover and heal more quickly from exercise/injury and improving functional strength. Combined with rigorous flexibility training, one can improve overall athletic performance without looking like Ronnie Coleman. It’s the same line of thought that indicated pitchers would never juice, until the testing went into effect and pitcher started getting caught regularly. They didn’t want it for the strength, they wanted it to get their arm to bounce back quicker.

I’ve always suspected that performance enhancing chemicals are at play in the golfing world, especially since the rise of rigorous training that came with Tiger. As courses started to “Tiger-proof” by lengthening, driving distance becomes among the most paramount abilities of anybody hoping to win.

Bates, have you ever played four round of golf in four consecutive days? I’m not in great shape, but I’m no couch potato either, and I’ve done that a few times in my life. I was beat. Now imagine doing that 30 weeks per year, combined with hitting the practice range, putting green, playing scouting rounds on Monday or Tuesday, and travelling each and every week. Hell yeah these guys are loading up on something. And, I’m surprised they have any time to chase tail (I guess it Tiger’s case it didn’t involve any chasing, just laying the err…woods).

How many tournaments were sponsored by car companies? Buick had at least three. I don’t think the trouble with that industry has wound its way through the tournament sponsorship landscape yet. I imagine there will be fewer cars to win on par threes this season and next.

I have not, but I know how much wear and tear my body accumulates from lifting 3-4 times a week as a 36 year old and taking something to allow you to bounce back would sure be nice if not for the heinous side effects. I can’t imagine the aches and pains the average professional athelete endures over the course of any season.

You hit the nail on the head BatesHorn. I’m somewhat amazed at the lack of knowledge about PED’s from the majority of sports fans. Then again…. I shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of critical thinking from Fast Food Nation.

I am not sure there is that much of a lack of knowledge. 5 years ago, sure. With the busts of Pettite and Clemens and the claims on Armstrong, I feel like even casual obeservers are willing to believe that athletes in any sport might be cheating. Maybe living in Houston has made folks here hyper-aware because of the two pitchers I mentioned that live here, but I am iffy that it’s a local thing.

CTJ, I agree that there is much more awareness today that athletes in various sports are cheating, but I don’t believe that equates to knowledge or understanding of PED’s. Most casual sports fans don’t know that as many (or more) pitchers are using PED’s than everyday players. Most fans think golf is 100% clean of users because they don’t understand the various categories of PED’s, and how athletes are using them to gain an advantage.

Most casual sports fans also associate PEDs with “getting huge” and don’t realize that the most effective and sophisticated of them can’t be reliably tested for.

Again, I am in Houston, so maybe my perception of the “casual sports fan” is different because of the huge local news coverage of Pettite and Clemens, but most folks here have an awareness of what’s actually going on.

Here’s a funny quote to make you smile :)
You’re just jealous because the voices are talking to me and not you! :)