The Business of Tiger's Return

TODAY IS MONDAY, MAY 20, 2013

April 6, 2010 at 10:00 AM

The Business of Tiger's Return

Tiger Woods during a practice round for the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., Monday, April 5, 2010. The tournament begins Thursday, April, 8. (AP )

Tiger Woods is back on the greens this week. Back on the golf course. Back in the game.

And not just any bit of the game, but the Masters, in Augusta, Georgia.

The super-human golfer with the all-too-human trail of mistresses and out-there sexcapades – rampant infidelity, the tabloids crowed – is back on his turf. Wrapped in fairways and fans.

So what did that all mean?

This Hour, On Point: we’ll look at the blow-up, the meltdown, the comeback of Tiger Woods – the man, the business, the icon, the golfer.

Guests:

Cameron Morfit, senior writer for Golf Magazine and Golf.com. He was at the press conference with Tiger Woods yesterday. This is his 15th year covering the Masters. Read his story “History Will Tell Whether Woods Is Hero Or Villain—But This Week It’s About The Golf.”

Jonathan Mahler, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. His recent cover story for the magazine was called “The Tiger Bubble.” He’s also author of “The Challenge” and “Ladies and Gentleman, The Bronx is Burning.”

Sandy Banks, columnist for The Los Angeles Times. Read her column on Woods’ initial apology, “Burning in the Public Flame.”

Josef

Can i bett on some one or a team who cheats in their personnel life, what would stop them from trowing a game off, if he wins thats good but if not it could allways be suspicius. I Wish all the best for Tiger Woods
BJ

I’m sick of Tigermania, Golf is a stupid sport for fat, old, white men and jock sniffers who follow them around. Isn’t there anything more important than looking into Tigers Underwear?
nick

Who Cares ?

What is this doing on “ON POINT”?

This belongs in the Supermarket Tabloids – not here.

Nick
John

Aren’t there enough radio stations covering sports? And I don’t care about his private life (which was already an On Point show).
cory

“Business” is the key word. If you make coin, all else can be forgiven and forgotten. Tiger is a bad guy who has done some awful things. He will however be celebrated if he wins the Masters. It is the American anthem-might makes right.
Tom M.

Such a dissappointment to see this topic on the show. Our countries woes taking a back seat this morning to another multi-million dollar athelete who can never have or get enough. Shame to all who thrive on this constant need to be entertained. This person is in the news constantly because there are enough people out there who want to know. I am an Iraq veteran, now un employeed for eleven months. Veterans unemployment is running around 13% and in some age brackets it is 24%. I live in a friends basement at this point and have even been told no by the Census Bureau. But hey, lets talk about Tiger Woods. Hey Mr. Woods, “hows the crabs”?!?
Steve T

Just leave the man alone!
I don’t want to hear anymore, get out of his business.

No Point here, their are many more issues and news that could be discussed.

This is Off Point.
http://bruceguindon.com bruce guindon

Is the news cycle so slow that we are forced to listen to this tripe, what intelligent person has any interest in Tiger Woods sex life. I just like to watch him play Golf why don’t you try rising above the s@%4 and find news worthy of your audience
Alicia

There are far more important things to be discussing and usually I turn to On Point for just that. Unfortunately though today I will be streaming a podcast from a previous show of yours that is more relevant. I just don’t care what Tiger Woods does or doesn’t do in his personal life. Everyone knows he is going to come back and the short term memory loss of the public will put this behind them and he will continue to be rich and famous. Let’s not spend an extra hour trying to conclude something else.
P Uncorrect

Indeed, “Off Point”. Another waste of time.
jeffe

This is one show I will not be listing to.
What a waste of time. Who cares about this soap opera.

I just watched a segment on the News Hour on PBS last night in which a PHD and a few computer scientist were talking about being unemployed laid off because of the economy and tax laws that favored the industries they worked in moving over seas.

I then saw a segment on another news program in which this economist was saying people needed to more flexible and retrain to stay employed. I would like to have had her speak to the man with the PHD in computer science about that. Flexible for what? Her job? What is happening in this country is pretty scary for most people and I for one am getting to the point were it seems like nothing is going to be done. When I see smart people like those interviewed on the News Hour who can’t find jobs and have been looking for almost a year or more I have to think that something is seriously wrong.

