tv Larry King Live CNN December 11, 2009 9:00pm-10:00pm EST
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sensation. >> unbelievable. you found it. video of the night. erica hill. have a great weekend. >> you too. >> that's it for us. larry king live starts right now. good evening. we continue with breaking news. i'm jim moret from inside edition. golf superstar tiger woods' bombshell announcement that he'll take an indefinite break from golf. we'll have his full statement for you in just a moment. what happens for tiger and the sport. he clearly he loves so much. will his career, his marriage and his brand survive? we'll have a full panel of guests ready to discuss of this. but the first, the very latest with susan candiotti. susan, what's the latest in. >> reporter: all of this began
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s again, it's been quite two weeks for tiger woods. the question is, what difference this will make in the public's eyes and in the eyes of family? >> jim: i'm looking at the same, tiger is asking for forgiveness from his fans, his tours he's not commenting about sponsors. >> we haven't heard any reaction yet. no one has seen any tiger woods commercials for past couple of weeks. and we know that the gatorade has decided not to sponsor its tiger drink anymore. but they said they made that decision before this all began.
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we're getting some posting to tiger woods' website. already, i would say that the comments are pretty much 50/50. half in favor, half in not. some are saying, good choice on your part to take this hiatus. others are saying, maybe you learned your lesson but at what cost to your family? >> jim: susan candiotti reporting tonight. our expert panel, sports columnist for usa today, christine brennan and david ducek. here we many in los angeles, howard bragman. howard, what do you think? i know that you probably are critical on how he's handled this from the beginning. you want to get in front of this story. >> this has been a textbook case of misery for tiger woods. when i look at pr, it's like a doctor, what's the result that you want at the end.
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if i'm tiger woods is what i want is this story to go away. and this act he did today is making this is a much bigger story as opposed to a smaller story. and anything that makes it a bigger story has got to be bad from pr point of view. >> jim: christine brennan, what's your take on this announcement. >> i'm surprised. i'm glad for tiger in the sense it sounds like he's addressing this issue and meeting it head-on. yesterday in a column, i wrote he should take six months or a year off, i know that sounds harsh and shocking to sports fans, who say he'll be fine. i think this shows the magnitude of the problem. i think that tiger and his team are starting to get how big this deal is. the fact that he used infidelity for the first time, transgressions is another step. another window into orlando.
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how bad things are, how they seem to be getting it. >> jim: plus, maybe, he read your column. david, clearly more people are playing attention to golf now than ever before. do you think he's hurt the sport? and hurt it indefinite? >> i don't think he's hurt the sport indefinitely. especially in the short run, his absence will hurt the sport, television ratings and you can make the argument, potentially it's going to hurt some of his sponsors without tiger being out in front. then the brand that are associated with him. don't get the exposure they would hope to get. if he's able to come back at some point in the future, six months or a year from now, we certainly don't know at this
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point. to win again and get something positive going in his life, certainly have brands associated with that, they'll get the benefit from that. in short run, the game of golf will see lower television numbers. and general buzz around the sport will be down. >> jim: david, what do you make of this statement? he had to say something. he waited a long time. did he wait too long in your view? >> i think he may have waited too long. i agree it would have been beneficial to get out in front of the story if possible. one thing that we're losing sight is how big the story is. when first reports of infidelity came out, one, two cases. we don't know all of the facts. now it's being reported 10, 11 people involved in the case.
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the magnitude of this story is staggering. it would be unlike tiger woods and the way his people and his inner circle has worked throughout his career to invite the press on to his front lawn. so, i don't know what they could have done to make this story get smaller. he needs to get this story to go away. i don't see a way this story goes away for a while. >> jim: howard, what do you do? if you represented tiger woods, i can imagine the screaming and yelling behind closed doors. what do you tell him right now? >> well, i think you work backwards from the point. first of all, you play the inside game. work on your family. work on your kids and your wife. work on your sponsors. then, go a little bigger and start to work on your fans.
