A Mighty Tiger's Weak Roar

You can't accuse the folks at Gatorade of resting on their laurels.

However, their new products often leave me furrowing my brow and asking, "Why?".

No, I take that back. I shake my head, grunt, and THEN ask "Why?"

Case in point -- the new Gatorade Tiger, inspired by hotshot golfer Tiger Woods.

According to the beverage's press release, Tiger embodies "mental strength, physical power, and technical perfection."

What these three qualities have to do with drinking a sports drink beats me. I think Tiger's success is better attributed to a unique mixture of hard work, genetics, ambition, and practice?

Anyhow, Gatorade executives heart Tiger so much that they formulated this drink especially for him. Tiger even underwent sweat analysis testing at the Gatorade laboratory facilities.

I would also spend countless hours sweating profusely for a bunch of scientists if I was pocketing a cool $100 million for this five-year development deal like Tiger did.

In any case, this is the same mostly unnecessary product repackaged for a new campaign.

Oh, I'm sorry, Gatorade Tiger has 25 percent more electrolytes. Wow, then it MUST be better, right?

Not quite.

This simply means that a 16 ounce, 100-calorie bottle contains 270 milligrams of sodium (more than a one-ounce serving of Lay's potato chips) and a negligent 80 milligrams of potassium (remember, the daily requirement is set at 4,000).

Let's not forget the 28 grams (7 teaspoons) of added sugar.

Sugar water with salt -- Tiger Woods' secret!