When criticizing the apology speech by Tiger Woods we need to look at a few subjects that help explain the reason for the situation. To accomplish this task we need to know who Tiger Woods is, to whom he was addressing, and why this speech was delivered. This way a rhetorical criticism of the speech can be developed. The first part to address is the speaker. Who is the speaker? The speaker is none other than Tiger Woods. According to www.tigerwoods.com, Tiger is an 11 time Player of the Year award winner for the PGA Tour. He was also the face of many companies. Tiger Woods is also the founder of the Tiger Woods Foundation. Prior to the events that led to the speech, Tiger was a sports icon. He was arguably the face of professional golf during …show more content…
The general reason for this speech is that it was in regards to the world’s most famous golfer cheating on his wife with multiple women. According to the timeline drawn up by Bacon and Busbee of yahoo sports, this speech was given on February 19, 2010. Approximately three months after the first reports of Tiger Woods being unfaithful to his wife. Some of the events that led up to this press conference were Rachel Uchitel telling the National Inquirer that she and Tiger had been having an affair, Tiger crashing his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant, and multiple women coming forward saying they had an affair with Woods. Tiger taking a leave of absence from golf, and Tiger checking into and leaving a sexual addiction facility also led up to this event. Woods was not trying to persuade people to do much in this speech. He just wanted the press to respect his families privacy. As evident in the transcript when he exclaims “Whatever my wrongdoings, for the sake of my family, please leave my wife and kids alone.” In addition, the prior sentence where he says, “Please know that as far as I’m concerned, every one of these questions and answers is a matter between Elin and me.” The audience also needs addressing for the speech. In my opinion this speech was intended for Woods’ friends, family, associates, and the public. This is evident due to the fact that in the Apology