Beijing Olympics - Day Six - Who Is John Gall?

8:50 p.m. - Back from choir practice. Missed men's synchronized diving, but got back in time to watch May-Trainor/Walsh complete dismantlement of a Norwegian team in women's beach volleyball.

Replay of Phelps' IM heat from last night. Phelps in second after 3 legs, but wins in 1:58.65. Semifinal happens tonight, along with other medal races for other swimmers.

Men's 200-meter breaststroke medal race. Kitajima from Japan is right on world record. 2:07.64 for gold medal, just 0.13 off his own world record.

A semifinal race. Maybe women's 100-meter freestyle. Coughlin wins. Libby Trickett of Australia on the bubble to make the finals. Great heat. Five beat Trickett, but Pang from China is DQ'd for false start. Trickett sneaks into final as 8th seed.

Men's 100-meter backstroke semifinal next. Aaron Peirsol in first race; Ryan Lochte in second. Race for gold appears to be between these two. Peirsol on 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke gold in 2004. Won 100-meter backstroke in Beijing. Peirsol wins in 1:55.26. He's happy with the race. Lochte in second semifinal. Rogan of Austria his main rival. Lochte wins in 1:55.40. Will swim next to Peirsol in final.

Women's 200-meter butterfly breaststroke is next. Schipper of Australia is the favorite. Two Chinese girls in the field. Schipper leads after one length. Liu of China takes lead after 3 lengths. China goes one/two, both break world record--Liu then Jiao. Highlight of Olympic swimming for the host country. US was 7th and 8th. Schipper gets the bronze.

Men's 100-meter freestyle final next. Lezak, Bernard (FRA) and Sullivan (AUS) are featured swimmers. Sullivan is world record holder. Lezak of course anchored US relay. Van den Hoogenband is from Netherlands. Bernard nips Sullivan for gold. Lezak ties Brazilian for bronze. Nice moments for Bernard and Lezak. Redemption for Bernard. First-ever individual medal for Lezak. Time just over WR at 47.21.

Men's all-around gymnastics final is next. Should be tense, though Chinese men will be tough. Jonathan Horton of US could be a threat. Yang Wei of China is man to beat - has the most difficulty points. Artemev will compete for US. Pretty good routine--solid. Uchimura of Japan has great floor ex routine. 15.825.

200-meter IM semifinal next. Phelps in this one. Hasn't lost this race since he started swimming it. Scary. Cseh from Hungary is strongest competitor. Phelps reaches the front during breaststroke. He wins in 1:57.70. Cseh second.

Ryan Lochte in next 200-IM semi. Lochte leads after three legs. Wins in 1:57.69. He'll swim in Lane 4 of final. Phelps in Lane 5.

Back to men's gymnastics all-around. German scores 15.825 on floor. Yang Wei on floor. One bobble, but a good finish. 15.25. Horton starts on pommel horse. Makes mistake early. Gets 13.675.

Back to swimming. Relay race - women's 4 x 200 meter freestyle. Australia first during first leg. Australia still in lead on second leg. Australia still leads in third leg, but race is tightening. Australia way ahead of gold medal pace. Leading big. China second. US third. China closing a little, but Australia looks safe. Maybe not. China fighting with US for silver. Australia, China, US in that order. France out of medals. Aussie girls going nuts. World record by a lot--more than 5 seconds.

Lots of gymnastics yet. Horton did better on vault. Improved to 14th place. Yang Wei still looks like favorite. Haven't seen overall standings. Japanese Tomito lost handle on one ring just before dismount--free fell to ground with sideways spin. Only got 13.85.

Korean Yang-Tei Yung in first. Yang Wei in second. Artemev 12th. Korean finished second in 2004, but did poorly in team competition.

Horton did OK on parallel bars, but missed the landing a bit. 15.275. Good vault for Tomito. 15.7. Good vault for Uchimura. Korean guy does sprint after vault landing. Still gets 15.625. Great bar routine for Artemev. Super landing. 15.075. Nice job by Yang-Tei on high bar. 14.75.

Horton on high bar. He's 12th; Artemev 14th. Great routine. Step on landing. Yang Wei on p-bars. Big step on landing. He's still cruising toward gold. Will finish on high bar. 15.35 for Horton on horizontal bar--no medal for Horton. Yang Wei gets 16.1.

Overall this competition has been anticlimactic. Too many mistakes. No drama about Yang Wei winning the gold medal. He's 2.5 ahead going into last rotation.

Great horse routine by Artemev. Should have a chance to medal in event final. 15.525--great score. One of US's best tonite.

Yang-Tei from Korea is next. Trying to hold onto silver medal. One big error--sat on horse. Has 0.6 to play with. Uchimura on high bar. Three release moves. Sticks the landing. Gets 15.4. Yang-Tei got 13.7. Horton sticks dismount on floor, but is too far back. Hambuchen of Germany flies off bar on release move. Great landing, but way too many mistakes. Yang Wei next. Coronation ahead. Needs 12.2. OK, but not great. Certainly good enough for gold. Uchimura silver and Frenchman Benoit Caranobe bronze.

9:00 a.m. - I got up early this morning and found women's volleyball on MSNBC. What a match between China and Cuba. China won the first two games (sets) easily. Cuba trailed 15-11 in the third game, but rallied to win by two. The fourth game was a battle royal with Cuba holding off seven match points before winning 32-30. The fifth game to fifteen points is tied at eight. Now tied at 9-9. Top spikers for Cuba are Calderon and Ruiz with kills from the left size. Cuban block sails OB. China leads 10-9. Service error by China. 10-all. Great kill by China. 11-10. Weak defense by China. Tied at 11. Block off face of Zhang. 12-11 Cuba. Chinese kill ties the match at 12. Kill by Calderon gives Cuba 13-12 lead. She can jump to the sky and hit to the openings. Chinese kill ties game at 13. 24th kill for that player. Serve way long. Cuba has match point, leading 14-13. Middle set and kill for Cuba. They win 15-13 and take the match. Stunning loss for China.

Greco-Roman wrestling is next. I may channel surf. USA Network is showing soccer highlights. I'll see what they have next. US women's basketball. I'll hang around for that. US plays Mali. Should be a mismatch. Mali lost to Czech Republic by 40; Czechs lost to US by 40. US gets first five points. US starters are Taurasi, Byrd, Leslie, Smith and Thompson. No defense by Mali yet. Recent LSU stars Sylvia Fowles and Seimone Augustus on the US roster. Fowles was a big contributor in their two wins.

Mali guard launches a 3-point heave. It goes in! 7-3. US turnover. Mali jumper from lane. 7-5. Mali turnover. Mali sinks another three to take the lead, 8-7! US calls timeout. US scores to retake lead. Foul on Mali. Leslie to shoot two. Misses first. Makes second. 10-8, US. Mali steps OB. Taurasi drives and scores; gets fouled. 12-8. Three-point play the old-fashioned way. 13-8. Six straight for US. Mali answers 13-10. US turnover. Candace Parker in game for US. Heckuva substitute. Another US turnover. Mali gives it back. Their seventh turnover in first quarter. Catchings scores for US 15-10. Long miss by Mali. Leslie scores. 17-10. Foul on Parker. Fowles and Augustus check in. Free throws for Mali. 17-11. 17-12. Augustus scores. 19-12. Parker can't hold on to a steal. Mali features colored hair - blue and orange. Fowles scores, but foul precedes shot. Misses free throw. Makes second. Scoring 17 per game in 17 minutes. Long pass to Fowles. Layup. 22-12. Major heave short by Mali. Lawson hits jumper. 24-12. Lawson just misses. First quarter ends. 24-12, US.

US continues momentum in second quarter. Up 34-15. Backdoor pass gets bucket for Mali. Now 38-17. Byrd makes another. 40-17. Now 44-19 after next Mali basket. Now 46-19. Mali's first-ever Olympics. Mali sinks three. Byrd answers. 49-22. Mali banked three. 49-25. Another long lefty three. 49-28. Pondexter gets two. Long three at buzzer just misses. 51-28 at halftime.

US men's soccer was eliminated by Nigeria. US women's softball won a second straight no-hitter.

More of same in second half of women's basketball, without the Mali threes. Now 68-31, US. Fowles in a tie-up under the basket. Ball goes to Mali. Turnover. Parker fouled. Will shoot two. Augustus back in. Makes both. 70-31. Turnover and Parker basket 72-31. Hard to call off the dogs. US has super talent down to the last player on the bench. Parker fouls Mali shooter. Nice upper body on Dwight Howard. He's in stands in a sleeveless T-shirt. Like a giant gymnast. Both free throws missed. Seimone gets a layup. 74-31. Next Mali shot short. Rebound tipped OB. 23-3 in 3rd quarter. Mali makes two free throws. 76-33 after three quarters. Defensive problems solved as Mali scores only five in that quarter.