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hopefully, he's taking a few months off. three months or six months. that day's going to have to come when he meets the public. >> jim: you start preparing for that day today? >> no, i think you start working on your family right now. you have to get a thick skin for the next couple of months. you're going to say, i'm not going to read a newspaper, not going to watch tv. i'm going to walk the walk. i'm going to make breakfast and change the diapers. and be the best husband. >> jim: i'm jim moret from inside edition filling in for larry king. more on tiger woods. stay with us. boss:hey, glad i caught you. i was on my way to present ideas
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>> jim: welcome back to larry king live. i'm jim moret christine brennan, we reported earlier today on inside edition that tiger woods may be leaving the country with his wife, elin, on their $22 million yacht. getting out of the country. getting out of dodge. trying to make the first steps to repair their marriage and then this announcement that tiger woods is leaving golf indefinitely. from your perspective, what does
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his departure mean and then as a woman, he has a lot more work to do at home than on golf course clearly? >> this is a punctuation mark, the exclamation point on the wildest sentence we have seen maybe ever in sports. this tiger woods saga, the greatest fall from grace, i believe, in the history of sports of an athlete. but this is extraordinary. these two weeks are stunning. for golf, this is a huge blow. the game is kind of reeling, anyway w the economy the sponsor. no sponsors yet on the tournament in san diego which would have been his first in san diego. this isn't going to help. tv ratings will go down. it hurts the game. on another level, who cares? it's about a man, his family. >> jim: christine, weren't you surprised to suggest that his wife would be leaving with him
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on a yacht, i mean, i can't any place i would rather less be, on a boat, in the middle of ocean the two of them, i think the two need to be in counseling, need some discussion time? not alone in the middle of the sea. >> i agree. but that's their decision. but, keep in mind, here's man, he's going to be 34 in a couple of weeks, he's not a 22-year-old frat boy. the fact that he's lived this life, however bad it is, the numbers that we have been hearing, however bad it is, he's clearly wanted to live that kind of life. what a remarkable change for tiger woods obviously, i would say it's for the better. lot of people would agree to have more of a settled life would probably good for tiger woods. he's been living a high-wired act and loving it. on the golf course and off the golf course. this is an extraordinary change
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for a man who's prominent in america culture. >> jim: david, we don't think of golfers as play boils. that's changed this week. >> yeah, in this particular case, it's shown that there are groupies and such like that, more than basketball and football, the sports normally associated with that kind of behavior with, in speaking generalities when you get athletes who have this amount of money, oftentimes, they get this amount of money, millions of dollars at a very young age, it doesn't matter if they're football, basketball, hockey, or in some cases golf, people are people across the way and oftentimes, in some cases, unfortunately, they're given the same temptations regardless of what sport they pursue. >> jim: howard bragman. christine talked about the fall from grace. tiger woods is a great athlete. he doesn't speak much but he represents a lot of products. we put him on this ped zal.
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we haven't knocked him down. he's done so by his own actions. >> they're only building you up to knock you down. >> jim: but he did this? >> but we all do this. >> jim: come on. >> we're all guilty of something. the point being is, we're human beings. we're going to screw up at some point in life, when you do, you have to repair the damage. you have to come with this apolo apology. >> jim: have you heard the apology yet? >> i think this guy is in shock. i think he's going to posttraumatic stress disorder. for someone who's had a controlled image to have hell break loose for this guy, you don't absorb this right away. i have been around a lot of
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people who have been deal with big celebrities, and they're as shocked as the rest of us are. this isn't something that you deal with overnight. the one thing is, i'm glad he's dealing with it. but time is going to work to his side. he's not a politician. we didn't elect him to office because of his moral terp tuesday. as long as he play golf, again, he apologized we'll forgive him. >> jim: coming up a former pga golfer weighs in. larry king live returns in 60 seconds. stay with us. inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. no. come on. how about... a handshake.
