Wednesday, June 6, 2001
Woods rates as champion of the digital
superfairway
By TOMMY CUMMINGS
San Francisco Chronicle
Tiger Woods is the best example of the digital athlete.
Woods played his collegiate golf in the heart of Silicon Valley
at Stanford. He has posed for lots of motion-capture sessions
for video games with EA Sports, another Silicon Valley resident.
He's one of the most-searched athletes on the Internet.
And above all, Woods has been the most outspoken proponent of
professional golfers maintaining their digital rights.
In an interview nearly a year ago, Woods said “... there
are lot of different ways a player can do a lot for himself on
the Internet. (Players) want to do some creative things for themselves.”
Though the Internet industry has changed dramatically within a
year, Woods didn't change his focus and took a big step toward
gaining a grip on his digital rights with the recent announcement
that IMG's interactive division will produce Tigerwoods.com.
Since July 1997, CBS SportsLine.com has handled production of
Woods' official site. The new agreement allows Cleveland-based
IMG to develop the site while SportsLine continues mainly a marketing
relationship with Woods.
No other PGA golfer has such a deal.
“It puts Tiger in the driver's seat to have final say what
the objectives are, who the partners are and what kind of content
there is,” said Rob McNamara, an IMG account executive who
handles Woods' interactive affairs.
Under SportsLine.com, Tigerwoods.com was a quality production.
The relaunched Tigerwoods.com has more features, including an
EA Sports-powered online video game and, of course, more e-commerce
opportunities.
Other applications are being developed, McNamara said. Tigerwoods.com
will offer live scoring feeds of Woods' scorecard from PGATour.com
(another SportsLine production), complete with play-by-play statistics
and global positioning of Woods' shots in 2002, McNamara said.
The site also plans Webcasts of Woods' clinics and more interaction
from Woods. Already, Woods answers five emails per week and writes
a monthly letter to his fans.
“(Woods is) pretty involved, even just on the design and
development of the site,” McNamara said. “He's definitely
a major influence on what's being done.”
COOL SITE OF THE WEEK: For those obsessed with uniforms,
check Andrew Greenstein's NHL Uniforms of the Modern Era (www.geocities.com/nhluniforms).
Greenstein, a Phoenix resident and Coyotes fan, has posted artwork
that details the history of NHL uniforms for the past 34 years.
BYTES: MLB.com has added a stats comparison and video of
listed players on its online All-Star ballot. Voters can submit
a maximum of 25 ballots online. Balloting ends June 30. ... The
Salt Lake Olympic Committee collected $113,702 in an eBay auction
of choice figure skating tickets to the 2002 Winter Olympics.
... NBA.com's My Highlights application will allow fans to compile
personalized video highlight reels throughout the NBA Finals.
... NBC Sports has changed the name of its official site from
MSNBCSports.com to NBCSports.com in time for its coverage of the
French Open this week. Hmmm. Bill Gates' influence must be slipping.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)
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