Tiger Woods was seriously injured in a car accident

[Wino]

I guess you feel the same way towards Tiger. According to this report, it looks like Tiger may be paying off his wife for the sake of his career and sponsors. "Not only has Woods issued a public apology on his web site, but the The Daily Beast reports that he will pay his wife, Elin Nordegren, $5 million upfront and another $55 million to persuade her to stay in their marriage for another 24 months."

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/12/03/tiger-woods-reportedly-to-pay-wife-up-to-80-million-to-stay-wit/?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyfinance.com%2F2009%2F12%2F03%2Ftiger-woods-reportedly-to-pay-wife-up-to-80-million-to-stay-wit%2F

[Beer Chang]

Usually you have to pay the big bucks to get them to leave.

[Bob]

The Daily Beast reports that he will pay his wife, Elin Nordegren, $5 million upfront and another $55 million to persuade her to stay in their marriage for another 24 months."

As PT Barnum said, there's one born every minute. The Daily Beast? Probably edited by one of those guys who the aliens probed. But, frankly, how they would have any inkling of what Tiger and his wife are discussing with lawyers (if anything at all) is way beyond me.....and I wouldn't believe that stuff for a nanosecond.

[lvdkeyes]

IF, and I mean IF, Tiger is paying his wife, it is far from the same thing as a mistress selling her story to the tabloids.

[Wino]

The way I look at it, it is an outrage that these women are airing their dirty laundry in public. I agree their sex lives should be a private matter. It is a shame people don’t see those silly queens in the same light. They go round trying to “out†people and think it is okay because the end justifies the means.

In this day and age people are out to get what they can. Tiger Woods is a multi-million dollar enterprise. Tiger is out to protect the brand. The mistresses are trying to get what they think they deserve. To call these women money grabbing bitches is rather one-sided. Tiger has a beautiful wife and kids and he is out cheating? What would you call Tiger? How about stupid!

[lvdkeyes]

I don't defend Tiger's actions, but I stand by my description of these women as money grabbing bitches.

[Bob]

What does or doesn't happen sexually between Tiger, his wife, and other women isn't any of our business and should never be the subject of public discourse. Just my opinion. Again, at least in my view, the discussion going on in the press about their private lives says more the press and readership than it does about Tiger and his wife. Again, just my view.

As to some rag reporter saying he knows anything about what is (or what isn't) happening between Tiger and his wife and their respective attorneys is pure and unadulterated bullshit. None of those lawyers would say a word about what was discussed (or not discussed) with their respective clients as it would be against their code of ethics to do so (and could lose their license to practice over it) and, besides, they'd be easily civilly sued for millions - and don't think for a nanosecond that Tiger or the wife wouldn't go after their attorneys if one of them so much as even acknowledged that there was a meeting with their client let alone anything about what was discussed at such a meeting.

[Wino]

Tiger hath forsaken his followers according to the following article. As if he really cares?

The "First Church of Tiger Woods" has decided to close its doors after Woods' "personal sins" forced the leader of the church, Pastor John Ziegler, to condemn the professional golfer.

On the church's website - tigerwoodsisgod.com - Ziegler slams the man the church once called the "true messiah."

"The events of the past few days have revealed Tiger to be a serial adulterer, a blatant liar, and a selfish coward," Ziegler writes on a recent web site post.

"Tiger is clearly no longer deserving of being seen as a role model or a hero and he has needlessly squandered his unique potential to be a positive force in our country and the world."

The website, now re-named "The Damnation of Tiger Woods," lists the evidence of Tiger's divinity, has various prayers and hymns dedicated to the golfer, and also lists "The 10 Tiger Commandments."

Zeigler says the Web site will cease to exist once the lease on the domain name runs out in a few months.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=456&sid=1830034

[Wino]

Saturday Night Live really comes up with some funny stuff. This is there take on the Tiger Woods hoopla.

NEW YORK – Tiger Woods and his marital problems proved a tempting target for "Saturday Night Live."

In both a skit and multiple "Weekend Update" jokes this weekend, NBC's comedy institution took on the golfer, who has admitted to letting his family down with "transgressions" that came to light following a strange Thanksgiving weekend incident outside his Florida home.

