Does golf need Tiger Woods more to return to their ratings hey-day or does NASCAR need Dale Earnhardt, Jr. the most? A profound argument could be made that both sports are suffering in the ratings arena for the lack of or absence of efforts about the two sports super stars.

An overpowering argument could be made that from a financial perspective, golf is taking an intense hit with the absence of Woods. His self-imposed exile could cost him millions in endorsement dollars and winnings. But when you take away golf's acknowledged "cash cow" it could deliver a death blow to the PGA tour, TV network ratings, corporate sponsors and a number of other entities that depend on Woods' success on the links.

The jury is out on how much golf has lost because of Woods' absence today and misdeeds of yesterday. One thing is for sure; ask any PGA professional golfer and they'll tell you in a heartbeat that their earnings are greater today BECAUSE of Tiger Woods, not in spite of him. The immediate impact for his competitors is that future purses will be smaller, no matter who is winning.

Woods' vanishing act directly impacted every tournament he missed with ticket and sponsorship sales down 15% to 20% across the board. One could make the argument that Woods himself is the biggest loser of all in this situation, costing him an estimated $18 million to $25 million per year as well as a favorability rating that has plummeted again from 52 points to 33% in a USA Today/Gallup Poll, down from 85% favorability in June 2005.

Couple his absence with an economy that basically sucks and you have a Perfect Storm in golf terms. It's just not the same game without a superstar like Woods.

NASCAR, on the other hand, has a unique dilemma. Many blame Junior for NASCAR's three year ratings decline. It's been almost that long since he's won an event, but is it all Junior's fault?

Most of us rednecks who follow NASCAR have our favorites and we tune out when our guy becomes part of a grill on another driver's car. That's natural; why continue watching when your guy is in the garage. Earnhardt Jr. is easily NASCAR's most popular driver, obviously not because of his winning record but because of his dad's winning record.

One could make the argument that NASCAR's true decline began with Dale Sr. was killed at Daytona over a decade ago. There was a period of time where people got behind Junior and thus NASCAR's ratings enjoyed a bump for the sympathy vote. But Dale Jr. is not Dale Sr.

With the absence of other good guy/bad guy personalities on the NASCAR scene, it's easy to see why people have turned their back on the sport. Their hero is not producing, and there seems to be no secondary hero. For that reason, it's easy to understand why NASCAR is more profoundly affected than the PGA tour… but not by much.

In the end, both sports need to reinvent themselves with new younger talent that offers a new set of heroes to follow. Both seem to have some great candidates in the loop but I'm not holding my breath for another Tiger Woods to suddenly appear on the links.

NASCAR, on the other hand, already has such a powerful superstar in Jimmie Johnson, who has dominated the Sprint Cup scene for the past five years winning it all five times in a row. Instead of energizing the sport, he simply further demoralized the ratings. "Plain vanilla" is the best way to describe the lackluster Johnson.

No one can put a finger on it. He's good looking, married and a father, charismatic and well-spoken… in short a young man who is every sponsor's dream. He's everything that we average NASCAR rednecks are not. Yes, he was raised in a California trailer park; maybe that's the problem; it was a California and not a North Carolina trailer park.

Basically, he's boring and just plain. It's hard to love him and unless you work for Lowes, his primary sponsor; it's easier to hate him for his success. People are tired of seeing him win it all. Go figure; they loved Tiger for winning all the big ones and they hate Jimmie for the same reason. Aren't we fickle?