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let's go to analyst of the golf channel and a former pga golfer. let's get your perspective. . tiger has been so focused on his legacy. he came out of the gates like gang busters and has had an impressive run, what does this long term to his legacy? i think it's going to be difficult to set up what he did from playing golf. to break jack's record. >> jim: jack meaning jack nicklaus? >> credibility. he's well on his way to doing that with 14 championships. tiger woods has been bullet proof is having a clear mind. for the first time this year, we have seen that tiger woods has been human. he was overtaken in the final round of the pga championship. perhaps what was going on in his
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private was having something to do it. >> jim: he came back from injury successfully. he's won a couple of majors since, right? >> that's right. he has come back from previous injuries. again the most important attribute any athlete can have is what's going on between their head. maybe he can win an u.s. open with a broken leg. forget about his image. if we're talking about golf, what has transpired in the last couple of weeks is going to affect his golf. it's going to have a huge impact. >> jim: but golf is caught up in image. so much protocol. golf tournaments and the crowd is in hush tones. everybody's respectful. does this taint the sport? fellow golfers r they angry do you think? >> yeah, i think there will be some disappointment amongst his
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peers for sure. the larger picture, a number of people have spoken to this. christine brennan spoken to it. people are human. we live in a very forgiving society. we want to see that somebody is contrite. >> jim: have you seen that yet? >> following tiger woods so closely, his in his first statement on his website, he used language that i have never seen him before. he's usually quite trite. he used things, i'm deeply sorry, with all my heart. i do believe, given what transpired today, that he's contrite, he understands that he cannot continue to live this irresponsible life. i think we live in a very forgiving society. look at what letterman. >> jim: but david letterman in
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fairness, came out publicly and spoke to his audience. but tiger woods hasn't spoken to his audience personally but his website. >> that's it. i think tiger needs to get in front of this story to use howard bragman's term. that's it, get in front of this story and take the initiative. get out there and be open with people. tiger woods has always been closed. he doesn't let anyone too close. indeed if you ask a question that he feels digging too deep, he banishes you from his circle. he needs to get out in front of this story. to talk to people. tell people openly how he feels. we have gotten two statements from him on his website. i think he can do a much better job of handling this than that. >> jim: do you think that he should be banned for any period of time? >> oh, gosh, no. any time we attach moral
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strength to athletic achievement, we're setting ourselves up for failure. he's human. as a human, he has the chance and the ability to change his behavior. he just needs some privacy and time to do that. >> ji >> jim: we have statement from pga tour commissioner, tim finchman. regarding tiger woods. we'll be right back with more on this developing tiger woods story right after this. some pharmacists only dispense prescriptions.
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indefinitely to focus on repairing his private life. >> yeah, i think it's good news for phil mickelson. that's about where it stops. it's terrible news for television -- first of all, let's not forget what he's got to do at home and take care of his family and himself. take care of himself and his family. in terms of the business world, the golf world, it's a disaster. the eight months he was off with his injuries, television ratings went down 50%. people are going to lose jobs. advertising revenue goes down. it's not golf. to be honest with you, it's not golf without tiger. >> jim: do you think his sponsors will stick with him in the long run? >> in the long run, anything's possible by the way. this country loves a comeback. someone who's contrite and comes forward. in the long run, fine.
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short term, probably not so fine. we're seeing people taking his face off of websites. we haven't seen tiger woods commercials. that's business. tiger knows that. >> jim: pat, when you talk about the comeback, i mean, let's face it the bad news is still, we haven't hit bottom on this yet? he's trying to get in front of the story, i don't know where we'll be on monday. >> howard bragman is certainly right once again. you know, that deadline has passed. getting in front of the story is long gone. as a respected newsman, two weeks only into the story, this how far we have come, i think this would not have happened had tiger gotten out in front of the cameras like kobe did, like everybody else did, get out, let us see your face, be contrite, people love comebacks if you do
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it correctly. >> jim: you have spoken to tiger many times. were you stunned like most of us when we heard the early allegations and then saw the story unravel given your perception of this guy as a person? >> that's a triple-edge perspective. yes. but getting the perspective of a billionaire athlete on the road all the time is a different story. everybody's got their own thing. i wasn't stunned. but, given the image that he has, i was suprise. >> jim: pat o'brien, old friend, great broadcaster and sportscaster. we received this statement from nike. tiger has been a part of nike for more than a decade. he's the best golfer in the world and one of the greatest athletes of his era. we look forward to his return to golf. he and his family have nike's
