"Most Boring Interview of All Time"

[RichF]

'Tiger Woods Gives the Most Boring Interview of All Time':

Tiger Woods's charm offensive this week, mounted as an inoculation against the inevitable publicity next week on the one-year anniversary of his infamous Escalade-vs.-hydrant collision, is not getting rave reviews. "Tiger Woods Gives the Most Boring Interview of All Time" headlined Deadspin.com about Mr. Woods's call-in appearance Thursday on ESPN's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" radio show.

"I think it's about time I made a connection to the fans, who have been absolutely incredible to me over the last year," he told the Mikes. The main problem is that Mr. Woods, for all his good intentions, seems unable, or unwilling, to genuinely open up.

The public-relations push began on Wednesday, when he posted a tweet. It was just his fourth tweet ever and the first in 17 months. "What's up everyone," it began—a question, perhaps tellingly, not followed by a question mark, as if he wasn't particularly interested in the answer. Still, the tweet brought him 60,000 new Twitter followers within a few hours.

Also on Wednesday, he posted an op-ed at Newsweek.com. It began, "Last November, everything I thought I knew about myself changed abruptly, and what others perceived about me shifted, too." What followed was an earnest, if unenlightening, recap of the vague, this-far-but-no-farther answers he has given to reporters in numerous previous interviews this year.

Almost all the questions posed to him on the radio show were in what you might call the psychological realm: What was his low point this year? Is he happier now than he was before last November? What has he learned about himself? Mr. Woods cycled through the familiar responses.

Here, in summary, is what Mr. Woods has to say: He acknowledges his guilt and rotten past behavior. He accepts full responsibility for his conduct and maintains that his biggest regret is the pain he caused others. He contends that he is working hard, "each and every day," to reclaim the values he was taught as a kid. And he insists that his main concern going forward, as well as his greatest joy, is his two young children.

There's nothing to object to in that set of answers, except for the fact that they satisfy no one's curiosity. As I sat in my car listening to Mike and Mike batter away at Mr. Woods's defenses, pushing for more, I had to wonder what it is that we, the public, really want from Mr. Woods at this point.

The questions that the two Mikes posed Thursday really do get at the meat of the matter: why and how did the world's richest, most famous athlete, who by dint of extraordinary mental discipline and singleness of purpose came to dominate his sport more than anyone has ever dominated a sport, maintain a sordid secret life for years and then watch his world fall to pieces? What will it take for him to recover? This is not just the biggest sports story of the decade, it's also the biggest and most fascinating socio-psychological story of the decade (politicians who have self-immolated like this don't count—we're more cynical about them). All this, even when—lest we forget—the guy in the middle is in many ways a man-boy who has lived his life in a bubble, plying his trade or playing video games with his friends.

I'll tell you what would satisfy my curiosity, legitimate or not: Mr. Woods agreeing to serve as a featured patient on a reality-based version of HBO's "In Treatment." My wife and I are big fans of this show, in which the psychoanalyst (Gabriel Byrne) treats a handful of patients over the course of a season and gets analyzed himself. Sure, the show's weekly, 30-minute sessions are packed with insights, patterns and histories that in real life take months of therapy to surface, but this makes the show digestible.

This isn't going to happen with Mr. Woods, of course. And neither is he suddenly going to start answering journalists' questions with searing self-awareness: "Well, I'll tell you, Mike, the key thing people need to understand is that for reasons having to do with my complex narcissism, the women I was having affairs with were Oedipal manifestations of deep-seated anger stemming from several specific incidents that I would now like to tell you about in depth."

Even if Mr. Woods were by nature an open, confessional type, which he isn't, he'd be a fool to go even a baby step in that direction. The cynics would roast him, everyone else would overanalyze and speculate like crazy, and he'd probably never break 80 again. If we the public don't like it, tough. We're not going to get more.

By next spring, if all goes well for Mr. Woods, he'll start winning again, maybe even a major, and the conversation about him will return to golf. Winning as a rehab strategy seems to be working for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick. After his stellar performance in Monday night's wipeout of the Washington Redskins, the Pro Football Hall of Fame requested his jersey.

Meanwhile, Mr. Woods ought to start tweeting more seriously. It's the perfect medium for someone who says he wants to connect to his fans, and who likes maintaining complete control over what gets out. The brief, breezy Twitter format would seem to be a perfect fit for Mr. Woods's personality. By all accounts, he can be funny, quick with the needle and sharp with the comeback. And fans eat up the intimate tidbits that celebrities reveal through their tweets. Shortly before his ESPN interview Thursday, Mr. Woods issued a second tweet: "The best part about phone interviews is getting to wear shorts." More like that, please, And less grim-faced sincerity that isn't advancing the cause. Nearly 250,000 Twitter followers, at last count, are waiting.'



