The sun came up over Great Britain on July 21. This despite the fact that Tiger had hacked his way to an 81 in the third round of the British Open at Muirfield, thereby blowing the lock off his Grand Slam try and putting a damper on ABC's Sunday ratings.

	You have Elin, what are you crying about?

Woods handled it pretty well, mock-celebrating his first birdie on 17, then firing a more characteristic 65 in the final round. On the other hand, The New York Times put Tiger's performance above the fold on Page One with this breathless, metaphor-mixing lead: "The journey of Tiger Woods toward a possible Grand Slam skidded violently off course today, the way a car spins hopelessly out of control." Geez. Cut him some slack; he still took home $37,924.

Tiger Woods may very well be The Best Golfer Who Ever Lived. But the great expectations and ridiculous odds we place in his golf bag each weekend simply don't reflect reality, mortality or even the level of competition. We hold a 26-year-old man to an impossibly high standard, and when he doesn't live up to it, we act as though we've been cheated.

The same will hold true for Lance Armstrong when he eventually comes to a mountain stage he can't win, be it because of age or monotony or another rider. Balance the criticism with gratitude. (Remember that just in case Tom Hanks makes a bad movie.)

Hey, we're better off saving our disappointments for the people who fail to clear more reasonably placed bars. And, with sports running parallel to Wall Street lately, we've got no shortage of those. Steroid users. Coaches who insist that two-a-days in unbearable heat build men. Ted Williams' kids, who've turned a fond farewell to a great man into an endless monologue of bad refrigerator jokes. Allen Iverson and Glenn Robinson. The suits of Major League Baseball -- and their suits. Ballplayers who don't quite get it that a strike date that encompasses Sept. 11 is a really bad idea.

Shooting an 81? No big deal. It is too bad, though, that Tiger didn't say something about the discriminatory practices at Augusta National when he had the chance.

Nobody's perfect.

This article appears in the August 5 issue of ESPN The Magazine.