Oh noes! What did Tiger do to his leg now?!
After braving the holiday travel mayhem and flying cross-country to Seattle, I was looking forward to a home-cooked meal and some R&R. You know, it was a slow news day — the perfect kind to spend seven hours on a plane. But upon landing, I turned on my phone only to discover I’d missed watching one of those Twitter melodramas that call for microwave popcorn. I mean, it sure would have beat suffering through Zac Efron’s hack acting in Charlie St. Cloud!
The commotion began when SI’s Alan Shipnuck tweeted, “Rumor alert: I’m hearing some buzz that Tiger Woods may have injured an Achilles tendon. IMG is not confirming or denying. Stay tuned.”
Within minutes, Camp Tiger’s cell phones started blowing up with calls from the golfing media, inquiring about the rumor. Thankfully, the panic was short-lived.
“There’s a rumor that Tiger tore his tendon while skiing,” agent Mark Steinberg told USA Today. “Tiger hasn’t been skiing for three years.”
And the relieved suits in Ponte Vedra backed away from the bridge they were about to jump off.
Ten days ago, Tiger received a cortisone shot in his right ankle to alleviate nagging pain. At The Masters in April, he divulged he ruptured the Achilles tendon in his right leg in December 2008 when he was rehabbing from surgery.
According to Steiney, Tiger was filming an EA commercial in Florida on Tuesday. “He’ll be hitting golf balls this afternoon,” added Steinberg. “He’s fine.”
For further proof, Tiger tweeted from the shoot, “Tough day at the office, testing out 12 game,” accompanied with this picture.
You see, he’s on his feet! Which only proves that he showed up to the set. In case we needed more evidence, Tiger wrote a second tweet, “Cool shot one of the EA sports guys sent me.”
There you have it! Pictures of Tiger prove he can smile and pose for the camera.
How did this rumor originate, anyway? Because it’s been circulating for at least a week now. I first got wind of it last Thursday via an Orlando-based player (who actually was distraught because he wants Tiger playing and winning). A source sent me a flurry of texts, encouraging me to do some “serious digging about Tiger” because “he might not be practicing for a while.”
I also got the skiing accident bit of the rumor. Which, honestly, was the part that made me skeptical — only because I can’t picture Tiger in skis. Plus, I was informed by skiing gurus that it’s virtually impossible to injure your Achilles in ski boots. But I still did some cautious digging and asked around to see if anyone could corroborate the alleged injury.
Obviously, the rumor, which had originated from the Orlando area, was running rampant in golfing circles. I’m kinda disappointed that Alan beat me to the so-called rumor-mongering tweet. Why didn’t I think of that? After all, I’m the blogger. Which means I recklessly publish unsubstantiated gossip! You know, because as an unrecognized media outlet, I don’t have to answer to anyone. Or follow the same protocol.
Regardless, the backlash to Alan’s Twitter blast is pretty amusing. I didn’t interpret the tweet like he was reporting that Tiger was, in fact, injured. Take a look at the wording — he wrote, “Rumor alert,” not “BREAKING NEWS” or “REPORT.” And actually, he triggered a powerful buzz that debunked the speculation. By Wednesday, a torn Achilles tendon would have turned into a torn ACL. So you see, the power and efficiency of Twitter combined with the authority Alan lends resulted in a speedy resolution — rather, an immediate denial from Team Tiger. Problem solved.
Players, sponsors, Tim Finchem, the media, and well, everyone in the industry can rest easy now — as far as we know, Tiger’s healthy and ready to save golf.
(Top: AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Wow, for a player that the golf media hate with a passion, they cannot get enough of their meal ticket. It must suck when the person that is most hated(as per Chamblee of The Golf Channel)has to be invoked even by rumormongering, to get a Christmas bonus and earn a salary.(ha,ha) I guess the day TW hang up the clubs, there will be wailing, tearing off of clothes etc, because the ” pummelling stick” will be gone , and so will golf media jobs.You’all better find a replacement and quickly!
Welcome back to the Pacific NorthWET for Xmas!
Woods should have let the rumour take off – he’s not obligated to verify things and should have just issued a “no comment” and then showed up at Torrey Pines. It could have been a masterful deflection strategy.
But, opportunity lost – $teiny blew it again.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Stephanie Wei. Stephanie Wei said: Mass Hysteria and Rage Ensues Over Twitter-Fueled Tiger Woods Achilles Injury Rumor – http://tinyurl.com/26szbzk [...]
where does the hysteria and rage come in exactly?
i don’t use twitter, so I guess I missed out on following all these hysterical tweets, but this sounds like, Tiger shoots down rumor of achilles injury? And, what else?
Twitter may be great for many things, but one problem I see with it, is that writers will throw out rumors without a second thought. and, they are just that, rumors…
but, then if the story proves to be true it becomes, remember I broke that story first on Twitter…
so, there is incentive to just fire off anything you hear with the rumor caveat and see what happens.
I think it is hard sometimes to distinguish between a Twitter story and a Twitter rumor and I think some people play that gray area, intentionally or not, and use it to their advantage.
Steph, Is this the beginning of your 12 step program to recovery??
Qoute……”
After all, I’m the blogger. Which means I recklessly publish unsubstantiated gossip! You know, because as an unrecognized media outlet, I don’t have to answer to anyone. Or follow the same protocol.”
Remember when we played telephone as kids?? Ok- wrong generation. I’ll continue. How in hell did this go to Tiger’s achilles tendon from Rex Ryan’s wife’s feet??
You need to cover hard news journalistic stories the way the NY tabloids do. Oh- and as a friend, keep your tootsies off the internet.
No such thing as a slow news day in J-E-T-S land.
Dear A Friend. I don’t think you have a gun to your head to read what is here. Read hard golf news someplace else. This is a blog , which means it is an opinion column. She keeps it light and breezy. As for her getting credentials. How much do you want to bet?? Then again- I don’t want to take your money. Your chances of winning the bet are slim to none and Slim is out of town. Have a nice holiday.
[...] After braving the holiday travel mayhem and flying cross-country to Seattle, I was looking forward to a home-cooked meal andRead the Rest… [...]