I would like to see a good show on the tax system and how it encourages bushiness to move over seas and it seems to me that the bad economy is being used as an excuse to make these moves.
jeffe

Golf: A good walk spoiled.
–Mark Twain
Chris

I wish this wasn’t happening. On Point is my favorite radio show and has been since it came on the air in response to 9/11. Here’s a link to another NPR show worth listening to this hour, especially if you missed it the first time around:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/355/the-giant-pool-of-money

It’s the best, most succinct one -hour explanation of the sub-prime mortgage debacle I’ve come across, and just named as “one of the top 10 works of U.S. journalism of the past decade.
LinP

Seriously, about this topic…SO WHAT? I keep asking that a lot about On point is presenting these days. Who decides these topics? I can get all I want of this on gawker. See you tomorrow with the hope that it will be a show worth listening to.
Phil Newton

Thanks for covering Tiger Woods this morning. I have a lot of things to do, and, for once, “On Point” will not be a distraction. As with others, I’m mildly disgusted that you are covering it at all.

The Van Morrison segment looks good, though. I may come back for that.
joshua jacobs

I just wanted to thank you for pandering to the tawdry and inane antics of one more spoiled child instead of something important.
Wanda Hendrix

I hope you will review the percentage of comments that share my opinion. I am very, very disappointed to hear THIS topic on my favorite show!!! As a long time supporter of WBUR, I look forward to the refreshing, meaningful, educational content – so when I tuned in this morning you can only imagine my disgust that my favorite place has been swept up by “Tiger-mania” just as the lowly network media has been. Who cares?????????
Rob Zeleniak

If you believe Mr. Woods has repented and on the straight and narrow path, I have a bridge to sell you. This entire “come back” was orchestrated by a battery of professional handlers to get him back to exactly where he needs to be–making a fortune. The cursory apologies and such are baloney.
Joan Bicknell

In a day when 1/100th of a sec. is the determining factor in an olympic ski race I can’t understand why people are surprised by athletes looking for performance enhancing drugs of some sort. I think it’s only the media that acts surprised by any revelations in this regard. Tiger Woods is only important because the media made him such a big deal and I am tired of hearing his story. Why is he being discussed in the first hour–usually important NEWS–instead of the 2nd hour–cultural discussions?
tom

Lets all boycott calling into the show today.

“Hows the crabs Tiger”?!?
ErikW65

It’s not the VIP hookering. It’s the hypocrisy in the attitude that you can create an extremely false public image and profit greatly from it while using people in your life as props.

And add to that playing the race-card while slandering and throwing his former teacher under a bus:

“I became aware of my racial identity on my first day of school, on my first day of kindergarten. A group of sixth graders tied me to a tree, spray-painted the word ‘n****r’ on me, and threw rocks at me. That was my first day of school. And the teacher really didn’t do much of anything.”

Tiger’s kindergarten teacher at the time, Maureen Decker, held a press conference on Friday and said, “I am asking Tiger for a private and public apology to put my mind at ease and set the record straight.” This isn’t the first time Decker has made this charge. In 2004, with zero fanfare, she told writer Howard Sunes of the incident, saying, “It’s untrue. Absolutely untrue. None of it ever happened.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125615883
John Varner

I listen to NPR primarily because it usually chooses to look beyond “celebrity culture” to more meaningful issues.
Tom, I usually like your topic choices, but this show – an hour – on Tiger, his follies, his fans, his attempt at redemption, etc. etc. is not worth your time, or mine.
I’ll tune in again tomorrow….
parmelee

No one is talking about Earl’s influence. When you saw clips of Tiger at 4 whacking the ball someone must have been controlling the kid.
There are also questions about Earl’s behaviour.
It is not an excuse, but I don’t think he is a good example.
Also, Tiger having to look at his life and figure out the reality, is doing more for himself and his family than just making money. Perhaps one could even say that some of the fans will learn something from his fall.
David

