Sean Gregory of Time looks at how the PGA Tour's TV partners are treating Tiger Woods.
TMC
Last weekend on Saturday Night Live, NBC drove Tiger Woods hard. In a
skit, faux Tiger and wife Elin held a press conference, which got
interrupted after a surprised Elin heard Tiger admit he had made
"multiple transgressions." The shot cut away, but then Tiger returned,
arm in a sling, claiming that he accidentally fell down a flight of
stairs and "launched [himself] through a plate-glass window." The
audience chuckled. In the Weekend Update segment, Seth Meyers teed
Tiger up, noting that his sponsors were sticking with him, "a gesture
that only means one thing — women don't watch golf."
But the following afternoon, during NBC's telecast of the Chevron
World Challenge, a golf tournament that raises money for Woods'
foundation, it was: Tiger who? At the top of the program, NBC anchor
Dan Hicks read a statement from Woods, who skipped the tournament,
officially because of injuries sustained during his mysterious car
crash. The statement thanked Woods' sponsors, and the infamous word
transgressions was never uttered, not even once. The cameras then
tailed the likes of Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell around the course,
the unacknowledged elephant squatting on every tee, blanketing every
bunker shot. Awkward.
(See the top 10 awkward moments of 2009.)
As the scandal over Tiger Woods' alleged multiple affairs keeps
expanding, NBC's experience that afternoon underscores the tricky lie
in which the networks that broadcast golf now find themselves. No
single athlete has the power to propel, or derail, his sport more than
Woods. He's the meal ticket, the key to big ratings, and it's in each
network's interest to stay in Woods' good graces — whatever that
means.
Granted, no one has ever mistaken sports programming for 60 Minutes.
But sportscasters still owe us an honest minute or two to dissect the
golf story of the year, if not the decade. Especially when the story
is exploding, and you are stuck with the somewhat sad irony of the
Woods saga's unfolding during the same week as his charity
tournament.
(See the top 10 scandals of 2009.)
The Golf Channel, whose very existence can be credited to Woods, is
similarly skirting the issue. "We had news reporters all over the
place on Friday [Nov. 27, the day when Woods' car accident went
public] and Saturday and Sunday and Monday," says Tom Stathakes,
programming chief for the Golf Channel. "But I'm not in the business
of talking about 10 of Tiger's girlfriends."
But as the number of Woods' alleged paramours reaches double digits,
doesn't this potentially reckless behavior become news? Can you ignore
the sensational story rocking your game with a straight face? Woods'
sponsors aren't completely looking the other way. According to Nielsen
Co., no Woods ads have aired since shortly after the scandal broke.
And Pepsi announced that it would drop a Gatorade drink that pays
homage to Woods, though the company insists the move was planned
before the scandal arose.
(See the top 10 sports moments of 2009.)
TIME asked the three networks that broadcast major golf events — NBC,
CBS and ABC/ESPN — to talk about how they have handled the issue. Why
did NBC pretty much ignore the scandal last weekend? Dick Ebersol,
president of NBC Sports, offered only this pabulum: "We said what we
thought was appropriate to be said given the continuing tabloid nature
of the story. We were there to cover a golfing competition. I'm
certain there will be a much clearer set of established facts when our
PGA Tour coverage resumes next year." CBS will broadcast what some
golf pundits expect to be Woods' first event since the car incident,
the San Diego Open, Jan. 30-31. The network refused to comment.
Mike Tirico, lead golf announcer for ABC/ESPN, said, "The person
putting on the TV is coming to watch golf. They're not coming for TMZ
or Entertainment Tonight. I've heard people say, 'I don't want to hear
that. We came to watch the game. If we want that other stuff, we'll go
watch SportsCenter or read about it online.' Dwelling on it for two
hours, when it's not impacting the competition, wouldn't make much
sense."
(See more about Tiger Woods.)
Woods' absence does change the competition, though. Without him in the
field, guys like Bo Van Pelt can win tournaments. Quietly. Woods
touches everything in golf. Tirico described the ratings disparity
between events Woods plans and those he skips as "frightening."
Tirico insisted that, at ESPN, the debate about how much news to cover
is often fierce. But he clearly leans toward steering clear of the
messiness. "Very often, people come to sporting events to get away
from all the other stuff," he said. "So you kind of owe them complete
coverage of that event."
Fair enough. But if you're going to be comprehensive, you can't ignore
or just give short shrift to the scandal. Especially during the first
few tournaments of 2010, and during whatever event in which Woods will
make his return. You may not hear about Woods' transgressions from the
organizations that bring you golf on Sunday afternoons. But the TV
suits will be sweating, and the entire situation will be
uncomfortable, on every hole along the way.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1946582,00.html#ixzz0ZJr9fJKE