Will check over on NBC. Night women's beach volleyball with Walsh and May-Treanor. Other than Phelps, they appear to be the American darlings of the games so far. Shawn Johnson will compete for this title if she wins gymnastics all-around. Not Walsh/May in this one. Second US team of Branagh and Youngs is playing a Cuban team. The US team won the first game.

Back to women's basketball. Mali gets behind the US defense. Gets a layup. 81-37. Mali rebounds a missed free throw, but misses the shot. Pondexter makes three. 84-38. Augustus and Fowles on the floor. Sylvia gets a rebound. Mali scores on a driving layup. 84-40. Carrying turnover on Mali. Lawson drains a three. 87-40. Another Mali turnover. Four minutes to go. Seimone rips a jumper. 89-40. Another Seimone jumper. 91-40. Three minutes to go. Pondexter gets a layup. Foul on three point shot. Three free throws for Mali. Makes one of three. 91-41. Pondexter scores again. 95-41. Seimone this time. 97-41. 29 turnovers for Mali. Mali dribbles out the clock. Fewest points ever scored against USA women in Olympic play. 28th straight Olympic win for US.

Branagh/Youngs beat the Cuban team in women's beach volleyball 15-12 in 3rd game. Cubans won the second game handily, but couldn't win the match.

We're watching a men's 200-meter backstroke heat. Favorite is American Aaron Peirsol. Piersol has best time 1:56.25. Still three more heats and semifinals to go. Ryan Lochte is in next heat. Announcers say he is best US swimmer behind Phelps and Peirsol. Most versatile. Lochte posts best time so far. Later this evening he'll have 25 minutes between races if he qualifies for both finals in 200-meter backstroke and 200-meter IM, facing Peirsol and Phelps in the respective races. US is #1 and #2 going into semifinals of 200-meter backstroke.

Rebecca Soni of US now swimming in women's 200-meter breaststroke heat. Sets new Olympic record of 2:22.17, also new individual record and American record. Wins heat by 2+ seconds. Could give Leisel Jones a run for the gold. Jones in next heat. Norwegian even with Jones after 50 meters. Now Jones ahead. Jones leads after 100-meter. Best interim time. Jones off world record time, but easily into semifinal. 2:23.81, a little behind Soni. Amanda Beard of US doesn't qualify for semifinals. She was 2004 gold medalist in this event.

Men's 200-IM heats now. Interesting story about Phelps in 200-meter butterfly. His goggles leaked as soon as he got in the pool, impairing his vision throughout the race.

There was some more swimming while I worked on fixing my camera. Now it's US-Italy women's water polo. Score tied at 4. Go girls! I'm going to fix lunch. Game ended in a 9-9 tie. Moral victory for underdog Italians, particularly since they trailed with just 24 seconds to play.

NBC finishes for the morning. Over to MSNBC for baseball. US vs. Korea. Korea leads 6-4 in top of 6th. US team composed almost entirely of minor leaguers, given that games occurred in middle of major league season. Home run for US in this inning, but they still trail. Strikeout ends the inning. The US didn't compete in 2004.

Great play by US shortstop Jayson Nix retires first Korean batter in the 6th. This is the first game of the tournament for the U.S. Strikeout ends the Korea 6th. Nine pitches. Nothing happening live at this point; it's 3 a.m. in Beijing.

Interesting note on gold medals in Olympic baseball. Became a medal sport in 1992. My memory of 1984 must have been of a demonstration sport. Cuba has won most of the gold medals.

US batter Gall gets a break on a check swing call. Looked like strike three. Strikes out again on next pitch. US batters not picking up ball out of sidearm delivery. Another K. Five in a row.

Things looking up for US in the 9th. Korean closer gives up homer, single, double to first three US hitters, numbers seven thru nine in the order. Runners on second and third and no outs with US still down by 5-6. Catcher Teagarden is on third. We'll see if US manager Davey Johnson inserts a pinch runner. He does.

Who is John Gall? He's the US leadoff man. Batting now. Two quick strikes. A ball. 1-2. Next pitch inside. 2 and 2. Good cut. Fouled back. Nix and Tiffee to follow. Swing and miss at high fastball. One down. Streaks of wins in Olympic openers and in games vs. Korea are at risk. Nix needs to put ball in play. Runner will probably break from third on contact. Oh and two. Some risk of line drive double play. Pop up in infield. Caught by second baseman. Two outs. DH Tiffee is next. Lefty hitter. Righty on deck. Hits in last two ABs. Will pitch very carefully to Tiffee. Way outside. 2 and 0. Again wide. Three and oh. Ball four. Intentional walk in all but name. Matt Brown is next. 1 for 4 with an RBI. Back to the slider. Gets strike one. Swing and miss at low outside slider. Two strikes. Just fouled off a slider. Got one up. Fouled into right field stands. Hangs a slider. Brown fouls it back. Third slider lashed over shortstop for two-run single! US leads 7-6. Great swing by Brown. Pitch was on outer half but he was looking for it. Tiffee takes third. Schierholz batting. Count is two and two. Fly to right. Third out.

Leadoff batter for Korea doubles into the left field corner. No bunt from Korea. Count is 0-2 to next batter. Fouls off a couple. Foul tip gets away from catcher. Another foul. Still oh and two. Grounder to second. Out at first. Runner advances to third with one out. Squeeze bunt popped foul out of reach. Mid-at-bat pinch hitter. First guy got one chance to lay down squeeze bunt. He's gone. Pitch inside. 1 and 1. Slider outside. Two and one. Fastball fouled off. 2 and 2. Now full count. Grounder to second. Throw a little toward first. Runners slides in safe. Batter reaches first on fielder's choice. Head first slide by Korean runner. Game tied 7-7. Pickoff throw gets away. Runner zips to third. Another run wins game for Koreans. Count is two and one. Infield in. High fastball. Swing and miss. Two and two. Fly ball to center. Throw comes in, but runner scores. Korea wins 8-7. Exciting finish. Hideous error by US to put game-winning runner at third.

Beijing Olympics - Day Five; Summer Olympics 1980 thru 1996

7:00 p.m. - More swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball and synchronized diving highlight tonight's program. Lots of smog on a Wednesday morning in Beijing. The women's gymnastics team competition takes center stage - with the U.S and China expected to take the top two spots. Bela Karoli's advice to the U.S. girls - "stay on the apparatus" - pretty basic stuff.

But we start with women's synchronized platform diving. Early dives are simple, so synchronization is almost perfect. China and US get TV attention as usual.

Commercial note - I'm enjoying the new United Airlines commercial featuring Gershwin music and artsy graphics. Sure beats "juicy chicken" and "Car Wars".

A Mexican team is in the top four. Chinese team is very young - just 15 and 16. Their second dive is almost perfect. They hold first place--even getting a score of 10 from one judge. Diving has maintained the 10 point scale, although this is split between technical competence and synchronization. After two dives, China is #1 followed by North Korea, Australia, Mexico and US. This is first mention I've seen of North Korea, though there dive wasn't shown.

Budweiser's commercial works hard to remind us about the American nature of their beer--baseball, Statue of Liberty--everything but apple pie and Chevrolet. Business followers know that Anheuser-Busch sold out recently to a Belgian conglomerate.

Architecture of the various venues is spectacular - the Bird's Nest outdoor stadium and Ice Cube natatorium being the most prominent.

US pair lose it on their third dive. Scores are low as one diver overrotated. Mexico does their third dive well. They move ahead of US. Chinese divers are essentially perfect again. Average score of 9--back in front. Australia also very good--almost no splash on forward 3-1/2 somersault--great synch. They move into second. North Korea drops back. US now 8th.

US 4th dive is better, but not good enough as one diver comes up short. Mexican start fourth dive in third place. Both overrotate--but they end up together. Lower marks for execution; high for synch. Keeps them in medal hunt. China tries inward 3-1/2. A little over, but very well synched. Back to first place. Aussies hold on to second. China is way ahead. Australia and Mexico fighting for silver and bronze on last dive.

US does better on last dive. Technical aspect better. More than 80 points. No mark lower than seven. Mexico next. Good dive. Probably medal worthy. 83 points. Medal almost assured. China next--maybe their best. 90 points. Gold medals ahead. Canada next. Way too much splash ("a tidal wave" says the analyst). Mexico gets a medal. Aussies are last. Beautiful dive. Should win silver. 87 points. Silver it is. China, Australia and Mexico in that order. US finishes fifth.

