There’s a guy named Tiger making a statement today. Maybe you’ve heard something about the little mess he’s in and how he is managing his way out of it.

At some point, and perhaps we learn today when that is, Tiger will return to what got him his fame and fortune in the first place: golf.

If the circus down the street at TPC Sawgrass is any indication, it will be full fledged media event. The only time I ever expected to see a media turnout like this in Ponte Vedra was if a hurricane were ever bearing down on the First Coast.

Enter Hurricane Tiger.

That’s what it will feel like for the folks running the first event Tiger plays after this break.

If Tiger comes back at Augusta for the Masters, the media crush won’t be quite as noticeable as that Major already gets massive coverage and the club will work very hard to keep outsiders out.

But if Tiger decides he’s coming back at regular Tour stop, say the Bay Hill event he won last year, the media crush will be significant.

The challenge for the tournament will be to handle this and even maximize while also not alienating its regular media contingent, not to mention the other players in the field.

I remember working the LA Tennis Open in 2006. It was the first US event Andre Agassi played after announcing his impending retirement earlier that summer at Wimbledon. The megastar drew mega media attention.

As much as having the sudden crush of extra media rocked our world, we had to treat it as business as usual. That’s not easy, especially when it’s standing room only in the press conference venue.

The publicity surrounding Tiger’s return to the Tour will be unprecedented. This will be great for the event and sponsors in terms of interest, but right now, Tiger’s entrance might seem like a hot potato.

Best wishes to whatever event gets the first crack at handling Hurricane Tiger.

Jason Sadler rocking a HolterMedia shirt!

Yeah, I got a guy. He’s wearing my shirt.

That’s what he does – wears shirts, for a living.

No joke.

I’m always drawn to innovative ideas, so I loved when my friend Jason Sadler explained to me he was going to wear shirts for a living.

January 1 costs $1. December 31 costs $365. You do the math. It works.

There’s a lesson in Jason’s story. He’d tell you it really is as easy as putting a shirt on every morning. But at the same time, it’s not that easy. If it’s going to be a successfully venture, it never is.

Jason’s got the keys to any successful PR or marketing concept nailed down.

Planning – Jason didn’t get start wearing shirts. He went in with a very clear idea of what each day would look like. That’s important, because his customers know exactly what they are getting with their purchase. Jason constructed a plan to make his wearing a shirt worth an investment.

Listening – Is this the most underrated aspect of any business? Jason’s first question is, “What do you want to get out of your day?” Jason knows each day will include so many pictures, tweets and an hour of live video, but he will tailor them to meet your needs (for example: I want more followers on Twitter). Like any good PR or marketing person, meeting your clients goals has to start by understanding what they are looking to achieve.

Execution (and adaptation) – The best laid plans don’t mean a thing if they aren’t seen through to a successful conclusion. Jason delivers a quality product day in and day out. That’s why he sold out all of 2009 and has fewer than 50 days left to sell in 2010. However, even the best of plans will fall apart. The show must go on, so even if the shirt is stuck in customs, Jason is still getting the message out. Being well prepared makes adapting so much easier.

Outreach – If Jason sat in his house all day wearing his shirt, there would be little benefit to his customers. Jason has seized on the strengths of social media and created an audience. In a little over a year, he’s got more than 20,000 followers on Twitter, over 4,000 Facebook friends, and has networked with a who’s who list of marketing, PR and social media experts.

This innovation and organized approach is what I strive for with my clients as well, and it makes it easy to transition between the diverse events that fill up my calendar.

To see more about what HolterMedia does, follow on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. Oh, and make sure you check out www.iwearyourshirt.com as well!

Thanks for checking out HolterMedia!

Pete

All writers and broadcasters are more than just writers or broadcasters. They are observers, communicators, questioners, researchers and historians all at once. Usually they are doing all of that on a deadline.

At their finest hours, writers and broadcasters are artists. It’s a finely honed craft. Many try, and lots are good. The greats, however, tend to be an elite group – a group that turns their profession into a career of artistry.

Jim McKay is being remembered this week after his passing over the weekend. The tributes have been constant over the past few days throughout the entire industry.

