CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Among my assignments during the 2003 Masters was to follow the protest organized by feminist activist Martha Burk about a half mile from the main gate of the hallowed grounds of Augusta National.

Jimmie Johnson fired the six-shooters after winning at Texas in November, a postrace tradition that will remain in 2013. Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Burk was trying to force the all-male membership of the golf course to open its doors to women. She was using the most prestigious sporting event in golf as a political platform.

As it turned out, there were more reporters and police officers on the piece of land she was provided to protest than actual protestors, who numbered about 40 by one account. It turned into a three-ring circus that included an Elvis impersonator, an inflatable pig and a man wearing a tuxedo holding up a sign that read "Formal Protest."

There were almost as many people protesting the protest as there were protestors.

The golf tournament went on without disruption. Fans poured through the gates in record numbers to watch Tiger Woods go after a third straight green jacket and fourth in seven years. It didn't happen. Mike Weir won in a one-hole playoff over Len Mattiace, becoming the first Canadian and first left-hander to win the tournament.

It was still a great show.

This is my roundabout way of saying fans didn't lose sight that this was still a golf tournament.

This should be the case for Saturday's Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway as well.

If you don't plan to watch or attend because you thought last year's race was boring, that's your prerogative. If you don't plan to watch or attend because you're making it a personal protest against the National Rifle Association being the title sponsor, as some of you have suggested via email or Twitter, think about what you might miss.