Tiger Woods nearly made me fall asleep

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It was a short night. I had a late lunch. And Tiger Woods speaks with a soft voice, and was talking about stuff that wasn't very interesting.

So I closed my eyes a couple of times while in the interview room of the Masters' media center Friday afternoon while Woods was fielding questions. Every question -- at least the ones I was fully aware of -- were about golf, his 2-under-par round today, being in contention to win the tournament -- nothing that would be of much interest to me, Howard Stern or TMZ.com.

By the way, a store not far from Augusta National has a sign saying "Welcome Golf Fans, Pollen, and TMZ!"

Pollen is a big subject here. Locals' cars are covered with the stuff. Woods was wearing Nike sunglasses on the course Friday because the pollen is bothering him so much. It has bothered me a lot, too. I've found myself with tears in my eyes before going to sleep, and not from any sorts of regrets or slights, just the dadgum pollen.

They say "dadgum" here in the South. And "y'all."  They really like to talk about the pollen.

So here is a portion of  Paul Simon's "Allergies."

I go to a famous physician

I sleep in the local hotel

From what I can see of the people like me

We get better

But we never get well

So I ask myself this question

It's a question I often repeat

Where do allergies go

When it's after a show

And they want to get something to eat?

What was I talking about again?