The Clock Ticks For Tiger.

Just read that AT&T is the latest advertiser to drop Tiger Woods as a spokesperson.

A lot of people are saying this scandal won't hurt his image.

I disagree.

This is not your run-of-the-mill celebrity dust-up. Tiger Woods is the most marketable athlete in the world. He makes over $100 million in endorsements every year. Tiger is also the first athlete to pass the billion dollar mark in lifetime earnings, and he's only 33 years old. He is on a trajectory to be the greatest golfer in history. These are not the stats of a sports star. These are the stats of a cultural icon.

When a celebrity agrees to become a spokesperson for a brand, there is an implied code of conduct. That code says that the celebrity will not do anything that will reduce himself and his sponsor to being a punchline on a late-night talk show. Within the first two weeks, Nielsen IAG measured more than 20 instances where a joke on late-night talk shows paired Tiger with one of his sponsors. DailyComedy.com currently lists 759 Tiger Woods jokes. Yesterday, I drove by a giant billboard for Tag Heuer that shows Tiger wearing the expensive watch, gazing intensely off into space, like he's doing long division.

My immediate headline revision?

"So many women, so little time."

That's the problem.

His credibility is hamstrung.

Tiger didn't have a relationship with another woman, see the error of his ways, come clean and try to repair his marriage. A lot of good people have been down that long road. Tiger, on the other hand, has apparently had affairs with a dozen women, from cocktail waitresses to porn stars. This isn't just a scandal, it is to TMZ what the Gulf War was to CNN. A big, fat, juicy gift.

Recently it came out that Woods quietly referred to his marriage as a strategy to enhance his "family man image." He's right, that image was a moneymaker. His enormous brand appeal is not only his prowess on the golf course, but also his character. Accenture wanted to be associated with him because he was a powerful metaphor for success. His super-human ability to block out all pressures in high-stress situations, and deliver a seemingly impossible win is the kind of focus Accenture promises their corporate clients. But the full package also included his dazzling smile, his work ethic, his discipline and the oft-photographed image of his beautiful family - Accenture bought it all.

Yes, there is a percentage of that fanbase who couldn't care less about his infidelities, but there are just as many who do. A newspaper writer, for example, recently called him "deeply unlikable." That's a major brand problem for Tiger and his sponsors.

When you earn a vast amount of your revenue based on your image, what the public thinks - matters.

We hold our sports heroes in a special place in our collective hearts - a very different place than Hollywood celebrities. As my favourite sports writer Stephen Brunt says, "Sport is part spectacle, part escape, part religion, part communal experience." In a field of elite athletes, the superstars achieve the seemingly impossible, against all odds. Unlike so many Hollywood celebrities, who are merely famous for being famous. We may be intrigued by a Hollywood personality, but our sports heroes occupy another realm. Growing up, I was enthralled by Sean Connery, but I wanted to BE Bobby Orr.

Tiger's remaining sponsors can't wait for him, either. They need some positive movement, and they need it soon. But the silence continues.

If he is to salvage his reputation, he has to take the oxygen out of the story by taking hold of it. Tiger's biggest mistake, to me, is that he still hasn't faced the public and apologised. The public needs to look into his eyes. Needs to hear him say it. It's been weeks now, and all we've seen is a released website statement and bodyguards. In his statement, Tiger said that this is a private matter, then in the same breath, asked for his fans to forgive him. It shows that he does, at his core, understand his actions affected his family as well as his brand.

Now word is leaking out why Tiger hasn't come forward - he sustained facial injuries that fateful evening. Not from the car accident, but via golf club.

Writer Rick Reilly said it best:

Tiger Woods is the first human being in history to hit a fire hydrant, and set himself on fire.