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developing tiger woods story. his announcement late today that he's giving up golf indefinitely and trying to repair his home life and his personal life. we have a caller now from saddle river, new jersey, for our panel. >> caller: yes, do you think if tiger came out publicly from the onset would he still playing golf and not having to this breek. >> it was very clear from the first moment this accident happened, that we were at a loss for the truth. okay, no one buying it from early on. you'll have to deal with it. but he would have a lot more credibility and sympathy than he has now. >> jim: christine brennan, i want to put some perspective on this, tiger woods was in this accident. he was injured. police didn't know if his injuries were consistent with a car accident. leading to perhaps his wife might be charged with domestic
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violence. tiger couldn't come out publicly early on. given that, given the caller's question, could he have done anything else? >> at the time, a lot of us were saying, where he is? this is the ultimate pr machine. are they blowing this one and why? and i think what we have seen, is that, as you said, jim, we don't know if we have hit rock bottom yet, if tiger had spoken out those first couple of days, how silly wouhe would have look if the stories came out. you can picture him with his lawyers at his house in orlando. and how many many. what's her name? what about this? you could see a scenario, legally, they decided to not say anything because it was so bad. >> jim: jim gray, a sportscaster for golf channel is joining us by phone for palm springs. jim, you interviewed tiger, you
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said, i believe, he was 8 years old. the first time you spoke with him. >> that's correct. >> jim: what's your perspective? >> i think it's a sad day for sports and golf. we were looking at the greatest athlete the michelangelo of golf. i think there's a sadness and i think that we have never seen anything like this. this has been a fall from grace. the likes of which we have never seen in such a short period of time. if you look back at michael jordan, when he had to lieave te game by his own volition, he decided to play baseball. he stepped away. did a few other things for a while. came back that was at the height of his career. basketball's a team game.
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golf is an individual game. he came back and went on to win three championships. if he can get his head right, maybe we haven't seen the end or the best of tiger woods. this is certainly a major, major bump in the road. i have known for some time, tiger hates the scrutiny. he hates the fish bowl he lives in. he was going to break that record and walk away as soon as possible. but this doesn't surprise me at all. he's been tired of it long before the scandal hit. >> jim: howard, 40 seconds left, we heard nike is standing by him. that's about 30 million of his $110 million annual income. that's good news? >> that's great news. nike's one of the classiest companies out there. there's been no charges of anything illegal. there's some morality thing. let me say, if every professional athlete left the
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>> jim: welcome back to larry king live. stephen a. smith is a sportscaster. a radio host for fox sports radio. stephen, what's your perspective on this? do you think tiger, he's put himself in exile. do you think he should be banned from the game? >> that's absolutely ridiculous. the fact of the matter is, none of these endorsement deals wouldn't have been available to him. not to codone what he did. at the end of the day, we're concerned, the reason we care about tiger woods in the first place, he's the greatest golfer arguably of our lifetime. that's what it comes down to. >> jim: but, clearly, your view of him as a person has shifted in the last couple of weeks? >> i don't think there's no question about that. he's come across as a bit phony
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to say the least. to come out of the story, he came originally, to telling the world it's a personal issue. i think that made him relative weak. making his wife sound like a hero. that was admirable. she probably, in my estimation, she was probably beaten down and why he couldn't get into that accident. that's just my opinion. whether it was him or his pr machine, clearly he was given some bad advice, he came across as a bit phony. every day, it seemed a different woman was coming out. that made him look that much more worse. clearly, his image has taken a major hit. it will be a long time, if ever, if he recovers in that regard. but he's still the best golfer in the world. as long as he wins, he'll
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continue to make money. >> jim: as long as he continues to win. do you agree with stephen a. smith that tiger came off as a phony, jim grey? >> you have to understand his perspective. a guy who's been in total control his whole life. when he shows up at a tournament, it's success. when he does not, it's not a success. there's a crisis right now on the pga tour with sponsors. now it's a bigger crisis. tiger missed most of last year with his knee, came back and it was a huge success again. he's in total control of absolu absolutely of everything that goes in on in professional and personal life. what's the next step? how do you go about things now? his wife has a bigger say. everything has changed for him. so, the card and the hands that
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he was dealt overnight, because of his behavior, all of this self-induced, changed the playing field. >> i would to interject there. the fact is, we don't have to understand where he's coming from. he never extended any level of effort to make us to try understand him. the reason i feel so passiona passionately about that, to me, that's his personal business. he told the world to mind their business. in terms of being in control and now losing control, this is a man who went about the business to try manipulate. i recently saw a commercial about being a father to two children. one thing to be seen drinking gatorade or wearing nike outfit.