Who cares?
http://www.patticasey.com patti casey

i can’t believe i’m hearing this. i am a daily listener to “on point” and i feel like i’m now standing in line at the grocery store, looking at the covers of the tabloids screeching on about tiger woods. i’m disappointed that this show would choose to continue to propel this situation into the “news.” this is not news. not only is it not news, it’s not our business.
good lord, tom, you can do better. please restore my faith in your integrity and let it go.
http://www.iamdark.com Jeanette Michelle

It is no ones business. You have to put yourself in his shoes. Do you (the journalist) put your business in the streets? His business affairs has nothing to do with his personal business. Who are we to judge him? What if it was you? People think that celebrities and athletes owes us something. What they do is their jobs like what we do every day as a working person. He shouldn’t apologize to us for anything! We are not his children and he does not support us! This is truly a racist situation!
Mason Singer

Tom Ashbrook says: “All eyes are on Tiger Woods.” I don’t think so. I’m looking forward to hour two: Van Morrison,
kate gomperts

i am so tired of gossip being treated as news. since when does an athlete owe me an apology? the only ones he needs to get forgiveness from is his family, not his fans.
http://WBUR Gwilym

Here’s the dream scenario for TW:
He walks up on 18 back by two shots; he ties with an eagle and wins with a hole in one. Looking toward the green, he see his wife rise above the crowd and gives him a faint smile and mouths the words “you can do it.” He chokes back a tear, looks down, chips the shot past the hole where it, slowly, roles back into the hole. He then comes up where he embrasses her. They both have more endorsements than they know what to do with. All is forgiven by a great story of sucess.
http://onanov.com Donald Baxter, Iowa City, IA

I’ve never found myself in the position of turning OFF OnPoint until today. I can’t even tell you how little I care about about this topic except that I’m bored. Where is “sweetie poo” when you need her?
JeanC

I wish everyone would let it go. Tiger is a great golfer and a human that made serious errors in his life. The sponsors will still make money off him, along with the mistresses getting their 15 minutes of fame.
Lee from Boston

I an not interested in the discussion of Tiger Woods the person or his brand, just his golf. Has NPR become Fox or Inside Edition? I shut the program off.
http://NPR Elizabeth White

SHAME ON YOU FOR USING NPR AS A PLATFORM FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL CHARACTER ASSASINATION OF TIGER WOODS.
TOM, IT’S CLEARLY EVIDENT YOU HAVE A PERSONAL AGENDA.

I AM SHUTTING MY RADIO OFF. YOU HAVE BROUGHT THE CALIBER OF NPR DOWN A NOTCH.
ce

Whoever is without sin, let them cast the first stone against Tiger Woods or anyone else for that matter!
http://www.facebook.com/holly.seiferth Holly

I lost interest in the Tiger Woods story some time ago. I am _without question_ only visiting this topic because On Point was interested in covering it today and I am a regular listener to On Point. I think there is definitely more genuine interest in the media outlet – in this case WBUR/NPR – than the story. If the story were supreme, let’s not kid ourselves, I’d be on TMZ.com right now.
http://WPLN ron

I think the interest in people like Tiger Woods is in manyways purient, but overall people use these public discussions to work out their own beliefs on these issues.

The media covers it because it is obvious people want to hear about it.
I believe most of these people want a public debate on the moral issues involved to help them express their private views, or to try to better understand the issues.

Folks like Tiger give us a public forum for such discussions
Janet

I think Tigers popularity was slipping so he needed a scandal to stir things up. NPR has dumbed us all down for being a part of the hype and publicity stunt.
Chris Rediske

Tiger Woods trials should be of no interest to us, as opposed to the sex scandals of those who have spouted their piousness such as priests and politicians. I have never heard Tiger Woods announcing how perfect are his morals, nor his beliefs of higher values than someone else.
Frank

When someone cheats in their marriage, might they also be cheating in other areas of their life?
http://onanov.com Donald Baxter, Iowa City, IA

please stop, i’m bored. please stop, i’m bored. please stop, i’m bored, please…
Miles Manchester

Called my local NPR station to complain about this show. They suggested replying directly to your program. Glad I went online to see how many other people feel the same about “On Point” wasting air time with this.
Very disappointing. I resolve to complain more.
Would be interested in hearing from others on this topic listening to NCPR broadcasting from Canton, NY.
Email me at “dollarvotes@gmail.com”
http://www.richardsnotes.org Richard

Tom: I didn’t catch this show, not because I’m boycotting, but because I was busy. However, I think you could have eliminated some or most of the negative commentary had you classified this as a “soft” news topic and put it in the second hour.

