A teary-eyed Tiger Woods held his much-anticipated press conference this morning. He offered a heart-felt apology to his family, his friends and his fans. He didn’t hold back, recognizing the specific mistakes he made, acknowledging the requests of the media, answering some of the questions people have. He said specifically, looking straight into the camera, “For all I’ve done, I am so sorry.”
The biggest question was whether he would play at the Masters; Without saying specifically, he pretty much said no. He said he hoped to return to golf this year, implying that six weeks from now wasn’t in the cards.
The press has gone out of its way over the last few days to criticize Woods’ statement before he said it. They didn’t like that they wouldn’t be allowed to ask him questions, and they were nearly unanimous in dismissing the validity statement before he even made it. CNN titled the event “Live and scripted.” The Golf Writers Association of America had even voted overwhelmingly to boycott the public statement all together. Throughout the statement, a bitter CNN continually ran a scroll that reminded people that, “Waaaaaaah, we weren’t allowed to ask questions. Waaaaaaah.”
But you couldn’t ask for much more than what Woods delivered this morning. While other athletes, actors and politicians caught in compromising positions deny their transgressions or let it roll of their back, Woods has never denied it, he has taken it very seriously, and he has put his family and rehabilitation ahead of his career. You can’t have handled it more respectfully than Woods has.
As far as athlete apologies go, I have never heard one so sincere and so real.
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 12:44 PM
Meh. I guess we all hear what we want to hear. I agree with some who have said that this scripted and closed “press conference” is the old Tiger trying to control the message. I think it’s too late for that. I do agree with you, though, that this is as sincere as I have ever seen Tiger. (not that I’m some kind of expert on him)
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 2:01 PM
what a bizarre spectacle! those hideous curtains, that Nike-approved statement, that crowd that was there to, uh, do what exactly? He looked like he was doing a eulogy- no doubt for his lost endorsements!
I can’t believe anyone thought this was sincere. like all cheating men he’s just sorry he got caught, let’s be real.
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 2:24 PM
I just don’t understand what you guys want from him. It’s a personal affair between himself and his wife; Yes, it goes against the image he portrayed for years, but what do you want? Do you want him to kill himself? Castrate himself? We’ve seen so many lame apologies over the years, and this one was sincere. He clearly wrote it himself, it was so poorly written.
Seriously, what do you want from him? Is a sit-down with Matt Lauer really going to do anything different? Talk about a spectacle, a press conference would just be a circus. And if he doesn’t want to do it, who cares? I just don’t get the reaction.
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 3:00 PM
the only thing that rang true was that flash of anger towards the media for “fabricating stories”. well newsflash to Tiger, this whole thing is never going to go away until he tells the truth about what happened that night! that’s what i want. i wanna know why he crashed, where he was going, where were his shoes, why did he and his wife have conflicting stories, and why did he turn the cops away? he says he acted entitled, well yeah he sure did, how many other people get to tell the cops who are running an investigation to piss off?? the “celebrity justice” angle is what really bothers me the most.
besides that, the whole rehab, public apology, turn to religion, etc. reads like it’s from a P.R. playbook, call me cynical but with a new EA game coming out soon and a Nike empire at stake this whole thing just rings phony phony phony….
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 3:36 PM
My only question would be “Has he treated others the way he would like to be treated were he in their place?”
I think it’s called the golden rule, or something like that.
His religion is irrelevant.
If he answers that question honestly in his own body, house, church, temple or synagogue and they are one he will find peace.
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 6:22 PM
If this was all about PR and wanting to “control the story,” he would have been doing something months ago. Instead, while everyone else controlled the story he sat quiet.
I guess for every celebrity there are haters who will never accept an apology, no matter how complete it is.. That’s the cynical culture we live in.
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 6:44 PM
Gosh, Cyd, you really care about this one.
I totally agree with you that he doesn’t owe me anything, including an apology (although I’d accept a few free golf lessons if he offered). I don’t hate Tiger. I hate what the media and the fans want from him, and that he allowed them to get to him. The price of fame, I guess. He didn’t say no, that’s for sure.
I hate that his name is in practically every tournament write up, even if he isn’t playing or didn’t place in the top ten. That’s “our” fault for saying (and proving) over and over again that a tournament without Tiger is uninteresting and unwatchable. The sponsors learned that and milk it (and him) for all its worth. So now he makes a big mistake and the media machine he (and we) helped create won’t leave him alone.
I honestly don’t care about this “scandal”. I kind of wish it would just go away.
on Feb 19th, 2010 at 11:49 PM
It wasn’t about controlling the story when it happened. It was about stonewalling the cops and maintaining secrecy. Ironically, it was this secrecy and stonewalling that made everyone so curious about what happened, and maybe led to everything going public the way it did.
on Feb 20th, 2010 at 11:08 AM
At no time did I ever think his statement was sincere. All I saw was a guy – with no emotion – reading a prepared statement that may or may not have been written by him. When the first thing out of his mouth is an apology to the media and his friends, I lost a little more respect for the guy.
It was his first public statement… maybe start off with saying I’m sorry to your wife and kids (he did do that later, but it should have been right off the top).
When A-Rod got busted for PED’s he held his news conference – made a statement and then took questions from various media members. If I recall correctly there were a couple of questions he didn’t answer, which is fair. Why couldn’t Tiger have done the same?
Answer a few questions… but make it clear that he would NOT go into any details surrounding the times he fooled around.
But no – he hid behind his statement, his mom looked bored to death, and this whole thing looked amateur at best.
With that said… I do wish him luck as he tries to piece his life back together. I do hope that he’s able to keep his family together and I do hope that he returns to golf sooner rather than later.
on Feb 20th, 2010 at 12:48 PM
The issue I’ve had all along with Tiger Woods has been how the press and golfing world has treated him like the Second Coming. So naturally when it was revealed that he can mess up just like the rest of us, everyone was aghast. When the scandal broke the big question was “OH MY GOD WHAT WILL THIS DO FOR GOLF???” To that I say “NOTHING!!!!!” Professional golf has done just fine before Tiger Woods entered the sport. And professional golf will do just fine after he leaves it.
on Feb 20th, 2010 at 1:36 PM
Whew! I am ever glad that’s over with. I’ve not been able to function properly since I found out Tiger had cheated on me.
Couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, just couldn’t get through the days since I discovered his betrayal. How could he do this to me? Why did he do this to me? Did I not cheer loud enough? Did I not buy enough Nikes or Buicks? I wish we could have talked first…
Who gives a rats…Get over yourself Tiger and the media monsters who think everybody cares what you do with your putter off the green.
But if you EVER interrupt my Olympics again buddy, we’re through!
on Feb 20th, 2010 at 2:42 PM
One of my favourite no BS allowed columnists is Toronto Star’s Rosie DiManno. I LUV her take on yesterday’s ‘press conference’
http://www.thestar.com/sports/golf/woods/article/768647–dimanno-what-tiger-woods-was-really-trying-to-say?bn=1
on Feb 21st, 2010 at 7:52 PM
This was a non-apology meant to save his face with the sponsors, end of story. Maybe he’s sorry he got caught. Maybe he was sincere in receiving his treatment, I don’t know. But this statement was for the sponsors, and not necessary, IMO. He needs to spend time with his wife and kids and let his family heal.
The only time I felt any sincerity was when he attacked the press for following his wife and kids. That’s it. The rest was read off a teleprompter for the sake of Nike, et al.
on Feb 27th, 2010 at 5:46 PM
You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can fool Outsports every time.