Like every other American kid, there were a few years when I played in Little League. Actually, I mostly sucked in Little League, but what was almost as important as my lack of performance was the gear I used.Think back: mid-70's. Who was 'It'? If you guessed Hank Aaron, you're right. Lou Brock, too. Naturally, being the kid, the only kid whose folks sprung the big money, who had a "Hank Aaron" authorized mitt, I was reasonably, if briefly, cool on Day One. (As my suckage become ever increasingly evident, the coolness wore off, but it was good while it lasted.)
Even more popular, because more kids had them, were Puma baseball cleats. Lou Brock wore Puma. As did a some of our Dodgers. Puma advertised these things in some sports/baseball mag we used to read. "Lou Brock wears Puma Paws. You should,too", or something along those lines.
These things mattered to 10 year olds. Eventually, we mostly outgrew such blatant huckstering, but still, maybe not most consumers, but enough of them anyway, still fall for the bullshit.
Sometimes it's blatant: Tiger Woods tells us about his razor choice.
Other times, more subtle: Tiger Woods always wears Nike brand golf apparel,and lets the camera do the talking.
Over the course of his career, something like 12yrs or more, Tiger Woods has earned hundreds of millions just through his endorsement deals. Razors. Cars. Sport drinks. Clothing... Breakfast cereal. On and on...
Not to mention what his popularity has done for the world of golf, both financially (frickin' huge), and culturally.
Tiger Woods personae has created product lines where there weren't any (Gatorade), and made viable others(Nike Golf).
His name was a gold mine that kept paying off.
It's all because Tiger was a nice guy, well mannered, with decent morals, and a good family man.
And it is because of this perception, now shown to be at least partly false, that billions and billions of consumer dollars have flowed one way instead of another.
This is why Tiger matters.
Why his infidelties matter.
Why it is, at the very least, newsworthy.
And now it is, for the foreseeable future anyway, over in the crash of an SUV.
11 comments:
Good point.
I wonder what it's like to be in the position where one's own ordinary human frailty actually fucks up the economy.
Ha! Well done, both of you!
I understand why people think it's newsworthy - Tiger's clean-cut image. But some dude with millions of people kissing his ass everday for a decade? I would be shocked to learn that a man like that had NEVER cheated on his wife, and I'm completely serious.
I wonder if a part of him isn't thrilled with being allowed to shake his perfect image. He tried to take a break from golfing a couple of years ago, and it was like Oprah not doing her book club. The industry was unhappy about it. Now he has a reason to take a break where people won't be harassing him.
Gino, excellent post, I was right with ya right up 'till the end.... "...nice guy, well mannered,..."
There is a reason why the TV golf coverage hasn't miked Tiger for years; his vulgar, profane, unsportsmanlike conduct after an errant shot... pounding the club head into the ground...
I've never quite understood why Tiger is so attractive to so many people, personality-wise and appearance-wise. He just seems rather bland to me. I'll worship a Humphrey Bogart over him any day.
Man: "But Bogart isn't an athlete!"
(finish joke)
It appears my jokes do for conversations what this scandal did to Tiger's career.
Incidentally, isn't it great how this guy has a sarcastic complement for a name? It turns out the irony is characteristic of his whole existence...
amanda: this is also an indictment of our culture and society.
like you said, this shouldnt matter.
but because so many are driven to spend $ based on shallow reasons, we have what is.
sad, come to think of it.
and i wonder how long he thought he could keep it up.
(the hypocrasy, i mean)
"the hypocrasy, I mean"
I think the correct spelling would be "hypocrazy," Gino.
It's the tabloid style coverage that bugs me the most. I can understand a blurb on the news..
"Hey! This clean-cut looking guy that so many people looks up to is actually kind of a dick!"
Great. Story told. Moving on.
When I'm home in the evenings I tend to have a local interest show on at 7 and switch to Jeopardy at 7:30, but I'm usually cooking, and too slow to grab the remote for the switch over, so I end up hearing the intro to the "News Magazine" that comes on at 7:30 on NBC. It's the sensationalized sound of the show intro that grates on my nerves like nails on a chalk board.
"COMING UP TONIGHT! YOU'VE SEEN TIGER'S WRECKED CAR, YOU'VE HEARD STORIES OF TIGER'S INFIDELITY... NOW SEE NEWLY FOUND PHOTOS OF THE LATEST OF TIGER'S ALLEGED MISTRESSES!!"
Announcing that he's a class A Jackass and perhaps not the best role model for your kids after all is one thing, but now they are fucking digging unrelated and unnecessary crap out of internet archives just to drag the story out longer.
(But I hate those fucking gossip shows to begin with, so I might be biased)
This is why I firmly believe that if a person is prone to stupid behavior, he needs to be upfront about it.
Vanesa, I agree that people should be upfront about who they are but stupid people don't get that. They are stupid for thinking they can get away with the fake persona - not realizing that you can't keep it up all the time. Eventually, you slip and expose your true self. The American people liked Tiger because he seemed like a guy who had kept his sanity in spite of the billions and the attention. We like to see the nice guy finish first once in a while because we live in such a jaded world. Then, come to find out, he wasn't any better at keeping true to himself than the rest of the pack. But then, that is assuming he was a good guy to start with. Me, I am happy not to be so rich or recognizable. A little bit more money would be nice but when you have industries betting their futures on you, that is a lot to shoulder. Money and power corrupt and he was corruptible.
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