Jeez...for once, can't some sportsman just come out and behave like a normal human-being?

[wrx_junki]

Do people really wait for tweets from pros? I don't have a twitter account so I don't know how the twitter fan base is like. No matter what he does he's going to be criticized. Don't get so worked up about it.

[newtogolf]

While it might be interesting to some for Tiger to "open up" and share all the details of his affairs, sexual addiction, rehab, divorce and separation from his kids, it's really not anyones business. Reporters and bloggers are bashing him because he won't give them juicy content for them to write about or give Letterman more ammo to come up with a new Tiger Top 10 list.

I don't particularly like the guy, but he's a golfer, ask him questions about his game. Want to make him squirm, ask him why he's struggling, how he feels about losing #1 status, what his relationship is with his old coach, how his relationship with new coach. It's been a year, let the guy move on already.

[Easy]

A boring interview from Tiger! That comes as a surprise...

Leave the gossip at TMZ.

[Zeph]

Jeez...for once, can't some sportsman just come out and behave like a normal human-being?

Why can't the press start behaving like a normal human-being and stop with the questions on matters he clearly do not wish to elaborate on? Is it really that unheard of for a world top athlete to party around and live a life most of us never will see? You got rock bands, pop stars, actors, basketball players, football players. This is not new, this has been going on for as long as athletes, artists, idols etc. have existed.

Why the frick do we need to know every little detail of his life the past ten years? Can you blame him for answering shortly and not encouraging further discussion when he is served all these stupid ass questions all the time? Ask him a golf related question and he is more than willing to talk about it. Then again, what more can we expect from people who entertain themselves by watching reality shows. Anyone out there hoping Tiger will show up at *bleh* Cribs one day. His fans doesn't care about what happened, they just want to see him play good golf. It's all we've seen from him up till now, why do we suddenly have to find out about his private life?

[jamo]

Show me a golfer who doesn't speak 100% in cliches during interviews and I'll show you a golfer who's never been named on TMZ.

[colin007]

i would have rather heard about his work on his new swing. hand path, shoulder plane, footwork...that would have been much more interesting.

[zeg]

Why can't the press start behaving like a normal human-being and stop with the questions on matters he clearly do not wish to elaborate on? Is it really that unheard of for a world top athlete to party around and live a life most of us never will see? You got rock bands, pop stars, actors, basketball players, football players. This is not new, this has been going on for as long as athletes, artists, idols etc. have existed.

Absolutely, 100% agree. There are plenty of interesting questions to ask the guy, and how/why he did the stuff that led to the drama/scandal is not really high on the list. There's no answer he can give that will satisfy people, and no reason that he needs to elaborate on that to anyone. It's the past, it's private, and it does no one any good to pry. Although I certainly don't agree with his behavior, I have great respect for his not talking about it any more than he has. Certainly he didn't try to cash in on the publicity the way some figures have....

There are interesting questions for him. I don't really follow interviews/etc, but I think there's plenty to get into as far as training, coping with not being the hands-down #1 player any more, figuring out how to get back, thinking about how long he can stay at the top if he does get back, which of the new guys are real long-term contenders, etc, etc. It's not juicy the way the gossip is, but celebrity gossip is utter crap, not news. Tiger Woods is one of the best golfers ever to play the game, so I'm interested in his thoughts about golf, not about anything else.

[Fat Slice]

Tiger is trying to rehab his entire psyche. Emptying out the details of his therapy for a national audience probably isn't helpful to that end. Getting better is a higher priority than satisfying peoples' reality-TV audience mentality prurient curiosities.

If his interviews are boring, I blame the questioners. By now, everyone knows what he is NOT going to talk about, so find some interesting other topics.

[mjtoal]

While it might be interesting to some for Tiger to "open up" and share all the details of his affairs, sexual addiction, rehab, divorce and separation from his kids, it's really not anyones business. Reporters and bloggers are bashing him because he won't give them juicy content for them to write about or give Letterman more ammo to come up with a new Tiger Top 10 list.

I disagree. Tiger and his advisers made his family background part of his brand and therefore everyone' s business. Do you not remember all the coverage of his father, and the hideously tacky Nike

commercial tribute when he died? They drew everyone into Tiger's personal life. Now we are expected not to be interested in all that, when we were forced to hear about his upbringing, the story of his father's military career etc etc et bloody cetera. I have no sympathy for rich celebrities who exploit their families then cry privacy when it backfires.

[iacas]

I disagree. Tiger and his advisers made his family background part of his brand and therefore everyone' s business.

