Knott: In new media world, everything’s fair game

It is not going away, this glut of the unseemly, not if the insatiable interest in the love conquests of Woods is an indication.

As news of Woods’ dalliances started to seep out, he became an instant search hit on Google.

And it was the Internet that packaged and shipped the story to the masses with a click.

A-Rod had a busy year as well, baseball being the least of it.

After being dumped by Madonna, the woman who contributed to the breakup of his marriage, A-Rod was linked to one of “The Real Housewives of New York City” before landing in and out of the arms of Kate Hudson.

His next love interest no doubt will be chronicled in rich detail, in a way that reduces his occupation to a footnote.

The unmanageable dimension of the new media prompted a public-relations misstep from Nike, usually ever-savvy in marketing its brand.

The dustup came about after a no-name college player was caught on video dunking on LeBron during a pickup game at a skills camp sponsored by Nike last summer.

A Nike representative confiscated the videos, claiming it was company policy, but not before news of the dunk spread on the Internet, making both James and Nike look small.

Predictably enough, a video showing the dunk eventually made it to the Internet, only to disappoint viewers because of its pedestrian nature.

As it turns out, the dunk was far more compelling as an urban legend than in actuality. And that was made so in part by Nike’s heavy-handedness, which lent an importance to the play that was clearly overstated and no threat to the reputation of the sacred one.

That is the power of the new media. It is barreling down on us all.

There is another Internet shot of Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen holding hands.

They, of course, are being sued by two photographers who claim the couple’s bodyguards shot at them.