This is definitely not first hour stuff, no matter what and I won’t be listening to the show this afternoon because I’m simply not interested.
Cynthia Hartnett

I thought I had tuned into AM talk radio by mistake with today’s lineup. Yes, our media-saturated culture has put Tiger Woods on the block, but I hold NPR and On Point to a higher standard.
roddy o’sullivan

TIGER WOODS????? who cares??

What is OnPoint doing with this garbage? Tom frequently suggests that On Point tries to be as “On point” as possible. Where is the real news?

Just look here at the sad and sorry state of affairs in the media…… compare the screenshots of CNN and Al Jazerra from the same time of yesterday.

http://i.imgur.com/NVih0.jpg

and it now appears that On Point is just as culpable as CNN in redirecting the attention of people away from the stories that matter. How about a show that deals with Al` Jazerra vs CNN/FOX/MSNBC?

This event in Iraq is akin to Bloody Sunday in 1972 in Northern Ireland and My Laiin 1968 in Vietnam….. plain wrong.

Come on Tom et al…….

Respectfully
Scott

Reagan on the Fifty yesterday? Now “Tiger” at the Masters? You can do better than this.

Why not invite Chris Hedges, whose brilliant “Culture of Illusion” updates Christopher Lasch for the 2000s. Hedges stresses that it is just such pointless debates about trivia (Reagan on the $50), and the putting on of meaningless spectacle (pro-golf tournaments) that helps to keep the people ignorant and fighting over ghosts.
http://www.theworldartistnetwork.org Valeria

As many others have expressed, I agree that the topic of Tiger Woods does not deserve the attention of public radio.

While it is interesting to observe how the business side of sports is affected by the “coming back to earth” idolization of anyone particular person, I think this has already been widely covered and that precious resources should no longer be wasted.
Todd

Wow Tom, it appears that the ‘Nays’ have it!
dana

oh my god, is this a boring topic…why why why must npr follow the cable shows for sensationalism? Most people are not golf nuts and find his private life an a cue for the mute button…enough already.
ellen

to tom…never have i seen so many negative comments…about 98 percent….your show is turning into drek….look it up.
gina

Although I skipped the show, I read the comments anyway. Gwilyn’s “dream scenario” for Tiger’s return to golf made me chuckle. She describes him winning with a hole-in-one, after which “He then comes up where he embrasses” his wife.

Can we assume that “embraces” was the intended word, not “embarrasses”, which he’s done more than enough lately? LOL!
Emily Corwith

I also viewed the Newshour segment last night and was struck by what appeared to be the matter-of-fact acceptance that American corporations ship any job possible overseas. I agree with the above comment
“I would like to see a good show on the tax system and how it encourages business to move overseas and it seems to me that the bad economy is being used as an excuse to make these moves” … Thank you.
Joe

Thank goodness for The Diane Rehm Show option here in the Boston area.
ErikW65

This show was revealing. I was surprised by the man who had been hurt personally by adultery, but who nonetheless did not think it was an appropriate topic. And the guy from Georgia who said nothing TW did in his personal life was any business of his no matter WHAT it was.

I think this subject simply causes people to experience cognitive dissonance, be it discomfort at the subject of marital infidelity or conflict of financial interest.

Thanks Tom for having the courage to discuss this story. And to all who pushed back against the shallow individuals and corporate interests that want us to return to mindlessly idolizing and being passively entertained, regardless of the social implications regarding the accountability of those public figures who are sports heroes and who profit greatly from their public image.
jeffe

Golf: A good walk spoiled.
–Mark Twain

Well it seems most people were not very into hearing more on this story. To say this is important because Woods is a big time sports figure is hogwash.

Aside from the sad issue of Woods not doing more interesting things with his time other than playing golf, his sexual life is none of anyone’s business.