Back to Olympic memories - Carl Lewis must have won some medals in LA. He won gold in three Olympics...I forget which ones.

Moving onto 1988 in Seoul, I remember taping events on my VCR to watch later. For some reason, sculling sticks in my mind. I remember that basketball was a big disappointment. It may have been so in '84 as well. Georgetown coach John Thompson coached the team in one of those years and won only a bronze medal. After 1988 it was clear that the world had caught up to America's amateur players. The Dream Team of 1992 would be born of that realization.

From Seoul I also remember a story about local restauranteurs being asked to remove dog from their menus. Apparently dogs are meat rather than pets in Korea.

The 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain are memorable for the amazing architecture of Gaudi in that city - NBC's producers just loved it. Otherwise the US basketball "Dream Team" still resonates most clearly. After the embarrasments of 1984 and 1988, the US sicced Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and their friends on the world of international basketball. Their average margin of victory was about 40 points. But by 2004, the gap was closed again as the US took another embarrassing bronze.

Back to 2008 and men's beach volleyball. Tonite, Dalhausser and Rogers face Baracetti and Conde from Argentina. This pool is "wide open" after Latvia beat the top US team in the first match and Argentina beat Latvia. The Americans take an early 4-2 lead. Argentina gets some placement shots to pull within 5-6. Dalhausser and Rogers have lenses in the their sunglasses today. US now up 9-5.

I failed to mention a couple of fascinating events from the weekend - the men's and women's cycling road races. The men rode more than 200 km; the women about 100 km. The women's race was contested in a downpour that resulted in one rider falling into a very wet ditch. Even after 200 km, the men's race came down to a 50 meter sprint. NASCAR would have been proud.

Back to men's beach volleyball. US leads 11-8 after the commercial - play proceeds while we watch Car Wars. 12-9 at the 7-point break. Rogers has $10,000 worth of sand in his own backyard beach volleyball court. Surprisingly, the Argentinians aren't blocking Rogers' spikes. US now up 15-9.

My mom and dad went to the 1996 Atlanta games. My sharpest memories are of the explosion in Olympic Park and of Michael Johnson's blistering work as a double gold medal winner (200 meter and 400 meter) in track. In retrospect, I should have found a way to be there, but I was just taking a new job at the time. I lived just 500 miles away from Atlanta at the time.

Argentina continues to play passively. They trail 18-10. Unclear how the Latvians beat these guys. Another bunt wins a point for Argentina. Now 19-11. Dalhausser serves long. 19-12. Service error by Argentina. Game point. Dalhausser spikes the winner. Weak game for Argentina.

Score is 4-4. Had to go pick up daughter at the movies. Hope that Rogers and Dalhausser held on.

While I was gone, Michael Phelps (you've probably heard of him) won the men's 200-meter butterfly in world record time for fourth gold medal of these games and tenth overall. The latter figure is an all-time Olympic record for any athlete.

Women's team gymnastics will probably occupy the rest of the evening. The US is starting the vault, their first rotation. Bridget Sloan gets 15.2 for a very nice vault. Shawn Johnson's vault includes a crossover step on the landing. Not as elegant as Sloan's. China averaged 15.45 on vault. Johnson gets 16.0 despite the inelegant landing. Another clean vault by Alicia Sacramone 15.75. US averaged 15.625. Russia leads after one rotation. They did the uneven bars.

Memmel opens on bars with a solid routine. Her only performance. 15.70, I backcalculate. Johnson follows with her usual excellent performance. 15.35 for Shawn. Nastia Liukin is third. Her beautiful long legs show well as do her amazing moves. Great routine and dismount with only a small step. She fell off the bars on her qualifying routine. Was completely solid on this one. 16.9--highest score of any man or woman. Analyst thinks it's too low. US averages 15.99 on bars.

Zipping over to swimming--women's 200-meter individual medley. Aussie Stephanie Rice is the favorite. She won the 400-meter IM. Katie Hoff and Natalie Coughlin are US hopes. Kirsty Coventry is a big threat. Rice wins gold in photo finish over Coventry in WR 2:08.45. Coughlin gets the bronze.

More women's team gymnastics. China needs 16.17 on bars to take overall lead. China gets 15.975 from first gymnast. Yang Yi Lin is next. Great routine. We await the score.

Men's 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay. Phelps will leadoff for the American team. Americans are heavily favored. Phelps already a body length ahead before 100 meters. Phelps swims 1:46 and change. He swam less than an hour ago in the 200-meter butterfly. US is 2.5 seconds ahead of Russia. US is 3.4 seconds ahead of world record pace. Lakte swam 1:44. Ricky Behrens swimming now. Now 4 seconds under WR pace. US has won this race 14 times out of 22 contests over the years. Vanderkaay in now. A lonely swim for PVK. 7 minutes is the target. Will be very close. May hurt that no one is challenging him. Phelps cheerleading. PVK swims 1:44. 6:58.56; almost 5 seconds under previous WR. Second place goes to Russia, five seconds back. Phelps has five golds and five world records.

China took more than 1 point lead into balance beam. Their first gymnast Cheng Fei goes off the beam. Loses 0.8. Scores 15.15. Next girl also loses balance but stays on. Gets 15.925. Third girl has several balance checks, but nails the landing. Scored 16.05. Average 15.71.

US follows China on this event. Alicia misses the mount. 0.8 deduction. Maybe the end of US gold hopes. Another balance check. Good dismount. She gets 15.1. Liukin next. One balance check, otherwise perfect. Gets 15.975. Johnson anchors. Very solid routine. Makes it look like she couldn't do otherwise. 16.175. US now exactly 1.000 point behind.

Alicia opens on floor exercise. Finishes one tumbling run on her butt. Further damage to gold medal hopes. 14.125. Probably fatal damage. Liukin next. She goes OB. 0.1 deduction. Otherwise looks good. 15.20. Johnson next. Just OB for 0.1 deduction. Fabulous tumbling and energy. US all done.

Chinese women (girls) do their floor ex. Tiny #1 and playful #2 (performing to Ratatouille, according to Kallie) both score 15.1. Team leader Cheng Fei needs only 13.1 to claim gold medal. She gets 15.5, performing to music especially composed for the exercise. China wins gold by 2.375, more than Alicia's two errors were worth. Maybe she can feel a little better and get on to the all-around competition. Right now she doesn't look very comforted.


10 a.m. - We start with men's beach volleyball. The weather today is a lot better than at the last men's beach volleyball game, which was played in a downpour, complete with lightning. Gibb and Rosenthal dismantle the Germans, 21-15, 21-12.

Now they're showing the final heat of the women's 200-meter butterfly. The human interest story was about Polish swimmer Otylia Jedrzejczak, who auctioned her 2004 gold medal and gave $80,000 to a children's cancer hospital. Later she was at the wheel during a horrific car accident that killed her beloved brother. Now she's back at the Olympics and not swimming particularly well, missing the semifinals in her first two events. She swam well this time, finishing third in the heat and qualifying for the semifinals.

I found a video of the opening ceremony at http://www.nbcolympics.com/. It's not HD, but likely the best I can do.

In the next swimming race the US men's 4 x 200-meter relay team won their semifinal to advance to the final later today. The semifinal team included three swimmers who won't swim in the final. The US coach gets to pick the one who will join Michael Phelps and two established teammates.

Oh boy! Men's kayaking is next. It's sort of a wet version of alpine skiing. I remember coverage from an Olympics of years ago (Seoul or Barcelona) that I found very entertaining. The first two paddlers we see are from Togo and France. They get through unscathed. Number three is from Slovenia, Peter Kauzer. He looks good for awhile but his kayak goes astray near the end and he misses the final. He slams his paddle across the front of his kayak.

First we see in the finals is Grimm from Germany. The winner is based on total time. He makes it look easy and leads by 5 seconds. Frenchman Lefevre is next. He looks good too, but finishes 1.6 seconds behind in second. Australian Draper is next. He starts with a 1.2 second advantage. He won't catch Grimm. Benjamin Boukpeti (photo above by Reuters) from Togo is last. Going for Togo's first medal of any kind. He's the biggest guy in a kayak. Just barely ahead of Grimm partway down. Held on for the bronze. Broke his paddle in celebration. Go Togo!

Now it's US vs. Italy in men's water polo. US leads 10-8 with 5 minutes left. Pass to center. Shot and goal for Italy. 10-9. Bounced it off the goalie's head. Only took 30 seconds. Penalty on Italy. US calls timeout. Power play for US. High shot and score just as penalty expired. 11-9. 3:45 left. Offensive foul on Italy. Ball over to US. Pass to middle. Open shot and goal. 12-9. 3 minutes left. Italy scores again. 12-10 with 2 minutes left. Another timeout for US.

