With the many, many cats now out of the bag, Tiger takes his third swing at an apology for his multiple infidelities, with a statement on his website:

I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children. I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but I want to do my best to try.

I would like to ask everyone, including my fans, the good people at my foundation, business partners, the PGA Tour, and my fellow competitors, for their understanding. What's most important now is that my family has the time, privacy, and safe haven we will need for personal healing.

After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person.

Again, I ask for privacy for my family and I am especially grateful for all those who have offered compassion and concern during this difficult period.

AI is a little rusty, but let's take a crack at it. Tiger admits his wrongdoing (without going into the lurid details that we can all find elsewhere) and asks forgiveness. So those are points in his favor, but this comes off weak nonetheless. For one thing, it is a statement on a website. Tiger himself has disappeared from public view since his cheating ways came to light. This apology won't quiet the storm. He will probably have to appear and speak the words in person for an apology to take.

So, at least, say William C. Rhoden at the NY Times and John "Effective Apology" Kador.

A few random thoughts:

• Who does he really owe an apology to? His wife and family. Presumably that happened in private and is none of our business.
• Why is he apologizing to the world at large? I didn't care much about Tiger before this, and don't care much about him now, so he doesn't owe — or probably you — an apology. But it seems to have become a given that if you're a celebrity of any stripe, and you screw up, you owe the world an apology.
• Ok, there are a few sets beyond his family that he owes an apology.  Tiger mentions them. Business partners, his foundation, the PGA Tour, and others who will be financially harmed by his tarnished image. By damaging the "Tiger Woods" brand he has done actual harm to the interests of people beyond himself. Fair enough.
• Prediction: We'll be hearing another apology from Tiger before this story ends.

Last week owners of the Amazon Kindle ebook reader got a chilling taste of Big Brotherism when Amazon — without warning — remotely deleted previously purchased copies of several titles from their devices. Had the book in question been Pride & Prejudice this would not have been as big of a story/public relations nightmare as it turned out to be for Amazon. But the books in question were probably the worst possible titles to have involved in such an incident — 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell.
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Here is a great example of an apology done right, from STRATFOR. A couple of days ago STRATFOR sent an email to subscribers, inviting them to take survey. Apparently there was a problem with the survey. Shortly thereafter, STRATFOR sent out the following:
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Author Alice Hoffman — whoever that is — apparently has a new book out, "The Story Sisters." And if you don't absolutely love it, she will go psycho-crazy on you, publish your phone number, and urge her legions of fans of whatever kind of fiction it is she writes to harass you. ...<< MORE >>

Iranian thug, bully, tyrant, probably not re-elected but still in office President Ahmadinejad issued a demand for U.S. President Barack Obama to apologize for criticism of Iran's brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters.

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David Letterman apologizes for his recent crude joke about daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  Took him long enough.

It doesn’t make any difference what my intent was, it’s the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke.  And I’m certainly – ” (audience applause) “– thank you. Well, my responsibility – I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. That it was misunderstood.” (audience applauds) “Thank you. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I’m sorry about it and I’ll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much.” (audience applause).

Full text of Letterman's apology to Sarah Palin is here.

We can pretty much depend on our nation's airlines to provide us with at least one good apology-worthy incident each month. << MORE >>

General Motors week continues here at Apology Index (not as gory as Shark Week, but in some ways much more scary!). Today we have a holiday treat for you — AI's first ever Special Guest blogger, author John Kador!...<< MORE >>

As promised last time, we now take a closer look at GM's recent "apology" for making bad cars. I put apology in quotes because a careful reader will note that although headline writers call it an apology, nowhere in the text (pdf here for your collection) does GM actually say they're sorry. But they would like that $18 billion bailout please. ...<< MORE >>

On Monday, General Motors took out a full page ad in Automotive News in which the company—currently begging Congress to give it American taxpayers' money even though American consumers don't want its cars—acknowledges having disappointed and betrayed American consumers.

Betrayed? That's mighty strong language. Was GM secretly selling top secret plans for the good cars to Japan?

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