On Monday Brooks at SbB broke down why “Tiger Woods in Mississippi Rehab” is a bogus story. He points out the rumor started on the boxing Web site 8countboxing.com on Jan. 14 with Radaronline picking it up on the 15th. The story made its way to ESPN’s front page but it wouldn’t be getting any attention if people had read this article before jumping to conclusions.
One reason for the story blowing up on Tuesday is writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis posting on his blog that somebody confirmed to him that Woods is in the Mississippi rehab center. Denizet-Lewis pulled the original post and now has a statement regarding the Tiger Woods rehab story on his site. It reads kind of like he’s trying to distance himself from being the originator of the story. Which is true.
From Sports by Brooks:
8countnews.com is currently pursuing a report that golf icon Tiger Woods has entered the Pine Grove Mental Health Facility in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. 8CN is in the process of confirming the authenticity of these reports from Hattiesburg.
No idea what the site meant by “reports” – as that was the first mention of the story anywhere. (I do have an email into them.)
There’s been no follow to the boxing site’s post, but later that night WLBT-TV in Jackson reported:
Have Tiger Woods’ troubles led him to the Magnolia State? Sources tell WLBT Sports that Woods is currently checked into the Pine Grove mental health facility center in Hattiesburg.
WLBT’s short on-air report was posted on the website the next day, January 15. Once the NBC affiliate’s report was posted online and started showing up on Google News searches, various other main media outlets picked up the story.
Is it possible that a boxing Web site broke the Tiger Woods story but didn’t follow up with any information? Anything’s possible but that’s very unlikely. This is starting to shape up like the Tiger Woods “What really happened” email that was going around a few weeks back. The only thing missing is an ex-hockey coach claiming a buddy of his confirmed the story.
In the end we don’t know if Tiger’s in Mississippi or if he’s in the U.S. at all. This is the second time he’s been linked to a rehab facility. First in Phoenix now in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. And all this time I thought he was sailing on his boat to the Bahamas and hooking up with Rachel Uchitel. I can’t wait to see what gets made up next.
