Tiger's Indefinite Leave Clippings, Vol. 8

I can just feel the news cycle turning. First Tiger wins athlete of the decade, and now my peers voted him player of the year. Add having to accept that award in front of 300 members of the media on Wednesday of Masters week to the list of reasons he might think twice about returning to golf at Augusta.

In less cheery news, the NY Times's Michael Schmidt and Juliet Macur followed up today with sources suggesting the FBI is in fact focusing on Dr. Anthony Galea giving professional athletes performance-enhancing (and illegal) drugs.

The complaint said that Catalano told authorities that she planned to meet with Galea after crossing into the United States. The complaint made no reference to whether Catalano told authorities that Galea had provided performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes. But several people who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that she did.

Those who spoke about the matter said they did not want to be identified because they were discussing an active investigation.

Dan Herbeck in the Buffalo News (thanks reader Cardinal) has a source inside the investigation that says Tiger's name has not come up in anyway:

“I know of nothing that has come up in this investigation that would indicate Tiger Woods was using [performanceenhancing drugs], and I know of nothing that would put him into any trouble with law enforcement,” said one source close to the probe.

While Woods faces damaging fallout from recent revelations that he cheated on his wife with an assortment of mistresses, no evidence from the Galea investigation indicates that he cheated in his bodybuilding regime with steroids or human growth hormone drugs, four sources close to the investigation told The News.

And in an odd twist Galea's lawyer offered a non-denial denial related to Tiger and his former client:

“Any suggestion of any linkage to Tiger Woods is nonexistent,” Galea’s lawyer, Brian H. Greenspan, said outside a Toronto courtroom Friday. “I’m saying categorically it does not relate to anything that’s alleged before this court.”

I'm not sure anyone suggested Tiger was linked to the charges before the Canadian court, did they? Why offer that up?

Anyway, here are the details on the charges brought before the court Friday.

A few days ago, Rick Telander found Tiger guilty of using performance enhancing drugs:

The PGA, you know, never tested until a year ago for performance-enhancing drugs. And the tour's testing now is basically a joke. Old-schoolers have always dismissed the ludicrous notion that steroids or the like could help elite golfers, anyway. They used to say the same thing about major-league pitchers. Hi, Roger Clemens.

Woods has already displayed the quality of his ethical decision-making. And as a spiritual guide, his late dad, Earl Woods, now looks more like a Mike Agassi clone than a developmental saint.
Tiger Woods is your AP Athlete of the Decade, folks.

If he did use performance-enhancing drugs, wouldn't that be perfect?

Ken Belson on Tag Heuer limiting its Tiger Woods "exposure."

“The partnership with Tiger Woods will continue,” Jean-Christophe Babin, TAG Heuer’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “But we will downscale the use of his image in certain markets for a period of time, depending on his decision about returning to professional golf.”

Babin did not define what “downscale” meant. Advertisements featuring Woods have been prominent in luxury magazines, as well as billboards and other outdoor advertising. Babin said the company would still support the charitable Tiger Woods Foundation.

The WSJ suggests Tiger is making at least $2 million a year from Tag Heuer:

In 2002, Mr. Woods stopped promoting Rolex's Tudor, a watch he had pitched for about five years, after securing a deal with Tag Heuer, which paid him an estimated $2 million annually for a three-year pact, according to people close to the company. The pact was then renewed; it isn't clear what the new terms were.

Brian Viner interviews Peter Alliss and he certainly isn't holding back:

"No, it's very sad. Of course, people say his advisers must have known what was going on, and should have put a stop to it, but he's the goose that lays the golden eggs. If you'd worked for one of the old press barons, would you have gone up to Beaverbrook and told him to stop misbehaving? This is no different.

"We're supposed to feel sorry for his family. But I don't know his family. She [Elin] might be a cow to live with, I don't know. What I do know is that the jokes will go on for 20 years. 'In the hole, Tiger' has a whole new connotation now, and will he be able to put up with that? If he can, if he does go on to win another five majors to move ahead of Nicklaus, I think everything he's done in the last 12 years will pale into insignificance. It will be a huge achievement. Of course, you can gain forgiveness in America even from those who would like to whip you with thorn bushes or whatever. You can go on Oprah. You can own up to things, like Jimmy Swaggart, the evangelist. But that won't stop the jibes. And Tiger's a proud man. He'll hate the jibes. But he's got to re-enter society sometime."

Walter Pacheco of the Orlando Sentinel notes this change in the Arnold Palmer Invitational's website banner:

The New Yorker's John Cassidy notes this about Tiger's continued disappearance from visibility of any kind.

