From Golf News : CBS SportsLine:

Golf just got a whole lot less interesting for the rest of this year.

Woods said Wednesday he will have season-ending knee surgery, revealing he has had a torn ligament in his left knee since last July.

And he suffered a double stress fracture of his left tibia while preparing to return to the PGA Tour last month, which forced him to miss the Memorial and was the source of his pain at Torrey Pines when he won the U.S. Open.

Yikes! I knew he was hurt, but a broken leg, torn meniscus, AND a torn ACL?

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most important of four strong ligaments connecting the bones of the knee joint… The function of the ACL is to provide stability to the knee and minimize stress across the knee joint…

And he STILL beat everyone? How is that even possible? Is he that much better than everyone else? I guess he answered that question last weekend.

Don’t worry though. Having gone through everything that [[Tiger]] is going through right now (many times), I can assure you that he’ll be back in fine form. Hey, if I can be playing golf right now on 2 knees with a total of 9 reconstructions, including 5 ACL reconstructions and a total knee replacement of my left knee at the age of 40 (I’m 42 now), and still walk 18 holes, I’m sure he’ll be able to do so after his third surgery and first ACL reconstruction.

Yo Retief… how stupid do you feel now? I’ve always thought you were a little aloof, and maybe a little arrogant, but now you are my least favorite player.

Your fellow European players think you’re kind of an a-hole too, and I couldn’t agree more.

I am now officially rooting against you from now on (you’re only the second golfer I’ve put on that list).

[[Tiger]] doubles over in pain after a drive on Saturday

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a sporting performance that compares to what [[Tiger]] has done over the last four days of the U.S. Open. People have been comparing it to what Kirk Gibson did in the 1988 World Series. But really, that was one at bat. Let’s see Kirk do that for 72 at bats over a period of 4 days.

I truly can feel his pain. I’ve played golf on a left knee like that, nearly (or sometimes actually) falling down after a shot in pain. Then, with that pain in mind, lining up the next shot trying to get that searing pain out of your mind so that you can actually pull off a reasonable swing at the ball. It’s just not possible, only I guess it is for someone as mentally tough as [[Tiger]].

I winced, my own eyes tearing up from the memory of the pain I know he was feeling. I waited for what I considered to be the inevitable moment when he’d throw in the towel and say “No more… I can’t take it.” But he didn’t. He gutted it out, on the most brutal test of golf he’ll face all year, playing on one leg, and managed to be in a tie for the victory when the smoke finally cleared.

I think Rocco spoke for everyone watching when he asked:

Mr. Woods, Mr. Woods! Right here! Are you COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND?

Crazy? Perhaps, but certainly driven. To quote Pat Forde of ESPN:

The greatest part of Tiger Woods is the fact that he couldn’t spell surrender if you stuck a dictionary in front of him and opened it to that page. He never gives up.

When all is said and done, if [[Tiger]] is able to pull of this victory, it’ll go down as perhaps the most heroic display of golf ever, rivaling Ben Hogan’s win at Merian (playing on two bad legs crushed in a horrific car accident), and Ken Venturi’s victory at Congressional (where he suffered from heat stroke during the final round but still finished and won).

I’ll be pulling for you [[Tiger]] and wincing in sympathetic pain.

From [Boston Globe — Jeff Jacoby columns](http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial*opinion/jeff*jacoby:)

REMEMBER George W. Bush? He was the president who warned in 2002 that Iran and North Korea were part of an “axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.” On his watch, he vowed, the United States would “not permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.”

Yeah, what happened to him? I was with him when he spoke those works. I believed that we could make the world a better place. But, I was also afraid that we as a nation would not have the collective will to see this sort of sweeping policy all the way through to the end. Unfortunately, it turns out that my fears were well founded. Now, the only real option we seem to have is to minimize the damage that we have caused, and try and fix our reputation around the world. Barak ’08.

From [Sci Fi Wire](http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/:)

Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, who will respectively executive-produce and direct two upcoming films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit, interacted with each other and fans during an international Internet chat dubbed “An Unexpected Party,” answering dozens of the 6,000-plus questions sent in and offering tidbits about things to come.

This is a great interview, and it makes me even more confident that Del Toro will do a great job with the movies… especially since PJ is still writing and producing. The only problem??? We have to wait until 2011 to see the first one! ARGH!

From [Sci Fi Wire](http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/:)

Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, who will respectively executive-produce and direct two upcoming films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit, interacted with each other and fans during an international Internet chat dubbed “An Unexpected Party,” answering dozens of the 6,000-plus questions sent in and offering tidbits about things to come.

This is a great interview, and it makes me even more confident that Del Toro will do a great job with the movies… especially since PJ is still writing and producing. The only problem??? We have to wait until 2011 to see the first one! ARGH!

From [Motivational Quotes of the Day](http://www.quotationspage.com/mqotd.html:)

“Don’t waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.”

You think [[Tiger]] lives by this creed?

From Business Week:

Soon after Michele Goins became chief information officer at Juniper Networks (JNPR) in February, she decided to respond to the growing chorus of Mac lovers among the networking company’s 6,100 employees. For years, many had used Apple’s (AAPL) computers at home and clamored for them in the office as well. So she launched a test, letting 600 Juniper staffers use Macs instead of the standard-issue PCs that run Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows operating system. As long as the extra support costs aren’t too high, she plans to open the floodgates. “If we opened it up today, I think 25% of our employees would choose Macs,” she says.

You betcha. It might be time to buy some more shares of Apple.

From [Slashdot](http://slashdot.org/:)

Tesla Motors has opened their first retail store front to allow the masses access to their new cars. …the Roaster will have a range of 220 miles per charge and the mileage equivalent of 135 miles per gallon.

Now, if only it didn’t cost $109,000! If I could get one for around $30K, I’d do it in an instant. Here’s to hoping for the economy of scale to kick in.

From [ESPN.com](http://www.espn.com:)

Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in her career. Central Washington senior Mallory Holtman was already her school’s career leader in them. But when a twist of fate and a torn knee ligament brought them face to face with each other and face to face with the end of their playing days, they combined on a home run trot that celebrated the collective human spirit far more than individual athletic achievement.

…

Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace [from the opposing team] lifted Tucholsky off the ground and supported her weight between them as they began a slow trip around the bases, stopping at each one so Tucholsky’s left foot could secure her passage onward. Even with Tucholsky feeling the pain of what trainers subsequently came to believe was a torn ACL (she was scheduled for tests to confirm the injury on Monday), the surreal quality of perhaps the longest and most crowded home run trot in the game’s history hit all three players.

Tucholsky had hit a home run, and while running between first and second blew out her right knee. The rules of baseball/softball state that even on a home run, the batter must round the bases touching each one. If she couldn’t make it around, her home run, the only one in her career, wouldn’t count.

Members of the opposing team decided to take matters in their own hands and carried her around the diamond.

Sometimes, people do things that give me faith in humanity.

From [CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/?eref=rss_topstories:)

Sen. John McCain Thursday admitted his idea of a gas tax “holiday” would not solve the problem of rising oil prices but said it would give low-income Americans “just a little break this summer.”

Uh… yeah. Based on some analysis that I’ve read, the average American family would save a total of $30 over the course of the summer. Yeah, that’s worth it. Let’s get ourselves even deeper in debt! When will these guys wake up!!!!