Bernie Madoff, Wall Street Foretold Burst of Tiger Woods Bubble
by Ryan Ballengee on Dec 15, 2009 9:14 AM EST
Email
PrintTiger Woods was just too perfect. The guy is a machine of a golfer. At the midpoint of his professional career, Woods is on the verge of passing Jack Nicklaus for second in all-time PGA Tour wins. Sam Snead is a merely formality to cede the overall record to Woods.
Were it not YE Yang's performance at Hazeltine, Tiger would be three majors away from tying Nicklaus' professional record.
Despite his denials and perhaps some rounding errors, Woods is the first billion dollar athlete during his career.
Woods got married to a Swedish woman who was a part-time nanny and model, and is a full-time babe. They had two children together - of course a perfectly split boy and girl - and have two dogs.
Seriously, it's the kind of perfect life that makes a lot of people sick with envy. It seemed almost unreal that a single guy could have a life without problems.
There's a warning sounded to people looking to get rich quick or those presented with an opportunity too good to be true.
"If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is too good to be true."
Tiger Woods was too good to be true.
We should have known that Woods' private life could have some serious flaws. It should have been a question in our minds if Woods' bland, uncontroversial public persona was covering up a more troubled - albeit much more interesting - personal life. Nobody is that perfect. By human nature, we are deeply flawed. Despite his killer instinct on the course, Tiger Woods is indeed human.
And the clues were right underneath our noses. The fits of rage that Tiger Woods showed on the course increased in both volume and intensity. Just about a month ago in Australia, Woods' temper was at its most extreme when he threw his driver into the ground and it sprung up into a ten person deep crowed in the Land Down Under. That kind of pent up anger simply cannot be generated by golf. At least, it can't be that pent up at the Austrlian Masters, where Woods was receiving a three million dollar appearance fee to take on a field that may be weaker than his normal Isleworth practice buddies.
If Woods' behavior in recent months was not a warning sign, perhaps we should have looked to Wall Street for the danger signs.
CNBC has dubbed the 2000s as the "bubble decade" - consisting of three major financial bubbles: the tech bubble, the housing bubble, and the credit bubble. It has been the pattern of Wall Street to overstate the value of many investments in this decade in the hopes of making a quick buck.
Remember those countless Silicon Valley start ups who had not even been operating for a week but had an IPO in the works that would make the founders into instant millionaires?
Or how about the nuveaux real estate tycoons that were artificially doubling and tripling the prices of homes in cities across the United States by flipping homes? They were out of their flipping minds for believing that housing prices would go up by double digit percentages every year for eternity. The simple laws of economics told us that eventually demand would dry up for overpriced houses.
How about the housing, finance, and investment industries that tried to securitize mortgages as a tradeable commodity? And it was that group that decided to pool mortgages and make more money by selling hedge bets that mortgages would go into default. A group of very savvy, though malicious investors realized that it was better to bet against the securitized and repackaged mortgages ever being paid off than to take the safe route and invest in high-risk loans. They made billions when the bubble burst.
Were those not good enough examples, Bernie Madoff - not Dennis Green - should have made it clear to us that Tiger Woods was not who we thought he was. Madoff sucked investors out of $20 billion by promising them incredibly large and consistent returns on their investments in exchange for a pretty large cut of the profits. Regardless of the macroeconomic outlook, Madoff investors were supposedly growing their money at preposterous rates. Little did they know that their money was not growing at all. It was being spent on their behalf.
Tiger was our Bernie Madoff. The guy was overpromising and overdelivering, something rarely found in business. Even as sponsors like American Express and General Motors chose to part ways with Woods - either by choice or out of necessity - Woods found others like AT&T and Gillette. Amidst multiple recessions, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem was able to use Woods to negotiate consecutive television deals that actually increased Tour revenue, purses, and retirement funds for players. Woods was continuing to win on Tour at a blistering pace despite the new duties of marriage, fatherhood, and knee ailments that eventually caught up to him at the '08 US Open.
It was the personal ailments that caught up to him on Thanksgiving 2009. The kinds of returns that Woods was providing to his financial backers and stakeholders was just too good to be true. Eventually, something like this was bound to happen.
