Tiger's Time Not Telling, But Worth Taking

Nothing new, nothing, emerged from ESPN's five-minute interview with Tiger Woods, but the all-sports network did the right thing by taking the limited access it could get Sunday.

Interviewer Tom Rinaldi almost whispered the questions he lobbed at Woods (and that made Rinaldi sound a bit cautious and unnecessarily deferential), and Woods answered those he deemed not personal information. Still, Woods never hesitated with an answer, so there were a lot of questions in the brief interview.

Nobody expected an revelations in five minutes with Woods, but Rinaldi asked appropriate questions and summed up both his performance and that of Woods when asked about the golfer's demeanor Monday on "Mike and Mike in the Morning" on ESPN Radio.

"He was cordial, but ultimately, as the interview showed, he was guarded," Rinaldi said.

Guarded and in control, clearly.

Because Woods wanted to control the interview, CBS Sports passed on a similar five-minute interview. Network officials said the limitations were a deal-breaker. Maybe they're angling for some longer, sit-down ... someday.

It's hard to imagine Woods ever allowing that to happen, though. As much as media members claim to know Woods (or any sports star or celebrity for that matter), he's one of the best at controlling his message, and it's hard to imagine him ever agreeing to spend an undetermined amount of time with any member of the media. Although there are probably a handful of print or TV types who must believe they're the one who will get that opportunity.

While CBS positions itself as above the fray with high standards by rejecting the interview terms, it should have taken the offer. It's the network of The Masters, where Woods will make his return in two-plus weeks, so it would've been a good on both journalistic and promotional levels.

And because any honest journalist/reporter already knew what Woods would not answer (all the things he sidestepped on ESPN), it would've been nice to see if someone was capable enough of getting anything different or interesting in a short interview.