Tiger Woods' fall from grace not only has been dramatic, but public. Despite Woods' vanishing act since his Thanksgiving night accident, the impact of his fall has been very visible.

He no longer is referred to as "Tiger" in headlines. Most often, the bold type uses his first and last names, reminiscent of how a child knows when he is in trouble.

Sports Illustrated points out the PGA Tour and other golfers on the tour likely will suffer more financially from all that trouble than Woods himself. Not to mention his caddy.

But, before his Caddy crash, Woods earned more from his endorsement deals than from winning golf tournaments. Thus, his decline also is being measured by a loss of sponsors.

He has been dropped by Accenture, while Tag Hauer and Gillette have, like his wife, taken indefinite leave from their relationship.

This leads to a pair of related questions.

First, why would an enterprise such as Accenture - with 177,700 employees worldwide and revenues of $23.39 billion in 2008 - link such massive assets to a single person? Apparently, a global management consulting, technology consulting and technology outsourcing company needs a face to show the public, and opted for a human one instead of a duck, lizard, neanderthal or cartoon character.

"Go on. Be a Tiger," stated the corporation's first ads featuring the world's most famous athlete. That was before Woods turned out to be a wolf.

But a related question is why the buying public puts such stock in celebrity endorsements - or in the celebrities themselves, for that matter. Consumers need to take an indefinite leave, too - from worshiping human beings, no matter how famous ... or infamous.