As for the fans that believed Woods was indeed as perfect as he seemed, perhaps this situation will make them realize that every human being is deeply flawed. From the lowest of our social castes to the upper crust of our society, every human being has serious problems. Certainly we all deal with them differently and some mitigate or mask them better than others. To this point, Woods had been able to mask his flaws extremely well with a public portfolio of images largely without blemish.
Like for Bernie Madoff, it was a whistleblower - albeit a very bizarre one - that caused the scars to be unearthed on Tiger.
Fortunately for Woods, his fans, and his backers, none of them are left holding nothing in their hands. Woods will soldier on with more money than anyone will ever need. While a number of his fans will turn away from him or become less of a fan, Woods' fanbase will remain enormous on a global scale. And for the companies that remain as his sponsor, they will be able to tout the professional perfection that Woods has been for his fourteen seasons on the PGA Tour.
Unlike Madoff, Woods has a chance to make up for much of what he lost and go down in history as the most dominant professional athlete in any sport. Madoff sits in a cramped jail cell wondering what happened. When Tiger returns to golf, he will play between ropes seemingly never more cramped but charging to move on with his life.
59 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
last week, it was two PGA Tour players who weren’t even at Q-school who were “quoted” when they weren’t even at Q-school.
yesterday it was Lawrence Taylor promoting physical violence between golfers.
today, it’s a convicted ponzy schemer who was “the devil” according to our sitting president who gets to chime in with ridiculously obvious statements on Tiger Woods.
later today, it will be a Canadian doctor who has been accused of treating athletes with performance enhancing substances who allegedly treated Tiger Woods during his rehab.
this has gotten moronic – I’m done with it
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I called the HGH allegations a week ago when the Canadian doctor story came out overseas. Surprised it took that long for it to be brought up in the states.
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Dec 15, 2009 9:41 AM EST via mobile reply actions
On Twitter, sorry.
http://twitter.com/waggleroomgolf/status/6476179405
Don’t be surprised if the “Tiger is way too ripped” crowd starts up again after reading this story. http://bit.ly/63mPbz
Find me! Email: ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/waggleroomryan, or Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggleroom.
by Ryan Ballengee on Dec 15, 2009 10:02 AM EST up reply actions
Justification
I find it funny that most of the so-called experts on TV and other athletes like LT, Koby et al find it necessary to compare what TW did with most athletes and that is suppose to make it right somehow. How Pathetic !!!! Heck the media practically had to BEG TW for an apology, ( which I doubt we would have ever received ) and even with that it was a word smithed, PR written statement, that was only posted, (early on) on his personal website for his loyal following of sheep to see. Personaly I don’t really give a darn either way as it won’t effect my life or business one bit. The oddest and best part about this thing is that back in October my partners and I decided to eliminate stocking NIKE products from our line as of Oct , 2010 and would only carry it on a As Ordered basis only. Truth be known, It has been our slowest moving and least profitable equipment with TaylorMade and Ping being the best movers and most profitable….jumpn/progolf
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
Just say "NO !"
JJ,…we have never carried Nike in our shop .I don’t like their record on child labor overseas. Plus, the quality in their equipment line doesn’t appear as good as Ping/TM. Obviously I’m biased towards Ping as I’m 10 years with them. It seems a certain segment of American athletes are “OK” with Tiger’s misdeeds. They are out of step with society and this might explain the negative press they so often recieve. This HGH allegation could spell the end. I’ve said for years that Woods was doing something,( legal or illegal), as the change in this guy was not solely acquired by nature. I’ve seen this before way back on the mini’s. If it’s proven, the question I have is "How did he avoid detection once the PGA Tour started testing " I smell a rat here ……………………….Z.
you're still away,...choke on it !
Brand Name !!!