In one skit, actor Jason Sudeikis portrayed Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "Situation Room" reporting on a news conference that Woods (played by Kenan Thompson) and his wife (played by host Blake Lively) were holding outside his home. After Woods admitted to "multiple" transgressions, his wife looked surprised and the screen quickly shifted back to Blitzer.

"Breaking news," Blitzer said. "Tiger Woods is back in the hospital. "Apparently just hours after a press conference where he confessed to multiple transgressions, Woods had an accident in his home where he fell down a flight of stairs then inadvertently threw himself through a plate glass window."

Woods returned for a later news conference, his wife brandishing a golf club next to him, where he said, "Wow, I've been really clumsy this week."

He had more such "accidents," then returns to read a prepared statement with the words "help me" and "I'm scared" written on the back of the papers for the audience to see.

In "Weekend Update," anchor Seth Meyers peppered Woods with one-liners.

"Last Friday Tiger Woods hit a tree and a bunch of ladies fell out," he said.

Meyers noted that Woods and his wife were in negotiations over their prenuptial agreement, and "what's really weird is he presented her with one of those huge, oversized checks."

Woods' sponsors are sticking with him, Meyers said, "a gesture that only means one thing — women don't watch golf."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091206/ap_on_en_tv/us_tv_tiger_woods

[Wino]

Tiger's problem really blew up in his face and the story keeps on going. Here is an article discussing why this turned into such a big story.

By Jay Busbee As we wind down from TigerCrashGate -- yes, it's true, we're almost done, at least until he returns to the course -- it's worth taking a look at the way that this story spiraled from one-car hydrant-bump to worldwide scandal, one whose cost will eventually be measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Here's the key question to all of this: did we need to know about Tiger Woods' secret, off-the-course life? Many argue that this is an unforgivable invasion of a family's privacy, that we're interested in Tiger Woods as a golfer, not as a family man. As long as he keeps sinking long putts on Sunday afternoons, who cares what he does later that evening?

But that just-golf-it mindset doesn't account for the fact that Woods is not "just a golfer," he's the public face of an entire corporation. What he does on his own time is not his own business, not when his actions can do financial harm to those who have invested hundreds of millions in his image. That financial impact, not the "more mistresses or more majors?" question, is the real story here.

Still, the reason why this scandal exploded the way it did is because Woods' secret dealings were allowed to continue unabated, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The more Woods got away with his misdeeds, the bolder -- and stupider -- he got. (Leaving your name on a voicemail? Sending texts from your own phone? Really, Tiger?)

Part of this is surely because of the coverage bubble that Woods enjoyed for all of his career, a bubble that was born fully formed in Gary Smith's absurdly over-the-top introduction/sanctification of Woods in a legendary 1996 Sports Illustrated article entitled "The Chosen One." The see-no-evil approach to Tiger then dominated the golf media for more than a decade, partly because everyone was so in awe of Woods, and partly because Woods would cut off any access to any media outlet daring to poke around the edges of the mystique.

Did Tiger Woods have everyone fooled? Did the golf media know about Tiger's affairs and cover them up? Did everyone just happen to look the other way at the proper time? Those are questions that each media member will have to answer for him- or herself, but here's one huge clue: there are several golf media members who have not written a single word about this, the biggest story to hit golf in decades. Why? Well, you'd have to ask them, but it's a fair bet that they're setting themselves up as good guys when Tiger eventually does return. ("See, Tiger? All those other guys piled on, but I didn't! I'm still your pal!") On the flip side, credit longtime golf writers like Steve Elling who actually did call out Woods, knowing full well that they'll find that next one-on-one interview that much tougher -- if not impossible -- to secure.

Many in the golf media got completely outplayed on this story because of their insistence that it was no golf story at all, it was nothing but celebrity garbage, tawdry trash-digging that was beneath them. And again, if it was nothing but the personal affairs of a private family, that would be true. But Tiger's absence from the Tour is going to cost people and corporations hundreds of millions of dollars and fundamentally alter the game of golf for the short term -- so, yeah, that very much is a golf story.

Journalists who complain that the tabloids were setting the agenda in this story should have been practicing a little shoe-leather journalism themselves. After the initial revelation on the day before Thanksgiving that Rachel Uchitel was somehow involved with Woods, it was a blogger who trumped the mainstream media and first contacted her. In the absence of comments from Team Tiger, the tabloids filled in the gaps, and despite their "bat boy/UFO abduction" rep, were on the whole more accurate than not. (Tiger's admission of "infidelities" plural is a testament to that.)