Nine different players have scored for US. US has ball. Power play. Shot swallowed by goalie. Shot and score for Italy. 12-11. Went under goalie's arm. 1 minute left. Shot blocked by goalie--goes OB. US retains possession. 0:45 left. Italy takes over with 24 seconds left! Power play with 15 seconds left. Pass goes long, no shot, clock expires. US wins 12-11.

NBC clears the air for its soap opera lineup at 1 p.m. I move to MSNBC for more Olympic men's tennis coverage. To my daughter's delight, we see Raffa Nadal "he's dreamy" against Aussie Lleyton Hewitt. Nadal won the first set, and leads the second set 1-0. Hewitt just won a great rally with a stretch volley that just touched the top of his racket. Break point for Hewitt. Nadal nets a forehand to even the set at 1-1. This is a round of 32 match. It seems like Hewitt might be a little higher seeded than 31st. Hewitt holds on to serve to lead 2-1 after Nadal tries a strange drop shot rather than rip a winner.

Back to Olympic memories. The 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles were a US lovefest, particularly after the Soviet Union and its allies followed through on their threat to boycott in retaliation for the US boycott of the Moscow Games in 1980. The US baseball team, led by future major leaguers Mark McGwire and Will Clark, was a big story, but the biggest was the US female gymnastics team, led by indomitable Mary Lou Retton, who did her final vault on an injured leg. The '84 games also ushered in the age of Olympic sponsorship. Marketing ace Peter Ueberroth organized the game and committed to running a profitable enterprise, unlike the 1976 games in Montreal, which ran up debt that Canadians paid on for decades.

Nadal breaks serve to take a 3-2 lead, then holds to get to 4-2. Hewitt has only won 6 of 29 points on his second serve. Nadal rips a forehand to break the next Hewitt serve. He leads 5-2 and will serve for the match. I try to root for underdog Hewitt. Kallie reminds me that my cause is lost--Nadal is too pretty to lose. Hewitt wins the first two points on Nadal's serve. Now love-40. Nadal has one more break to work with. Wins next point on a volley. 15-40. Drop volley good. 30-40. Another short volley gets the game back to deuce. Service winner puts Nadal at match point. Another service winner--Nadal wins 6-1, 6-2 to advance to round of 16.

Beijing Olympics - Days One Through Four; Summer Olympics - Years 1968 thru 1976

10:35 p.m. - Big scores for China on the vault. Two scores over 16. Li Xiaopeng gets 16.775. China takes over the overall lead with two rotations left. They lead by 1.575 over the US with Japan another 3.4 points behind.

China goes to parallel bars. Announcers say that any of their three gymnasts could be the best in the world on this apparatus. The US goes to floor exercise. Huang Xu opens with 16.475. Yang Wei gets 16.10. Li Xiaopeng anchors the Chinese team. Many wild release moves earn Li a cut on his arm and a big score of 16.45.

Now the US on floor exercise. Justin Spring starts. He had major knee surgery not to long ago...seems impossible that he could compete in this event. He gets 15.20. Joey Hagerty next. He lands outside the line on his first tumbling run. Another step out later. Not what they needed to maintain silver medal. First Japanese on bars scored just 15.0--down from 15.6 in prelims. Hagerty got 14.625. Horton is next. He's been the US's best. Perfect routine. No mistakes. Horton gets 15.575. US still in second by 1.7 points. US goes to pommel horse. Japan and China finish on high bar.

Artemev, Bhavsar and Tan will compete for the US on pommel horse. This is only event for Artemev. He will be the last competitor for the US.

China holds a 5.2 point lead and have accomplished their goal of being too far ahead to lose. Both Bhavsar and Artemev are alternates. Tan is first. He sits on the horse. Tan gets only 12.775, loses all of the lead. Bhavsar goes second. Does fine until his dismount. Silver medal is probably out of reach. Japan's first two high bar routines are just fine. Artemev now competing for the bronze. Bhavsar gets 13.75. Fabulous effort by Artemev, who does a crazy routine that excites the crowd. Gets 15.35. We'll see.

Germans have to do pommel horse and beat US by almost two points per competitor. Need to average 15.3 to take bronze from US. Probably not going to happen after first performer posted 14.675. Next guy gets 14.9. Bronze medal in the bag for the US. Last German needs 16.35, which is impossible. In the meantime China wraps up the gold medal with solid high bar routines. They celebrate gold while US team celebrate their bronze medals. Relief for the Chinese coach as he doesn't have to make good on his promise to jump from the highest building in Beijing if China didn't win the gold medal.

9:15 p.m. - We watched men's gymnastics until Michael Phelps time. The Chinese men did their floor exercises. The first guy fell out of bounds on his landing, but the other two guys did great.

Now the focus is on Phelps for the 200-meter freestyle. His main competitors are teammate Peter Vanderkaay and South Korean Park Tae Hwon. With a win Phelps will win his ninth overall gold medal, tieing several others, including Carl Lewis, for the all-time record. At 100 meters he's about .7 seconds ahead of world record pace. Phelps is way ahead with 50 meters left. Phelps wins with a world record time of 1:42.96. Park and Vanderkaay finish second and third, about two seconds behind.

During the commercials I'm watching the Phils and Dodgers from Dodger Stadium. Kyle Kendrick is pitching for the Phils. Despite the Dodgers' struggles, this is a tough matchup for the Phils, who always struggle offensively on the West Coast.

Back to swimming. Next come Natalie Coughlin and Kirsty Coventry in the 100-meter backstroke. My money is on Coventry, who's been swimming just great. That said of course, Coughlin wins! A great first 50 meters and push to the finish line won the race. If the race had been 2 meters longer, Coventry would have won. Coughlin's margin was 0.23 seconds. American Margaret Hoelzer picked up the bronze.

The non-Phelps event of 100-meter backstroke is next. American swimmers are Aaron Piersol and Matt Grevers. They go 1-2 with Piersol winning in a world record time of 52.54 seconds to defend his 2004 gold medal, becoming the first swimmer in 80 years to repeat as gold medalist. The US has won four straight gold medals in this event. This is Piersol's fifth world record in this event.

Phelps is stretching on the medal platform as he waits for his 200-meter freestyle gold. He has to swim in a butterfly semifinal in about 20 minutes.

The Dodgers added AL players Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake before the trading deadline. Both are in the lineup tonight, Ramirez in left and Blake at third.

Next is the women's 100-meter breaststroke. Aussie Leisel Jones is trying to atone for non-gold medal winning swims in Sydney and Athens. She's a big favorite in this race. Two Americans are among the competitors. Jones wins the gold easily (by more than 1.5 second in an Olympic record time), which according to the announcers, will allow her to go home. Rebecca Soni of the U.S. takes silver.

No score between Phils and Dodgers after 2-1/2 innings.

Now men's gymnastics. France and the U.S. lead after two events, but have competed on the higher scoring equipment. American Jonathan Horton received a score of 16.2 on the vault, the highest score I've seen so far. China has taken two scores below 15 on their first two rotations. Lots of discussion about the slow scoring. Apparently the judges can review the performance in slow motion. Yang Wei gets 16.3 on still rings. China will be moving up in the standings. Chen Yibing gets 16.575 on the same apparatus--amazing display of strength--he moves like a hydraulic-driven machine.

The Dodgers strike for four in the 3rd. Looks like I'll be watching more Olympics. Now back to swimming. Semifinals of men's 200-meter butterfly. Phelps is considered the prohibitive favorite in this event. Phelps wins the race, tieing the Olympic record at 1:53.70 and moving on to the final.

Back to gymnastics. Jonathan Horton turns in a great parallel bar routine--15.625. China moved into first on the strength of their rings routines. Raj Bhavsar followed with 15.575. Justin Spring is the third American. He's solid as well.

After three rotations, the US leads with China 0.875 points behind. The US does high bar next. Joe Hagerty gets 15.55. First Japanese vaulter steps off the mat on his landing. Unbelievable high bar routine by Horton--sticks triple twisting dismount. Gets 15.70. Justin Spring might have been better - ridiculous release moves and a triple somersault dismount to the end of the mat that has the crowd going. 15.675 for Spring.

7:30 p.m. - During the break between MSNBC's afternoon coverage and NBC's evening coverage I took a nap and cooked dinner. First up is the somewhat bizarre new sport of synchronized diving. It's appropriate that this sport's Olympic debut comes in China, the diving capital of the world. After four dives, the Chinese men are first, followed by Russia and the U.S. The Russian pair had the best dive of the fourth round. Russia followed with the worst dive among the contenders in the fifth round, but held onto second by a small margin. Russia, Germany, the U.S. and Australia are all in medal contention. The Chinese pair would have to fall off the platform to miss out on gold.