Richard Sandomir pays tribute to McKay in The New York Times, calling him a great “storyteller.”

That is one of the finest compliments any broadcaster or journalist can ever be paid.

McKay is from a different generation of sports journalists. Call it old school. Call it whatever you want.

The way the media works has changed so much in the past 40 years. Jim McKay was the only voice broadcasting back to America from Munich during the 1972 Olympics. He alone was serving up the information on the hostage crisis, and with grace and class provided one of the first pieces of live news coverage we’ve ever seen.

Today there are hundreds of satellite dishes beaming the signal live within minutes of any breaking news event.

About a week ago in Paris Bud Collins was recalling his first trip to the City of Lights to cover the French Tennis Championships. It was 1973, and Bud was the first and only American to make the trip to record the tennis tournament for the readers back home.

The French, he recalled, were almost amused at the sight of an American in Paris writing about the tennis. We wanted to know how Bud would file his copy (that’s old school for “post”) for the paper back home.

“Well, we used teletype back then, but the operators would all go home by 8 in the evening. So I would call and dictate my stories over the phone.”

There was no wifi in the lobby back then. Heck, this was six years before ESPN. At the risk exposing my youth, that just seems impossible to me.

But it wasn’t. And despite of the challenges, some of the finest artists excelled.

One of the artists I have to admit to idolizing is Dick Schaap. Some of my under-35 age group know him for his hosting of the Sports Reporters on Sunday mornings, but he was so much more to the over-35 crowd.

In his autobiography, Schaap wrote, “Often I am asked what my favorite sport is, and always I say, ‘People.’ I collect people.”

Beautiful. Artistic. Refreshing.

The game has changed drastically. There is so much competition. Deadlines don’t exist anymore because someone else is always posting somewhere else at this very minute.

But that doesn’t mean that the motives need to change. In today’s age of speed and bombast, I wonder how many in the business aspire for artistry. How many writers, broadcasters, talk show hosts and bloggers are setting out to collect people or tell stories? Or would take the time and effort to dictate a story over the phone?

From what I’m reading and hearing, not nearly enough, which is a disappointing way for us to carry on what McKay, Collins and Schaap have started for us.

Dolphin Stadium is a dreadful place to watch baseball. Sparse crowds of, on a good night, 15,000 spread out and get completely lost in the 78,000 seats. Imagine filling the front stretch of Daytona with a handful of matchbox cars, that’s how the stadium formerly known as Joe Robbie can feel for baseball.

The fans who did show up for the Marlins game Tuesday night (and happened to fight through the hour of traffic heading north from Miami in time to be in their seats for the top of the first) represented all sports fans very well as they were treated to a milestone.

Ken Griffey, Jr., of the Cincinnati Reds smacked the 600^th homer of his career on Tuesday, becoming the sixth player in history to do so (Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Sosa and Bonds are the others if you are keeping score at home).

Those gathered at Dolphin Stadium dutifully stood and applauded. And they kept clapping, long enough to lure Griffey back out of the dugout for a curtain call. Griffey had just put the home team down 2-0 with one swing of the bat, but the moment belonged to Griffey, and the fans responded accordingly.

Moments like this one are what make sport so darn addictive. We watch for these moments when regardless of who you are rooting for you cannot help but slide to the edge of your seat or pace around or jump up and down cheering because whatever it is that you are watching has gripped you so much.

When history is made or excellence achieved you can’t help but step back and appreciate it. In so doing, you sometimes put aside your own allegiance momentarily. Those are the finest moments sport can offer.

A great example of this was in 2003 on Monday Night Football in Oakland when none other than the feared Raider Nation couldn’t help but applaud Brett Favre as he tossed four touchdowns and tallied 399 yards for the Packers just one day after his father had passed away. The silver and black got routed, 41-7, but the Raider fans were, for that one night, Farve fans as much as they were Raider fans.

Athletes like Griffey and Favre can get that applause because of their character. Sure, an historic moment or courageous effort summons this reception, but we as fans wisely and rightly reserve it for athletes we respect and admire.

Remember just one summer ago Bonds was hardly celebrated as he passed Aaron in the home run chase. The judgment was of the man, not of the record.

