More important: The real sports story this week, of course, is the most important golf tournament in the world. Maybe not to Americans (and I'm still slightly partial to the U.S. Open. Call me a xenophobe), but certainly to the world of golf at large the Open Championship is numero uno. The wind, the weather, the funky courses where you have to play the ball over the ground as well as in the air. Fans who, though they're certainly just as drunk, are far less obnoxious than Americans, especially New Yorkers. It all adds up to a fantastic week of golf, made even better by the fact that it comes on TV at 9am and can be viewed, at least by highlights, all through the night. The U.S. Open makes us wait till at least 11:00 to get live coverage and the Masters is still stingy, though they've extended coverage considerably in recent years (and, of course, don't interrupt for commercials, at least as long as Hootie's intent on sticking it to Martha Burke).

And this year is shaping up to be a great one. The wind blew early and hard, as it must for the Open to be truly great and scores were all over the place. Tiger's playing well, if erratically, the leaderboard is a nice mix of Americans, Euros, and others, with the unlikely hennie Otto (who?) leading after the first round and gunning for, at least, low South African (though I'm holding out hope that Ernie Els will turn it around and get into contention).

Check out some pictures of the course and tell me there's a finer place in the world. Go ahead, I dare you.