As far as I can tell Jeff Gordon never lost a sponsor because he was found boffing every blond
department store clerk after years of bragging about his great marriage and love of Jesus. I guess you can say his driving went down but that is probably due to getting old, Jimmie Johnson emerging as a great talent, losing Ray Evernham as a crew chief and back problems. But he’s still pretty good…miles ahead of Junior.
I’ll also point out like the little weasel he is, Gordon tried to get out of a large divorce payment by saying he was in a dangerous profession. And other drivers weren’t too happy because wife Brooke started to serve them with legal papers to try to find out how much money NASCAR drivers make so her lawyers could figure out how much Wonder Boy was worth.
I was thinking of him, but Waitkus did not have an affair with the woman who shot him – she was just a crazed stalker. It was the first time the two were ever alone together and she fired as soon as he went in the door.
I think the OP is a little off here. I don’t think anyone has seriously suggested that Tiger the athlete/golfer will suffer because of the unfolding scandal. As others have mentioned, he is one of those types that probably will be be better because of his bloody-mindedness and this is the ultimate reason to retreat into your sport.
It’s the PR and the endorsements. Tiger is about to become the first sports billionaire, and I don’t believe that’s solely due to golf and related endorsements. Gillette and GM use him as a spokesman because he has a broad appeal - well, had a broad appeal. The more salacious details that emerge, the more that image takes a hit. He has shown that he’s interested in philanthropy - this is an area that might be a problem. Sure, the Stanford bigwigs will eventually take his cash and build the Eldrick Woods Lab, but it won’t be this year.
He’s already lost of “Tigerade” endorsement (which Gatorade claimed was simply a coincidence - someone ought to go after them with a golf club for that whopper). The ubiquitous razor ads with him, Thierry, and Federer haven’t run in a while.
It’s just a case of him leaving a lot of money on the table. He will likely make tons of money, and remain the best compensated athlete in the world. But as someone said upthread, it’s allowing endorsers to write checks for slightly less. And as great as Woods is, there is always someone waiting in the wings to become the next hot commercial entity.
Shameful, really, because it’s the fallout that is kicking his ass. An affair is one thing, but getting swung at with a club, paying off your pissed off wife as if she had the McDonald’s lid popped off her coffee, your MIL flopping at your house, claims of alcohol and/or Ambien impairing your driving, various skanks and porn types dishing about your sexual proclivities - all while your wife was pregnant with your second kid - is quite another.
He may not support this image, one-on-one, but I think that his what his PR people and the media have maintained up until now. He was the best golfer in the country when Eminem was (debatably) the best rapper. Things were topsy turvy! A biracial guy was quiet and somewhat geeky and kicking old white men’s asses! I think a lot of people, including nerdish minorities, appreciated him for this and maybe projected parts of their own personalities onto him.
I think it will damage his career in the future. I voted against him because I didn’t think a professional golfer was the right man to have in the white house. Now he is also a professional golfer with lots of girl friends. This will hurt his re-election chances.
Mark Chmura, a member of the Superbowl-winning Packers team had some major backlash after his sex scandal. Then again, it may not have been entirely because he cheated, but that he was getting fresh with a 17 year old girl. He pretty much fell off the map after that scandal.
I know there was another player in the 80s who had some major scandal. I’m trying to remember his name. I know he kissed me as a baby and then had some big time issues… not that the two are related or anything.
The difference is, Fritz was a very good pitcher, a 20 game winner, once upon a time. Kekich was never very good before the wife swap, and was even worse after. Eventually, the Yankees traded them both (I think both were part of the deal that brought Dick Tidrow and Chris Chambliss from Cleveland).
It mattered only as a footnote that he refused to go the White House along with the rest of the team, because he didn’t want to shake the hand of that shameless adulterer Clinton.
Different deals, actually. Kekich was traded on June 12, 1973 for Lowell Palmer. Peterson and three other pitchers were traded on April 26, 1974 for Chambliss, Tidrow and Cecil Upshaw.
One of the indirect benefits of DVRing shows is that it saves me from cable surfing. If I can go a whole week without ever seeing Nancy Grace’s bug-eyes, it’s a good week. Well last night, my husband was cable surfing so I was subjected to cable in all its smug glory:
WOODS WILL BE WITHDRAWING FROM GOLF FOR AN INDEFINITE TIME
WOODS’ LOVERS LIST GROWS
WOODS’ NUDE PICTURES ARE SURFACING
Listen, I’m not naive enough to think that this is a total non-story. He’s a universally known celebrity and having his wife try to clock him with a nine iron is going to make the news.
But for the press to devote so much air time to this story – to interview former lovers, and friends of lovers, and alleged cousins of friends of lovers…it’s just sickening. He’s not in a high ranking position where discretion and good decision making abilities are essential. He tries to put a little white ball into a hole. Aside from his wife, this is so none of my business. The press has gone way beyond having him wearing a Scarlet “A” on his cap – they’re hell bent on ruining the guy.
