Ray McNulty

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Given their shared tennis burden, John Lloyd and Andy Murray ought to have one of those special, cross-generational relationships often spawned by sports.

They don't.

"Our relationship," Lloyd was saying Tuesday night at the Grand Harbor clubhouse, where he was guest speaker at the Indian River Tennis Foundation's kickoff party, "is slightly strained."

The St. Louis Cardinals got the best 11 years of Albert Pujols' baseball life.

What are the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim getting for the $254 million they'll pay him across the next 10 years?

Remember: He's 31 years old -- as far as we know, anyway. And with Major League Baseball now testing for steroids and human growth hormone, it's unlikely we'll see players, even future Hall of Fame hitters such as Pujols, putting up monster numbers in their mid to late 30s, as Barry Bonds did a decade ago. His numbers will fall, eventually. His production will wane. His value will diminish. Probably, he gives the Angels three $25 million seasons. At best, he gives them four or five. That might be enough to bring another World Series to the Disneyland side of Los Angeles.

No touchdowns.

Four interceptions.

Four botched field goals.

The big golf news this week came out of Jupiter Island, where Tiger Woods announced on his website that he might add another PGA Tour event to his 2011 schedule.

"Right now," he said, "I'm looking at my options."

STUART, Fla. -- Where was Tiger Woods when the headline-grabbing news broke that the world's most-recognized golfer had fired his longtime caddie? Right here.

Here on the Treasure Coast's Intracoastal Waterway.

On his 61-foot, sport-fishing boat with his two children, heading south toward the Jupiter Inlet, waiting for a drawbridge to open.

Even after everything that has happened the past couple of years -- on and off the golf course -- Tiger Woods remains the world's most recognizable athlete.

He still brings in huge TV ratings, which bring in sponsors, who bring in the piles of cash that have made the PGA Tour a millionaires' club.

When he's on the leaderboard, especially at major championships, he still brings in the casual fan that otherwise has little interest in the sport.