Top 10 Stories of the Decade - #3 Tiger on the Prowl

Our #3 Story of the Decade is only a little more than one month old, which tells you how it has shaken the sports world. Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer of a generation and the greatest athlete of the decade, now is on an indefinite sabbatical from golf to focus on fixing a wrecked home life. How did Tiger fall so far so fast? What does it say about sports' place in the pop/tabloid press? And where do we go from here?

Some of these questions have already been answered in our fine roundtable from earlier this month. But in case you've been quarantined with swine flu for the last month, you've missed quite a bit. Just after the Thanksgiving holiday, Tiger Woods got into what was first described as a "serious" car accident. As word slowly trickled out, the public learned the uber-private Woods suffered only scrapes, but his minor accident only evoked more questions. Why was he driving after midnight? How did he crash literally a five-iron from his own driveway? What was Tiger hiding from the police? What role did his "heroic" wife play in "rescuing" him?

As the public found out only days later, the intrigue behind the car accident was Tiger's secret life of womanizing and adultery. First there was the National Enquirer story about a New York hostess. Then a former VH1 reality show contestant (really Tiger, sloppy seconds from Tool Academy...at least try to pick up a Rock of Love or Flavor of Love girl) sold her story to US Weekly full of gory details and Tiger's voicemail that revealed he had been caught red-handed. Heck, there's even a hilarious remix of Tiger's voicemail.

All in all, the count is at 14 women currently full of cocktail waitresses, failed models, hostesses, groupies, porn stars and "escorts". Who knew Tiger wasn't only going for Jack Nicklaus's record for majors, but also Wilt Chamberlain's record for most sexual partners. Good thing Tiger never played this drinking game with his friends.

But, in all seriousness, this is no laughing matter, especially to Tiger Woods. He's already been dropped by Accenture as their spokesperson and has also been phased out of ads from Tag Heuer and Gillette. Although not to the same extent as Kobe Bryant, Woods has been shunned by sponsors, peers, and fans alike. It's not only how fast Tiger has fallen, but how far. His favorability rating (who knew athletes even had such a thing) has fallen from 85% to 33%. Whispers and tabloid rumors of treatment for addictions to sex and pain pills has persisted. Tiger even was almost dragged into a performance-enhancing drug scandal with a doctor from Canada. One has to ask, could it get much worse for Tiger Woods? In less than a month, the AP's Athlete of the Decade (agreeing with our earlier rankings here) has gone from worldwide hero to joke for Internet gamers and fat guys at hockey games.

Side Note: This is not another cheap joke. Y1 and I were at a recent Columbus Blue Jackets/Phoenix Coyotes NHL game in CBus (yes, the tickets were free). During a timeout, a fat guy in a CBJ jersey started dancing and naturally, had to take the jersey off. What was underneath? A message saying "I was Tiger's #13". How the mighty have fallen, indeed.

And with his indefinite leave from the game, his golfing career is in just as much jeopardy as his marriage. We already speculated on when Tiger will return, and it still looks as if Arnold Palmer's tourney at Bay Hill is the most logical spot. But still, nobody knows for sure. His fans around the world have seen Tiger face any and all obstacles on the course, how will he rebound from trouble at home? One thing's for sure, the way our athletes are covered in the media has forever been changed.

The wave of tabloid sports journalism has been cresting throughout the decade. The embers were flamed when the New York papers began chronicling Alex Rodriguez's alleged adultery. But, the Tiger Woods story has seemed to create a monster. TMZ.com began covering the Tiger Woods scandal with the same tenaciously wild speculation as any other Hollywood rumor. The New York Post had Tiger Woods on its cover a record 20 straight days, one more than the 9/11 attacks (and if you didn't just throw up in your mouth over that you should reconsider). TMZ is even in talks to create its own site devoted entirely to sports. What's next, snapping pics of a groggy Jay Cutler walking out of a Chicago bar, or finding out what brand name cereal LeBron James had for breakfast? Babe Ruth is rolling over in his grave with excitement these tabloids didn't exist in his day.

So how do you want your sports media covered in the next decade? Cozy access to our athletes to get that extra feature on SportsCenter (think Big Ben's sexual allegations being swept under the rug by ESPN)? Wild allegations that may be true 10% of the time, and needlessly ruin reputations the other 90% (think the worst qualities of Deadspin/TMZ on a healthy HGH/MyoPlex regiment)? The sad reality is both will be fighting for the hearts and minds of sports fans in the 2010's. Hey, there could be some good to come from all of this, maybe ESPN can stop Skip Bayless from frothing at the mouth and put him into some bushes outside TO's house in full camo gear. At least that would solve one problem.

What are your thoughts on the Tiger scandal and the way its affected coverage of sports? Do you prefer screaming talking heads, "hard-hitting" journalism, or wink, wink innuendos? Let us know by posting a comment, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter. Hopefully Blogger holds up long enough to finish our Top 2 Stories of the Decade and the 2nd part of our RSS Bowl Pick 'Em. Until then, Happy New Year, and bye for now!