The cicadas are here in greater Chicago. And if you think this is a non-golf story, think again.

These big, ugly, noisy insects are directly responsible for the cancellation of at least one trip to the driving range (mine, last week) and countless headaches for course superintendents. At certain times of the day, cicadas will join together to elicit a high-pitched screech, almost like a swarm of ornery crickets. Occasionally, a couple might fall from the heavens and onto on your car’s windshield while you’re stopped a light. What can be done? Well, I saw a story on the local news last week that people are actually deep-frying and eating cicadas like they’re a plate of mozzarella sticks. I am not making this up. And no, despite a lifelong affinity for fried food, I won’t be partaking in this.

Apparently, these pests only appear once ever 17 years or so. If your hometown isn’t overrun with cicadas this summer, consider yourself lucky. And warned.

In other news, Michelle Wie has pulled out of the John Deere Classic, a PGA event out in the Quad Cities slated for July 12-15. The only surprising thing about the announcement might be how unsurprising it was, given that Wie is still not in top form, and thus not ready for a PGA-tuned course.

I wrote about my concerns for Michelle in last week’s column, so I won’t delve into that again. I’m working on getting an interview with the young phenom sometime this summer—originally the hope was it could work once she came to town for the John Deere. (Maybe she pulled out in an effort to duck me? Hmmm….)

Anyway, I’m going to work on getting that interview. In the meantime, here’s something for you to ponder: If you could eat a cicada, what kind of sauce would you put on it? Wait—scratch that. Enough cicada talk. Let’s go with this one: If you could ask Michelle Wie one question, about anything, what would it be?

Send your idea to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . If I like something I see, I’ll pose it to Wie and print her response, either here or in the magazine.