It's Pebble Beach time, and we begin this week's podcast by kicking around some Pebble thoughts. From there, we segue into a little what-if: what famous golf shot from the past would you like to try? Watson at Pebble Beach's 17 in 1982? Tiger at Augusta's 16 in 2005?

From there, we talk a little bit about the European golfers, who seem to be having so much more fun than their American counterparts. And after that, we roll into a story so horrid, so gruesome, we can't even recount it here. (But we can link it. Don't click if you don't want to spoil the surprise.)

The season is underway, and with it a different venue every week. Our weekly cheatsheet will give you all the info you need to know to plan your viewing, fantasy picks and bar bets. Enjoy, and if there's a category you'd like to see added, hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. We're here to serve, after all.

History: Originally known as the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, or the "Crosby Clambake," the event dates to 1937. It's been played in the Pebble Beach area since 1947. Celebrities have been a part of the game since its inception, and one or two even know what they're doing. Jim Backus -- that would be Thurston Howell III himself -- shocked the golf world when he made the cut in 1964. The field includes 156 pros and 156 amateurs, each team playing one of three courses during the first three days. The 54-hole cut survivors (low 60 plus ties) then join to play Pebble on Sunday.

The TV: Golf Channel Thursday and Friday from 3-6 p.m. ET; CBS on the weekend, 3-6 p.m. ET Saturday and 3-6:30 p.m. ET

The farther you get into this Elliot Saltman cheating case, the stranger it gets. You recall the story of Saltman, who was accused of cheating in marking his ball and got himself a little suspension from the European Tour. (Read more about it here.)

Now, Sky Sports has produced a feature (with crime-scene reconstruction!) showing exactly how Saltman (allegedly) pulled his ball-marking shenanigans. (Visor tip to Wei Under Par for the find.)

While we would have loved to see one of those Taiwanese animation versions of Saltman's escapades, this doesn't quite rise to the level of salaciousness necessary for that treatment. Still, what this has is a few tentative and hopeful quotes from Saltman, the first since the suspension was handed down.

You can also hear from other golfers such as Lee Westwood, Oliver Wilson and Robert Karlsson, none of whom particularly care for Saltman's decision to continue to play on smaller tours when he's under suspension. Each drops the "if you're banned from

Say this for Rory McIlroy: the guy knows how to enjoy his world travels. While in Dubai for this week's tournament, he paid a visit to the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project. Some of those turtles have had pretty rough lives, you know; drugs and drink and broken marriages, and the Turtle Rehabilitation Project helps them turn their lives around. Dr. Drew will have one on his next season of Celebrity Rehab.

Also, this photo just demands a caption, doesn't it? Maybe "thanks, mate, but I was looking for my Titleist." After the jump, Rory gets wet in a Dubai waterslide.

I'm going to phone in a violation on that approach to the hole. There's got to be illegality there somewhere.

[Visor tip: Dogs That Chase Cars]

Danica Patrick has announced her 2011 Nationwide schedule: 12 races, including four tracks she's never visited as a NASCAR driver, and enough hype and hope to float the Goodyear blimp. Like last year, she'll run in clusters in the beginning and end of the Nationwide season, popping in and out during the summer while she runs full-time in the IZOD IndyCar series. According to JR Motorsports, here's where Ms. Patrick's fans can watch her race:

• Daytona International Speedway (Feb. 19)
• Phoenix International Raceway (Feb. 26)
• Las Vegas Motor Speedway (March 5)
• Bristol Motor Speedway (March 19)
• Chicagoland Speedway (June 4)
• Daytona International Speedway (July 1)
• Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (Aug. 20)
• Richmond International Raceway (Sept. 9)
• Kansas Speedway (Oct. 8)
• Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 5)
• Phoenix International Raceway (Nov. 12)
• Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 19)

Patrick gets no end of grief for the highly unbalanced attention-to-results ratio, and this year will

We're not going to lie to you: the fact that the Daytona 500 hadn't announced its prerace entertainment less than two weeks before the race was starting to raise some serious concerns. This is the biggest event of the NASCAR year, and we're looking at the very real possibility of getting Dingus Fleabait and His Stinky Outhouse Boys to provide the soundtrack? Come on, NASCAR!

Well, as it turns out, NASCAR came through. Brad Paisley, country music soo-per-star, will be performing three songs pre-race. It's a fitting match; the universes of Paisley and NASCAR fans overlap almost completely. And Paisley's got plenty of experience dealing with NASCAR, as he did last year with one Jeff Gordon:

Still unannounced is who will sing the National Anthem, though I can think of at least one person who could use a mulligan.

Also, speaking selfishly, I'm hoping that Paisley does like Keith Urban did last year:

Yeah! Private media concert! Because we in the media aren't privileged enough already! Of

We're fast coming up on the ten-year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death at the 2001 Daytona 500. And while NASCAR can be accused of focusing too much attention on — and continually profiting from — the fallen icon, that doesn't mean we shouldn't take a few moments to consider what we lost when we lost the Intimidator.

Next week, we'll devote several posts to Earnhardt, his life, his passing and his legacy. On Monday, we'll be running a story where Earnhardt's contemporaries reminisce about his death, and we'll have a complementary post from you fans. We'd like you to share your thoughts with us on where you were and what you were doing on that fateful day. Drop us a line at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and we'll compile them. One more look back, and then we'll all move on. Get to it!

Tiger Woods has fallen to No. 3 in the Official World Golf Rankings, with Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer now dueling for No. 1. And this week in Dubai marks the first time all three have battled since the rankings turned inside-out. So who's going to run the table? Devil Ball's Jay Busbee, Jonathan Wall and Shane Bacon take their cuts.

Busbee: You could make the case that Westwood will beat Kaymer and Woods this week, but if you're talking about guys that could win the whole tournament, it's Kaymer and Kaymer alone. The Teutonic Terror is playing out of his mind at the moment, and it'll take game that Westwood hasn't shown in months to bring down Kaymer (and, for the record, hold him off from taking over the OWGR top spot). Woods? Not yet. Only one guy in the world could outplay Kaymer right now, but Chuck Norris isn't entered in this tournament. Your take, gentlemen?

Wall: It's hard to disagree with Busbee on this one. While Lee Westwood is the numero uno, he hasn't been playing like