Sunday, December 6, 2009

Tiger and Other Athletes Who Want It Both Ways

Here is a wonderful column from James Corrigan in the English newspaper, The Independent, talking about how athletes want only the attention that is beneficial to them. Thanks to Geoff Shackelford for uncovering this piece.

I've refrained from wading into the whole Tiger Woods debacle but this is the subject on which I would have written if I had no choice. Even from my days covering the NHL's Hartford Whalers along with a handful of PGA tournaments, I ran across instances of athletes courting the press to cover their achievements, yet being incensed when their transgressions were made public, as well.

At its most basic, the reaction of many athletes is a result of having nothing but lavish praise thrown on them their entire lives by relatives, coaches, management people and sycophantic media outlets such as the Golf Channel. If Tiger never used his fame to sell us Buick, Nike, Rolex, Gillette and Chevron, he have never would have faced this kind of scrutiny.

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