Griffey has earned our respect for how he has played the game and carried himself throughout his career. That swing is one of the sweetest we’ll ever see, and has been legendary even since Griffey’s days playing at Moeller High School in Cincinnati.

So hats off to Griffey for the record, but also to the Marlins fans who honored the Reds centerfielder for the achievement. I wish I could have been there with you.

UPDATE

In the coming weeks I’ll be sharing links to some of my frequent reads on the web. One is the Kansas City Star’s Joe Posnanski, and not surprisingly he also was writing about Griffey today. Joe’s story is classic for anyone who has lived in Cincinnati. Mine is from Xavier’s Hayden Field. Just beyond the right field wall there is about three stories of brick forming the wall of the O’Connor Sports Center. That part of the building includes the swimming pool, racquetball courts and a weight room. Griffey hit one that cleared all of that. Depending on who tells the story, Griffey’s blast either one-hopped the parking lot or cleared it all together. Either way, the ball wound up somewhere in the middle of the soccer field. This, by the way, was when Junior was in high school! Kroger lots or soccer fields or right field bleachers, each and every one of Griffey’s homers have started with that same, smooth as silk swing.

Streaking was in vogue over the weekend in Paris. Rafael Nadal notched his 28^th consecutive match win and won his fourth French Open title in row on Sunday, absolutely wiping out Roger Federer 6-1 6-3 6-0.

That’s right, Federer got bageled by Nadal. It’s been a rough year for the Fed, and no question Nadal is the present (and presumably) future King of Clay.

I mean no disrespect to Nadal, and certainly do not write this to diminish his accomplishments. The way he’s turned Roland Garros into his own personal playground is astonishing. Rafa has never even been in peril in Paris. Not only has he never faced a match point, he’s never even seen a fifth set.

Not a tennis fan? Let me translate: Rafa’s never had a walk off win. That’s not to say he’s not good enough to win a close battle. That is to say that he’s too good to ever even leave a match hanging in the balance until the bottom of the ninth.

However, as much as he furthered the argument that he’s the best player ever on the clay (He’s won 115 of his last 117 matches on the dirt), what Federer has done is, to me, even more impressive, and, for my money, has cemented his place the best player the sport has ever seen.

Yes, Fed got smoked in the final. No question Roger Federer is at best only No. 2 when it comes to tennis on clay these days. But there’s no doubt in my mind that Roger Federer is the best player this game has ever seen, and the reason for that is his own streak: Roger Federer has reached 16 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals.

Perspective? The previous Open Era record is half that. Half. Federer has lapped the field. Ivan Lendl set the bar at eight semis in a row from 1986-88. Federer has left that in the dust.

Federer is often compared to Pete Sampras, who holds the record with 14 career Slam titles. Pete, at his finest hour, could only string together three straight Slam semifinals. Only three times did Pete play in three Slam semis in the same year.

Certainly I’m not suggesting that Roger is five times better than Pete. However, I think the ability to consistently bring yourself to the final four of the elite tournaments of the year is a truly remarkable achievement.

And by that standard, tennis is very blessed today. As it turns out, the fourth longest streak for consecutive Slam semis reached is five. That mark is currently shared by Boris Becker and Novak Djokovic, who can make it six in a couple weeks at Wimbledon.

There is certainly reason to argue that Rafael Nadal is the best player the game has ever seen on clay. But the fact that he can dominate Roger Federer the way he did on Sunday should not keep Federer from the acclaim he’s due. Federer has proven to be the best player the modern era has offered, period. I’ve got 16 reasons for believing that to be true, and number 17 seems all but a formality once the tennis world converges on SW 19.

Dan Kaplan reports in Friday’s Sports Business Daily that Maria Sharapova will be participating in this weekend’s photo shoot in Rome.