Doesn’t always mean quality,, For instance, “BEST BUY” carries brand name electronics products but it’s usualy the MFG.low end of the scale and the consumer is clueless. WOW, I must say the golfing gods where on our side this past October. I won’t take credit on the dumping decision as it was one of my math genious partners idea. Timing is everything !!! :o)
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
it depends on how you tell the story, pro. it was your “years of experience in the business that taught you insight and anticipation” to make the decision to dump. :-D
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
The court is in session
I always give credit where credit is due. I have 2 partners, one is a math wiz and the other knows operations better than anyone. For myself I’m a Marketing and Public Relations guy. Mr Math Man made this “dumping call” pre TW situation. Thining the herd so to speak as in not re-newing our contract with the Swoosh. Reasons, ? Rated 5th in sales of our top-5 , Low margins, high cash out expense, poor customer service. wasn me ;o)
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
Blood-Spinning vs Spinning
I saw the article from The Telegraph. I thought it was well-known that TW had the blood-spinning treatment and that it was legal in the US? John Daly also wrote about receiving it , although maybe that doesn’t count as it was on Twitter;o)
Court – you’re going in for a bit of hyperbole lately, aren’t you? “Tiger was our Bernie Madoff”. Humans may indeed be flawed and some have problems but “every human is deeply flawed” and “every human has serious problems” ? Absurd assertions.
I beg your pardon, Court
Obviously I meant Ryan – they’re all quotes from his article. I must have just spotted your name on the last comment. I thought I had made this mistake so came back as soon as I could. So sorry!
I gotta say....
3irons has been right on about the “Tiger” for the last two years. So if he says he believes Tiger was cheating with PED’s, I tend to believe him. We’ll just have to wait an see. 3irons…..could you give me the Powerball numbers for this week…..lol
Yep thats totaly true em66
He has indeed been saying it all along over at that other groveling website known as TGC and all that ever got him was to be called a racist and a hater. Turns out most of his comments where dead on. The TW “Suck-ups” as he liked to refer to them as, couldn’t stand it. hahahaha
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
I have noticed
a sharp decline in the suck-ups on TGC. I guess they are at least smart enough to read the writing on the wall…..lol
How come ???
My comments when replying to someone never come up with yellow shading ? Anyone ? BUELLER ?
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
The yellow shading is just for new unread comments since you loaded the page last.
by Double Eagle on Dec 15, 2009 12:17 PM EST up reply actions
I have no idea whether Tiger Woods took HGH or whether he didn’t. If he did take HGH, I have no idea if it was just part of physical rehab or if he was cheating. I can tell you this though: if it turns out that he did illegally take HGH or any other performance enhancing substance (regardless of whether it was before PGA Tour testing was instituted), then that’s where he and I part ways for good.
Attn: Progolf
Many comments say Tiger’s “situation” will have little effect on the golf business, despite some pros saying the opposite. Being IN the business, I thought you’d have some actual knowledge rather than speculation from me or others. What say you???
Atten: pingforever, and I use that term loosley
First of all, did you get your new Ping Hat yet ? In answering your question, BUSINESS is all speculation, especially these days and I don’t mean just in the Golf World. I was in business pre-tiger and plan on being in it looooong afterwards, God willing !! I can’t speak for the pro’s on tour but I have had several conversations with a few of them over the past week or so and the buzz I hear ( if you wanna call it buzz) is that it’s business as usual. These guys make plenty of money and most know how to manage it well. Sure TW raised the stakes a bit as far as Pay Days go, but nobody ever complained about the $$$ pre-tiger. As I’ve said in the past, all that raising the purses accomplished was losing sponsors and with it came losing venues, especially in a tough economy. “Trust Me” on this next statement, """""There are plenty of Middle Tier Sponsors lined up to take the helm if the opportunity comes up""""" and it will and it has, it just takes time for negotiating. Fortunately for us we have remained financialy strong and business remains steady with a 11 % increase for us this year. Diversity has been our best friend over the years and we never forget the hard work it took us to get to where we are now. Hell, I started out washing clubs in the back of a proshop and worked my way up from there. We also have to thank our lucky stars for the hard working employees that we have. The shortest term employee has been here 3 years with most being 10 or more. As for the future of business for us in 2010, I can honestly say that it’s looking prosperous as we have already signed quite a few contracts and have many pre-paid promotions in the bag. I do know of others in our business that are not fairing so well, but thats cause they jumped on the bandwagon and put to many eggs in one basket so to speak. “NOT US” I could have sold out years ago and lived my life playing 18 everyday, but that would have broken my mold of diversity and I would have had a very monotone and robotic life. NO THANKS. The only other tid bit I will offer that I hear that isn’t said in front of the camera or microphone is that the players are looking forward to a highly competitive year without TW and I believe that will make for some “FAN” TASTIC tournaments for the regular “GOLF FANS” and hopefully it will bring some of the “fringe fans” over to see what our beloved sport of golf is “REALLY” about. jumpn/progolf
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
Yer the bee's knees!