You made a lot of assumptions as well. His father WAS a big part of his story, but we've seen less of Tiger's "family" than we see of other celeb families, their weddings, the birth of their kids, etc.

You (generally speaking) made assumptions about Tiger as a guy.

[mjtoal]

You made a lot of assumptions as well. His father WAS a big part of his story, but we've seen less of Tiger's "family" than we see of other celeb families, their weddings, the birth of their kids, etc.

Padraig Harrington's father was a big part of his story, yet he was never seen. His death also passed without much notice. Tiger's PR image was carefully manufactured, and well controlled until it imploded. His philandering was known about in the golfing world from before he was married, but they managed to keep a lid on it.

I don't really care except for the hypocrisy. Like other celebs and politicians who get caught with their trousers down, no sympathy for him from me.

[newtogolf]

Padraig Harrington's father was a big part of his story, yet he was never seen. His death also passed without much notice. Tiger's PR image was carefully manufactured, and well controlled until it imploded. His philandering was known about in the golfing world from before he was married, but they managed to keep a lid on it.

I don't think you can compare the level of celebrity of Harrington to Tiger. Other than Tiger's relationship with his dad who he credits for his success I don't see Tiger being a very public or open person, if anything it was the opposite. On the tour you see much more of Phil and his wife than you ever saw of Tiger and Elin. The bottom line is a year has passed, it's time the press let's it go. If he messes up again, then it all becomes fair game again, but until then, it's not relevant to golf or current events.

[sean_miller]

This just in:

"Some random guy starts the most boring thread of all time."

[iacas]

Padraig Harrington's father was a big part of his story, yet he was never seen.

Paddy ain't Tiger.

His philandering was known about in the golfing world from before he was married, but they managed to keep a lid on it.

It wasn't, no.

[majorchamp]

While it might be interesting to some for Tiger to "open up" and share all the details of his affairs, sexual addiction, rehab, divorce and separation from his kids, it's really not anyones business. Reporters and bloggers are bashing him because he won't give them juicy content for them to write about or give Letterman more ammo to come up with a new Tiger Top 10 list.

agreed.

Also look at Kobe..his choices were far more dire compared to Woods, and Kobe is back to being on top of the world, still married (not sure how good that marriage is though), and he has NEVER publically spoken about his rape accusation other then his initial public interview where his wife was at his side. If anything, Tiger has gone far above the "norm" when compared to Kobe (in regards to confessing anything to the public)...though Tiger's fall from grace was a much harder fall then Kobe's, IMO. Assuming Tiger starts winning (which he will), these details might contain an asterisk in sports columns in years ahead, but sports fanatics will only compare about his winning %, majors, etc... and not what TMZ is able to drudge up about him.

I disagree. Tiger and his advisers made his family background part of his brand and therefore everyone' s business. Do you not remember all the coverage of his father, and the hideously tacky Nike

Eh.....well the only people in Tiger's life that I have ever seen pushed into the public, moreso they wanted to be a part of it, were his mom and dad from the get-go. His father would actively pursue interviews and his mom was always by his side. Elin was never much for the publicity and was only around when they attended public events together, but she wasn't putting herself out there, and the only times their kids were in the public eye were for a few publicity pictures after their births, or running on the green to hug Tiger. I think there is a difference pre scandal and post. During the Post scandal, certain people chose to come forward such as ex-girlfriends, I think his brother from his dad's first marriage came forward, the neighbor who apparently had footage of the night of the fight, etc... but it wasn't Nike throwing them out there, since if anything those were negative images of Tiger. Earl and that particular Nike ad you speak of was the only time I saw someone in Tiger's "camp" get used as a part of his image process, and that was from an interview Earl gave back in 2005 or something. off topic, I read the book "Tiger"(I think that is the title) that came out this past summer, and it was an interesting read that painted Earl not in the best of light, specifically it was him who taught his son how to handle the media, since his father was a part of dealing with the media for the military. But it highlighted how Earl was an adulterer, and actively seeking out reporters who would hear him speak. There was even a story that during Tiger's "Hello World" media hoopla, he was off to the side trying to rangle up interviews to any reporter who would listen. Often his "story telling" during those times where he would basically label Tiger the "chosen one" was all a part of his methods of handling media during his military years and knowing how to get them to pay attention to a particular story. Sorry went off on a tangent there.

[RichF]

This just in:

...about a big Tiger Woods story that everyone else reported but The Sand Trap actually missed.

Remarkable.

[sean_miller]

...about a big Tiger Woods story that everyone else reported but The Sand Trap actually missed.

I skimmed it and then had to go get a coffee. No offense, but not all things Tiger are necessarily newsworthy, in spite of what the Golf Channel and TMZ would have us believe.