We often get fixated on the elephant. The big pink elephants that stomp around the rooms of our lives. You know which ones I am talking about. It's the ones that no one else likes to talk about. You step around it. You fix the things it breaks. Problem is pretty soon, you just can't ignore it anymore.

So let's say you get to that point. The rare occasion of acknowledging the elephant for what it is. What happens once we get the elephant out the door?

As you can imagine, elephants leave behind quite a mess. A path of destruction that trampled on everything you worked so hard to build... and don't forget the piles of umm ..... stuff ..... it also left behind.

It's not pretty.

You see it's not just the elephant we have to worry about. We also have to take time to clean up after it’s gone. You might not be able to see the elephant anymore, but the scent lingers and will soon take over.

This entry is about Tiger Woods and the fact that according to Jim Nance (the head broadcaster at the Masters this past weekend) about 80% of the gallery (or fans in attendance) cheered for him from the start to the finish in a wellspring of support. 

But, before I get there, I have to confess that I love the Masters. I am an average golfer and don’t follow the tour closely, but if you like golf at all or have ever thought about thinking about liking golf, you know that the Masters is without a doubt the greatest weekend in Golf and perhaps one of the great American sporting traditions.  

This is partly due to the irrefutable fact that the golf tournament is played on -- and in -- Golf Heaven.  I have never played Augusta National (founded by Bobby Jones in 1931, designed by the great Alister MacKenzie, and perhaps the most exclusive course in the world with about 300 members), but it is considered by almost all golf aficionados to be THE golf course on earth alongside St. Andrews which is widely believed to have been designed and created by nature (or God – depending on which Scott you ask) and the birth place of golf in the 1570’s.  

“Wait a minute,” you might be saying.  I thought I just read this post.  Actually, you read that post.

My wife, Anna, went on a Women’s Retreat this weekend with our church, and before she left, she asked me to return a half gallon of milk she bought last week.  She said that she had purchased the milk before realizing it was set to expire the following day.  She called the store to see if she could make an exchange, and they said that would be fine.

So I went to the store on Sunday afternoon to make the exchange.  I explained the situation to the woman at the Customer Service counter, and she told me to go ahead and pick out a new carton.  After asking for directions, I headed back to the dairy section.  But when I picked up the replacement carton and checked the expiration date, I noticed it was the same as the one I was returning:  4/4/10.

Thursday, late afternoon.

Downtown Minneapolis.

Nichollet Avenue and 5^th.

Lite-Rail Station.

Clear sky, cold air.

Credit card in hand.

Ticket machine.

Credit card doesn’t work.

Thinking the machine is broken.

Step back.

Woman buys a ticket.

Man buys a ticket.

Train arrives.

Credit card back in wallet.

Board the train.

Sit and work.

Bag falls over as the train lurches.

Setting sunlight streams in the windows.

Exit the train.

Check my pockets for wallet and phone.

Shaun White--snowboarder extraordinaire, Olympic gold medalist, global superstar--is as cool and hip as they come. Some would say he's the face of the Winter Games. I would say he's the poster boy for integrity. Here's why.

I have a friend who uses what he calls the "Three-Way Integrity Test" as a way to measure whether or not he is doing something with integrity. When presented with an opportunity or an invitation to join in some kind of activity, he asks himself three questions:

1. Is it legal?

2. Is it fair to all parties involved?

3. Would I be okay if a photo of my activity showed up in the newspaper or on the Internet the next morning?

After winning his gold medal in spectacular fashion in the half-pipe, Shaun White, who is already incredibly rich and famous, appeared at a press conference with Scott Lago, another American snowboarder who took the bronze in the same event. According to Los Angeles Times sportswriter Bill Plaschke, who was at the press conference, Shaun was asked what he was going to do next, whereupon he turned to Lago and said, "What do you want to do next, man?"