The media is 100% to blame because they choose what and who to focus on and how they'll go about it. I never was a big fan of his in terms of pulling for him, but I definitely tuned in to watch him perform. The guy seemed to approach every shot, no matter where he was, as if he was going to do something great with it. You'd see him with a down hill lie on the lip of the bunker where he had to stand with one foot in the sand and the other 3 feet above him....250 yards out...and you knew full well in your mind that this son of a bitch is going to put this 3 feet from the cup.
Despite all the rules..written and unwritten...about behavior on the course in pro golf, Woods tends to appeal to the average Joe who plays the occasional round as well. Hit and errant shot....%#&*ing piece of #@%& sorry sack of %^&*#... If you think about it, in his interviews through the years, he doesn't draw attention to himself. Very reserved and guarded about talking about anything other than his day on the course. And other than doing Buick commercials, he's never seemed to be one to try and put himself out there publically to draw attention to himself.
Now, I'm not trying to paint Tiger Woods as a victim or a saint. The dude obviously loves him some strange and his former swing coach's book (Forget his name) apparently paints him in a far less than flattering light when it comes to his personality. But as far as the way he's basically shoved down our collective throats, that's all media.
Tiger is like so many greats. He's hated by some just for being great, and those haters got a chance to see a fall from grace in addition to his game going south. In reality, Tiger's maritial issues, or some cussing on the course, and he's not the first on that, don't hurt anyone, they simply use it to justify hate they already had due to his success.
He's still selling tickets, and his face on ESPN gets them ratings. People checking in to either rejoice in a possible comeback, or rejoice in his failure. Either way, ESPN, CBS, etc, they win.
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