More at http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Tiger-Woods-in-the-news-tabloid-reveleations-an?urn=golf,208325

[Beer Chang]

Woods' sponsors are sticking with him, Meyers said, "a gesture that only means one thing — women don't watch golf."

Accenture just cut it's ties with Tiger.

[Wino]

As the Tiger Woods saga drags on, there is talk that AT&T may be the next to drop Tiger.

[Beer Chang]

Accenture, as if Tiger Woods Were Never There

By BRIAN STELTER

How do you Tiger-proof an entire corporation? At Accenture, you start by telling employees to tear down all the posters that say, now somewhat awkwardly, that “we know what it takes to be a Tiger.â€

For six years, Tiger Woods was the advertising face for Accenture, the big consulting firm. But now that Mr. Woods has confessed to infidelities amid an assault of media coverage, Accenture wants him to disappear.

On Sunday, hours after Accenture ended its sponsorship deal, the golfer’s face was replaced by an anonymous skier on the company’s home page. His name was scrubbed almost completely from the rest of the Web site. The company’s advertising campaign is about “high performance,†and Mr. Woods “just wasn’t a metaphor for high performance anymore,†a spokesman for Accenture, Fred Hawrysh, said.

By Monday afternoon, Accenture staffers had swept through the company’s New York office and removed any visible Tiger posters. The next day, marketing and communications employees around the world were asked to turn in any remaining Tiger-emblazoned posters and other materials. Accenture marketing employees did not respond to requests for comment about the Tiger purge on Wednesday.

Accenture said it did not tell all of its 177,000 worldwide employees to toss their Tiger T-shirts, caps and tchotchkes away. But when asked about branded merchandise, Mr. Hawrysh said, “Our intention is to ensure we are no longer using it internally or externally.â€

But it takes time to erase the golfer’s identity completely. Accenture spent $50 million on advertising in the United States last year, and Mr. Woods appeared in 83 percent of the company’s ads — far more than for any of his other major sponsors — according to TNS Media Intelligence.

The remaining billboards and ads, now outdated, inspire smirks and jokes. In ads at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, Tiger is seen crouching on the green, studying a golf ball’s trajectory and endorsing outsourcing. In Atlanta, he is posed as The Thinker, adorned with a Nike hat, promoting management consulting. At Dulles International outside Washington, he is peering into the distance, dark clouds on the horizon. That ad, forebodingly, says it is “tougher than ever to be a Tiger.â€

“The Accenture ads with Tiger finally make sense,†Quentin George, the chief digital officer for Interpublic Mediabrands, an advertising holding company, remarked on Twitter Wednesday.

Mr. Woods provided a big boost to Accenture when he became the company’s worldwide public face in 2003. At the time, the Accenture name was less than three years old, and was still regularly called by its old name, Andersen Consulting. The campaign’s initial theme was “Go on. Be a Tiger.â€

Mr. Woods “was a powerful device for our advertising, there’s no doubt about it,†Mr. Hawrysh said.

But as allegations of Mr. Woods’s extramarital affairs spread in recent weeks, the titan of golf was transformed into a distraction. In the early days of the media frenzy, Mr. Woods still greeted visitors to Accenture’s Web site next to the words, “It’s What You Do Next That Counts.†Then on Sunday, the company proclaimed that Mr. Woods was “no longer the right representative†for its advertising and began scrubbing his name and face away.

On Tuesday, that meant telling staff members in an e-mail message to review their sales pitches and slide shows to ensure that they “no longer include Tiger Woods.†In New York, employees were asked to bring posters and other physical assets to the company’s front desk for disposal. The company would not comment on exactly how they would be disposed of.

They may be trying to avoid having the materials recast as collectors’ items. Already, some Accenture magazine ads and memorabilia, including an Accenture Match Play Tiger Woods Caddy Bib, are on eBay (Asking price for the bib: $175.)