This is nothing more than tabloid media.
Brett

Tiger Wood’s dream sequence at the Masters:
he is in a three-way playoff with two other golfers, excuses himself to the bathroom just the before the sudden death starts, and moves over to the sink to wash his hands after leaving the urinal. He deftly pulls a Vicodin® out of his pocket, crushes it up Nurse-Jackie-style and quickly snorts it before exiting the bathroom, smiling. On the way back to meet his caddy, he eyes a concession stand vixen and gives her a little wink and bedroom glance while pointing to his watch and mouthing the words, “meet me at ten o’clock.” He goes out, gives a powerful performance roundly beating his two opponents to win the Masters and puts on the green blazer. He looks at his watch and notices he has several hours before ten and wonders what the female announcer is up to for the next few hours, all while in an interview championing his love for the game, his desire to make things right with his family and the virtues of Buddhism his mother instilled in him. Nike starts thinking his image has been repaired enough that they can begin again to market his brand as an exalted role model for kids.
TBone

As soon as I realized that this was the topic, I switched stations. I couldn’t care less about some skanky golfer.
Steve V

Tom, I listened to the first 5 minutes of this show, then found something better to do (washing my truck). I care more about what I’ll have for supper tonite than what happens to Tiger Woods. What a society we live in.
Mary Burke

WBUR used to be my monica-free zone. What happened? I switched over to WGBH and was so grateful that Diane was covering the Afghanistan murders by US forces.
More suggestions:
-recent violence in Iraq, 3 attacks leaving 100 dead
-2007 helicopter attack on civillians that left 2
Reuters journalists dead among others.
-coal mine accident that killed 25
-six insurers in MA filing suit againt the state for rate restrictions.
I have to go online to listen to Democracy Now and find out what the news is.
jeffe

six insurers in MA filing suit against the state for rate restrictions.

Now this is a topic that not only deals with the state but it also points to how the new health care bill is totally useless in controlling these corporations from pricing people like me out of the market.

If I don’t buy into this legalized protection racket I will be fined by the government. This is what health insurance has become, a legal protection racket.
http://www.unclemunkey.com Larry

Count me among those who find your program on Tiger Woods’ peccadillos pretty tiresome.
Chuck

I do not watch, play or follow golf. Even if I did, I would not care about whom Tiger Woods has sex with.

Please find something “non-stupid” for the next show.
Alan Dotson

Mark Twain said it best. “Their are three types of lies. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.” Some like to quote poll numbers but these same numbers are always questionable. For a better gauge of Tiger’s popularity simply look at the sale of tangible goods related to Tiger. Sales of all of his golf related goods are up significantly from 2008 to 2009 and trending up in 2010.

Those are real, tangible, VESTED numbers.
Diane

I can’t believe I’m listening to this trashy stuff on WBUR. If I want to know about celebrity sex scandals I can read People Magazine at the dentist’s office.
Megan

While I can’t disagree that I too am sick of Tiger and all the rest of celebrity gossip, reality tv and other tabloid fodder, I must say that in all the coverage I have yet to hear anyone say “consenting adults”. Those “poor women” Tiger mis-lead, knew exactly what they were doing. Shame on them too. I hate that they play the victim.
BAS

WHAT!
WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?
Jeff

Tiger should be welcomed back into the golf world, as he has clearly been THE lifeline for the golf industry and golf lifestyle for quite extended period of time. What we are accustomed to, however, is the perceived right to pry into the lives of these athletes as it is a lifestyle on its own knowing what these mega stars do day and night. Tiger welcome back to the links! I think this is an awakening on the media and fans overall under the same umbrella to drawing the line from what we SHOULD care about-their involvement and results to their respected sport, as opposed to what we are essentially just INTRIGUED about with regards to athletes. thanks Tom- listener and supporter of NPR from Charlotte, NC @ University of North Carolina at Charlotte!
Don

Who cares about Tiger Woods? With everything else that is going on in this world, you waste time on this! Who cares?
Kerry

As a nineteen-year-old fan of golf (and an avid golfer myself), I grew up seeing and watching Tiger Woods. I started playing golf because of him, and wanting to be like him someday.
I may be naive, but this has absolutely shattered the respect and admiration I had for him and I doubt that he can earn it back. He really was a major icon for the people of my generation. So many teenagers have grown up watching him. I haven’t heard much from other people my age and their viewpoints on this issue.
Ellen Dibble

