Trophies Trophy News

As apologies go, the one delivered by Eldrick Woods was a doozy.

In 13-plus minutes, Woods apologized for all of his transgressions, took full blame for everything he did wrong, swore to get better, asked for forgiveness and thanked those who have supported him even while he was a serial philanderer. I think he even apologized for H1N1.

His apology, which he read from a podium at a golf course, was delivered flawlessly, like his golf swing, and may have carried even further.

The only questions left are whether his wife Elin will take him back or take him to court, and whether he’ll regain ALL of the endorsement contracts he held when he was Tiger Woods, master of all that is golf. He should on both counts, if recent history is any guide.

Anyone remember Frank Gifford? His name hasn’t been brought up much these days, even though his transgressions most closely mirrored Woods’.

Gifford, an All-American, Hall of Fame gridiron great, was a poster boy for successful athletes turned broadcaster, turned pitchman. He was at the top of his game, until pictures of Gifford, while married to the marginally talented Kathy Lee Gifford, showed him having an affair with Suzen Johnson, who was paid to seduce him by a tabloid. Gifford was castigated and removed from Monday Night Football. But, at last check, Kathy Lee still goes home to Frank. Though his peccadilloes were made public, they made up in the privacy of their homes.

Woods argued for just that during his mea culpa. He said that he and Elin have a lot of work to do, and that he would have to earn his way back into her heart with his deeds, not just words. But it is now between the two of them, and the public needs to butt out.

As for his endorsements, there really isn’t any question. Gifford, while highly regarded, was off the field and no longer competing (in sports that is).  Woods, however, is the greatest golfer of his generation, and perhaps the greatest of all time. He is still in his prime, and could have another TEN YEARS of top-level competition in him. He will continue to win major tournaments, flirt with a Grand Slam or a Tiger Slam and will still intimidate every other golfer on the tour into thinking that they are playing for second.

On one leg, he has proven to be better that 95 percent of the other golfers on the tour, and when it is going right for him, he wins an amazing percentage of the tourneys he enters.

Woods’ presence in the game will still drive the television ratings, and his absence may even boost them higher when he comes back. Prize money on the tour has quadrupled since he began his career, because not only is he golf’s greatest money winner, he is golf’s greatest money generator. That won’t change much. Tour events that don’t have the eye of a Tiger involved are immediately relegated to second-tier events.

Yes, Tiger will be welcomed back because Tiger = Money. If Michael Jordan can still sell shoes and underwear, and Charles Barkley can sell Taco Bell, and Bill Clinton is now a respected elder statesman, Woods will do all right. Any doubt of that was removed when, immediately after Woods’ nationally televised apology, Nike came out with a statement pledging their support for their iconic pitchman.

Judging by some of the responses to the apology, Woods’ greatest transgression was not that he cheated on his wife. It seems that what most critics are really upset about is that he was so damn perfect – so untouchable. They are reveling in the opportunity to expose his clay feet.

The hope – certainly in Team Tiger – is that the apology will stifle some of the rabid tabloid-mongering that has driven this situation since Thanksgiving. Maybe formerly “reputable” news organizations will stop the sensationalizing and actually cover some news. It’’s not likely, since the news media is being TMZ’d into submission.

But whatever happens, we haven’t seen the last of this Tiger. He comes back with a vengeance, and no one drives him like he does himself. He’ll be back prowling Augusta and raising trophies and cashing checks. He’ll do that with or without Elin on his arm, but those endorsements weren’t predicated on him being a good husband. They were predicated on him being a winning golfer.

Maybe now we can get back to talking about golf.

By Lou Ransom is executive editor of the Chicago Defender.