2012 Masters Tournament: Tiger Woods' Run a Must-See

It's opening weekend, baby.

The smell of hot dogs in the stands. The crisp, cut grass mowed into ruler-straight rows. The sweet sound of that Louisville Slugger making contact with a hanging breaking ball. Cracker Jacks. Other cliches. Other, other cliches. 

Usually, this would be a cause for celebration, a time to hit up Facebook to write "Thank GOD baseball is back" or "Go (Insert Your Team Here)!"

It should be a time for us to revel in the trite-but-loved descriptions of smells and sites and sounds of our nation's pastime.

But not this weekend. Sorry.

Come Monday, we've still got 150-plus games to go, 150-plus times to watch bat meet ball when a reinvigorated Tiger Woods isn't playing in The Masters. 

Tiger and Augusta trump all when it comes to what you should watch this weekend.

They trump the Yankees, trump the Sox, trump the $2-billion Dodgers. They Trump NASCAR (only turn that matters now is after 9 holes), trump ABC's perfunctory Sunday game involving the Heat or Lakers or Thunder or Celtics.

Hockey doesn't stand a chance, either, even if it is the end of the regular season. 

The Masters is the weekend's event, the one that becomes a "you have to watch" spectacle if Tiger is in contention.

If he's in Sunday red and at least six stokes out, the true sports fan in you will have to catch at least a glance if you're not watching straight-up. Working back and forth between your respective baseball team and what's going down in Georgia will become a Sunday activity for millions of Americans.

Baseball is regional. Hockey is local. Tiger's backswing reverberates cross-country. 

His win in Orlando a couple weeks ago changed everything. He's gone from a will-he-ever-get-it-back cautionary tale to the favorite this weekend.

Records are being broken betting on him. The Line: Tiger for the Green Jacket at 9-2. Regardless if you agree with the odds makers or not, tuning in on Thursday and Friday (ESPN, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern) and Saturday (CBS, 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.) and – especially – Sunday (CBS, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.) is all-but-required viewing now. 

By itself, The Masters is great TV, even if it is dripping with more sap and cliches than six weekends worth of baseball.

We're force fed the importance and tradition and Amen corner for four straight days, and we still ask for extra helpings because it's just so satisfying. But must-watch? An event where you and your buddies grab a brew and take it in? 

Well that's the Tiger Woods factor, and as of right now, all eyes are on him. Sorry, baseball.