Morning wood: U.S. Open's case of the Mondays

By the time many of you read this, the U.S. Open’s final round will be in full swing. Either that, or it’ll be raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock at Bethpage yet again.

Maybe that’s why our excitement has been a bit tempered for this major, and it’s a shame because the momentary breaks between downpours have been pretty damn entertaining. Longshot Ricky Barnes seems to be feeling the lump in his throat over dominating the event for most of the first three rounds. Phil Mickelson appears poised to make a charge, and even David Duval is still hanging around to make things interesting.

Add to this the fact that the Bethpage galleries, by all reports, appear to be staging their own off-Broadway version of “Happy Gilmore” along the fairways and greens of the Long Island, N.Y., course, and a good time could be had by all if the weather holds up.

So we say call in sick, grab a six-pack, sit back and watch the U.S. Open climax in all its water-logged glory. Frankly, we’d rather watch rain on TV than go to work anyway.

- Barnes back to reality, Mickelson inching closer (Baltimore Sports Report)

Lauren Jackson (SI photo)

On to the roundup …

- First, ESPN dubbed Mario Ancic its “sleeper pick” for Wimbledon despite the fact he’s been out with mono for three months. Now, they’ve gone ahead and eliminated the need to actually watch the event on their network by naming the 2010 champions. Oy vey. (Deadspin)

- And as if the previous item didn’t make you nauseous enough, Chris Berman will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Our guess is he’s already hard at work coming up with 30-year-old pop culture references for his acceptance speech. (Awful Announcing)

- Has Brett Favre already signed a contract with the Minnesota Vikings. Vikings contract a done deal for Favre?" href="http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/06/21/favre-already-under-contract-with-vikings/" target="_blank">Profootballtalk.com says yes, sort of; Favre’s agent says no. We’re going to say put a revolver in our mouths if we have to deal with this story much longer.

- Norman Chad strangely fascinated by middle-school tight end. (Sports Illustrated/CNN)

- As if you couldn’t have guessed this was coming, portly first-round pick Andre Smith is looking more and more like he’ll fit in perfectly with the Cincinnati Bengals. (NFL Gridiron Gab)

- Too bad for the Chicago Bears that Peter Warrick isn’t one-tenth the player he thinks he is. (Blog Down, Chicago Bears)

- WNBA star Lauren Jackson discusses her reasons for choosing to stay in Seattle rather than … ah, screw it. We’re only posting the link as an excuse to post a photo of her anyway. (Bright Side of the Sun)