The Germans, with their exquisite library of terms for suffering, have a great word, schadenfreude, that means "taking pleasure in others' pain." The Australians have a sociological theory called the "tall poppy syndrome," where anybody who rises a bit above the crowd gets lopped back down to size.

Put 'em together, and you've got "schadenpoppy" -- pronounced "Michelle Wie."

Right about the time that pretty much everybody had written Wie off as an overrated, over-promoted Kournikova-esque never-was (as opposed to has-been), here Wie comes storming back to force her way into this month's U.S. Women's Open at Interlachen Country Club in Minneapolis, thanks to some high-pressure qualifying play in Maryland this week.

An interesting note from the New York Times: when Wie began her first hole, she had a gallery of 12 people. Twelve. Tiger Woods gets galleries of twelve trying to join him in Port-a-Potties. But by the time Wie finished her brutal two-course, 36-hole qualifying day, her gallery had grown to 200-plus people. She carded a 67 and a 70; no word on whether she perfected the Jedi Mind Trick routine as noted above.

Wie has taken a lot of crap in her life, and much of it has been because of what she represents and how she's been marketed, in addition to who she is as a golfer and a person. But if the layoff has helped her mature and grow into a first-rate competitor, all the injury/diva nonsense will be forgotten. You're up, Michelle!