As I sit in a closed room writing this column, something called the World Cup is being played on television.

I don't care.

The Washington Redskins and the Carolina Panthers have already lost their NFL games today, and as far as I'm concerned they're the only two teams in the league. They were playing at the same time, so no doubleheader viewing for me today. Just a lot of channel switching back and forth from Time-Warner Cable to DirecTV.

In case you're wondering why all this may seem dated, it's because I was so bored I decided to write this Sunday's column last Sunday. Confused? Me too.

The PGA Tour has been idle for several weeks, and the only golf we've been able to see are those so-called special events. Special? The only remarkable thing about these events is that enough people waste their time watching them to give them air time.

OK, so I was curious enough about the World Cup to check out the players who made up the U.S. team. Checked it out. Tuned it out. Didn't care.

Yeah, I know that Stewart Cink and J.J. Henry are special people. To someone. To me, they're just a couple of names that I'm not curious enough to tune in to watch lose to half the world.

Stewart Cink and J.J. Henry? I don't mean to sound cynical or cruel. But truth is I doubt these two guys could draw 50 people for an exhibition on Pinehurst No. 2 on a balmy spring day. Hey, I know I would have gotten more excited watching Kelly Mitchum and Don Padgett II duking it out in the semifinals of the Palumbo Cup last week.

Come to think of it, maybe I am being cynical. Heck, at least 10 years ago I was being called a curmudgeon by a reader of one of my columns.

I'm sure I'll be ready for some real PGA Tour golf come January. I know it will probably be a few weeks later before Tiger and Phil and some of the other superstars decide to make their 2007 appearances. But that's OK, at least the competition will mean something.

The most exciting thing I've seen since the PGA Championship last August was the PGA Tour Qualifying School. Now that's drama.

Shoot a number or go home. Shoot a low number and be on top of the world. Shoot a high number and hope there's nothing sharp in your bag.

Maybe it's just me and my ever more curmudgeon-like ways. But it hasn't been too long ago that PGA Tour players were standing in line to represent the U.S. in the World Cup. Remember when Fred Couples and Davis Love III were winning it every year?

That was fun. They were main-draw players who were having fun representing their country. And the money even meant something back then.

I'm not sure that it really makes any difference, but the PGA Tour players are certainly losing their air of dominance on the world scene. Winning a Ryder Cup Match is just a distant dream. How many years has it been now since the cup came to America without flying out again after the weekend?

I know I'm venting here, but like I said, the Redskins and the Panthers lost today and it's four months before the Dodgers play again. If it were't for Atlantic Coast Conference basketball I could sell my television set. Or get out of the BW's way and let her watch one of those Lifetime movies without me ragging her.

You know what? The weather report is saying that it's going to be 60-plus tomorrow with sun. If I can just come up with another hundred curmudgeonly words and get this column finished, I can head for the golf course tomorrow.

No no-name golf or losing football teams to watch and no columns to write. Sounds like a little piece of heaven to me.

Meanwhile, I'm going to apologize to Stewart Cink and J.J. Henry. At least they cared enough to play in the World Cup. That's more than 91 other guys who earned a million bucks on the Tour this year did.