Golfweek Magazine Makes a Poor Choice

I previously had the story of the golf broadcaster that slipped and used the word "lynch" when talking about Tiger Woods. She was suspended for a couple of weeks even though Woods said the whole thing was a non-issue. Al Sharpton tried to get her fired, but the Golf Channel suspended her in order to appease the race gods.

Golfweek Magazine, for some dumb reason, decided to keep the non-issue alive with the cover shown at left. I guess they wanted to attract come attention, and boy, have they done that:

The editor of Golfweek magazine said he was overwhelmed by negative reaction to the photo of a noose on the cover of this week's issue, illustrating a story about the suspension of a Golf Channel anchor for using the word "lynch" in an on-air discussion about how to beat Tiger Woods.

"We knew that image would grab attention, but I didn't anticipate the enormity of it," Dave Seanor, vice president and editor of the weekly magazine, said from the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.

"There's been a huge, negative reaction," he said. "I've gotten so many e-mails. It's a little overwhelming."

Among the critics was PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who said he found the imagery to be "outrageous and irresponsible."

"It smacks of tabloid journalism," Finchem said in a statement. "It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion."

This whole thing was blown way out of proportion. The one person that had the most reason to be offended was Tiger, and he didn't seem to care. He's smart enough to understand that there was nothing vicious about the comment - it was just a poorly worded joke. There was no intent to cause Tiger any harm.

Golf, a sport that tends to be pretty pale, doesn't need a racial controversy. Tiger has done great things for the sport, but he's no activist despite many attempts by the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons of the world to use him to promote their causes. It's time to move on.