Ok we are back fresh for 2010! We will be updating regularly from here on out. So... I figured I would start with a simple question: Have you read the endless, frequently sanctimonious articles and blogs on Tiger Woods and his copious sexual exploits outside the confines of his marriage? Please stop reading them. Certainly, as a paradigmatic example of a celebrity athlete (see the book Sport Stars: The cultural politics of sporting celebrity by David Andrews & Steven Jackson), we can understand why sportswriters, bloggers, and supermarket tabloid readers would be fascinated in the same way they were with A-Rod and Madonna or TonyRomo and Jessica Simpson. That does not make it worth our time, however. I refuse to care about where Tiger puts his putter...or his driver for that matter. In fact, this is the last time I will even acknowledge it. His life is in the deep rough, for sure, but the economy and the job market are mired in a fiercely devilish sand trap. Let's hope they, at least, get back on the fairway.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Skanky sport celebrity...and manufactured hysteria
Ok we are back fresh for 2010! We will be updating regularly from here on out. So... I figured I would start with a simple question: Have you read the endless, frequently sanctimonious articles and blogs on Tiger Woods and his copious sexual exploits outside the confines of his marriage? Please stop reading them. Certainly, as a paradigmatic example of a celebrity athlete (see the book Sport Stars: The cultural politics of sporting celebrity by David Andrews & Steven Jackson), we can understand why sportswriters, bloggers, and supermarket tabloid readers would be fascinated in the same way they were with A-Rod and Madonna or TonyRomo and Jessica Simpson. That does not make it worth our time, however. I refuse to care about where Tiger puts his putter...or his driver for that matter. In fact, this is the last time I will even acknowledge it. His life is in the deep rough, for sure, but the economy and the job market are mired in a fiercely devilish sand trap. Let's hope they, at least, get back on the fairway.
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Can we agree that professional athlete, politicians, celebrities should be allowed to have a privet life. BUT, nothing in ones own life is private, is it Mr. Butryn? I have not read anything about Tiger Wood's actions and the only reason I know anything about it is because of how over publicized it is in the media. Frankly I don't care what he is doing unless it is about golf (and in that case I still don't care, I dislike golf). I can see where parents would be upset about his actions because TW is a role model for a lot of young kids. Again, if we let him have a private life or didn't let our children get caught up in the massive amounts of poinless, bull shit media that wouldn't be a problem. The reason America cares so much about TW and his name change to "lying cheetah" is because they are wasting away on the couch getting obese living through other people and judging them. TW is not the first person to use his putter/driver on different courses. Other than his name being a "house hold name" because of his golf talent, why the hell do we only care about him? If society wants to waste its time poking at him, they should waste their time calling out every cheater. Get real people. Mind your own business and worry about your own indiscretions!
ReplyDeleteFrom the perspective of business, Tiger Woods is getting free publicity. And that publicity translates to cash. Yes, many of his sponsors are dropping him, but his major source of revenue, Electronic Arts, did not drop him. Why? Because the name Tiger Woods is now a buzzword and because of that the sales of "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10" will most likely to skyrocket. I agree that his private life is non of anyone's business, but he is a celebrity. As a celebrity, he will be scrutinized 24/7. And dirt will be published. Why? Because dirt sells.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that I don't care where Tiger puts his putter. I actually think it's sad to see the United States focus on his affairs when we should be focusing on more important issues in the world. I see why the media is obssesed with him because he became golf's most powerful figure making millions of dollars, but I think that he deserves a private life and that people should leave him alone. It's sad that he cheated on his wife with multiple women, but whats worse is that he is a role model and it makes cheating look acceptable to some people. Whats also shocking is that the viewership lowered for the golf tours especially for the one in San Diego since he is not playing in it and its not surprising how many rich sponsors did not donate to the PGA tour this year. Tiger Woods is only human and we all make mistakes he is entitled to a private life, at least he has a sex addiciton verses a drug or alcohol addiction.
ReplyDeletei don't know why people make such big deals about things like these that do not affect us personally in any way...had i never known about this, i'd still be fine going on about my own life...if we didn't care we wouldn't even bring it up in any way and then say that we don't care...no offense..yeah it's definitely not worth our time but it sells and that's why it's important to many...
ReplyDeleteI don't really feel bad for athletes that find themselves under the microscope. They are being paid millions of dollars to be viewed by the public. Although I am more interested on an athletes ability to perform in their sport, we can't really blame the people who make money off the truth. We can only blame those who are bored enough to watch it.
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate that the situations that athletes get into in their private lives get so publicized in the media. In a lot of ways, it can stain an athlete's image. However, since it is not discussed as often, I wonder if there is an increase in media exploitation and bantering of image if the athlete is not performing well. For example, the Kobe Bryant scandal was acquitted, but the media still portrayed Kobe as if he was ruled guilty. The media talked about this long after the hearing, but eventually moved on to more recent scandals. However, I feel that some of the attention faded away from him also because he was performing so well on the basketball court. This was during the time he was averaging about 40 points a game. The questions I have is, if he wasn't performing so well, would he have looked "more guilty"? Would he have done the same amount of amazing ability if the scandal didn't occur? Is Tiger Woods (and now also Brett Favre) in the same situation? It may not be that serious to investigate, but it seems worthy enough to at least be brought up. Dave Chappelle briefly commented on this as well (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7b5hJ0G_9c).
ReplyDelete-Shane Fandinola
I personally don't think the Tiger Woods issue is a sports story, and I certainly don't think it's news. His cheating is between he and his family. It doesn't impact his abilities as a golfer, and once he starts winning again this will all be forgotten. On another note, if Tiger was single, nobody would have cared one bit about his situation. That's the problem with today's media; rumor, and gossip have taken the place of real news and that's unfortunate.
ReplyDeletePeter C. Kin 164