Meanwhile, in baseball news there was a scuffle in Seattle last night. After two Rangers were nailed with pitches while taking a 4-0 lead, the Mariners came to bat. Very uneventful until Richie Sexson came to bat. The first pitch to Sexson was high. Not high and tight, just high. Sexson has rightfully been taken to task by many for a ridiculous overreaction and for a cowardly charge of the mound that included the firing of his helmet at the pitcher. However, in watching the video, I couldn’t help but notice the actions of Seattle shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt. Betancourt was on-deck during this at back. A little more than six minutes into this clip you’ll be able to find Betancourt. He’ll come charging out of the top left corner of the screen wearing his No. 5 jersey. But watch him as he gets close to the action at the mound. Perhaps he’s trying out for “Dancing With The Stars” or something, but that’s a weak effort. There was no need for a brawl at this stage of the game, but come on Yuniesky, if you charge out there like you mean business, do something!!!!!

Happy weekending!

Plenty of news in the sports and media worlds these days, thanks to Costas Now, but I’m pretty sure there’s not much I could say that hasn’t already been said, in particular about the blogging portion of that program. If you haven’t heard about it, you probably won’t care, so feel free to skip ahead to the next graph. However, if you have been wrapped up in the aftermath of this show as many in this medium have, I have one comment to offer. And, believe it or not, that comment has nothing to do with the blogging debate, but rather about the television segment. Al Michaels humorously called them “gasbags on parade,” which is catchy and I wish I’d thought of it. However, no one has had better comments on today’s commentators than ESPN ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber. Her first column asked the best question: “Who are these people and why are they shouting at me?” I think of this column from time to time, and Tuesday was one of them as Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith were going at it. I don’t know who likes this stuff, but enough people are watching that it keeps getting on the air. Not my cup of tea, but not my network (yet).

More germane to my little world is a situation involving the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and arguably the most marketable female athlete on the globe, Maria Sharapova. Maria is taking an issue she has with the tour over a photo shoot scheduled for this weekend in Rome public in a story titled “Maria Needs Your Help” on her own website. Lining up tennis players for things like this photo shoot is exactly what I’ve been doing for four years now in working at the ATP Tour. Needless to say I’ve fought many battles about this very thing with players and agents and coaches and “handlers” over the years. I’ve heard her argument before, and I’ve fought for the side of the Tour. This same battle has happened before and will happen again. What shocks me is that Maria wants to take this battle public, giving Matt Cronin an exclusive interview with every last detail of the dispute. Even more surprising to me is the poll on her site asking her fans how she should handle it.

I have always found it odd that athletes squabble in public about these things, especially when there is money involved. I was beside myself when the Boston Red Sox threatened to boycott a trip to Japan for a season-opening series. Noble as it was that the team stuck up for the coaches and behind the scenes staff like the trainers and maybe even the PR guys, there is more to the this story. Buried well beneath the lede was a little tidbit ESPN mentioned while killing time for over an hour waiting for the spring game to begin. In addition to the issue of paying the support staff were some concerns about how the Red Sox were travelling and how long their families were welcome to travel on this trip free of charge. This story was largely lost, although Curt Schilling hints at it at the end of this story.

I went from thinking it was cool to see the team stand up for the little guys to wondering how pampered these guys really are. These players make millions and millions a year, but only agreed to this trip that no question betters the sport and their league after getting promised a $40,000 bonus for it. I would certainly love to be in a position to demand a bonus to make a trip for work. (Full disclosure, I got absolutely no additional money for going to Tokyo for work in 2005.) I finally turned off the game in disgust, and can’t help but wonder if any of the guys on the Red Sox realize that $40,000 is a little more than $5,000 shy of the 2004 real median household income for the City of Boston.

So I wonder if it’s a PR risk for Maria to go public with her concerns about facing a possible fine of $700,000 from the WTA. Let’s face it, if you ask most of the general public, they’d be happy to ever be in a situation to be fined that much money. It’s only if you make $25 million a year that you’re put in that situation. Heck, most of those same Jane and Joe Public’s would probably be thrilled to ever be asked to do a photo shoot. And I’m sure most of them, like me, have things that we are required to do as part of our employment that we really do not want to do and are inconvenienced to do. This, I suspect, is why they call it a job. The funny thing is, Jane and Joe tend to turn a blind eye if they are already “fans” of these athletes. It even happens like that in music, movies and politics. Which means at the end of the day, I doubt it will cost Maria any PR collateral.  But I will certainly stay tuned to see what comes of this weekend’s photo shoot.