Issue Date: 3/8/10
Tiger meows in half-hearted apology
By Yvonne Lanot
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Woods now belongs to the unfaithful husband group, following the footsteps of David Beckham and Kobe Bryant. While he showed some uncharacteristic emotion in his apology, whether he was truly sincere, did not show through his speech.
Given the benefit of the doubt, Woods may not be as professional a public speaker as he is a professional golfer, but the apology seemed too scripted, rehearsed, and more for the sake of keeping all his sponsors and less of an apology to the people he hurt.
What was really striking with Woods' apology is the fact that his wife, Elin Nordegren, did not even show up to the event. Woods mentions Nordegren on many different occasions, many of which refer to them still being husband and wife that are just trying work things out.
With Woods saying this, he seems to imply that the two will stay together, but in reality it doesn't really answer whether Nordegren is staying with Woods or leaving him.
Why Nordegren would even consider staying with this cheating man is beyond me, but at least she has made a very clear statement to Woods and to all that watched him that she is serious about the issue at hand by not showing up.
His apology also brings up the alleged attacks by his wife on Thanksgiving night before he crashed his SUV not far from his home.
He says that it angers him that people would fabricate a story like this, and while he later does say that Nordegren never hit him that night - or any other night - something obviously happened for press to even begin fabrication. Yet another question not answered by Woods.
And honestly, if "Elin deserves praise, not blame," as said by Woods himself, then she deserves to have hit him with the golf club on Thanksgiving night.
Now, while Woods supposedly had an effective apology where he addressed his problem and said, "I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior," his apology failed in what seemed to be his real reason in doing the public appearance - which was to keep "Tiger the brand" a holy image.
"For Tiger the brand, the apology is an epic fail," said W. Timothy Coombs, a professor of crisis communications at Eastern Illinois University, through Time.com. "It is too little too late. Many sports writers have mocked today's media event, saying no self-respecting journalist would attend because you can't ask questions. When media mocks the format of your apology, then it's a failure regardless of the content."
While Woods covered every aspect of a proper apology, his awkward public speech answered zero pressing questions and leave fans and the sports world to wonder if Woods will fix things as the genuine, hard-working golfer he marketed or if he will again fail at image reconciliation and forever brand himself a cheater with 11 mistresses.
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