Susan G. Komen for the Cure (SGK) founder and CEO Nancy Brinker and the organization’s president Elizabeth Thompson held a conference call on Saturday with affiliates to work on a path out of the PR mess the group got into last week when it announced it would cut funding to Planned Parenthood. After lots of mixed messages and backlash, the organization has backed off of its plans, but the job of rebuilding the trust and goodwill of supporters is just beginning.

Ogilvy PR VP Brendan Daly confirmed with The Washington Post that he was brought in last week to help. Former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer is also lending his crisis comms expertise where necessary. Still, the WaPo article brings up issues that the organization could have with corporate partners and others going forward.

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The New York Stock Exchange has declared that tomorrow will be “Social Media Day”; a day to “explore social marketing strategy and emerging trends in corporate and political communications.”

In celebration, the NYSE has planned a number of panel discussions covering a variety of topics — “Building Your Personal Brand Online,” for example — and is bringing in a number of experts. Among the guests are CNBC Washington reporter Eamon Javers and executive director of the NFL Players Association DeMaurice Smith.

Also taking part is former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who sounds like he has no business anywhere near this event.

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Jennifer Psaki, the White House’s deputy communications director, will be leaving the Obama administration on Thursday to start a new job at Global Strategy Group, a public affairs and research firm. She’ll be SVP and MD with the firm, leading its Washington office. She was deputy press secretary for Obama’s campaign starting in 2007.

Also in political people moves, former press secretary to President George W. Bush, Ari Fleischer, is joining CNN as a contributor to the cable news channel’s roster of programming and special political programming. The addition is another of the channel’s preparations for the 2012 election.

After serving as the primary WH spokesperson between 2001 and 2003 and a Bush/Cheney spokesperson before that, he launched Ari Fleischer Sports Communications.

On this week’s PRNewser Podcast, we discussed healthcare reform, the media, and its surrogates with Flatiron Communications owner and The Flack blogger Peter Himler.

Himler likes Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Alan Grayson, (D-FL), while I like Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Himler believes Nancy Pelosi needs to adopt more of a “Hillary Clinton scowl” and lose the smile.

We also covered Mark Cuban‘s beef with his PR firm, Tiger Woods parting ways with Ari Fleischer, and the benefits of small firms and big firms.

That was quick. Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary to President George W. Bush, is no longer working with Tiger Woods, a representative from his agency confirmed to PRNewser today. Mr. Fleisher also acknowledged in an email to the Associated Press that he is no longer working with Woods.

News of Fleischer working with Woods first surfaced only 11 days ago. No reason was given for the split.

Also, it should be noted that Woods’ interviews with ESPN and The Golf Channel last night were timed perfectly with the health care reform vote, which took place the same time. Whether the timing was intentional or not, it certainly took a bit of attention away from Woods.

First it was college football’s Bowl Championship Series. Then it was baseball slugger Mark McGwire during his steroid admission use tour.

Now, Ari Fleischer is handling the most high profile sports scandal of the past year, and maybe even the decade: Tiger Woods.

The former White House Press Secretary to George W. Bush was hired by Woods, the The NY Post reports, citing “two sources in the golf community.”

PRNewser was not able to confirm if Tiger had hired PR help before his recent press conference. However, with an upcoming appearance on March 25th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods clearly needs to be thinking about his public image.

One PR agency head we spoke with who has handled many high profile clients in situations similar to Woods told PRNewser today, “it’s about time they hired somebody, what were they waiting for?”

“Unlike his press conference he’s going to have to answer questions,” the agency head said.

Fleischer recently told ABC News that sports PR is “more relaxing” than politics. Will he think the same after his work with Woods?

Former George W. Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer has stayed busy by moving into the sports PR world after his stint in politics.

Along the way, he’s picked up high profile clients such as NCAA Football’s Bowl Championship Series and former baseball star Mark McGwire during his current steroid use admission process.

Despite the high profile sports clients – it’s definitely easier on him than politics, he said.

“When I left the White House I said I was going to do something more relaxing like dismantling live nuclear weapons…This is definitely more relaxing. The fact is I love them both – I loved the intensity and pressure of the White House, I loved being there, but I love this too,” he told ABC News in a profile published this week.

Former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer is in the sports PR business, in a big way. First came news he was handling the NCAA College Football Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, which continues to face scrutiny from fans who would prefer a playoff system.

Now, Fleischer is handling Mark McGwire as he embarks on his steroid use admission tour. The Times outlined the process as it unfolded yesterday, from statement to several phone interviews, to a full sit down interview with Bob Costas on MLB network.

“I like the door-to-door strategy, in that he is telling his story in long form and in less confrontational settings,” Kevin Sullivan, a former White House communications director who has his own agency, told the Times.

While it took Pete Rose twenty years to admit he placed bets on baseball, McGwire doesn’t have that same luxury as he had to come clean before he begins the season as a hitting coach with his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Drew Kerr, president and founder of Four Corners Communications, has represented sports brands including the Sporting News. He told PRNewser that while “it takes guts” to go through with the admission, this admission is challenging because “this is a career” rather than a “one time incident.” The same sports writers were around back then said Kerr, referring to McGwire’s hey-day in the mid and late nineties, and “their memories are long.”

Also, there is a corporate connection to McGwire doing his first televised sit down with Bob Costas, as pointed out by the Times: “Costas is represented by IMG, which owns half of Fleischer’s company.”

There’s a war going on in college football: how should the top team be selected? As of now, it’s via the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, which ranks teams based on the “USA Today Coaches Poll, Harris Interactive College Football Poll and an average of six computer rankings.” Fans of college football are getting more and more annoyed with this system, and are vying for a playoff system similar to NCAA basketball’s massively popular “March Madness” tournament.

The BCS has come under increased fire, last week in the form of Twitter backlash, as the @InsidetheBCS official Twitter feed was torn to shreds. As Advertising Age‘s Ken Wheaton noted, “If you know your product is universally loathed, Twitter is not the place for you.”

Now, the BCS has hired some high profile PR help to clean up the mess, in the form of Ari Fleischer Communications, “a sports public relations firm” headed by the former press secretary for President George W. Bush.

Meanwhile, a number of college football teams have also employed their own PR firms to ensure they are painted in the best light for the BCS. Is it just us, or should the college football championship be settled on the field, and not in the PR strategy room?