Germany got 97 points, which can't hurt their chances. The U.S. pair does the same dive and gets 93 points. They need the Russians to flop again. China gets 89 to wrap up the gold. The Russians weren't perfect, but were good enough to hold onto bronze, with Germany moving up to silver with their outstanding final dive. The U.S. finished fifth behind Australia, by just four points, and just five points from bronze.

On to women's beach volleyball. The U.S. team of Kerry Walsh and Misty May-Treanor looks unbeatable. In fact they've won 102 matches in a row. Tonite they're playing a Cuban team, taking the first game 21-15. The match coverage opened with a human interest story about Walsh, who lost her engagement ring in the sand during the last match. The organizers pulled out the videotape, metal detectors and a squadron of searchers and found the ring after a brief search (at least on replay).

During the commercials I'll tell you about the commercials. Is there anyone in America who's not aware that McDonald's has chicken sandwiches for breakfast? I'm told, "It's juicy!" Here in Baton Rouge we're in the middle of "Car Wars", a campaign by local dealer Royal Nissan to take on a rival Honda dealership. "It's On!" We bought a new Honda CR-V in January, so Car Wars can pass us by, just like the breakfast chicken sandwich.

Back to volleyball. Team USA leads Game Two by 14-10. Now 16-12. Pie time.

Inspired by some fabulous coconut cream pie we had in Pennsylvania Dutch country, Kay bought a Mrs. Smith's version. I appear to be the only consumer, but I'm enjoying it. Oh yeah, Walsh/May-Trainor prevailed by 21-16, with May-Trainor scoring the match-winning point on a crushing spike.

2:45 p.m. - Took a break for lunch and to move some furniture (actually the old TV). In the meantime, Federer finished off Turnusov in straight sets and MSNBC moved on to women's team handball - Hungary vs. Brazil. This game is an fast-paced blend of basketball (ball--albeit smaller than a basketball, dribbling - but limited to three, passing, goal, shooting, travelling--after three steps) and soccer (goaltender, penalty shots, clock counts up rather than down)--maybe more like hockey without ice or sticks (complete with power plays). Hungary leads 20-19 in the second half, so scoring is in between basketball and soccer. The flow of play most resembles water polo--of course, it's easier to shoot and score while on your feet rather than treading water.

Now tied at 22. Brazil got a goal on a fast break after their goalie made a kick save and controlled the rebound.

For the most part, NBC seems to be using experts in the particular sports as announcers rather than broadcast professionals. With so few other major sports broadcasting contracts, NBC can focus its resources on the Olympics, its premier event. I always enjoy listening to Bob Costas, who has the Jim McKay host role. Mary Carillo, who usually does tennis broadcasts, has shown some range here. Among the analysts, Rowdy Gaines gets high marks for swimming--his prerace analysis of the 4x100-meter relay was right on, even though he couldn't see how the French could lose, other than by a perfect effort by all four American swimmers, which is exactly what happened. The next day he broke down the videotape, showing how French anchor Alain Bernard tightened up at the end of the race, taking 17 strokes to cover the distance that American anchor Jason Lezak covered in 14 strokes. He also showed how Bernard snuck a look at Lezak just two meters from the end of the race, a move he couldn't afford.

I would appreciate a little more upfront explanation of the rules of each sport - beach volleyball, team handball, water polo and other sports are all more-or-less new to me. They do explain the rules as they impact the game, which may be their policy. Now it's 25 all with less than 9 minutes left. Three fouls results in disqualification in team handball. Hungary just lost one of their starters.

With less than five minutes left it's still tied at 25. Brazil gets a power play after a Hungarian penalty. Good save by Hungary. Turnover by Hungary. Brazil takes first lead since first half. Penalty on Brazil evens the players. Save by Brazil holds the lead. Another goal by Brazil builds two goal lead. Hungary gets one back. Down one with 1:40 left. Offensive foul against Brazil. Hungary ties the game. 27 all with one minute left. No overtime in this game--not a medal game. Brazil scores with 24 seconds left. Hungary calls time with 15 seconds left. One player has 10 of Brazil's 28 goals. Ball loose. Just one second left. Direct shot scores! Game ends in 28-28 tie.


August 11 - Forgive me for being a few days late starting this. There was a hot air balloon competition in town--I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning taking pictures and awhile longer posting them to Photoblog (www.photoblog.com/dadlak). I also recommend www.photoblog.com/ofwordsandphotos for a blog of photos from the Beijing streets as taken by my photofriend Alain (a Filipino working in Beijing - the photo at the right is one of his).

I'll try working this forward and backward at the same time. This morning I'm watching a men's beach volleyball match between the US and Switzerland on our new Sharp HiDef TV. My wife bought herself the TV for her birthday. The timing could have hardly been better - OK, maybe a day better, as we didn't get it set up in time for Friday night's spectacular opening ceremony. I hope they replay it in HD before the Olympics are over. If not, I'll look for it on DVD.

The first event we watched in HD was the men's beach volleyball match between the US and Latvia in which Latvia pulled an ominous straight set upset over the heavily-favored Americans. A prematch pep talk by President Bush wasn't enough; maybe our guys were still a little shaky after meeting the great man. Today, the Americans took the first step toward redemption with a straight set demolition of the Swiss team. An odd sight in the match was the Americans wearing goggles without lenses. Apparently the lenses interfered with their vision, but their sponsorship contract required that they wear the goggles--solution, goggles with no lenses.

The men's 200-meter butterfly brought forth a sad story. An Israeli swimmer who barely qualified for the event (it took the disqualification of a Greek swimmer to make it happen) found out two days before his first race that his 51-year-old father had died in a fall off a ladder. He swam in the first heat, finishing fourth in a time that probably won't advance him to the semi-finals. The swimmer and his sister will fly home Thursday for the funeral on Friday.

Tragedy struck directly in Beijing even before the games began as the father-in-law of the U.S women's volleyball coach was killed by an attacker on a Beijing street. His wife was seriously injured in the attack. The assailant killed himself before he could be captured by jumping from the second story of a tower. The Chinese judicial system looks very unfavorably on attacks against non-Chinese visitors. Perhaps the attacker knew what was coming. No motive has been speculated for the attack.

Michael Phelps, already a two-time gold medalist in these games, swims in the next 200-meter butterfly heat. In the stands to watch are most of the U.S. men's basketball team, including LeBron James and Jason Kidd. We were amused with the revelation that U.S woman beach volleyballer Misty May-Treanor has Kidd's #5 (actually V) tattooed on her back. I wonder what her husband, a major league baseball catcher thinks of that. It reminds me of the Yellow Pages commercial where the young woman is looking for a tattoo removal service - she has Michael tattooed on her lower back, but is marrying Tom.

Phelps won his first gold medal of 2008 in the 400-meter individual medley with a world record performance. The 400-meter freestyle relay gold came after an amazing comeback by teammate Jason Lezak in the final leg. Lezak overcame a huge lead by the French team in the last 25 meters. This came after French anchorman Alain Bernard said thatAsi the French would "crush" the Americans in a prerace statement. While the Americans exulted, the French swimmers could hardly move.

Phelps won this butterfly heat in an Olympic record time of 1:53.70. The time is slower than Phelps' world record time, but still unsurpassed by any other swimmer.

Other than the swimming relay, the competitive highlight so far was Sunday morning's (US time) basketball game between the U.S. and China. The Chinese people have developed a crazy love for the American-invented game. They love their own players--Yao Ming carried the Chinese flag in the Olympic parade. But they may love NBA stars like Kobe Bryant even more--Bryant's #24 jersey outsells all others in an NBA-merchandise-hungry China. (The first-ever NBA store was opened in Beijing, not in the US.)

For a game that was destined to be a blowout, a better script could not have been written. Yao opened the scoring with a 3-point shot. The Chinese hung in for about 15 minutes behind dead-eye 3-point shooting. With the score tied at 29, the U.S. turned up the defensive pressure to opened a healthy halftime lead. Midcourt steals and long rebounds of Chinese misses invariably resulted in U.S. dunks by LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant. James and Wade were particularly impressive. James is clearly the emotional leader of the team--and with such talented teammates he doesn't have to carry the offensive load as he does with the Cavaliers. James also contributed on defense with several frightening blocks. Wade was stat-perfect, making all seven field goals and five free throw attempts in a performance reminiscent of his 2006 playoff run with the Miami Heat. The U.S. team has adopted a new organizational strategy, signing players to three-year commitments to develop continuity and a better sense of teamwork. I wondered aloud whether the arrangement might create a conflict of interest, as these same players have to compete head-to-head for three long NBA seasons while they are U.S. teammates. One player with long international experience, but looking a little out of place among the young superstars, is Maverick guard Jason Kidd. Kidd played on the last U.S. gold-medal-winning team from 2000. Still I think the team will be better off with some combination of Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant in the backcourt. Legendary Duke Coach K (Mike you know) is also instilling a mindset that every game has to be played competitively to the end, no matter what the score. This attitude should be very helpful in an ultra-competitive international tournament full of foreign-born stars with NBA experience (Pao Gasol, Manu Ginobli, Yao Ming being most prominent.)

