Tiger Woods Sex Scandals Cost Him $25 Million in Endorsements

• It’s being reported that the company which represents golf superstar Tiger Woods lost $4.6 million … Read More
• By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jun 19th 2010 10:21PM | Comments (0)

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NFL star Reggie Wayne is finding out the hard way that giving your credit card number out to anyone may not be such a good idea. Wayne, who is married, is suing his ummm, girlfriend Natasha McKenzie. In the affidavit, Wayne is alleging that McKenzie did it big on Wayne’s credit card without asking his permission.

As the story goes, McKenzie, who is 26 years old, just needed Wayne’s credit card for a "few little things," like paying her cell phone bill and buying a plane ticket. She was allegedly going to buy the ticket to come and visit Wayne to spend "quality time" with him. To Reggie’s surprise, Natasha and her friends "got a little jiggy" with the credit card and charged up $95,000 worth of "necessities." Actually, there were 333 necessities on her list, which is the number of charges she allegedly made to the account.

Reggie originally took the charges to police in April. He has had the uncomfortable challenge of keeping this information from his wife. McKenzie claims that Wayne knew about the charges all along, and that she is only being scapegoated because either his wife found out about her or he has moved on to another mistress. Either way, this entire situation is a little bit strange. Wayne is not the only athlete to be taken for big money as the result of an affair. Tiger Woods allegedly paid millions to keep some of his mistresses quiet.

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MIAMI – There was a time in his career when Ernie Els seemed to be finishing second to Tiger Woods at every major.

Maybe that’s why the Big Easy seems to be peaking again. He could have a chance to get even.

"I think it’s a good opportunity for a lot of players to basically try and strike now," Els said Friday after a bogey-free round of 66 on the Blue Monster moved him into a one-shot lead in the CA Championship at Doral.

He didn’t say why. He didn’t have to. With Woods’ extended absence, there’s no telling what kind of game the world’s No. 1 player will bring to the majors and whether he might go another year without winning one.

The door is open and Els is feeling it.

"I feel that the golf courses we are playing this year in majors, I love them," Els said. "I’ve done well at Pebble (Beach – U.S. Open). I’ve done well at St. Andrews (British Open) and I did well at Whistling Straits (PGA). I feel if I have my game there, I could have a good chance."

Chance was on his side Friday.

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The Dalai Lama said Saturday that he had – somehow – never heard of Tiger Woods.

When Woods’ sex scandal was explained to him, Tibet‘s exiled spiritual leader emphasized the importance of self-discipline.

All religions have the same idea "when it comes to adultery," he said.

"Whether you call it Buddhism or another religion, self-discipline, that’s important. . . . Self-discipline with awareness of consequences."

Woods, in his carefully scripted apology on Friday, struck a similar line.

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by Dr. Boyce Watkins 

Today, Tiger Woods finally did what everyone expected him to do: He spoke out on his own behalf. The world waited for months to hear a peep from the man who has decided to do one of the greatest disappearing acts the sports world has ever seen. When there was no Tiger, there was no professional golf.

The press conference was starting on the wrong foot, as there was buzz of a boycott from golf writers, who felt that Tiger was not giving proper respect to media by refusing to allow them to ask questions. There was also the ire communicated from his fellow golfers, such as Ernie Els, who called Tiger "selfish" for giving his press conference on a Friday, during a tournament sponsored by Accenture.

What Ernie Els failed to remember is that Accenture is the company that dropped Tiger when he was being embarrassed by the media. There is no reason that Tiger should be the least bit hesitant about stealing the headlines away from their golf tournament. Perhaps had Accenture not decided to abandon Tiger, he might not have abandoned them.

His mother was there, the PGA Commissioner was there, and one of Tiger’s roommates from college was in attendance. What was missing from the press conference? Well, the press. I’m not sure if you can actually call this a press conference when you’ve chosen to exclude the media. The other glaring absence from the room was Tiger’s wife, Elin.

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Tiger Woods may have something to say Friday, but the Golf Writers Association of American has unanimously voted to boycott his presser unless he alters his policy.

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The nation’s golf writers have stymiedTiger Woods.

The board of directors of the Golf Writers ofAmerica has voted unanimously to boycott Woods’ statement reading unless it is opened to all accredited media.

"I cannot stress how strongly our board felt that this should be open to all media and also for the opportunity to question Woods," said Vartan Kupelian, president of the 950-member group.

"The position, simply put, is all or none. This is a major story of international scope. To limit the ability of journalists to attend, listen, see and question Woods goes against the grain of everything we believe."

The vote was 19-4 with three abstentions.

The GWAA will not provide the three pool reporters it had first agreed to send. The three wire services, Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg News Service, will still attend the 11 a.m. event, which will be broadcast through one pool camera from the clubhouse of TPC Sawgrass, the headquarters of the PGA Tour.

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by Dr. Boyce Watkins 

Tiger Woods is planning to have the press conference of the year tomorrow, during which he will talk about his past, present and future. He will be in the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He is not going to answer questions and the world will be watching. All three major networks are planning to tune in and for just 30 minutes, you may as well call him Tiger Obama, given that his speech is getting the same attention at the State of the Union Address.
Ernie Els, one of Tiger’s arch rivals on the golf course (if Tiger has any rivals), is lining himself up to be one of the first men to attack Woods for his choices.
"It’s selfish," Els told Golfweek. "You can write that. I feel sorry for the sponsor. Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday. This takes a lot away from the golf tournament."

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The future of Tiger Woods’s marriage and career may be in question, but the embattled golf star will have something to look forward to in the coming weeks: A new, custom-designed sporting boat christened Solitude, according to sources.
Aptly named for the embattled athlete who hasn’t been seen since fighting with wife Elin Nordegren on Thanksgiving night, the 61-foot boat may also serve as a peace offering. "Solitude is a dive boat and was designed for Elin, who loves the sport," a source tells PEOPLE.

Halleran/Getty

Before the scandal, Tiger Woods was golf’s biggest TV draw. Afterwards, he may get even more curious viewers.

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The golfing great had been the sport’s biggest draw before his extracurricular affairs went public.

The sport’s fans were buzzing yesterday that Woods could be planning to play in theMasters in April, but might compete in a warmup tournament earlier.

Woods and the Masters are always ratings hits. Factor in the scandal and ratings could be golden, especially if he’s near the lead on Saturday and Sunday.

"I don’t like to predict ratings, ever, but if that scenario played out, the ratings would be extraordinary," said Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports and CBS News.

"Tiger’s effect on the ratings will be probably greater than it was, just because of the attention that has been generated about him," said McManus.

“The easy thing for Elin to do would be leave him, take the children and get a divorce. She’d never worry about money again. She was close to walking out for good. She decided to stay for the kids’ sake – but on her terms. They have agreed to try and rebuild their marriage, but Elin will be the one calling the shots. It will be a long time before he’s travelling the globe playing golf unless Elin’s by his side. Tiger will have to work long and hard to get her to trust him again. Quitting golf shows he is willing to sacrifice something he loves so much to protect his family.”

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