It's been like a train wreck that no one can keep their eyes off of and recently Tiger Woods made a speech to address his string of affairs. Unless you were living under a rock, you probably saw or heard it.

Former White House Communications Director and current ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos called it "One of the most remarkable public apologies by a public figure ever," but I had a different point of view as a former broadcast journalist and current communications specialist. To me, today's press briefing by Tiger Woods was clearly calculated, methodical and at times robotic. What he needed to be was sincere, apologetic and most importantly real with himself and the whole world. Let us in Tiger... just this one time.

In true Tiger fashion, the golfer never really gave us his true emotions and feelings. One minute he was apologizing, the other he was telling the media to stay away from his family -- showing little if any emotion. Bill Simons of ESPN.com came out with a great article right after the briefing. In addition to analyzing the speech, he took a look at just how controlling Woods has been during the entire period following his Thanksgiving car crash.

Simmons writes, "Let's look at the facts. Tiger cheats on his wife relentlessly and brazenly. She finds out somehow. This leads to him crashing his car in the wee hours of Thanksgiving night. Scandal. Cover-up. More women come out. And more. And more. Tiger disappears like Jimmy Hoffa. Elin stops wearing her ring. Tiger stays hidden. Rumors swirl. By hiding, by not saying anything, Tiger enables every rumor and negative story to gain steam. When he sneaks away to a sex rehab clinic for 45 days, neither Tiger or his representatives acknowledges rumors that he's there. He emerges with a staged jogging photo op; one day later, three other photos of Tiger hitting golf balls, even seeming jovial in one of them, hit the wires. And then, today's prepared remarks. That came from the heart. Just as long as you didn't ask a follow-up question."

Great observation, but my favorite take from the article is the following which pretty much painted Tiger as he appeared during the speech... as a robot. "He spoke for the next 13 and a half minutes. He spoke … like this. There was … no emotion … in his words. His face … was blank … and empty. Part of me … felt bad … for him. There were … a couple of moments … when it seemed … like … he was trying … to shed a tear … or have his voice catch … just for effect. You get … the idea."

Bottom line is the speech, calculated (I think it is) or not, had the outward appearance of a control freak not changing his ways. If journalists ever double-crossed Tiger Woods PA (pre affairs) he essentially black-listed them. Well, how was the speech any different? He hand-picked the audience and didn't allow any questions.

From a public relations perspective, I UNDERSTAND what Tiger and his entourage was trying to do, but I DON"T UNDERSTAND why they'd do it. This event immediately had me thinking of what a great SNL skit it would make, so staged and contrived it seemed almost unreal. Come to think of it, this may be one of the most remarkable public apologies by a public figure... just not in a good way.

-posted by Andrew

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