A prelim for the women's 200-meter individual medley is happening now. Aussie Stephanie Rice, a huge celebrity in her home country, and Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry (winner of four of Zimbabwe's five Olympic medals in their history) advanced to the next round and should battle it out for the gold medal in the final a day or so hence.

We spent much of the weekend watching gymnastics - both men (primarily U.S., China and Japan) and women (U.S. and China). Sprinkled among amazing performances were surprisingly major errors - a US gal jumping all the way off the mat in free exercise; another landing her uneven bar routine on her back. Under amazing pressure both the Chinese men and women performed well. The Chinese women's team (or at least their fans) have had to deal with accusations that some of their athletes are younger than the minimum age for competition (turn 16 during 2008). Passports issued by the Chinese government all show that the girls are old enough. Some of them do look pretty young--perhaps all the attention to muscular development has retarded their sexual development. China and the U.S. are expected to battle for the women's team gold medal. The men's gold medal battle will probably be between Japan and China with the U.S. hoping to put together their best performance for a possible bronze.

Now the story is women's water polo. We watched the U.S. men's team beat China yesterday in this gruelling sport. It's almost unthinkable the level of fitness needed to compete -- they have to tread water continuously using legs only while they play a game that's a cross between basketball and soccer with their hands. Every 30 seconds they get to swim the length of the pool. The center position is particularly challenging as the primary defender's main job appears to be attempted drowning.

Underdog China is competing beautifully with the U.S. women's water polo team. The U.S. leads 8-7 at halftime. China is only in the tournament because they're the host country. No mixed loyalties for the fans this time as the Chinese spectators are 100% behind their team, though the U.S. fans are very vocal. Whew, the U.S. survives 12-11.


My Olympic memories begin with the Mexico City games in 1968, and are more or less limited to the enduring images and sounds - U.S. sprinters Tommy Smith and Lee Evans displaying a "black power" salute during the medal ceremony, a move that got them ejected from the games; and Jim McKay's call of American Bill Toomey running the final 1,500-meter event "in the cold and the dark of Mexico City to win the decathlon."

Political statements weren't considered appropriate for the Olympics, although use of the games by the host country for political purposes is almost an quadrennial event (most egregiously by Hitler in the 1936 games in Berlin). Twelve years later, in 1980, the U.S. would make an overtly political statement by leading a boycott of the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow, a move that the Soviet Union retaliated by leading an eastern boycott of the following 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Politics have been front page news at the Beijing Games as countries and athletes have struggled with how to deal with Chinese policies regarding human rights for their own people (especially those in Tibet), and support of the bloodthirsty regime in The Sudan. When China was awarded the 2008 Summer Games, their leaders vowed improvement, a promise that is widely regarded to have been ignored, as they focused on preparing for the Games and growing their economy, while maintaining tight political control of their diverse and enormous nation.

I was 18 years old and just entering college when the Munich games were held in 1972. My dorm's TV was broken and I was too poor to have my own, so I walked across campus to another new dorm to watch their TV. Almost the whole of these games were overshadowed by the murder of several Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists. It was very uncertain if the games would continue. Athletically, the biggest story for me was the U.S.S.R's defeat of the U.S. in the gold medal basketball game, a contest that appeared to be over with the U.S. ahead, until the referees put a few seconds back on the clock and ignored a brutal foul committed by the Soviet center just before he scored the winning basket. As I remember, the U.S. almost refused to accept their silver medals. I mourned for years. I'm sure the players, which included long-time NBA star player and coach Doug Collins, mourned longer. Swimmer Mark Spitz did better for the U.S. medal count, winning seven gold medals in a haul that stands as a single-games record. U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps has a chance to break that record as he goes for eight gold medals in 2008. Through two events he's on track with two golds in the 400-meter individual medley and the 400-meter freestyle relay (oh yeah, I mentioned those earlier).

The 1976 games were held in Montreal. As I remember, women's gymnastics was the big story--particularly the Romanian team led by Nadia Comaneci, who logged several perfect 10 point scores. The U.S. men's basketball team reclaimed the goal medal behind coach Bobby Knight.

Next for the U.S. women's water polo team is Italy, who just beat Russia 9-8. I hope that no one drowns when Russia plays China, as the Chinese girls will be outweighed by about 2:1.

MSNBC takes over the coverage--Roger Federer is playing his first round match. The format is best two-sets-of-three. His opponentis Tursunov of Russia. Sadly, we don't get HD MSNBC with our cable package. The picture is a little fuzzy on such a large screen in non-HD format. The announcers say that Federer has been aiming for Olympic gold since seeing countryman Marc Rosset win the men's tennis gold at the Barcelona games in 1992.

My National Scrabble Championship Diary

Introduction - The 1500+ rating I built through modest success in Scrabble tourneys in Louisiana and Texas put me squarely in Division 2 of the National Scrabble Championship in Orlando. After Day One I wished they could demote me to Division 3 or lower.

Registration on Friday preceded the tournaments start on Saturday. The walk through the giant hotel and conference center took at least 10 minutes. I was very happy to see another apparent Scrabble player heading toward me as I followed the hotel desk clerk's directions to the Scrabble venue. When I found it I offered to hug the registrar, but settled for a handshake. Registration involved filling out a W-9 form, authorizing the IRS to withhold income tax from my winnings ("ha!"). I also got a cap, T-shirt, and a new Trivial Pursuit game (Hasbro's contribution) in a canvas Scrabble bag. On the way out we found a drop-off point just feet rather than seeming miles from the playing room.

Day One - Descent to the Back Row - I showed up on Saturday full of enthusiasm, if not new words or recent practice in live games against top competition. My last tournament was the NAST event in Baton Rouge in February. My Game One opponent was Jack from New York. I played him at the New York City Scrabble Club on Christmas night several years ago. He wiped me out then; I did a little better on Saturday. He exchanged seven on the game's first play. The tiles he drew made AVOIDErS on his second play. I came back with TARRIERS and then PAINTeD to take a 22-point lead. Later Jack played the little word UN to create a new opening. I considered blocking, but went with ZA for 33 and a 55-point lead. Bad choice. Jack bingoed with LICENSE and SUN. I still held a 15-point lead with myn response of REVS for 30. My next play cost me the game. Jack put PRE in front of the Z to make PREZ. I considered covering the new opening, but went for ROM at the bottom of the board for 22. Down came QUA for 46 and my goose was cooked, even though LUV left me only 9 back. I had tracked the tiles and should have recognized the danger of QUA being played. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. Final score Jack 459; Dave 430. 0-1, -29.

My Game Two opponent was soft-spoken, gracious Wendell from Florida. I played this game entirely from behind after he found ROlAMITE on his third play. RINgERS pulled me to within 7, but my last hope died with he played VANITY on his next-to-last play. Final score - 392-406; overall 0-2, -43.

In Game Three played Elspeth (a Scottish variant of Elizabeth), also from Florida. Playing first (though I'm not sure if I was supposed to - the NSA changed to rules for this), I played the easy-to-find RELINED. Elspeth came back a few turns later with MEDIAtE. From there the game stayed with 10 points until I pulled the tiles for QUANTS for 45 and the win - 394-389, a big five points. Overall 1-2, -38.

Game Four with Judy from Massachusetts got off to a similarly auspicious start. After opening with JAMBE for 48 and following with AEDILES for 77, my lead was 151-37. Judy roared back with EROTICAL, PESTERED and WInELIKE* to retake the lead, the latter of which is phony. Having seen so many -LIKE words, I never questioned whether WINELIKE* was good. It turns out that WIrELIKE, playable from the same rack, is good. The game ended soon after my desperation play of EROTICANA, which drew a laugh from Judy as she challenged it off. I told her that it another 20 or 30 years it might make the dictionary - an eroticana being a gun-and-knife-show-like for adult sex toys. In fact, I'm going to Google that "word" and see what happens. Though I didn't get a lot of hits, the word seems to already exist to describe pornography collections. Final score - 378-431; overall 1-3, -91.