A Tiger walks into a bar. He sits down. Everyone is quiet. He buys everyone a drink. Life continues. In terms of the human family, fraternal feeling, once you’re into multimillions and your face on Nike commercials, you have pretty much lost your seat at the pub. You can buy yourself a certain amount of coziness, this golfer maybe being a case in point, but if we learn from dissecting the lives of others, and we use celebrities and public figures for this, we learn less when their situations are so non-comparable. The whole show felt like an exercise in bias, although there is plenty of airing of assumptions and values, which serves its purposes. But it makes me very nervous to listen to the way people take it upon themselves to judge. It makes me count the zillion ways people have misconstrued me, for example, and continue to do so — or certainly seem to — and I suppose I’m not alone in that. I think the more we feel assailed like that, by unknown barbs, the more barbarous we are in return, taking preemptive action and pre-judging with vehemence before and lest we ourselves be pre-judged. This is the nuclear deterrence approach to the human sport of minding of other people’s business.
john ruddy

Tom,
I can’t thank u enough for your commentary on Tiger Tuesday night. It was awesome to hear different, sensible opinions with different sides of the issues without stepping on each other etc. You were the “Bob Kostas” as host and kept it extremely interesting. I agreed with most of what I heard and really enjoyed the rest. Just a few bits to fill in…..I am a Christian with 2 kids and would never pass judgment of an individuals failures as I have done plenty. I am shocked that most believe its “mostly none of our business.” The one piece missing from m the discussion is kids.
Yes, I have 2 young teens. I always direct them away from social figures in the news that don’t emulate my vision as a parent where u hope your kids look up to and admires…Tiger indeed shammed the world of golf. One of the few sports where Gentlemen play with professional courtesy, self regulate all errors and actually call penalties on themselves even when they can get away with it. This is a fact that he has lowered the professionalism of the game. Tiger of all athletes really handled the wealth and stardom in his early fame swarmed with $$$ and still was an excellent and controlled idol of many.
What has discussed me in the last 2 weeks is not the “Opra watchers” as referred to by a caller,…..but by Johnny Miller, ESPN2 and many other who have spent hundreds of hours showing great puts and top 10 best strokes ever made by Tiger and all the records and folks he has beaten like a gladiator re-entering the ring…does this man deserve the welcome mat and all the TV coverage to pump up the crowd and hope it over shadows the bad news? I think not.
.I hate how JM and other highlight Tiger 8 holes and 9 strokes behind the leaders…I believe the leaders of the tournament deserve all the TV coverage as does their sponsors,……many wonder why sponsors are leaving golf……hello, they never get on TV as networks rather show tiger 4 holes back with no chance to win. I am a 20 hcp golfer and love the sport (even was an official at the Honda for 10 years……I will be boycotting the masters thanks to the network build up. Again not because Tiger fell off the wagon…this his personal issue,…but the networks stupidity.
And for a finish, please don’t get sucked up by tiger emotion,…..he has been scripted as most multimillionaires are on how to handle a mess…..he had attorneys wring fla state troopers,….speeches hand written by the best……surprised he didn’t have teleprompters….his goal was hand on to his millions…….and he can afford to do that…wow, hired Ary from Whitehouse? ….Keep up the great work
Ishmael

People who live in the “real world” couldn’t give two ****s about Tiger and any laisons he might be inclined to purchase.
streamfortyseven

Here’s something you should take a look into:

http://www.collateralmurder.com/

It’s a lot more interesting than Tiger Woods. It’s a lot more relevant, too.
Karen J

Tom-

I tune in to On-Point as often as I can and am always impressed by the intelligent discussion, yesterday… not so much. I bought in to the whole family man Tiger Woods image as well, I was shocked to find it was a hoax, and then I moved on! This is the business of his wife and the sponsors who use his imaage to sell product. Tiger Woods is a golfer, let him play golf. The rest of us have our own lives to worry about.

