Cannon Firing Line
Always Open
By Ellis G. Cannon
PSR Publisher

The U.S. Open has come and gone and with it a hat trick of Pittsburgh and regional summer activities we'll not see again.

Good fortune resulted in the Pittsburgh area being the home of three internationally recognized events, including bass fishing in '05, an All-Star game last year and, of course, one of the sporting world's annual top 10 events - golf's men's national open - last month.

While those circuses have indeed moved on, left behind are likely a lifetime of memories available to many people to keep them alive for years to come.

Indeed, there were more than enough opportunities just last month alone and not just because of the drama that played out in Angel Cabrera's win.

No, there were probably a lot of memories made at Oakmont because so many people were there making them.

This was our third Open at Oakmont. We were in law school when Larry Nelson won in 1983. When Ernie Els won in the heat of 1994, we were in the midst of making that investment pay off. When Angel picked up the trophy this time around, everything's upside down.

But even a casual glance around the famed course made it clear just how much larger and, relatively speaking, important, this event has become. The winner's purse 13 years ago was about a million dollars less than what Cabrera took back to Argentina. That pretty much sums it up.

But there's more. The USGA media center had every bit the feel, and size, of what you can find at the Super Bowl. You and your extended family could live comfortably in the largess of the merchandise tent. And speaking of structures, the corporate tents could pass for small communities and the grandstands are unmistakably more plentiful.

And let's not forget the 260,000 visitors. Just the buzz generated by them gave off enough energy to light up half of Pittsburgh.

Part of that, of course, comes from the years that go by between the Men's Open visiting Oakmont, which it has done more than any other venue. We're admittedly so taken with the idea of just visiting the property that the Women's Open, which will be there in 2010, and the amateur, are both more than enough reason to walk the grounds. But the men's event - with the history, golf, course difficulty and USGA's expert handling of this event's responsibility - is like receiving a gift.

A gift which has again come and gone, but which will return when the year on the calendar reads in the high teens.

By then, everything may be upside down for you too. But it will be worth the wait.

Ellis Cannon's SportsLine Pittsburgh" airs weeknights, 6-8 p.m., on FM NewsTalk 104.7. Ellis is also a regular contributor on the "#1 Cochran Sports Showdown" aired Sundays at 11:35 on KDKA-TV.