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By John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor

The X Games had to have started when one skinny kid with a bad haircut drank a Jolt Cola and said, "Hold my drink and watch this." Then some other skinny kid with an even worse haircut topped the trick of the first guy.

It was all very civilized until back flips on motorcycles became as common in the X Games as 300-yard drives on the PGA TOUR.

Unlike previous seasons, Tiger Woods and his pals will be busier than ever after the PGA Championship. (Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

I spent some of the weekend watching the X Games with my 8-year-old. I spent the rest of the weekend trying to keep him from jumping his skateboard off the roof of the house. I was amazed not only at how easy it is to be a casual fan of the X Games but by how much I actually knew about the individuals and their sports. Maybe that comes from spending time with Will MacKenzie.

The X Games are not on my schedule. They just happen. Some years I catch them and some years I don't. When you look at the weekend of sports that we had, it is no wonder that the PGA TOUR felt compelled to try to generate outside interest in the game. From Barry Bonds to A-Rod chasing home-run milestones to Tom Glavine trying to become a 300-game winner, baseball dominated the headlines. Throw in stories from football training camp, basketball officials being investigated and, oh, by the way, the most popular athlete in the world was back on form this week.

If you have been keeping up with the "Who's Now" competition on ESPN, then you know that Tiger Woods was declared by the fans as the most popular athlete in the world -- edging out LeBron James for the title.

All of this happened last weekend, and football hasn't even started yet. Competition for the competitive sports dollar has never been fiercer. Free agency has made team sports as much about the individual as about the team. I watched Bonds tie the all-time home run record in his first at-bat on Saturday night, but I couldn't tell you who won the game. I watched the famous fall by Jake Brown in the big-air skateboard competition, but I can't tell you who came out on top in the competition. Remember the old "agony of defeat" ski jump of our youth? This was a lot worse, and he walked away.

Two weeks before the first-ever PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup begin, the world of sports is fertile with storylines. In previous years, this week's PGA Championship was essentially the last truly significant tournament of the season. Some of the best players in the world called it a year after the PGA Championship.

Not anymore. Immediately following the year's final major, players will be gearing up for a run at the first FedExCup and a $10 million prize. The players and the true golf fans have been educated on the finer points of the new system. But with the emergence and supremacy of Tiger Woods, we have seen the casual golf fan jumping on the bandwagon. Driving ranges have never done more business.

If you are reading this, you are probably a well-versed golf fan who has a working knowledge of the new system. Because of that, you are liable to have to explain it around the water cooler over the next six weeks. The reason that I know this is because I have explained the new system in 19th holes for the last several months.

The TOUR has done an amazing job explaining how the system works. And now, the marketing of the FedExCup has been taken out of the professionals' hands by the players. Every interview with a player on the bubble is inundated with references to the Playoffs.

Most sports fans will probably have to see it in action to fully appreciate the excitement. But Bob Costas once said, "I will watch game seven of anything." I would tend to agree. I wonder if Bob was watching the vertical ramp finals on Sunday.