Karen In Buffalo
Natalie

I’d rather hear Tom’s contrived rants about how Democrats are under constant and real threats of violence attacks by Repubilcans. Keep the fantasy coming Tom!
ChrisinNewton

I was surprised, but happy to hear the Tiger Woods show. Like it or not, the man is a one-person economy. Lots and lots of people’s livelihoods depend on what he does. (Admittedly, not mine.) While I am not necessarily interested in the details of his personal life, I am interested in the concept of “celebrity” in our culture.
Fred R

Tom, I was appalled at the insensitivity of youo AND your guests to the comments made by a good number of callers regarding this topic. You are not supposed to be running a tabloid show, and Jonathan Mahler, if he believes Wood’s personal life is a story to be folowed, is a “tabloid whore” in his heart and losesw a great deal of credibility as a legitimate writer.

As one of your callers said, America is the most voyeuristic nation in the world, much to its embarrassment. Society does NOT have the right to hold celebrities accountable in their personal lives, especially a society as sexually hypocritical as that of the USA. Somehow, we appear to believe that we have a constitutional right to manage the private lives of others while concealing our vices.

Tiger Woods is a golfer. His cororate sponsors are chiefly businesses that are associated with sports-related products. They withdrew their support, I guarantee, onl because of a perceived threat to their bottom lines by misguided American sex police.

Contrary to Mahler’s remark about Woods’s acting morally upright in public, I dont see it that way. Woods was merely being discreet and holding his private life close to his chest because it is – or should be – irrelevant to his position as a star athlete. He was not trying to hide anything or pretened to be something he wasn’t. He did his part and played golf well, thereby fulfilling his obligation to the public. He is NOT, I repeat NOT, a moral arbitor.

Mahler is wrong. There is no story, and you were wrong to try to make a first show out of something so unworthy of our attention, much less twice. Perhaps the show also says something about where YOUR head is too. It’s a pity we in St Louis get your show prerecorded or I would have made these points in a live call. Looks like a lot of other people agree with me.

Fred Robinson
St Louis
Deborah Warner

This was the most trivial and boring on-point program I have ever heard.
Good Grief

I second the recommendation for

http://collateralmurder.org

This tabloid story was a waste of time. A billionaire celebrity cheated on his wife and slept with a bunch of women. So what? Haven’t rich celebrities been doing that since forever? Usually On Point is fantastic, but this was a bad show.
Marylin Mott

Hi Tom,
Instead of talking about people like Tiger Woods being accountable – why don’t you do a program about the accountability of the CEO and Corporation that killed twenty-five coal miners. There were a tremendous number of violations at mine, and no one did anything about the violations. People want their power – but they also need to be accountable for the deaths that happened.
Marylin
Carl Bouton

While I more or less concur with all who questioned this program dwelling on Tiger Woods for a second session, I did resign myself to listening to the 2nd half of the show during a drive home yesterday. This included a call from a listener wondering why the media is focusing so much attention on his personal behavior, given that he is just an athlete, not some religious or other moral leader. In the event that you do yet a 3rd show on this topic, and you select a caller who expresses a similar point, I would hope that you, Tom, or someone on your guest panel, would pose the following: “what percentage of his income is derived from being ‘just an athlete’, and what percent from projecting some overall image that results in so many companies having chosen him to endorse their products?”

Carl in Breedsville

RECENT

SHOWS

How Great Quotes Shaped Our World

May 17, 2013

95 Comments

Great quotations. What makes them? And how they shape our language and our view of the world

Week In The News: IRS And AP, Military Sex Abuse, Angelina Jolie

May 17, 2013

740 Comments

IRS and AP scandals. White House damage control. More military sex abuse. Angelina Jolie. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

On Point Blog

Switching Shows For Our Second Hour Today

Friday, May 17, 2013

Adventures in live radio. Richard Snow, our guest for our show on Henry Ford, was held up — possibly by a faulty Model T? — so we’re running a terrific archive show on great quotations.

More »
4 Comments

Floyd Abrams On Obama Vs. Nixon

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Floyd Abrams — one of the country’s leading authorities on the First Amendment — joined us today to talk about revelations that the Justice Department seized two months of phone records from the Associated Press.

More »
Comment

Dr. Judy Garber On Angelina Jolie’s Cancer Decision

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Dr. Judy Garber — director of the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — joined us for the final segment of our show today to talk about star Angelina Jolie’s decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy.

More »
Comment