Golf has never been an egalitarian sport; some probably see that as part of its appeal. Yet this week, as we tune into the U.S. Open, the bandwagon notion is summed neatly in two words: Public course. No pretensions. No expectations. Perhaps evoking an image of the heroes of "Tin Cup" or "Happy Gilmore."

Never mind the near-impossibility of getting a tee time at Bethpage. The fact is, the mere idea of golf courses being public -- like some kind of Robert Moses project -- makes recreational duffers giddy with free-spiritedness. So get out and join your fellow commoners for 18 on your nearest public course this weekend, before re-burying the clubs.

Now that you've got the scoop on one thing that's totally hip, take a look at the rest of what's hot and what's not this week. Feel free to share with your co-workers, buddies, significant others - and particularly your fathers:

What's Hot, What's Not this week
Category	Hot	Not
Non-Tiger Open fave	Phil Mickelson	Davis Love III
Tom Werner's romantic interest	The Red Sox	Katie Couric
Ad campaign	Testimonials from athletes	Testimonials from wannabe-athletes
World Cup tiebreaker	Goal differential	Penalty kicks
World Cup bandwagon, Part I	Ireland	France
World Cup bandwagon, Part II	Senegal	Argentina
Roger Clemens- plunking-related feud	Did Clemens hit Bonds to duck Mike Piazza retribution?	Did Clemens hit Bonds on purpose?
Specter tainting WNBA	Strike!	Bankruptcy!
Over-the-hill NFL free agent	Hardy Nickerson	Sam Adams
Trademark	"Fourpeat"	"Threepeat"
NBA issue	Instant replay for last-second shots	Thrilling seven-game Finals
Bowl names	Capital One	Citrus
NBA trade bait	Brian Grant	Penny Hardaway
Debut	Marcus Thames	J.J. Trujillo
Brewing controversy	Privatizing injury reports	Steroids
TV camera shot	Golf-hole fly-overs	Super-slo-mo replays
NBA draft hype	Nikoloz "Skita" Tskitishvili	Chris Wilcox
Heavy hitter	Jared Sandberg	Jared from Subway
Other Finals mismatch	Rockets '86	Magic '95
Dance sensation	The two guys crashing the rap video in the Smirnoff Ice ad	Mark Madsen crashing the title celebration in L.A.
L.A. offseason controversy	Kobe wants to be No. 1 ... somewhere	Devean George free-agency decisions
NBA offseason surgery interest	Shaq's toe	MJ's knee
New Yorkers' bandwagon	U.S. soccer	The Nets
D.C. controversy	70 Greatest Redskins announced	Intelligence systems flaws?
Lakers conventional wisdom	Will win titles until Shaq retires	Kings are ready to dethrone
Nets scapegoat	Kerry Kittles, KeithVan Horn	Kenyon Martin
Fan reaction to championship	Becalmed celebration	Looting
Now do you believe it?	Phil Jackson better than Red Auerbach	Red still better than Phil
Slugger you'd pay to watch	Sammy Sosa	Shawn Green
Reason to show up to work late on Friday	U.S.-Poland at 7:25 a.m. ET	Hangover, if Red Wings clinch Cup