They’re Doing it Again: 4 Ways the Media is Overhyping Tiger’s Car Crash
Other Sports | April 10, 2021
Tiger Woods and the media seemed to kiss and make up in 2019. An older, wiser, humble Eldrick Woods returned from a dozen devastating injuries and scandals to contend in the Masters Tournament against all odds. When the aging legend secured a comeback win on Sunday and claimed his fifth Green Jacket, sports writers gushed over a “new” Tiger who was erasing the sins of his past. Whatever happened in the future, it seemed, we could expect a forgiving, optimistic vibe from Tiger Woods news coverage – a vibe that was missing even as Woods racked-up titles in the 2000s.
Then came Tiger’s latest personal setback – a car crash in February that almost took his life.
Mommy, mommy! They’re doing it again!
Tiger’s single-car accident appears to have been caused by careless driving and maybe a little bad luck, nothing more. Yet the media has seized on the opportunity to paint Woods as a spoiled, drug-addled fiend on a path to self-destruction, exaggerating claims and publishing fake headlines.
Let’s look at four ways in which the ongoing coverage of Tiger’s car crash is overblown.
The Empty Pill Bottle
Tiger Woods was discovered to have an empty prescription pill bottle submerged in a backpack in his Genesis SUV following the California crash. The label on the bottle is said to have been removed, but Tiger was not found to be intoxicated at all at the scene. Doctors who saved Woods’ life found the golfer to have low blood-pressure readings after the accident, meaning that the only evidence related to the “empty bottle” would point to it having contained a blood thinner. But that hasn’t stopped the media from posting headlines about a “Prescription Pill Bottle” found in Tiger’s possession, knowing full well what conclusion casual readers will draw, especially if they don’t read the story, and find out that the bottle was empty and that Tiger was stone sober.
Claims Tiger Fought With Officers and Paramedics
The most absurd Tiger Woods headline of 2021 involves Tiger supposedly being “combative” with the cops and paramedics who discovered his crashed SUV. Just clicking on any of the stories with “combative” in the headline will demonstrate what absolute hogwash it is. Tiger didn’t even know where he was after the wreck, reportedly in a “state of shock” and believing that he was sitting in his car in Florida somewhere. It would be pretty hard to argue with medics about an accident that you didn’t know you were in.
Road Reporting by Rosco P. Coltrane
Another overblown claim widely-repeated is that Tiger Woods was speeding at “84 MPH” when the accident happened. Any major highway crash involving a car going almost 100 MPH would be sure to cost lives, making Tiger the luckiest survivor on Earth in addition to a suicidally-reckless driver. But once again, a closer reading reveals how the narrative is distorted.
Tiger’s SUV was recorded having varied between 65 and 83.9 MPH on long, lonely stretches of highway prior to the crash. While he definitely deserves blame for driving far over the speed limit, 65-to-83 isn’t that different from how many of us drive on highways.
“Preferential Treatment!” Shout the Preferentially Treated
Finally, the narrative that Tiger Woods received “preferential” treatment from Los Angeles County police flies in the face of California laws, which clearly state that witnesses are required before anyone can be handed a ticket for speeding. You would think the legacy media would be familiar enough with preferential treatment to know a genuine article when they see one, considering that lying to start wars is the best way for a MSM reporter to get promoted, and independent, competing media outlets can be censored in full cahoots with a friendly government.
Heck, maybe if Dan Wetzel lies about Tiger Woods often enough, he’ll get a raise. But here’s a hunch Tiger could still beat him 5-and-4 while teeing off from a wheelchair.
Tags: Tiger Woods
