Tiger Woods Radio Commentary

For my Opinion & Column Writing class we had to write a brief radio commentary about Tiger Woods. The next class, the professor picked out the two best ones and read them aloud: mine was one of them! So, for your reading pleasure, here it is:

For over a decade, Tiger Woods has endorsed enough products to make him sports’ first billion-dollar athlete. But in the last few months, he’s been attempting to sell something a little different: a new and improved version of himself.

Tiger went from World’s Best Golfer to World’s Worst Husband when news broke of many extramarital affairs last November. After a stint in rehab, he let everyone know how sorry he was in carefully monitored press conferences. His sincerity was diminished by seemingly scripted and generic responses.

This week, Nike helped Tiger reboot his commercial appeal. Their new ad features Tiger staring solemnly into the camera, listening to his late father’s voice. Earl Woods asks Tiger if he’s learned anything. The spot is creative, but also shameless and flawed. According to ABC News the voice is from a 2004 documentary and Woods isn’t even talking to or about Tiger in the original context.

Tiger is back. But forget golf. This time he’s selling himself. Even if Nike is the only sponsor left to help him do it.