My Game Five opponent was Glenda from Oklahoma. I've played her several times in Texas tournaments and usually won the game. In the first half of the game, she got two bingos (ANTENNAS and HASTIER) to my one (OPERATiC). Later she made a beautiful play, front-extending ZED to LIONIZED for 36. I drew the second blank, but couldn't cash it for a game-winning bingo. In fact, the search put me 9 seconds into overtime and cost me another 10 points. Final score 365-441; overall 1-4; -167.

Mike from Florida got the first bingo, ENGORGE, on his second play of Game Six. I spent the rest of the game trying to keep the board open for my own answering play. When I finally played SpOONER* (which is phony; SNOOzER and SNOOpER from the same tiles are good), it was too late. Mike let the play go because he could still win. My tracking was poor and I even let him get TZAR for 23 to go out and catch me with seven points on my rack. Final score 314-373; overall 1-5; -226.

Game Seven against the lovely Joan from New York looked like it would be my salvation for the day. This may have been the game where I landed in the back row ("death row" to some) -- the last line of tables in each division where those at the bottom of the standings battle it out with one another. Although I decided not to play GHIBLIS on the first play (was afraid of misspelling it), everything went beautifully (CURSERS for 83 being the prettiest play) as I built a 290-189 lead. Then I blocked the wrong spot and watched Joan play mANQUE for 72 and AZO for 48, the latter of which I should have seen coming, much like QUA in Game One. Joan converted the second blank into HaD for a modest 22, but enough to win the game. Score 379-392; overall 1-6, -239.

Exhaustion didn't help me much at the end of Game Seven. Almost every game was close and required a lot of thinking. With an ugly 1-6 record, I couldn't get out quickly enough for a post-game beer. Looming on the first game of Day Two would be Connie from Philadelphia, an on-line nemesis from a few years back.

Day Two - Famine or Feast - I mixed up my GLB racks. It turns out that my opening rack in this game was the one that spelled GHIBLIS. I played GLIB. My Game Eight opponent, Cynthia from California (I had my days mixed up too - Connie from Philadelphia starts Day Three), bingoed with ARrOWING. I came right back with HALIDES. CHAFE for 48 put her back in the lead while I exchanged seven. A few turns later I played SOONERS, a word I knew was good because of the discussion that surrounded my play of SpOONER the day before). Cynthia challenged and lost her turn. I next played the appropriate REJOICE to open a 59-point lead. The lead shrunk to six by the end, partly because I allowed LEON*, knowing I could win even though I was about 99% sure it was phony. Final score, 402-396. Overall, 2-6, -233.

In Game Nine I played Luise from Nevada. She whipped me in New Orleans at the 2004 NSC. The outcome this time was much the same. I tried SEMIOTE* to open. (SEMIOTIC is good.) She challenged it off, but still I led 87-38 after she exchanged five. On her next play, an 80-point bingo of LIBRATeS gave her a 118-87 lead and she never looked back. She followed with VARIANCE and OsTEOID to build her lead to 326-179. I played enough U's and E's to get 300, but lost 309-473. Overall record, 2-7, -407.

The lopsided final score of Game Ten against Adrian from Illinois belied it being another potential giveaway on my part. The first nine turns were a defensive struggle. I got by far the best play with ADOZE for 77 and held an 18 point lead when Adrian played SHAD after a long spell of thinking. While Adrian had been thinking I decided "no matter what" that I would play QAT to block the top row. SHAD set up EDDY for 30, and I foolishly abadoned my strategy to take the points. Of course, Adrian bingoed across the top with AIRLINEr for 74. To amplify my pain, he then bingoed out with LODeSTAR and a 428-272 final score. Overall, 2-8, -563.

After the first ten games I was in no mood to apologize for my good fortune in Game 11 vs. Joe from Pennsylvania. After Joe bingoed with PINTOES, I came back with the double-double (a word covering two double word score squares) bingo MISBRAND for 102 points. My draw was terrible. I threw it all back and two turns later made SERENELY for 86. Joe fired back with WeTLANDS for 86 of his own. The next post-bingo draw was much better. I found HOsIERY and hooked it to MISBRANDS for another 95. Joe's cylinder was empty; I still had FYCE (48), RAW (31), another bingo RAGOUTS (63) on my next three plays and closed with TOPH for 48, which Joe inadvertently left open while trying to minimize my score. Final score, 565-412, my highest score ever in an NSA-sanctioned tournament game (or club game for that matter - I've made 597 on line). Overall, 3-8, -406.

A Californian, Mary Aline, was my opponent in Game 12, but my hot "streak" ended at one game. She made two easy bingos, ATTIRED and RENTING. I fought back with words like QUEUED and JOIS(t), but fell 19 points short, 376-395. Overall, 3-9, -425.

I still bear the healing bruises of Game Thirteen vs. Stan ("The Man") from New Mexico. The game resulted in the extreme longshot sight of two non-Philly-area-based players wearing Philadelphia sports gear (my Phillies cap; his Eagles jersey) at a Scrabble board in Orlando. Stan said he just liked the Philly teams. He didn't even know where the Delaware Valley was. He knew how to play Scrabble, bingoing on three straight early turns with PIASTER, WIsEMEN*, and RAVENiNG. I tried ROOTINGS*, but Stan challenged it off. After the run of bingos, Stan continued a barrage of 30-plus point plays. I held on, june bug versus hurricane, to quote Lucinda Williams. Final score, 270-512. Overall, 3-10, -659--possibly my low point of the tournament. I stopped checking the standings well before this game.

Game Fourteen, the last game of Day Two, was with Larry from Florida. I had my big game in New Orleans vs. him, so I felt pretty confident, despite the recent thrashing from Stan. Things went my way early as Larry challenged PRETOLD, which is good. Later I played CLAImING. Larry found URANOSE, but I carried the game to win 417-334. Overall record after two days of play, 4-10, -576. Three wins on the day offset by three trouncings wasn't great, but it was a far sight better than my Day One record. On to Connie and Day Three.

INTERMISSION - The NSA and Hasbro hosted a player's reception after Day Two. Presciently, they moved the event indoors (by the 7:30 p.m. start time a cloudburst had rolled into the resort area). The Kona Islander Lager was outstanding. Hors douevres quality was mixed. The company, at least the folks I sought out, was great. I found three women from New Orleans, Rhonda, Maneck and Lila, against whom I've played in many tourneys over the years. I also found Vivienne, a wonderful 83-year-old woman from Toronto, who taught me many on-line Scrabble lessons when I first got started. We chatted about her life in Toronto--she organizes charity Scrabble tournaments--recruiting celebrities from the worlds of literature, entertainment and sports to raise money for senior citizen needs. I'd met her in San Diego in 2002. Seeing her again was one of the highlights of the event.

Day Three - Good Afternoon from the NSC - Game 15 was with Connie from Philadelphia, a nemesis of mine from early days of online play in 2000 and 2001. I'm not sure she recognized me with the beard, or remembered me from meeting at the New Orleans NSC in 2004. After nine tuns of this one I had the grand total of 138 points, having exchanged seven tiles on my last two turns (all vowels followed by all consonants or vice versa). When I finally got a playable rack I made DEW for 30 points. She used the new hook to bingo with ETOILES. I exchanged again--this time only five. She played AURAI* as a vowel dump--I looked hard at it, but let it go--only 18 points and it made a home for my MARKER. On the next play she faced the "block or score" challenge. She scored 22 with ENS. I was happy with her decision as I fit OUTGAIN under QUIT for 77 points. Still I was down more than 70 after she responded with VEEP for 43. ZARF for 40 was fun, but the final margin stayed at 70, 339-409. Overall record 4-11. I'll catch up with the overall spread later.

Poor Ann, a 1600+ player from Texas with just two wins in 15 games was next in Game Sixteen. Our game almost sent her over the edge. She opened with TORSADE. I responded with SOLANGE*. She let it go--I'm not sure what I was thinking of. I should have played TANGELOS using the T in TORSADE. A few plays later I made the beautiful find of POTPIES, which I played with some concern whether this was one or two words. She came right back with tWINIER. PIQUE for 32 helped me get the lead temporarily, but she got both PIQUET for 46 and PIQUETS for 53. I thought I was doomed. I had a blank, but no opening for a bingo. To her own despair, Ann provided an opening with VINIER. The V stuck out into open territory perfectly for me to play GOVErNED and go out. Final score, 472-427. Overall record, 5-11, -603. Ann didn't get much sympathy from her husband, who thought her call was the hotel wakeup call. He hung up three times before answering--probably the saddest story of the tournament.

