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Woody Austin was quoted as saying that the PGA Championship isn’t a lesser tournament because Tiger Woods won’t be playing. Um, yes, Woody, it is. Until I read that quote I didn’t even know the PGA Championship was coming up this week and for the life of me I can’t tell you who won the British Open. Maybe that makes me less of a golf fan but so are the other 10 million people who don’t care about the PGA if Tiger isn’t playing. I think that says more about grouchy old hacks like Woody Austin than it does me.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy met with Brett Favre and concluded that Brett isn’t ready to dedicate himself to the team in a manner that will be beneficial. Duh. Brett said as much in his retirement speech. He’s tired. A few months ago Brett said that the only scenario he could envision himself playing again was one where he was guaranteed an appearance in the Super Bowl. That scenario doesn’t exist. You have to play all 16 games and then run the playoff gauntlet to get in. That’s hard to do and requires serious effort. See ya later, Brett. Too bad you ruined your legacy with an intricate web of whining and backstabbing.

The Milwaukee Brewers are starting to come unglued. Prince Fielder is shoving pitchers around, the manager’s complaining that the press wants to ask about the team chemistry in the wake of said shoving match and the Cubs are pulling away. That CC Sabathia trade is looking brilliant.

The Yankees just sent Joba Chamberlain to the doctor. Remember when Hank Steinbrenner was throwing a fit over how slowly the team was bringing Joba into the starting rotation? Me too. Just sign the checks, little Stein, leave the baseball stuff to the baseball people.

LeBron James has put the fear of god into the NBA by admitting that he would consider offers to play in Europe. The question is whether or not LeBron is posturing to give NBA players some bargaining power when the next collective bargaining agreement is negotiated. The NBA is a star-driven enterprise and it can’t afford to lose somebody with the presence of LeBron but can any team in the NBA compete with some foreign billionaire who wants to throw a feather in his team’s cap? More importantly, can LeBron afford to lose the publicity he gets in the NBA? It should be interesting to see how this plays out but it’s highly unlikely any big name player is going to risk the side benefits of the NBA to chase a big contract in Europe.

Preseason polls have Georgia ranked number one. I guess we can tune in this coming January to see them get the BCS trophy. I believe Ohio State is a 5 to 1 favorite to play them and lose because apparently Jim Tressel is still under the impression that nobody throws underneath.

Speaking of Jim Tressel, he has a book on the market…something about winning. I checked and didn’t see any chapters on ignoring obvious signs of NCAA violations, scheduling 8 home games in a season, playing down to the level of your cupcake opponents or hypocrisy so I expect volume two to be out next summer.

The Olympics set to begin and even though interest seems to be at an all time low it might be worth following to see if the professional athletes the US sends can attain a lower international approval rating the George W. Bush. It’s going to be tough without Gilbert Arenas on the team but somehow I think they’ll pull through.