Charles P. Pierce
takes a closer look into Tiger Woods' public image, past, present and future,
in his latest article for Esquire.
Over the weekend,
Woods ran his Escalade over a hydrant and then into a tree. Woods' explanation
of how he ran into two stationary objects and then had to have his wife pull
him from the vehicle by breaking the back window with a golf club seemed
incredibly implausible.
Woods' story lost
even more credibility when he turned away police investigating the incident
three times, leading the public to think there was more to the story than he
was admitting to.
Woods was already
under public scrutiny after the National
Enquirer reported that he was having an affair with a "New York society
hostess." Such attacks on the stability of Woods' marriage led to speculation
that a domestic disturbance of some kind had occurred over the Thanksgiving
holiday.
Pierce was not
surprised by these recent allegations, and wrote that Woods had an impenetrable
cocoon around his persona that made him perfect for "corporate consumption",
however, Woods already had the reputation of being a "hound" ever since 1997.
Woods has been
accused of having a temper, bribing journalists, accepting payoffs, and
employing a "thug" as a caddy in the past.
The more
incidents that occur, according to Pierce, the more fragile Woods' public image
becomes. There is no question that Woods' career has taken a blow that may be
impossible to recover from.
This was an interesting feature. For one, author knew Tiger Woods and wrote in first person throughout most of the feature. This gave a more personal feeling to the article, unlike many of the other stories I’ve read about Tiger Woods. It almost felt as if you were getting an inside scoop to Tiger’s story.
I thought your blog entry was thorough, clear and concise, but I think you could have analyzed the article a little bit more and you could have also provided a link to the previous article Pierce had written. It would have been interesting to see how the articles contrasted each other as you had mentioned in your last paragraph.
I really enjoyed reading this feature. Esquire tends to produce a lot of humor in their articles. I liked the tone of the author. While most media outlets are telling the recent Woods story in shock, this is kind of an "I told ya so" manner. Woods doesn't have to be babied through this ordeal, so I like how this article traces back to the origins of the scandals in his career.
You did a good job in your blog entry of covering the entire article. Your writing was stylistic, but clear. There could have been more analysis though. For example, more on your personal thoughts regarding the article and author, and telling what type of feature it is and why.
Also, not regarding your writing at all, because the text is double spaced, it was a little difficult to read fluidly. Maybe single space it? Just a suggestion!