Our Daily (non) Dread: Happy 80 to Arnold Palmer

And to toast the occasion, Arnold Palmer's all around (you know, iced tea and lemonade ... add your own distilled beverage of choice).

Of all the things Palmer has done in his golf life, the one we benefit most from is his co-founding Golf Channel. The Orlando, Fla.-based net has been airing salutes to "The King" this week -- in fact, it has been doing an "80 Days to Arnold Palmer's 80 Birthday" countdown that comes to an end.

Today, he throws out the first pitch at the Pittsburgh Pirates game (that's his hometown team). On today's "Golf Central," Inga Hammond does an interview with Palmer to reflect on, well, himself.

Some more on Palmer's legacy, with the Golf Channel providing it:

== Today, 10:30 a.m.: The 1964 Masters, where he won his fourth green jacket.
== Tonight, 9:30 p.m.: The 1960 Masters, where he beat Ken Venturi by one stroke.

More: GolfChannel.com/arnoldpalmer

The other thing we're grateful for Mr. Palmer: The book he released in 2000 called "Arnold Palmer: Playing By the Rules" (Pocket Books, $27, 241 pages). Even though the official rules of golf are revised every four years, this book never gets outdated and is a refreshing reference to instances where Palmer himself broke a rule and had to pay the price.

The best lesson we've learned from this book is on the back jacket: "The third section of Rule 1 -- Rule 1-3 -- is probably the most broken rule in the entire book. It reads: Players shall not agree to exclude the operation of any Rule or to waive any penalty incurred. That means you can't agree ahead of time to break the rules, which everyone does at some point."

With that, I'm going to check to see if I really have 14 clubs in my bag, or if it's closer to 80 -- in Arnie's honor.