As hard as Tiger Woods and Nike try to contain and control the spin on Woods' return to golf, the tighter the controls, the more rabid the media will become.
Woods will "speak to a small group of friends, colleagues and close associates," Friday morning at 10:00 central time, and it will be carried live by every broadcast network with the possible exception of The Soap Opera Network.
Woods won't take any questions, won't have any reporters (except for some hand-picked golf writers) in the room, and will allow only one pool camera to record the event.
Despite the restrictions, Katie Couric of CBS, Matt Lauer of NBC and George Stephanopoulos will all anchor live coverage for their networks. They won't be alone. Fox, Fox Business, CNN, MSNBC, and Headline News Network will all carry it live.
AS for the WWL, they have it covered. Woods will be carried live on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPN.com, ESPN Radio and ESPN Mobile.
With no access to Woods, those high-priced anchors will no doubt spend lots of time after Woods is finished reading his statement speculating with all sorts of "experts" just exactly what spin to put on all of this.
Oh joy.
All of this overkill can be attributed to a story that has all the ingredients - sex, lies, and audiotape. It is centered around the most recognized, and highest compenstated athlete active today.
There is another extra added benefit for the media in all of this. Woods has carefully constructed a persona over the past decade that allowed fans, media and sponsors to Look, But Don't Touch.
All that changed with the car accident on Thansgiving night along with the revelation that the number of his "girlfriends" equaled that of his Major Tournament wins. Nobody likes to be controlled to the extent that Woods handlers controlled the media. Woods' image finally has a cut, and the sharks are circling.
Dan Jenkins has never hid his admiration for Woods' talent, nor his distaste for Woods allowing himself to become a "spoiled, pampered, hidden, guarded, orchestrated and entited" athlete.
In the latest addition of Golf Digest Jenkins makes clear that he has little sympathy for Woods.
I covered Tiger winning his 14 professional majors, but I can't say that I know him. I knew the smile he put on for TV. I knew the orchestrated remarks he granted us in his press room interviews. I knew the air he punched when another outgageous putt went in the cup.
That's it.
I once made an effort to get to know the old silicone collector. Tried to arrange dinners with him for a little Q-and-A, on or off the record, his choice. But the closest I ever got was this word from his agent:
"We have nothing to gain."
Now it's too late.
I'm busy.
As long as Woods and company try to control the spin and keep him from really answering questions, lots of the press will be busy trying to shred his public persona even further.