From the first day, when he refused to come out and say anything about his car wreck, Tiger has made a series of terrible moves, culminating in his decision to take an “indefinite” leave from professional golf. By pulling a Howard Hughes and disappearing from view, Tiger has left the field open for others, few of who have his best interests at heart, to shape the narrative in ways beneficial to them. What started out as a serious problem for Tiger has evolved into a career-threatening crisis. Unless he reverses course and tries to seize control of the story, his days as the world’s premier athlete-celebrity may be over.

And he notes that as a former senior editor at the New York Post...

where I helped to direct the coverage of the O.J. trial and other juicy yarns. Even back then, before the growth of the Internet, tabloid stories of a certain magnitude were capable of taking on a life of their own. Today, with TMZ.com, OMG!, People.com, Gawker, and who-knows how many other Web sites offering real-time coverage, the self-perpetuating nature of stories involving mega-celebrities is even more evident.

Rumors continue to circulate about Tiger's whereabouts, with the Palm Beach Post reporting on Privacy's location as of Thursday night.

And finally, Chelsea Handler lands the first interview with Tiger...



Tiger's Indefinite Leave Clippings, Vol. 7

Tim Finchem actually made Tiger second-hand news Thursday and maybe even into Friday...unless Tiger surfaces or his Citation overruns a short runway in Wickenberg, Arizona near a certain rehab clinic made famous by David Duchovny.

Unfortunately for Finchem, the reviews weren't so hot for his whirlwind press tour that commenced on CNBC, included a teleconference with scribes, and wrapped up with Golf Channel and ESPN appearances.

Jim McCabe says you got the feeling that Tim Finchem's "at the helm of the S.S. Good Ship Lollipop," and while he really enjoyed Finchem's praise for the President's Cup, he couldn't quite let the Dr. Galea component of the press conference and Finchem's brush-off go unnoticed:

While it’s documented that Dr. Galea is under arrest for drug-related charges, no one is suggesting Woods should be the subject of suspicions. Still, it was alarming to hear Finchem state, almost brushing it aside like a three-putt bogey, that “I have no reason to have a concern with respect to him and a doctor (Galea) who has used HGH with patients for whom it’s not an illegal drug (which is true of HGH, in Canada).”

Dick Pound wonders. The former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency said, “You would have a heightened awareness. I would not put it any further than that.”

Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the WADA, does take it a step further. Asked if he thought Finchem should have expressed a little more concern, Dr. Wadler said, “You can’t be dismissive. I’ve seen that for years and years and years. Let’s put it this way: As a doping expert, when I hear in the same sentence ‘blood-spinning, HGH, and Actovegin,’ I intend to straighten up and have a better look.

“(I hear) that combination, those three things, and I immediately think about doping. At best you look into it.”

“That’s what clean athletes expect,” said Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. “You believe what they say, but also, you have the responsibility to verify.”

Bill Huffman also wasn't impressed.

But even more than the media’s unquenched thirst for Tiger’s secret life and his, some might say, “pending’’ divorce, is the way the Tour seems to be protecting Woods, who "reportedly'' is on his way to an addiction clinic in Wickenburg. And the big question that goes along with that is, does Tiger deserve such protection?
 
More than one reporter has brought up the fact lately, that despite being independent contractors, Woods seems to get the kid gloves from Finchem when compared to, say, John Daly. And, yes, that exact question came up Thursday and here’s what Finchem had to say about the insinuation that Tiger’s behavior had smudged the Tour’s guideline for “conduct unbecoming,’’ which is an area that allows the commissioner to level fines or suspensions.

“Historically, the PGA Tour has never, to my knowledge in our history, taken a situation in someone’s personal life and dealt with it from a disciplinary matter or considered it conduct unbecoming as it relates to our regulations,’’ Finchem said, adding quickly: “Our regulations relate to conduct unbecoming that’s either in the public arena or law enforcement arena.’’

OK, so Tiger didn’t hit the fire hydrant with his Escalade at 2:30 in the morning when he was high on Ambien, right? And he didn’t lie to the cops when he said that his distraught wife knocked the back window out of the car – on both sides! – to rescue him, correct? And, well, the hookers and the steroids are just ill-timed rumors as long as they don’t end up in the “law enforcement arena,’’ and so there is no reason to look into them, huh?

Steve Elling noted the Commissioner's often contradictory statements and finds it hard to fathom how golf wasn't damaged by the last three weeks.

Playing defense because of the manifold ties Woods has to the tour product, as well as the game's general health, Finchem came out swinging with his driver, although plenty of the missives missed the mark. Deny and defy it loud enough, brother, and somebody might believe it.

