The firestorm began more than two weeks ago, set off by a controversial comment about Tiger Woods from a TV announcer on the Golf Channel. On Friday, the flames kept roaring across the land as blacks from all parts of America stood as one and asked: "There's a golf channel?"

Yes, there is, and hundreds of thousands of devoted Golf Channel viewers plop down on their sofas to watch the non-stop programming. Such a following – 24 hours a day, seven days a week – indicates the sport has surged to new levels of popularity and, more importantly, that the nation's unemployment problem might be a just tad bigger than we've been lead to believe.

The Golf Channel launched in 1995 and is, according to the network, available in more than 90 million homes worldwide. And, as we all know, nothing keeps a family glued to the TV in the Thaba-Tseka, Lesotho, quite like watching the John Deere Classic.

But the Golf Channel is more than just a late-night rerun of the entire second round of the Buick Open. It's also packed with informative programming such as "Playing Lessons From the Pros," in which stars such as Tiger himself offer useful tips for the typical weekend player, such as when facing a 230-yard shot to the green into a howling Pebble Beach wind, do you hit a full pitching wedge or punch a little 9-iron.

Another actual program is called "What's In the Bag?" which is, as I understand it, a comprehensive look into just what the heck John Daly could possibly be eating for lunch.

But then, on Jan. 4, during the Golf Channel's important telecast of, well, something or other, announcer Kelly Tilghman suggested the best way other golfers could slow down Woods would involve a back-alley lynching.

Tilghman apologized and Tiger apparently said via a spokesman that the comment was no big deal and people should let it go. People did not let it go, of course, and announcer Tilghman was suspended. (Thus giving another announcer at the the Golf Channel the opportunity during last Thursday's opening round of the Bob Hope to utter those history-making words when Nick Flanagan struck a 6-foot putt: "Ohhh, that'll be
short!")

Then, this week, another bombshell in the Tiger/lynching controversy: A magazine called Golfweek (motto: "Fore: The number of interesting stories we've run in the past two years") ran a cover photo of a hangman's noose. So the magazine fired its editor.

And all of this could have been avoided if on that fateful day Tilghman had just offered up the more traditional, tried-and-true method of slowing down an opponent on the golf course.

Although in this politically correct world, there'd probably be someone outraged at the mere suggestion of sneaking up behind the great Tiger Woods and, just as he starts his swing, sticking a golf club between his legs and shouting "Gotcha!"