Mr. Woods’s private life remains a daily topic on TV talk shows and Web sites, but some of his sponsors, including Nike, have stayed by his side. Nike’s chairman, Phil Knight, told The Sports Business Journal last week that when Mr. Woods’s career “is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip.â€

Accenture, however, is already preparing a new ad campaign. Jon Swallen, a senior vice president for research for TNS Media Intelligence, said it seemed notable that the consulting firm chose not to hide under a no-comment cloak or hire a new celebrity spokesman; instead, it separated from Mr. Woods publicly and swiftly.

“It struck me that they were taking him to the woodshed,†Mr. Swallen said.

[Wino]

Looks like the Daily Beast and other tabloid were right on when they reported about poor old Tiger. Hard to believe that those money grabbing bitches would say so many lies about the sportman of the decade! Here is an article that discusses the possiblity of Tiger being addicted to sex. Is Tiger Woods a sex addict? What do you think?

(Dec. 10) -- As the Tiger Woods scandal(s) head for a third week, the perhaps inevitable question is being asked: Is he a sex addict? Thursday morning, following the lead of CBS, ABC's "Good Morning America" and NBC's "Today" devoted segments to the topic, completing its evolution from tabloid speculation to mainstream conversation starter. And not surprisingly, a myriad of experts have availed themselves to the media to offer up their professional judgments, including executive director of L.A.'s Sexual Recovery Institute Robert Weiss and sports psychologist Richard Lustberg.

But if these counselors and psychologists have never had a one-on-one (and here we mean a therapy session) with the golfer, what are they basing their diagnoses on? If you've been following the saga, you'll recognize some of the purported evidence:

One of Tiger Woods'alleged mistresses, Holly Sampson.

He led a double life.

A week after details of Woods' extramarital affairs began to emerge, the Woods mistress count includes two porn stars, a lingerie model and a host of waitresses. Weiss told CBS' "The Early Show" that living very different public and private lives -- keeping covered a "hot bubble of secrets" -- is classic sex addict behavior.

He did it again -- and again.

So far, 13 women have been named, or named themselves, as alleged flings. Manhattan author and therapist Bonnie Eaker Weil said of Woods' situation that repetitive cheating is an addiction. "What begins with a desire to relieve stress or mute depression easily progresses to a preoccupation with where their next 'fix' will come from," she wrote in a news release. As Lustberg told ABC News, pro athletes, accustomed to the rush of celebrity, often look to sex for a similar high.

He liked it outside.

Woods reportedly had sex in a church parking lot with 33-year-old diner waitress Mindy Lawton. David Smallwood, addictions manager at London's Priory clinic, told Britain's News of the World that publicly chancy behavior signals an uncontrollable craving. "Outdoor sex is a way of creating excitement," he said. "The more sex he has, the more he will want, and the more outlandish he will try to make it.

He eschewed protection.

Us Weekly reported that during cocktail waitress Jaimie Grubbs' 31-month affair with the golfer, Woods never wanted to use protection. Lawton's sister, Lynn, concurred. "It's self-destructive behavior," psychotherapist Rhonda Findling, author of "Don't Call That Man!" told the magazine. "Sometimes it's just momentary stupidity, but this seems like sexual addiction."

He left documentation.

In a series of now-public text messages with Grubbs, Woods alluded to sex and asked for naked photos. Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of VH1's "Sex Rehab With Dr. Drew," told CBS News that addiction "has people doing things that don't make sense." Grubbs claims to have more than 300 text messages from Woods saved on her phone and has released a voicemail she says is from Woods, asking her to change the name on her caller ID, saying that "my wife may be calling you."

He seemed to almost want to get busted.

Along with his many far-flung rendezvous, Woods reportedly took at least one woman home with him. Lawton has said she slept with Woods at the Florida home he shares (shared?) with wife Elin Nordegren and their two young children. As Pinsky told CNN, "most of these guys want to get caught."

All the same, though, a sex addiction diagnosis might prove to be Woods' get-out-of-jail card; it's a defense that's allowed celebs like David Duchovny and Michael Douglas to maintain both their careers and their famous wives. "Once you medicalize it ... then the guy has an excuse," Columbia University psychologist Judy Kuriansky told ABC. At the very least, claiming sex addiction might work better than arguing that his indiscretions were just Tiger being Tiger, as Psychology Today writer Stanton Peele seems to have argued. "The same single-mindedness, skill set and gift for robotic calculation that make Tiger Woods the world's greatest golfer," Peele wrote, "make him an avatar of the bedroom." Meow!

http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/tiger-woods

[Beer Chang]

He liked it outside.

