Tiger Woods Vanity Fair Cover by Annie Leibovitz

"Exclusive! TIGER RAW. NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN PHOTO'S! By Annie Leibovitz". The cover is hollaring at me. This issue will be available on the newsstands on Wednesday, January 6, 2010. Today for me.

I have mixed feelings about this cover. Vanity Fairs' year of the tiger starts with appropriately introducing a brand new Tiger on the cover. Emphasized by using bold, all in caps letters. VF promises even more photo's in the page spreads. They will most probably be pictures of Tiger showing off his muscles while pumping iron or something else that's sporty. Looking sexy and raw and manly. Plus, Vanity Fair will get the inside scoop of his inner most thoughts and feelings on the drama that happened not long ago.

Could have sounded "WOW" to me. I couldn't help but think that this is just another attempt to get his image rebuffed using this medium. Take a close look at that cover. Look at those eyes. It could just be me...but it seems like he isn't really present in the moment. Maybe he was, but he's projecting the opposite.

I was starting to think, maybe that could have been done on purpose. Maybe VF chose a photo that shows us that side of Tiger. One that is not always so intensely focused, but just human. However , if that were the case, it's the opposite of what Annie Leibovitz wanted to achieve with these photo's. Leibovitz says; "“Tiger is an intensely competitive athlete. I wanted to reveal that in these photos. And to show his incredible focus and dedication.”

I want to look at the rest of the photo's along with the VF cover story I've read online. I want to see if the photo's and the story will clear up some of the "maybe's" I keep thinking. This is the first time that I feel "iffy" about a VF cover. This one has me confused. And so I'm going to buy me that issue. Haha! I'm buying a copy...Vanity Fair managed to pick the right cover yet again.