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when you're advertising yourself as a family man, where you clearly know that is not how you are behaving that's theepitome. of hypocrisy. >> jim: we're going to take a break now. want to give thanks to jim grey on the phone. how can tiger's behavior be explained? we'll be talking to dr. drew pinsky coming up next. stay with us. what matters to yo. introducing blueprint. blueprint is free and only for chase customers. it lets you choose what purchases you want to pay in full to avoid interest...with full pay. and those you split... you decide how to pay over time. if having a plan matters. chase what matters. create your own blueprint at chase.com/blueprint.
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we heard tiger today on his website, use the word infidelity, does infidelity change things in your view now in. >> no. this story came up at the last moment. thank you for taking this call. the fact is, when somebody seems to be engaged if behavior out of character, i think it's out of character. he's not a man that people ever said, there's something wrong with his character. he misbehaves. he mistreats people. he's lived a certain kind of life. there's this tremendous behavior that seems to be out of character. here's a man had a knee surgery a year ago, had a prolonged rehabilitation. you have to speculate that maybe chemicals had something to do with this. you look at the behavior, the
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alleged behavior, not a single i infidelity, this is a pattern. >> jim: dr. drew, many people would hear the term sex addict, you're giving this guy an excuse that's not fair. >> jim: you're absolutely right. i wrote a blog on larry king live's website about this very issue. but you have to understand, when it comes to any addiction, it's rarely the case that the addict is stepping up and raising their hand and saying i have a shame ful problem. when some consequence prep tates the awareness. then they begin to gain insight on the nature of his problem. he's not stepping up and using it an excuse. the behavior fits this syndrome we call sexual addiction. >> jim: i want to point out,
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we're using the term sexual addiction. we're not implying that tiger woods is a sex addict. we're using this for conversation. our stellar panel, including stephen a. smith returns after this break. like wood-grilled shrimp with garlic creme and parmesan... to classics like succulent steamed crab legs. for a limited time, at red lobster. it was rea@dy nice to meet you, a.j. yeah, you too.
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from tijuana, mexico to the united states. taking you deep inside that tunnel and a taking you deep inside that tunnel. and dozens of people arrested in two states. we'll look at that. and al gore versus sarah palin on climate change. new details about the potential debate tonight on "360," jim. >> thank you, anderson. by the way, your report last night was excellent in mexico. you should stay tuned till the top of the hour, "a.c. 360." first, stephen a. smith, sportscaster nationally syndicated radio host for fox sports radio and columnist for "the philadelphia ininquiquirer" you heard dr. drew talk about the speculation of sex addiction. >> i've never given much credence to stuff like that because i think that a lot of men in this world avoid the real truth of the matter simply because they don't want to admit it because there's a lot of women out there watching. the fact of the matter is that when you see a woman and you desire her, you know, you desire her. and when you get married that
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doesn't necessarily stop. now, i'm not married yet, but the reality is is it's almost one of those situations where when it comes to the physical, there's quite a bit of men out of here that are constant rehab. we see something, we covet it. sometimes we act right about it. sometimes we act wrong about it. but if tiger woods is an addict, per se, there's a whole bunch of addicts running around in this world. and people just need to stop using that as an excuse or whatever. men covet what they see. and we have to reel ourselves in when we make that ultimate commitment because it's not the right thing to do to violate it, period. i'm not interested in something about a sex addiction, i'm sorry. i'm just not. >> fair enough. christine brennan, "usa today" sports columnist. we mentioned earlier in this broadcast that nike, in a statement, is standing by, at least it sounds like it, they support and are standing by tiger woods. what's your response to that? >> well, no surprise at all. in fact, it would be stunning news if nike said it weren't doing that. nike, we have to remember, is
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the company that signed tonya harding after the attack on nancy kerrigan. they will throw money at anything. the key ones for me are accenture and at&t. the other day i tried to reach both of those, jim. accenture i called in the morning and again five hours later. accenture is be a tiger. you see it in all the airports. it's so embarrassing right now. and the spokeswoman never, ever got back to me. nine hours, no phone call return. they acted as if they didn't even know who tiger woods was. >> so are you suggesting they're on the fence? do you think they're on the fence at this point? >> well, i guess after nine hours not returning a phone call with the question i asked, are you staying with tiger, and if so, why, i think we can surmise that. and at&t was even more interesting. their name, of course, is on tiger's golf bag, and they also sponsor his tournament in washington, d.c., over the fourth of july weekend. and at&t, i got to their spokesman, e-mailed him, asked him for comment. he said we have none.
