Tiger Image Repair 101

I'm not exactly sure what I expect Tiger Woods to do to begin to repair his image but I sure don't feel like his first attempt is the right start. In case you've had your head buried in the sand, Tiger is holding a "press conference" on Friday to address the "media" and address his highly publicized fall from grace.

By "press conference" I mean reading a prepared statement while not taking questions.

By "media" I mean a throng of THREE guys hand selected by Team Tiger.

What a joke.

If you're going to face the music, then face the music. Continuing to hide, denying the brutal truth and not addressing the 800-pound elephant in the room hasn't done much good for Pete Rose the past 20 years. Mark McGuire has recently been suffocated by his own silence as well.

Trying to avoid reality or control the situation is simply not the way to heal and move forward. As much as he may not like it, if he plans to attempt to regain a respectable identity and return to a shadow of his old self, he has to let the media, his fans and his sponsors see his soul. Until then, they will simply write him off as a fraud - and rightfully so.

I suspect most are want to see an over-dose of humility. Full contrition. Ownership of the utter stupidity and cavelier attitude in which he handled himself and represented himself. Outward emotion would seemingly go hand-in-hand with showing the toll these choices have had on him, but especially others. However, tears aren't going to win him back many fans by themselves. Nor is continuing to read prepared statements. At some point, he has to expose himself to the tough, unscripted questions and be vulnerable for it. Only then will people begin to feel as though he has paid the appropriate price for playing us as the fool for the past 13 years.

He doesn't "owe" this to me...or anyone for that matter. He could choose to never play golf again and go about his merry business elsewhere. Or he could simply deny to address it in the same manner Peter Rose did and hope that all those that follow the sport eventually move on.

As a guy that never bought into the whole Tiger persona, an honest attempt to fight back from this could gain him more traction with me. It will certainly take a while but who doesn't like a genuine comeback story? However, it will take time. He will have to soften the edges, chill out on the temper tantrums, become more accessible, sign some autographs, become a fan of the fans and take a more light-hearted approach to rebuilding his character. Continuing to be calculated and guarded will not do much in my mind.

I guess we'll soon see how this begins to play out. I'm not losing sleep if continues to dig himself a deeper hole but it would be refreshing to see a reformation worthy of support.