Thanks to Woods, golf news has been almost uniformly brutal for 21 days and counting. He has more alleged mistresses than majors. Porno videos are being shot with Woods' life as the punch line and plotline. He has been linked to a controversial physician who is facing drug charges. Every day brings another hurtful revelation.

Nobody is suggesting that golf will crash and burn because Woods' reputation is tainted or he's gone underground. After all, the tour survived when he missed eight months in 2008-09. But Finchem's insistence on soft-pedaling the impact, to use one of his favorite terms, is just plain counter-intuitive.

Mike Walker had a hard time telling the difference between Finchem's appearances and SNL's sketch.

The silver lining for the Tour is that when Woods comes back, interest in him and the game will be greater than ever. Finchem told Rovell that Woods is not bigger than golf. That's wrong. After what happened these last two weeks, he's bigger than sports. When he comes back, the Tour will have Brangelina on the course 16 weekends a year. Someone ought to be able to sell that.

Jay Busbee summed up the teleconference this way:

Regarding Woods, Finchem pursued an it's-unfortunate-but-let's-give-him-his privacy approach. One wonders what Finchem would have said if it were any other golfer, with the possible exception of Phil Mickelson, who had acted in the same way Tiger Woods apparently has been over the last few years. I'd expect he'd have far harsher words for any other golfer who had, by his own admission, subverted the very "gentleman's code" upon which golf so prides itself.

Just now weighing in on the saga is a once big Tiger fan Gene Wojciechowski, who writes:

How many times will we get burned by corporate -- and, yes, media -- image inventions before we learn?

Mark McGwire … fraud.

Sammy Sosa … fraud.

Barry Bonds … fraud.

Roger Clemens … fraud.

Alex Rodriguez … liar.

I could keep going. The list is as long as a Wrigley Field bathroom line.

Woods is the latest name on the disgraced sports hero time line. His descent is stunning because we never saw it coming. The Ice Man melteth.

I'm not sure Tiger was beloved. He was admired, respected, even feared. We saw his sharp edges but rarely saw the sanded-down parts of his personality. He was in total control -- or so we thought.

In an improvement over his last piece, Huffington Post's Matthew DeBord takes shots at just about everyone in the golf establishment from The Golf Channel to Phil Knight to the National Enquirer to Tim Rosaforte to Dubai, then says this about Tiger:

The game is in no way bigger than Tiger. In fact, Tiger is so immensely, hugely, ginormously larger than mere golf that golf may never recover from this monumental fall from grace. You could go nuts and say that Tiger is golf, except that he's even bigger than that. Tiger, truth be told, is bigger than Tiger. He is, or was, so mega, so money, that he transcended even himself. The complexity of this scandal, the depth of psychological and emotional trauma that must have been and may still be present to enable it, is of Hegelian dimensions. More than a decade of intricately orchestrated deception. Nixon wasn't this good.

Phillip Reid features lengthy comments from Padraig Harrington.

“That’s what amazes me, I thought the guy was, and I’m particularly loath to use the word, but let’s say had a quiet life, went back to his hotel room every night . . . (to) sit in your room for six hours is not a pleasant experience, he couldn’t go out.

“I felt sorry for him in that sense, (because) I could go out (for dinner) every night. I assumed life on tour was real tough (for him). You knew when he was off tour he enjoyed his boat and going fishing and that was the only freedom he ever got.

“I’m amazed by both sides, that if somebody goes down that road you usually can tell, there’s a bravado in it and all that sort of stuff . . . the odd time he’d be in a hotel and you’d see him going getting his ice to have an ice bath for his knee and things like that, you’d see him in the gym, always just incredibly diligent.

“You’d kind of often think (of asking), ‘do you want to go out for dinner?’, and not (ask), think he is trying to do his own thing and trying to be special in that sense. I felt for the fact he was absolutely in a fishbowl, life was tough in that sense.

“The only thing I can give on the whole story is ‘wow’, I was out there on tour with him for 10 years and often Tiger himself has said I’d be (considered) a friend, and I had no idea this was going on in his life . . . a triple life: golf, home and when he was away.”

Bookies are offering some unusual bets.

Bookmaker William Hill is taking bets on just how much Nordegren will get if she decides to divorce the world's No 1 golfer. As the scandal widens with claims of more mistresses, punters can get odds of 25-1 that Nordegren will receive more than half a billion dollars in a divorce settlement. The odds drop to 6-4 for a settlement under $100m. William Hill offer 1-2 that she gets between $100m and $500m. William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: "It's largely a bit of fun."

That's nice.

