PALIN MITENK BLOG

By Sean Gregory

Blake Lively and Kenan Thompson play Elin and Tiger Woods in an episode of Saturday Night Live.
Dana Edelson / NBC

Last weekend, on Saturday Night Live, NBC drove Tiger Woods hard. In a skit, faux Tiger and wife Elin held a press conference, which gets interrupted after a surprised Elin hears Tiger admit he made "multiple transgressions." The shot cuts away, but then Tiger returns, arm in a sling, and claims that he accidentally fell down a flight of stairs and "launched myself through a plate glass window." The audience chuckled. In the Weekend Update segment, Seth Meyers teed Tiger up, noting that his sponsors are sticking with him, "a gesture that only means one thing — women don't watch golf."

But the following afternoon, during NBC's telecast of the Chevron World Challenge, a golf tournament that raises money for Woods' foundation, it was: Tiger Who? At the top of the program, NBC anchor Dan Hicks read a statement from Tiger, who skipped the tournament, officially because of injuries sustained during his mysterious car crash. The statement thanked Tiger's sponsors, but the now infamous word "transgressions" was never even uttered, once. The cameras tailed the likes of Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell around the course, the unacknowledged elephant squatting on every tee, blanketing every bunker shot. Awkward.

As the Tiger Woods scandal keeps expanding, NBC's experience on Sunday afternoon underscores the tricky lie in which the networks that broadcast golf now find themselves. No single athlete has the power to propel, or derail, his sport more than Woods. He's the meal ticket, the key to big ratings, and it's in each network's interest to stay in Tiger's good graces — whatever that means.

Granted, no one has ever mistaken sports programming for 60 Minutes. But the sportscasters still owe us an honest minute or two dissecting the golf story of the year, if not the decade — and the next one. Especially when the story is exploding, and you are stuck with the somewhat sad irony of the Tiger saga unfolding on the same week as his charity tournament.

The Golf Channel, whose very existence can be credited to Woods, is similarly skirting the babe issue. "We had news reporters all over the place on Friday (Nov. 27, the day in which Tiger's car accident went public) and Saturday and Sunday and Monday," says Tom Stathakes, programming chief for the Golf Channel. "But I'm not in the business of talking about 10 of Tiger's girlfriends."

But as the number of Tiger's alleged paramours reaches double digits, doesn't this potentially reckless behavior become news? Can you ignore the sensational story rocking your game with a straight face? Tiger's sponsors aren't completely looking the other way. According to Nielsen Co., no Tiger ads have aired since shortly after the scandal broke. And Pepsi announced it is dropping a Gatorade drink that pays homage to Woods, though the company insists the move was planned before the marital issues arose.

We asked the three networks that broadcast major golf events, NBC, CBS, and ESPN/ABC, to talk about how they may approach Tiger. Why did NBC pretty much ignore the scandal last weekend? Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports, offered only this pablum: "We said what we thought was appropriate to be said given the continuing tabloid nature of the story. We were there to cover a golfing competition. I'm certain there will be a much clearer set of established facts when our PGA Tour coverage resumes next year." CBS will broadcast what some golf pundits expect to be Tiger's first event since the car incident, the San Diego Open, on January 30-31. The network refused to comment.

But Mike Tirico, the lead golf announcer for ABC/ESPN, returned our call. "The person putting on the TV is coming to watch golf," he says. "They're not coming for TMZ or Entertainment Tonight. I've heard people say, 'I don't want to hear that, we came to watch the game. If we want that other stuff, we'll go watch Sportscenter or read about it online.' Dwelling on it for two hours, when it's not impacting the competition, wouldn't make much sense."

Tiger's absence does change the competition, though. Without him in the field, guys like Bo Van Pelt — he's a pro golfer — can win tournaments. Quietly. Tiger touches everything in golf. Tirico himself describes the ratings disparity between events Tiger plans and those he skips as "frightening."

Tirico insists that, at ESPN, the debate about how much news to cover is often fierce. But he clearly leans toward, for the most part, steering pretty clear of the messiness. "Very often, people come to sporting events to get away from all the other stuff," he says. "So you kind of owe them complete coverage of that event."

Fair enough. But if you're going to be comprehensive, you can't ignore, or just give short shrift, to the Tiger scandal. Especially during the first few tournaments of 2010, and during whatever event in which he makes his return. You might not hear about Tiger's transgressions from the organizations that bring you golf on Sunday afternoon. But the TV suits will be sweating, and the entire situation will be uncomfortable, on every hole along the way.


source: Time.com