Wednesday

It's been a while since I've posted; mainly because I'm in the midst of a two-week class that meets all day from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It's amazing how quickly six hours can pass while sitting on a couch on a Sunday in November watching football and how slowly they can pass while listening to some dude from Long Island talking about God knows what. Chlorophyll? More like BOREaphyll!
Actually, it's not that bad at all because it's a computer course, so I spend my days endlessly reloading ESPN.com and cursing Gawker Media for changing the layout of Deadspin to a muddled, unappealing mess. This is why nobody should ever rely on the British for anything. Ever.
Anyway, in lieu of longer stuff for the next two weeks, I think I might just post some short little entries as they pop into my head. (Note: Whenever I make such pronouncements about what I might, or might not do, with this site, I never end up following them).
Some thoughts for Wednesday:

* Tiger Woods' inaugural AT&T National exceeded even the highest of expectations this weekend. For a tournament that didn't exist 122 days ago, Congressional and Tiger's people put on a fantastic event that instantly becomes one of the top non-majors on the PGA Tour schedule. I've been to two U.S. Opens (including one at Congressional) and the final day at the AT&T had a similar feel. (But not an actual feel, because neither Open I was at was contested on a 96 degree day after I had played 18 in the morning.)
Tiger was the clear drawing point to the tournament, but Congressional played a large role as well. I have a difficult time believing 37,000 people (2,000 more than attended any session of the U.S. Open) would have braved the heat on Sunday had the AT&T National been played at the nearby (and much-reviled) TPC at Avenel.
My friends and I based our day around watching Tiger (as the final group pairing of KJ Choi and Stuart Appleby wasn't the most interesting); sitting at the tee on #7, watching the entire par 3 10th and getting a great location at the back of the 15th green. Having seen Tiger at the '05 Open at Pinehurst, I knew how cool it is to see him up close. But when he strode up to the 7th tee box, I realized I had forgotten just how awe-inspiring the site was.
It's tough to describe if you haven't seen him up close. Even at his most mundane, walking up to a tee box or green, Tiger carries an electricity with him. Having seen M.J. in his prime, my cousin and I wondered which athlete was more impressive to see. We decided that being five feet from Tiger as he teed off, hearing him talk to his caddie and watching his disgusted reaction after pushing a short iron on #7, was better than seeing Jordan from seven rows back. Maybe at his prime, MJ was more exciting. But the feeling that buzzes through the gallery when Tiger puts his tee into the ground is different.
After Tiger's approach on #15 landed at the back of the green in the exact spot my friends and I were standing, we were able to watch Tiger stalk his putt from up close. As he was doing it, we could tell that, years from now, we wouldn't be able to remember a single thing about our afternoon at the AT&T National (for the actual golf was quite uneventful) except that we were in close proximity to the most dominant athlete on the planet. Oh, and that he missed the putt as badly as I did when I played 18 earlier in the day. That too.

* My new favorite golfer: Charley Hoffman. Celebrates the spirit of Barry Melrose while looking like Karl from Die Hard.