Peter Byrne / AP Greg Norman, left, puts his arm around winner Padraig Harrington as the two walk up the 18th fairway during Sunday's final round of the British Open at Royal Birkdale.

Greg Norman had a lot of us 50-something guys cheering for him last weekend.

Norman's trek through the British Open was supposed to last only through Friday. The only reason he was at Royal Birkdale in the first place was to tune up for next weekend's Senior British Open at Troon. You know: Cross the big pond, get used to the weather, hit a few balls, miss the cut and have six days to rest up for the real thing.

But a funny thing happened to those plans. Norman started playing well, or at least as well as Royal Birkdale would let anyone play; by the end of the weekend, no one had any red numbers next to their name. Not only did Norman make the cut, he was leading the bloomin' tournament (as they say over there).

This was all becoming a little too good to be true because not only was Norman leading a major tournament at the age of 53, he had just married Chris Evert (another thing a lot of 50-something guys have dreamed about) and was technically still on his honeymoon.

Most people had the feeling that if Tiger Woods was healthy enough to play, he might've have been leading this tournament handily, but there was no Tiger, only a Shark, and even midway through the final round, Norman was still leading, even though his score was 6 over par.

The windy conditions at Royal Birkdale were so unpleasant though, Norman looked like anything but a man in control of his situation. It was the rare tee shot by anyone that went down the middle; TV cameras constantly had trouble even finding them. The tournament for most of the weekend came to Norman instead of him going out and grabbing it.

Eventually, he wound up shooting a 7-over 77 in the final round and finishing in a tie for third, six shots behind repeat champion Padraig Harrington.

There were some who reminded us that Norman, who although he won the British Open twice, will go down as one of the worst finishers in major championship history. He's now gone into the final round of a major with the lead eight times and lost seven of them. The worst of those by far was the 1996 Masters, in which he blew a six-shot lead on Sunday to lose by five to Nick Faldo. For a while after that, people actually referred to blowing a lead as "pulling a Norman."

But this British Open was not about that. While Harrington's repeat is certainly noteworthy, many of us will remember Norman's tenacity and grace. Much like Josh Hamilton's second-place finish last week in the Home Run Derby, the star of the show isn't always the winner.

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Now, a little more stargazing from the week just past:

n Speaking of stars, perhaps the best thing about this week is that the ESPY Awards are now in the past.

The ESPYs are a tedious exercise in self-promotion, both of the athletes and entertainment stars involved and the network that puts them on.

Not only does ESPN promote the ESPYs incessantly for a month or more beforehand, but then it tape-delays them and shows them four days after they actually occur. Or didn't you realize that the show you saw on Sunday actually happened last Wednesday night?

n The Dallas Cowboys (they have a star on each side of their helmets) will be in town by the end of the week, opening training camp in Oxnard. With a cast of characters like Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, Jerry Jones, Wade Phillips and perhaps, if he's really good, Adam "Pacman" Jones, how can you resist?

n Jason Taylor (he was on "Dancing With the Stars") was traded Sunday by the Miami Dolphins to the Washington Redskins for two draft picks. Apparently, new Dolphins guru Bill Parcells doesn't want no sissified dancers on his team.

n Quick, name the new coaches of the Redskins and Baltimore Ravens (answers below).

n With their sweep of the Boston Red Sox, the Angels are starting to look like they may have this whole "best record in baseball" thing wrapped up by mid-August.

n How in the world are the Dodgers anywhere close to first place?

You watch them on TV and see Joe Torre in the dugout, looking down at his shoes, and you know he's thinking, "I never expected it to be like this."

n Not only did the Milwaukee Brewers come away with a sweep last weekend at San Francisco, they also left with one of the Giants' most popular players.

Ray Durham was traded before Sunday's game, but it wasn't announced until afterward.

"It was out of respect for the guys on the Giants," Durham said. "It was a stipulation I asked for so I didn't have to play against the Giants."

Durham put on a Giants uniform Sunday and watched the first three innings from their dugout.

"It was weird being out there rooting for both teams," he said.

n Oh-oh, Chicago Cubs fans. It looks like Kerry Wood is going on the disabled list again. Doom and gloom, doom and gloom.

n The NASCAR Sprint Cup TV package shifts over to ESPN now, starting next weekend. Which means each "SportsCenter" will now be 75 percent NASCAR.

n Be honest. There's no way you saw footage of the argument between Danica Patrick and Milka Duno at the IndyCar qualifying Saturday and didn't think of the word "catfight."

n The new Redskins coach is Jim Zorn. The new Ravens coach is Jim Harbaugh.

— Jim Carlisle is a staff writer for The Star. E-mail address: jcarlisle@VenturaCountyStar.com. For more, please see his blog at blogs.VenturaCountyStar.com/carlisle.