My friends, yesterday was a day of sheer anticipation, happiness, and yet, disapointment and befuddlement. One of sports greatest events got underway today and that is the Masters Tournament, held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. A course that has made names during the illustrious history of golf, greats such as Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Faldo and the man of the decade, Tiger Woods. I will not go into detail of why Tiger was the focus of the tournament's attention because being a sports fan you already know. However, I felt there were some things done the past few days leading up to the tournament as well as the tournament itself that were either disapointing or slightly peeving.
1. Nike Commercial - To me this was a case of too soon for Nike to put Tiger out there in an ad campaign. The ad is in black and white showing Tiger just staring straight into the camera lens with audio of his father playing in the background. His dad, it seems, is lecturing Tiger about the healing process and mainly why he did the things he did with the allegations of marriage impropriety. However, I HIGHLY doubt that is the true intention of Earl's comments toward his son. Not only did Nike put Tiger out there too soon but they seemed to use Earl's comments, although with Tiger's approval, inappropriately and out of context. It was just too soon for Tiger, Nike and the allegations. At least Nike didn't say, "Just Do It."
Maybe this ad would have been more appropriate...
2. Billy Payne, Augusta National Golf Club Chairman - This was the part of the news leading up to the Masters that got me angry. Payne comes out and chastises Tiger for his actions and how he disapointed many who considered him a role model. Now I have waxed poetically in the past regarding the use of athletes as role models, where we are supposed to idolize them and think that they are uber-human and incapable of doing anything that is "human", such as make mistakes or bad decisions. For Payne to come out and publicly chastise Tiger, who has put golf back in the mainstream and brought golf back from the edge of obscurity (think about it, if there was no Tiger, golf may be on par [no pun intended] with MLS). Payne better re-think his statments about the skeletons in Tiger's closet because Augusta has a few of their own (racism, discrimination towards women, Hootie Johnson v. Martha Burk, etc..).
3. Tiger coverage - Thankfully I was too busy yesterday with commitments to watch the live coverage, otherwise I would have been sickened. ESPN was giving Tiger the Tebow/Duke/Tom Brady treatment; constant coverage even when Tiger was not involved. There was a "Tiger Tracker" on the side of the screen giving hole-by-hole updates. Really?! I also saw a breakdown on the ticker regarding Tiger's hole-by-hole performance, including past history on the holes (i.e Hole 2 - Birdie. 6 of the 7 past tournaments Tiger has birdied this hole in Round 1). NOBODY CARES!! At least Tom Rinaldi won't be there to give some sad, sobby story, much like Jimmy Roberts in ANYTHING NBC does!! The incredibly warm receptions throughout the day was just uncomfortable considering everything that has happened during Tiger's fall from grace. Focusing on the unanimously positive reactions while ignoring what precisely Tiger is "coming back" just makes ESPN look like the cheerleaders they usually are.
The Masters is one of sports great yearly rights of passage, and for me to say that I expected nothing different after Tiger's past year would make me clinically insane. But to have a "Tiger Ticker", coupled with the Nike Commercial and Billy Payne's dumba** comment have tarnished the greatness some. Therefore, I give a big "Shame On You" to Nike, Billy Payne and ESPN for their lackluster and inappropriate conduct. I only pray that CBS can reeclaim the greatness, decency and sensibility that the Masters stands for. Taking a page from Jim Nantz, "Goodbye, friends." Be careful out there.
No comments:
Post a Comment