Besides the divorce rumors getting picked up just about everywhere, US featured this about Tiger's current routine:

After those grueling sessions -- which a source describes as the golfer "just apologizing over and over again" -- Woods heads to a nearby course to hit golf balls "to clear his head," another local says. "He goes after dark so he can't be seen. For him, what's more therapeutic than hitting golf balls, the thing he's best at in the whole world?"

And finally, several outlets seem to think Tiger is headed to Meadows Rehabilitation Center, former home to celebrity sex addicts like David Duchovny, and Halle Berry's former hubby, Eric Benet.

“Intent doesn’t factor in for a couple of reasons"

I can tell how passionate you all are about this Doug Barron drug testing story since no one passed along Rex Hoggard's story highlighting the tour's response after some of us called them out for not responding to Barron's claims. (Isn't it special how they chose Golf Channel and GolfChannel.com as their outlet of choice.)

Rich Young, the tour's attorney made what seems like a fair point:

“Intent doesn’t factor in for a couple of reasons,” Young said. “It would be very hard to prove what’s in somebody’s head and why they used a banned substance. Secondly, the rules are clear on this. They know what they are allowed to use. Doug clearly used testosterone even though he knew he wasn’t allowed to.”

Young also addressed concerns the Tour’s punishment of Barron, who played just one Tour event in 2009 and has not made enough in the last three seasons to cover the potential $500,000 fine for his violation, was too harsh when compared to other sports like baseball, which suspended Los Angeles slugger Manny Ramirez for a blatant doping violation for 50 games this season, or one-third of a season.

“When he was told he couldn’t do (testosterone, although Young concedes Barron’s use of beta blockers is a more “complicated” issue), he may not have liked the decision, but for him to ignore the decision is a flat out intent to violate the rules,” he said. “He may not have done it to become Barry Bonds, but he was told what the rules were and chose to break them.”

"We are pleased with the court's decision and have no further comment at this time"

Bob Harig on Doug Barron losing in court:

In his ruling, Pham wrote that Barron's participating in the qualifying round this week "could raise substantial public policy concerns regarding the enforcement of anti-doping policies in professional sports."

According to Barron's attorney and representative Art Thorne, Barron tested positive this summer for two banned substances -- testosterone and a beta-blocker -- both of which Barron said he has been taking for years as prescribed by a doctor.

Barron had sought a therapeutic use exemption for the drugs last year but was denied by the PGA Tour. His lawyers argued that he was not trying to gain an unfair advantage, that he took the drugs under a doctor's supervision and that he made no secret about it.

Barron, who played in just one PGA Tour event this year -- the Memphis St. Jude Classic where the random drug test was administered -- and four on the Nationwide Tour, was in Texas on Monday where he hoped to tee it up in the 72-hole qualifier which begins Wednesday at Deerwood Golf Club in McKinney.

Alex Miceli posts this very interesting timeline on Barron's career, with notes about how far back he has relied on beta-blockers.

Oct. 22, 2008 – Commissioner Tim Finchem denies appeal and instructs Barron to begin weaning himself off the drug.

2008 – Barron earns only $33,446 in 17 events on the Nationwide Tour.

Jan. 20 or 21*, 2009 – Tour denies the TUE for exogenous testosterone and instructs Barron to stop taking the drug. (* The Tour and Barron have different dates for the decision.)

Spring – Barron starts to take Lyrica as a substitute for Propranolol.

Early June – A doctor injects Barron with exogenous testosterone.

June 11 – Barron is drug-tested at the St. Jude Classic.

June 15 – Barron misses the cut at St. Jude.

2009 – Barron’s sample is found to contain Propranolol and testosterone.

July 23, Aug. 12 – Barron provides additional information to the Tour about his use of Propranolol and testosterone.

Oct. 20 – The Tour suspends Barron for one year (until Sept. 20, 2010) for violating the anti-doping ban on performance-enhancing drugs.

A cynic (which I certainly am not) might read that account and think the Commissioner didn't like Barron ignoring his recommendation to start weaning himself off of his prescribed drugs. Hard to imagine how Barron would not have faith in the Commissioner's medical expertise. Shocking, frankly.

"It's all for show."

GolfDigest.com's Matthew Rudy notes that Doug Barron's previous use of beta blockers may have behind his suspension. An as someone who has done quite a bit of reporting on the subjects, Rudy reminds us of several loopholes in drug testing

Say Barron really is the only one to fail a test in the 15 months the tour has been running its program. All that proves is that he didn't find one of the loopholes in the banned drug list. And if he's not the first person to fail, the Tour's drug testing program serves the exact, cynical purpose Yesalis said many sports leagues' programs do.

It's all for show.