Though we here at MSR thought a lot of the criticism was unfair, the now-infamous Tiger Woods hostage video is getting an upgrade. According to a tweet from Eldrick himself, Tiger Woods will invite some real people to join him in a Google+ hangout on May 29, ostensibly to talk about the upcoming Memorial and U.S. Open tournaments.
If you haven’t seen one, a Google+ hangout is basically a shared video chat, where up to 9 people can interact live via the comfort of their own webcam. The hangouts can also be broadcast live or archived to watch on YouTube, so non-participants can view the interchange. No word yet whether or not Tiger’s hangout will be broadcast live or taped, but you can be sure whatever happens that the mainstream golf media will rip it apart, bit by bit.
Join me May 29 for my first Google+ Hangout. Send me your ?s on Memorial & US Open and I’ll invite some of you to join me LIVE #TigerHangout
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) May 23, 2012
Here at MSR we are actually in great favor of moves like Woods’, which eliminate the bow-tied middlemen who still think of themselves as necessary “conduits” to the athletes. Don’t get us wrong — there is always going to remain a needed and necessary space for sports news coverage and opinions. But I also think that sports media are going to have to live with the fact that their value-added access to athletes is going to diminish in the future as more players, like Tiger, take their interactions directly to the fans.
The great upshot of all this is that the clowns who clutter up press conferences with questions like “how did you feel when you hit that great shot” will fall by the wayside, while true athlete-fan interactions and smart reporting and writing surface to the top. At least we can hope. And hangout in the meantime.
[…] the mainstream golf media gave superstar Tiger Woods a hard time for hosting similar online interactive activities, it will be interesting to see how the Olympic-athlete ones unfold, since (other than the NBA […]