Thank you for your response. I’m glad to hear the “doom and gloom” isn’t the sure-fire reality that the media is painting. As of my last check of the UPS Tracking, my hat should be here tomorrow… Again thanks for that!
I’m not looking forward to revisiting the massive speculation that will accompany any PED discussion. And it’s taking every fiber of my being not to say something more about that…. We’ll be leaving for Florida soon, so maybe I’ll miss the initial surge. I’ve said too many times, there’s golf and then there’s the business of professional golf. The gap between the two is getting wider all the time. Merry Christmas!
Someone put me right pls.
Would it have been OK for TW to take legal medically approved drugs (but on PGA no no
list) whilst in rehab. & not actually playing? Surely yes?
A few weeks ago I would have said that he would have to be insane to have affairs and not expect to be outed sooner or later . It seems he was willing to risk his marriage/possible sponsorship, but his career/place in history by taking illegal drugs?
Easingwold – single malt! It was an apology, not a bloody grovel, man.
Yes – as long as the substances are out of your system before you play or are tested.
Just heard this whole thing summed up in a pretty interesting way. Tiger probably wouldn’t have gotten caught in all of the affairs mess if he hadn’t expanded the circle of people involved so far. Too many women – eventually one of them is going to talk, and you can’t pay all of them off.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Court
Good point. I think the sheer numbers of affairs is a good indicator of the arrogance of this guy. That same arrogance could very well spill over into the “drug” use accusations now surfacing. All of it is still very hard to believe…….what a monumental mistake by Tiger….I thought he was smarter than that.
Interesting Question
Doug Barron might have some interesting questions for the Tour if Tiger can take banned substances but he can’t.
Truth has a well-known liberal bias.
Nobody says Barron can’t take the things he took – he just couldn’t pass the drug test with them. If Barron had gotten the substances out of his system before he teed it up in Memphis, he would have been fine – but he took a testosterone injection before and it got him in trouble.
If Tiger gets nailed for HGH when he was playing and not just when he was in rehab, he’ll pay a price, too. The only difference is that Tiger can live without the Tour…Barron has to go find a job.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
My understanding...
…from watching it unfold in baseball is that there’s no effective test for HGH yet. So there may never be a smoking gun.
IF Tiger was doing anything wrong, then it would be substantially different from the Barron situation. Barron violated the rules of the PGA Tour, but if Tiger took HGH for performance enhancement (not for rehab), then we’re talking about breaking the law on top of breaking the PGA Tour rules. Barron clearly never did anything illegal, and I’m hoping Tiger didn’t either.
by Double Eagle on Dec 15, 2009 2:50 PM EST up reply actions
Illegal drugs
Actually the answer is no. Woods was supposedly tested several times while on medical leave(.Once by his own people.) He must have passed (sic) since he wasn’t suspended as was Doug Barron. That’s just the Tour protecting their boy. The sooner he came back, the more $$$ flowed into Ponte Vedra. FYI,….HGH and testosterone will stay in the fatty body cells for up to 18 months, so the excuse of “I only used them while injured” cannot be verified. You could have used HGH/testosterone therapeudicaly, but it could still show up 18 months later if tested, and there is no way to determine when it was taken. You’re busted either way.
you're still away,...choke on it !
money in Ponte Vedre ?
you can’t be talking about me ?? lol
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
If 3irons
is right I’m putting TW down for the blood-spinning but nothing else – otherwise my head is spinning.
Ryan wrote in his article…
As for the fans that believed Woods was indeed as perfect as he seemed, perhaps this situation will make them realize that every human being is deeply flawed. From the lowest of our social castes to the upper crust of our society, every human being has serious problems. Certainly we all deal with them differently and some mitigate or mask them better than others. To this point, Woods had been able to mask his flaws extremely well with a public portfolio of images largely without blemish.
