Tiger Woods' Big Victory at the U.S. Open and Willie Randolph's Sudden Exit

Who knew golf could be that exciting? For me, it always brings back memories of being trapped at my grandparents' house for the weekend while they watched "The Golf" (it was always required the article of "the") on the one TV while I would entertain myself by eating some sort of cheese-powder covered snack food. To this day, the scent of artificial cheese makes me think of the dulcet tones of the announcer telling the audience who's "one over" or "two under" as the crowd claps politely. So when superstar of the sport Tiger Woods won his third career U.S. Open yesterday after a 19-hole playoff, which included a "sudden-death" hole (who knew there was "sudden death" in golf?), you bet it was going to make the front page.

So, why go with the "dad" angle? Don't get me wrong, Woods' daughter is absolutely adorable and who doesn't love baby pictures (I'll wait for the commenter who says, "I don't…"), but this win was historic! Woods has now won each of the major golf tournaments at least three times, a feat accomplished only by himself and Jack Nicklaus. On top of that, Woods was battling for this victory against an underdog who held his own until the very end. This was epic! You didn't need the adorable baby to justify the page-one coverage.

The sports sections are chock-full of coverage of Woods's win, and the writers even give their props to 43-year-old Rocco Mediate, who chuckled to reporters that he learned something about himself, "Yeah, that I can handle the heat." You have to if you're going toe-to-toe with who can arguably be called the greatest golfer of all time, who was playing on a surgically repaired knee.

I'll put it to you this way: if I were hanging out with Nan and Pa watching this match, my attention would have been turned away from the cheese balls and to the screen.

Expect more sports on the front page tomorrow, since the Mets announced in the middle of the night that Willie Randolph got the ax as manager, along with coaches Rick Peterson (pitching) and Tom Nieto (first base).