Tiger Woods: Shirtless in Vanity Fair

The Tiger Woods scandal continues to fascinate, even with little or no new details surfacing in weeks. See this month's shirtless Tiger Woods Vanity Fair cover.

We suppose, given that this was one of the most shocking celebrity scandals of the decade - nay, the millennium - it may fuel celebrity gossip for some time.

In addition to "raw" and "never-before-seen" photos by Annie Liebovitz (taken before the scandal), Vanity Fair features a essay by sportswriter Buzz Bissinger.

The Friday Night Lights author reflects on a fall from grace unlike any before in American sports. Anything new? Not really. Compelling writing? Absolutely.

Hey, he may be in seclusion somewhere (Arizona, Florida, NYC's Trump Tower, etc.), but who needs new stories when they can ogle Tiger Woods shirtless.

Of the Vanity Fair cover photo, Liebovitz says she captured the "intensely competitive athlete" in what turned out to be a state of "prophetic isolation"...

Tiger Woods, shirtless, pumps iron in a photo taken before his sex scandal erupted. Nowadays he is better known for pumping mistresses. Sorry. It's a slow news day.

How the mightiest of athletes has fallen in the past month. Of the 33-year-old golfer's incredible demise, at least in the world of public opinion, Bissinger writes:

"In the end it was the age-old clash of image versus reality. [Tiger Woods] deluded himself into thinking he could be something that he wasn’t: untouchable."

"The greatest feat of his career is that he managed to get away with it for so long in public, the bionic man instead of the human one who hit a fire hydrant."

That's hard to argue with.

Although if he convinces Elin Woods to stay married to him when the scandalous dust finally settles, that would arguably rank #2. Or a close #3 behind his 14 majors.