Moral Topic

[finnster01]

Why is it that Tiger Woods gets shafted in the media whilst nobody cares about John Terry? As far as we know, Tiger didn't get any of his mistresses pregnant, twice...

Where is John Terry's horrible press conference?

[clintclintdeuce]

Probably has something to do with Woods being worth 10 times the amount of John Terry. Even the Kobe Bryant thing wasnt as bad as theyre treating Woods.... nor did anyone even care with John Daly last year.

[Jimpav]

Because Tiger made thousands of millions of the back of his clean cut, god fearing, apple pie eating image. His flunkeys and spin doctors saw the value of this and kept him
protected in an untouchable glass bubble.

On the other hand you have Terry who is viewed as a grubby little overpaid footballer who has joined the back of a long line of cheating, wife beating, gambling, drug taking, gbh commiting footballers. He acted how the press expected him to and if Bridge hadn't of been a
team mate then this would have barely made page 12 of the news (slotted in next to a small paragraph on 200,000 people dying in Afghanistan).

[helgell]

I think it has something to do with cultural differences between US and UK/Europe. In US people expect celebrities to be as "good" in their private lives as in their career, but in the UK there's more of a separation between them. So when an American athlete fails, it's more of a shock to the media/public. That's my view fm Norway at least.

[Lighthouse]

As stated above by Jimpav and helgell, you can't have the clean cut,butter wouldn't melt,that will be another million dollars please, All star American, going around and jumping every young lady he sees. Besides there is the feeling in American that you boost your stars up and make them stay there. In the UK and others we build people up SO we can knock them down.

Terry just isn't in the same league as Woods. Terry has a family who would move into Buckingham Palace and a week later it would be a slum. Some people given the breaks still think the World is to screw over, in both meanings of the Word.

Oh and welcome helgell.

[Logicalman]

IMHO the press conference he gave yesterday, together with the dutiful wife, tears, 'heartfelt' apology and the rest of the circus acts was just that, showmanship.
Lets get a few things straight with Tiger Woods. He took sponsorship money in the country that prides itself on the clean-cut morally-upperclass image of it's sportsmen, and ladies. There is no denying he is, perhaps, one of the all-time great golfers (if not THE greatest) and that can never be taken away from him. But he continued with the sailors quest of a girl in every port, whilst living in a goldfish bowl, and then expects the American public and his sponsors, to 'forgive' his sins and let him get back to normality.

The 'press conference', and you have to understand most press conferences have the worlds media there with a question and answer session, was nothing short of a media stunt, so timed as to overshadow the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. He could have made sure he didn't time it as such, but he chose this time, fully aware of golfing calendar.
I have little doubt that his publicity machine made all the decisions, and coached him as to how and when to cry, or have his voice crack up, but,like many sportsmen (and some evangelists) before him, he came across false and manipulating to me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not moralizing as to his extra-marital affairs, I'm not that much of a hypocrite, we have all made disastrous mistakes in our lives, but when a player signs up for massive sponsorship deals, that make the Terry's of this world appear modest income earners, then they also sign up for the moral stance as well, and to do what he did, especially in the States, shows not only a moral ineptitude but also a hypocrisy rarely seen these days in such plentiful splendor.

After saying all that, I really don't KNOW the guy, and I guess if I met him in a bar, I would have a drink with him.

[LRCN]

he is one of the top 3, if not the biggest, well known sports stars around the world. he is massive. what john terry earns in a year pales in comparison.

[HatterDon]

Because Tiger made thousands of millions of the back of his clean cut, god fearing, apple pie eating image.

That's funny; here I thought he made all that money because he could hit a golf ball better than anyone else alive.

To me, the answer to this is that, in the United States, sports networks are constantly trying to lure in non-sports fans. They like to do this in two ways (1) Image building and (2) Image trashing -- you know, sort of what Brits do with musicians and actors. They're going after the reality television viewer, the subscriber to Us magazine, and all those people want to hear about are marriages, divorces, breakups, reconciliations, apologies. In Britain, most football fans want to hear about football, not the other crap.

[Jimpav]

I'm not denying that he is the greatest golfer in history but his image was until recently very marketable and had been cashed on in to the extreme. The lucrative sponsors will not re-hire  him as quickly as they dropped him.

[ron]

Whatever their position and whatever they earn, they need for their own sakes to live lives that they are content with, and which give them a clear conscience and a sense of ease.
If they do, fine. If they don't, I simply don't give a good Go***m.

[HatterDon]

I'm not denying that he is the greatest golfer in history but his image was until recently very marketable and had been cashed on in to the extreme. The lucrative sponsors will not re-hire  him as quickly as they dropped him.

Do you think that the sponsors hire him because they like him? I think they hire him because it benefits them to have their name/product associated with him. If they've dropped him, it's because the fiduciary benefit wasn't as great as they planned, and they found an excuse to kick him into touch. Sponsors will flock to Woods again as soon as he starts winning, and -- when the next "new kid in town" shows up -- they'll desert him even if he's supporting medical research that's found a cure for cancer and Aids. EVERYTHING is about money in professional golf.