Woods reportedly had sex in a church parking lot with 33-year-old diner waitress Mindy Lawton. David Smallwood, addictions manager at London's Priory clinic, told Britain's News of the World that publicly chancy behavior signals an uncontrollable craving. "Outdoor sex is a way of creating excitement," he said. "The more sex he has, the more he will want, and the more outlandish he will try to make it.

Next shoe to drop was that he did it on the 13th fairway.

[Wino]

Here is a humours Christmas poem about the Woods saga.

Twas the night of Thanksgiving and out of the house

Tiger Woods came a flyin', chased by his spouse.

She wielded a nine iron and wasn't too merry,

Cause a bimbo's phone number was in his Blackberry.

He'd been cheatin' on Elin, and the story progressed.

Woman after woman stepped up and confessed.

He'd been cheatin' with Holly, and Jaimee, and Cori,

With Joselyn, and Kalika. The world had the story.

From the top of the Tour to the basement of blues,

Tiger's sad sordid tale was all over the news.

With hostesses, waitresses, he had lots of sex,

When not in their pants, he was sendin' them texts.

Despite all his cryin' and beggin' and pleadin',

Tiger's wife went investin' -- a new home in Sweden .

And I heard her exclaim from her white Escalade,

"If you're gettin' laid then I'm gettin' paid."

She's not pouting, in fact, she is of jolly good cheer,

Her prenup made Christmas come early this year.

[Beer Chang]

Good one Wino!

[Wino]

Thanks, Chang. There some clever stuff on the internet.

[Wino]

According to these two University of California professors, Tiger's affair has cost his company's sponsors $12 billion. I am not so sure but here is the story.By Bill Lindelof | Sacramento Bee

SACRAMENTO — Two University of California, Davis, professors have pinned the loss to shareholders from Tiger Woods' marital infidelity at up to $12 billion.

The researchers said the new study speaks to the question of whether celebrity sponsorship has an impact on a firm's bottom line.

"Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods' stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too," said Victor Stango, professor of economics.

Stango and fellow economics professor Christopher Knittel studied the stock market for 13 days after Woods crashed his car outside his Florida home on Nov. 27. Since then, several women have said they had romantic affairs with Woods.

Woods eventually confessed to infidelity and lost major sponsorships.

The UCD economists compared returns for Wood's sponsors to those of the total stock market and of each sponsor's closet competitor, a UC Davis news release states.

The study focused on nine sponsors: Accenture, American Express, AT&T, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf (Electronic Arts), Gillette, Nike, Gatorade, TLC Laser Eye Centers and Golf Digest.

Shareholder value fell 2.3 percent -- or about $12 billion. The pattern of losses is unlikely to stem from ordinary variation of stock prices, the researchers stated in their study.

Investors in three sport's-related companies -- Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf, Gatorade and Nike -- fared the worst, experiencing a 4.3 percent loss, or about $6 billion.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/81367.html

[lvdkeyes]

It's a sad commentary on society that a person's sex life has such an impact.

[Wino]

It is a sad commentary on today's society. Especially these loon that try to out people. Really sad!

[lvdkeyes]

We have had this discussion before.

[Wino]

We have had this discussion before and I am glad you believe that a person’s sex life, whether gay or straight, should be private. Let's leave it at that.

[Bob]

I don't know about it being solely "private" but I simply don't understand why anybody cares about whether somebody is heterosexual, homosexual, or any shade in between. When I meet or interact with somebody, it's not exactly the first thing that pops into my head but that's not true of some people.

A month ago, while attending a language class, a 50-some-year-old male Aussie leaned over to me and said: "You know that "X" (another adult male classmate) is gay? That's what "Y" (another male adult classmate) says."

I didn't give a rat's ass other than I was a bit pissed off that the Aussie seemed to think I'd care one way or the other. I didn't react at first but later leaned over to him and said: "Hey, I heard that "Z" is actually a heterosexual! Can you f___king believe it?!?" He didn't reply (as he had no clue if I was being sarcastic or not....and, yea, I was...).

[lvdkeyes]

A person who would make such a comment to a relative stranger is a moron. It's no wonder he didn't get your point.