Sports hope springs eternal with Tiger back on the prowl

Before breaking down Andre Smith's missteps, Jarron Gilbert's amazing jump and the Maryland Terrapins potential leap into the NCAA Tournament...

My apology to Brendan Jones, but somebody has to be the martyr. Frankly, I had never heard of the Australian golfer prior to scanning the bracket for this week’s Accenture Match Play Championship, but then again I don’t claim to follow the weekly results over in Japan, where the 64th ranked player in the world has won eight times. Frankly, my interest in Jones now is purely tangential to a much greater cause and he is almost assuredly to slip out of my sports conscience by this time tomorrow. So why bring him up at all? Because Jones is set to become the first golfer sacrificed at the altar of one Tiger Woods, the most important presence in all of sports.

Does anyone dispute that claim? Don’t call it a comeback, but the timing could not be more perfect for the debut of the most competitive and compelling athlete around. Upon conclusion of the NFL season, the sports nation lets out a collective, almost instinctive whine because its members do not know what to do with themselves after months of being in a three-point stance. The football diehards will focus on non-events like the draft and more recently, the combine, while the rest of the herd will impatiently wait for the calendar to hurry up so we can get to the next gripping moment.

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