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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- If Tennessee offensive lineman Jacques McClendon wasn't busy with football, he could probably make a living pulling fire engines.

Or another one of those cockamamie feats of strength you see performed in the wee hours on ESPN.

The Minnesota Vikings have had little response thus far to tampering charges filed by the Green Bay Packers regarding quarterback Brett Favre.

Suddenly caught in the middle of the ongoing Favre saga, the Vikings declined to give their side of the story or provide any real reaction after the Packers accused them earlier this week of having "inappropriate dialogue" with Favre.

Less than three weeks after his wedding to Chris Evert, Greg Norman -- at age 53, playing in a major golf championship for the first time since 2005, having failed to make the cut in the only three PGA Tour events in which he has entered this year -- found himself one stroke off the lead Friday after the first two rounds of the 137th British Open at Royal Birkdale.

A surprise?

Less than three years ago, John Daly stood center stage and tussled with the king. His electric duel with Tiger Woods, played before a large and enthusiastic gallery at San Francisco's Harding Park, vaulted Daly to No. 23 in the world rankings and restored some luster to his tarnished image.

And look at him now.

LAS VEGAS -- The Detroit Pistons thing went bad in the end and the New York Knicks thing went bad the entire time among other coaching stops. So Larry Brown joins the Charlotte Bobcats for his latest attempt to rehabilitate a 32-50 team and his reputation.

SOUTHPORT, England -- Anthony Kim hits the Lancashire coast of England this week, plunging into the charm and history of the British Open for the first time. Kim will play on a tradition-rich links layout, Royal Birkdale, as he competes in the 137th edition of golf's oldest championship.

But our story begins in a mall in Oklahoma.

Brett Favre will always be remembered for trying to pull off something unexpected and daring, hoping to fit a football into a tiny spot that only he believed he could hit with his gifted arm and unflinching confidence.

His latest attempt fell incomplete.

More accurately, it was intercepted by the Green Bay Packers themselves.

For the first time since the 1996 PGA Championship, Tiger Woods is not competing in one of golf's major championships.

The obligatory bet of choosing Woods or another player in the field has been tabled at least until next year's Masters.

This week's British Open at Royal Birkdale actually should have been the second straight missed major for Woods.

Thank you, Brett Favre. Thank you for creating a genuine sports soap opera, one that explores the complicated emotions of a superstar in the final stage of his career and the messy business of a team trying to move forward with a living, breathing monument strapped to its back.

Ten years later, Mark O'Meara happily returns to the place he cemented his golfing legacy -- the rolling sand dunes, flat fairways, whipping winds and striking white clubhouse of Royal Birkdale. The whole scene makes for a tidy complement to Augusta National.