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followed up with do you have a morals clause with tiger woods. just a moment later, we have no comment. amazing. two weeks into this, and at&t could come up with nothing better than "we have no comment"? to me that spoke volumes. >> howard bragman, listening to what many people have been saying, it sounds like if he does well on the golf course, he's going to do fine. is that really true? >> it's not that simple. there has to be this period of time. there has to be an apology. he has to hold his family together. if he plays everything right and then he plays golf well, too, he'll get through this. but it will never be the same, okay? he'll get through it, but it will never be the same. the teflon coating has disintegrated from tiger woods. >> so the luster is gone forever? >> not the luster forever. but some of that -- some of that patina has been dinged a little. >> fair enough. thank you to all of our panelists. after the break, another perspective on tiger woods's announcement that he's taking what he calls an indefinite break from golf. you're watching "larry king live." stay with us.
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welcome back to "larry king live." i'm jim moret from "inside ee edition." author robi ludwig joins us from morning. and here in los angeles, judy smith, a crisis management expert with impact strategies. judy, you've heard what many of these folks have said tonight. is this a lost cause, or what do you do if he's your client? >> oh, absolutely not. it's not a lost cause. tiger woods is an icon. >> a fallen icon. >> yes, but as everybody has pointed out, the american people are very forgiving.
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and he's doing exactly the right thing, taking time to deal with his marriage and his family and his kids. he'll be back. he'll be back. >> dr. robi ludwig, it's one thing to forgive someone. we don't even know everything he's done yet. and the news keeps piling on. what do you do to treat a patient in this situation? >> well, i would help tiger woods understand why he did what he did. i don't even know if tiger woods understands what motivated his behavior. and you need to first understand why you're doing what you're doing. if you want to stop it and if you want to make a change. so really tiger has the opportunity now while he's taking a time-out from golf, he's taking a time-out from his distractions to ask himself these very serious questions, how did he end up in this horrible crisis? and -- >> but dr. ludwig, when you look at these photos that they're showing on the air right now of his wife and they're both
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smiling, you now look at these photos differently. it almost looks like, is this a sham? is this for real? does she know what's going on? what's he doing really, you know? and that's not a good place to be if you're looking at him as an icon and as a sports figure and a role model. >> right. but the truth of the matter is, we put these people on a pedestal when they don't really deserve to be there in the first place. just because he's an amazing golf player doesn't mean he's an amazing father. doesn't mean he's an amazing husband. so there's part of our society that likes to see people rise. we put them up there. we want to see perfection fall and then come back up again. so we are a very forgiving people. we like to see people come back in part because we know that we are not perfect. and if somebody can make a comeback after exposing their flaws, there's something very comforting for us in knowing that. >> judy smith, does tiger woods have to come out beyond going on his website and actually talk to
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his fans, talk to people who feel let down? >> absolutely. i think he's going to have to address that. if he doesn't, he'll constantly be faced and dodged with these kinds of questions. when he is back on the golf course. and you don't want that. >> how does he do that? does he go on "oprah" as some people have suggested? does he control the situation, or does he take questions? >> i think that's the last thing he has to do. i think the first thing he has to do is work on his marriage which he's doing. i think the next thing he has to do is assess what's the best place to go, whether it's "oprah," whether it's a program such as this. but really, that's the last thing. he has to get there first. >> i'm inviting him right here right now. >> here and now. >> we've got about 15 seconds. i know this is a tough question to answer in a short time. can this marriage be repaired, and what do you do? how do you do it? >> i would say absolutely yes. people get through infidelity all the time. it has to do with a person's
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