Tigers bet with the media

[BrushCaddy]

Tiger offered up 1 Million dollars yesterday via Twitter if no one asked him about his leg during a press conference.  The first question...  "How's your leg?"

Yeah, i'm sure he was going to donate the money regardless (and he did) but I thought it was nice to see him "play" with the media a bit.

[sean_miller]

There was no specific reference to his leg in question #1. In spite of your quotation marks indicating that question was "How's your leg?" it was more like "How's your health?". Close, but not exactly what he wagered. Obviously it was a publicity stunt.

[BrushCaddy]

I got my quote from the local TV news this morning so obviously they embellished a bit... no surprise.

Publicity stunt for sure.

[Elvisliveson]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

There was no specific reference to his leg in question #1. In spite of your quotation marks indicating that question was "How's your leg?" it was more like "How's your health?". Close, but not exactly what he wagered. Obviously it was a publicity stunt.

You are absolutely right. The leg was never mentioned. The reporter sort of stammered, like he was searching for a way of asking without mentioning the leg.

[zeg]

Publicity stunts that involve $1 million donations are all right with me.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by zeg

Publicity stunts that involve $1 million donations are all right with me.

It was a nice gesture (donating money to his own foundation), but a surprisingly large number of wealthy people donate to charity without having to "tweet" about it or make fun of reporters. Maybe they don't do it for the adulation.

[Kieran123]

It was a stab at the media more than anything.

If a wealthy person donated 1 million, it would be in the news, especially someone of Tigers stature in society.

[Shindig]

It was a stab at the media more than anything.

If a wealthy person donated 1 million, it would be in the news, especially someone of Tigers stature in society.

It's not unheard of for a wealthy donor to require anonymity, at least for a period of time, as a condition of a donation. When I was an undergraduate, a philanthropist donated $20 million to my school, and one of the conditions was that his name not be released for six months (it's now on the school). He wanted the press (etc) discussion to be about the school, not about him. Of course, that's not what happened with Tiger.

[Zeph]

How is it possible to be condescending when someone donates one million to charity? I don't care if they make a big notice in the paper about donating, the important thing is that people with money share with those who need them.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Zeph

How is it possible to be condescending when someone donates one million to charity? I don't care if they make a big notice in the paper about donating, the important thing is that people with money share with those who need them.

He could just as easily have donated the money anonymously or with a small ceremony. He chose to joke about it (not a huge problem with that - it's his money) and pretend the donation hinged on whether or not certain questions were asked which, at least temporarily, implied reporter #1 had just cost some charity 1 million dollars. Now that was condescending.  If you choose to see it differently that's okay too.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

It was a nice gesture (donating money to his own foundation), but a surprisingly large number of wealthy people donate to charity without having to "tweet" about it or make fun of reporters. Maybe they don't do it for the adulation.

Jeezus H. Christopher. Seriously?

I thought it was funny. My goodness, does nobody have a sense of humor? Jason Sobel thought on the pre-interview show that it was funny but rightly predicted that people would probably not take it as a joke and would roast Tiger for it.

It was frickin' HILARIOUS since he - and the reporters - knew that virtually every question was going to be about the leg . It was funny that reporters thought he might be serious and that they tried asking about the leg without saying the word "leg."

C'mon people. Remove the stick from your rear. Have a little fun. I thought it was hilarious. His tweet right before said "Press conference time. Off to visit with my best friends." Also a joke. Lighten up.

[ERdiesel]

Seriously guys?

I'm sure Tiger has given alot, lot, lot, lot more over the years since establishing the TW Foundation than just the million dollars that he gave and that some of you are getting on his case about by having this specific donation made public.  How much have you given to charity lately even if it was $10?  Yeah, didn't think so.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by iacas

Jeezus H. Christopher. Seriously?

I thought it was funny. My goodness, does nobody have a sense of humor? Jason Sobel thought on the pre-interview show that it was funny but rightly predicted that people would probably not take it as a joke and would roast Tiger for it.

It was frickin' HILARIOUS since he - and the reporters - knew that virtually every question was going to be about the leg. It was funny that reporters thought he might be serious and that they tried asking about the leg without saying the word "leg."

C'mon people. Remove the stick from your rear. Have a little fun. I thought it was hilarious. His tweet right before said "Press conference time. Off to visit with my best friends." Also a joke. Lighten up.

It was hilarious and he's not a tool at all. I was all wrong about him. He's a great guy.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

It was hilarious and he's not a tool at all. I was all wrong about him. He's a great guy.

Way to deflect. Nobody's saying he's a great guy. But a little joke doesn't make him a complete assbag either.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by iacas

Way to deflect. Nobody's saying he's a great guy. But a little joke doesn't make him a complete assbag either.

I said it was a publicity stunt and that a lot of wealthy people don't seek adulation for making charitible donations. If that reporter was in on the joke, then LOLZ all around and I stand corrected.

If I posted my honest thoughts about the internet rapport between Rory, Lee, and Poults you'd see that my issue is more with Twitter and narcissistic publicity junkies, but since I'm posting my thoughts on the interweb, right now, how much credibility do I have?

[jamo]

I thought it was pretty funny. In my book, donating $1 mil to charity earns you some right to joke around a bit. There are bigger issues in the world (and even the world of golf) than Tiger joshing with the media.

[B-Con]

I said it was a publicity stunt and that a lot of wealthy people don't seek adulation for making charitible donations. If that reporter was in on the joke, then LOLZ all around and I stand corrected.

He definitely could've been more discrete and -- if this is the right word -- "proprietary" about his donation. If he didn't want any attention for doing so, that would've been the way to do it. But he did want to make mention of it and he chose to be light-hearted in doing so. Maybe making jokes about charity donations isn't everyone's idea of humor, but I think you have to leave him some room to do what he wants how he wants to. Myself, I wouldn't have pegged that as his type of humor. And I think there were plenty of ways he could've joked about it without mentioning the money. But it doesn't really matter, maybe there are [i]other[/i] donations we never hear about...

[iacas]

Originally Posted by B-Con

He definitely could've been more discrete and -- if this is the right word -- "proprietary" about his donation. If he didn't want any attention for doing so, that would've been the way to do it. But he did want to make mention of it and he chose to be light-hearted in doing so. Maybe making jokes about charity donations isn't everyone's idea of humor, but I think you have to leave him some room to do what he wants how he wants to.

Myself, I wouldn't have pegged that as his type of humor. And I think there were plenty of ways he could've joked about it without mentioning the money. But it doesn't really matter, maybe there are other donations we never hear about...

Thing is, it's HIS charity. Him talking about it - joking about it, whatever - gets HIS charity in the news. It got a few people to ask him about how his foundation is doing, what locations they're looking at to expand, etc.

He gave money and found a funny way (to some people) to get some publicity for his charity.

It's not like he made a joke about donating to the Red Cross or something just to show off how generous he is. It's his charity . The one into which he's put a helluva lot more than a million bucks.