I don’t know, for some reason when I read this I feel like he’s getting a free pass for his actions – we’re all flawed so… It rubs me the wrong way.
I never thought Tiger was perfect – but I thought he was smart, calculating (and I don’t mean that in a negative way), and, well, honest…of course these were just my perceptions based on my interpretations of his life…I thought, surely someone who has been given this much would know to appreciate it and not take it for granted. But that just goes to show how little I can relate to the life of TW…and how someone with the kind of resources Tiger has can paint the picture we want to see rather than what is really there.
I’m trying really hard not to care about this anymore, but I need a few more days to get over the fact that, even though I wasn’t a fan, I still bought into the myth that is TW.
Just like there is intelligence, common sense, and book smarts – it’s a mistake to assume that just because Tiger is calculating and smart inside the ropes, he is as smart and calculating outside the ropes.
It’s the “deeply” part of that quote that bothered me. (lol)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
You’re right…I made the mistake of thinking that what I saw was a represenation of the whole person. The thing is…anytime someone questioned Tiger’s actions or motives ,or tried to delve into “Tiger the man”, it seemed like those were immediately rebuked, so I really didn’t have anything else to go on as far as understanding his total character…until now. Whether or not that is of any consequence to me or any of my business has varied opinions, but I can tell you that the range of emotions I’ve felt over this has shocked me – I wish I didn’t care – but my brain seems to want to try to resolve all the questions it’s created.
PS..I thought the same thing about “deeply”!!
Funny! And probably true…
Although – for me it’s more about the “why” and not the “what”. Human nature never ceases to perplex me.
yeah yeah yeah – women definitely rule the “rationalization” skills catagory. :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
The appropriate response would have been, “Well, of course it was a compliment!” And of course I would have believed you, because that’s what I wanted to hear!! :-)
I write about golf at www.tees2greens.com, too.
what's next?
Now we’re comparing Tiger to Madoff? What’s next, OJ Simpson? PED’s hmmm, I suppose it’s possible but I’ll need actual evidence to jump on that bandwagon. Easy to throw stones and kick somebody while their down isn’t it; Christmas came early for some I suppose. Happy Holidays!
Tigerhead
Come On now, It is what it is, After all it is ’’’"THE HOLIDAYS"""
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
Good Morning Golfers!
I awoke to an item on my home page, MSNBC.com by Tim Dahlberg, writing for the Associated Press. He’s saying Tiger will NEVER recover… Of course that’s an attention grabber… He’s saying Tiger’s off course indiscretions (another euphemism) were so massive that he’ll always be remembered for them… This latest PED thing illustrates a new standard of judgement. Perhaps it’s always been this way but blogs have reinforced it…“Guilty until proven innocent.” It’s like asking that old question: When did you stop beating your wife? One thing I’m certain of, Tiger probably doesn’t want to hear any of that , God rest ye merry gentlemen" stuff. And for the rest of their lives Tiger and his family will sadly remember Christmas 2009. I’m guessing deep down this even leaves a sour taste in the mouth of the Grinch at Whisper Rock…….
That’s the kind of crap that passes for “journalism” these days. Remember Jean Dixon and her annual list of “predictions” for the year ? She would put out hundreds…she had to be right on one or two.
These “journalists” make wild statements like this so they can pat themselves on the back and tell the world how smart they were for making that prediction. If it doesn’t happen, nobody ever mentions it again.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Ping
Indeed a very sour taste. I do feel bad for the guy, but he brought it on himself. I do not feel bad for idiots like Macer et all, who constantly drooled over this guy despite clues that cast large doubts about his authenticity. The ‘suck-ups" in other words. People in my field had heard the whispers for years, but my personal interaction with TW was what set off my alarms. You play golf and stay in the game long enough, and some things become “instinctive”. He smelled bad from the get go, and in all sincereity, I wish none of this was fact. It is a huge “black-eye” to the game. We’ve never seen anything else like it before. Very sad for players, fans and all involved. Could it have been avoided ? I don’t know…………………………….Z.
you're still away,...choke on it !
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Have a golf story tip? Contact editor Charles Boyer and he will follow the story! Thanks!
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