Game 17 matched me with Dan from California. I'd seen him lingering in the back row and figured it was just a matter of time before we met. I could have waited as he opened with RELEAsE and followed two turns later with PROVIDER to take a 66-point lead. His next bingo was STRAITED*, a phony that I didn't challenge (STRIATED from the same tiles is good--and the word set up a 50-point QUIDS for me). I never really got a toehold in this game and lost 333-401. My overall record dropped to 5-12, -671.

I've played David J many times in my life, but not the David J from Illinois who was my Game 18 opponent. My DJ, an 1800+ player, moved from Louisiana to Oregon a couple years ago. He missed the 2008 NSC because of an interfering yacht race in the Pacific Northwest. In this one I made the first bingo, NEATENs to take a small lead, but David got the last one, an unblockable SiLVERS to post a narrow win, 331-349. My overall record reached its NADIR at 5-13, -689.

After a morning of three losses and a gift win, I was ready for lunch, although I knew it wouldn't be very exciting. Rather than go out (no transportation as my mother dropped me off each morning) or walk to the hotel and spend $20 on the buffet (too lazy and too cheap), I ate a half-sandwich, bag of chips and a Coke each day from the canteen set up near the playing room. I also used the time to take advantage of the hotel's outstanding free wireless network, primarily to work with my vacation pictures. Back at my mom and dad's I've been struggling with a connection made through my daughter's cell phone--sort of a dial-up, wireless hybrid. On Saturday and Monday I bought a big cookie to use for an energy boost in that last game before lunch, generally one of my weaker efforts.

Lunch brought the metaphorical afternoon sun out for me. In Game 19 I faced Francis from North Carolina, a civil engineering student from NC State. I wished him good luck with his (and our) bridges. This was a close, high-scoring and fun game throughout. We matched bingos with SATIETY and RAREFIES (I almost played ZINCY before I saw the bingo). He got the next bingo with RUTTIEST and followed with DHOW for 43. Another loss loomed until I drew the Q and played QAT and QI for 45 to retake the lead. The Scrabble gods allowed me to pull both blanks, denying him a chance for a late comeback. My game, 453-413. Overall 6-13, -649.

I played another backrow denizen, Erica from Pennsylvania, in Game 20. I learned that she was rooming with Vivienne. We talked about what a wonderful person she was and about the joys of the Delaware Valley. I got a bingo, PETTERS, on turn two. She made LOrDLIER a couple of turns later, but still trailed by 54. GUANO for 8 seemed to sum up the rest of her game, though she did make XENIA for 51. A second bingo of cLEARING sealed the win for me, 447-338, one of my smoothest games of the tournament. Two wins in a row! I didn't know quite how to act. Overall I improved to 7-13, -540.

Game 21, the last of Day Three, was with Shah from Virginia. I drew well and played SATINET on the opening play. A couple of turns later he tried VARANDAS*, which I recognized as a misspelling and challenged off. Later I foolishly opened the board with NARK. He pounced with MINERALS to pull within 20 and then PIX to get within 7. At that point he was overwhelmed with consonants and I pulled away to a 375-316 win. Three in a row! A winning day (4-3)! Improvement day-by-day (one, then three, then four wins)! A "decent" overall record possible with a big Day Four. The serotonin was really flowing. Overal, still a dismal 8-13, -481 but it could have been (and would become) a lot worse. But I didn't know that when I fairly skipped (oops, I forgot, I don't skip anymore) out of the Royal Pacific Ballroom.

The evening got even better as I enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner compliments of Merry from California, an online opponent and friend of mine of many years. We ate at Salt Island Grill, a tourist trap of sorts on heavily travelled International Drive in Orlando. Merry and her mother went on Saturday night to check it out and to use some of the many certificates Merry had bought on line, thinking she could host a big dinner for all her online pals. Turns out that the restaurant would only honor $100 worth of certificates per meal. Their preliminary trip helped our meal, as they scoped out the menu and knew which of the restaurant's marketing stunts to refuse even before they began (in particular their display of raw meat and seafood, and the post-meal dessert tray). Despite the lukewarm to scathing reviews I saw on the Internet, I'd recommend the restaurant based on our experience. The mixed seafood grill was outstanding.

And what do Scrabble players do after a long day of Scrabble--play more Scrabble of course. We considered stopping at IHOP or the like and setting up our board (Merry and her mom did this on Saturday night), but we ended up on the dining room table at my mom's house, playing a couple more games. Day Three was definitely the best day of the tournament for me.

Day Four - When Will This End? After finishing Day Three with three straight wins, I started Day Four with renewed enthusiasm, but soon found myself thinking (like you as you read this, I suspect), "when will this end?"

Game 22 was with Lila from New Orleans, one of the women I saw at the reception. I've played Lila several times at tourneys in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Houston. I don't have the stats at hand, but I think we're about even during those games. I know I won our last game--one that I should have lost. This game began in hideous fashion--I exchanged seven twice; there was no score above 22 until Lila made JAYS for 36. Even so, I was only down 144-122 when she played PASsION. My next two turns included another exchange, this time only three tiles. By the time I finally played my bingo, KNItTERS, she was up 291-146. My bingo scored a juicy 86, but only reduced the margin to 59. She smartly blocked my outbingo, STROBILE. I settled for the non-bingo BROTHEL for 15 and lost by a 285-381 score. Overall record, 8-14, -577. The NSC scorekeepers found 20 points for me between Day Three and Day Four, kind of like finding an open deck chair on the Titanic. I forgot to mention that Game 22 found me on Table 58, out of the back row. I figured that more play like this would take me back home.

Leprechaunlike Dan from Virginia was my next tormenter in Game 23. I had to exchange six from my first rack, but recovered with MAIZE for 37. Dan responded with TALKIEr. Later his lead ballooned to more than 200 points when he played ADVISER. Desperate for a bingo, I tried ANNULERS*, which is no good with either one or two Ls. Final damage report - 237-448, a difference of 211 points, my second worst game of the tournament. Overall, well let's skip that.

Game 24 matched me with Tim from Massachusetts. He answered my opening bingo of ANNOyER with ABATING. We played along with his lead seemingly expanding with every turn. It mushroomed to 105 points after he played SPLICES. Unexpectedly for both me and him, he set me up for FLOATERS while thinking he was blocking my bingo. No matter, his remaining tiles made UnTIMED for a bingo to go out. Final score, 375-478. Overall, 8-16, -891. My three wins in a row had been negated by three losses.

Back to the back row, Judy from Houston and I matched our sad records in Game 25. Judy is one of my favorite people in Scrabble. She directs the Houston club which hosts a wonderful tournament, the Bayou Bash, every Labor Day weekend. I even played there in 2005, just a week after Hurricane Katrina, and 10 weeks after major surgery. I was "lucky" enough to draw both blanks early and found ToRNaDIC. After I played ICKY for 42 to open a 37-point lead, she answered with OUTAGES. I got RELENTED to eke out a 1-point lead, but RUSTING put her back in front. I despaired. Her last five tiles were OHIAA. There was no way I could stop her from putting the H on top of OMBRE to get enough points to win. I decided to make my best play otherwise, VEENA for 28 and see what happened. Not seeing HOMBRE, she tried the H in front of ICKY to make HICKY*. My only hope was to challenge. To my delight and her dismay, the play was UNACCEPTABLE - X. Off it came. I played AS to go out and win by 30, 396-366. I was too excited to get the score right, though I knew I had won. Judy had to remind me that the 23 points she got for HICKY didn't count. Overall, 9-16, -861. Another afternoon like Monday would leave me with some sense of respectability and a better record than the 12-19 I managed in New Orleans.

To my surprise, I was matched with Matt from Texas in Game 26. He must have been in a slump because he usually plays a division above me. We played another tight defensive game until I found myself with both blanks, two Us, two Ns and a very tight board. I couldn't find a bingo, so I played off TUG to create another opening for my bingo. He covered the T with ZITIS for 68, taking a 111-point lead and making my position almost desperate. I replaced the U and T with I and Y. I couldn't find a bingo there either. After Matt played BRAVE to cut off two bingo lanes. I played another frustrating non-bingo of MEN with a two-blank rack (my bingo had to start with O), Matt surprised me by passing his turn. I played off a P in PAX and drew the last tile. My rack was OUTRI?? Matt blocked the O line as best he could, sticking the S in PEDS in the middle of it. To bingo out (and still not win) I had to make an 8-letter word starting with O and with the S in the sixth position or find an 8-letter word with S in the fifth position. There are none of the former, though I tried OUTRISes*, and only one of the latter, RUgOSITy, which I didn't find - I tried TROUSIng. I finally bailed out to TOURiST elsewhere on the board for 10 point, burning 50 overtime penalty points in the process. Final score, 224-386. I was wiped out, both mentally and scorewise. Overall, 9-17, -1023.

In hindsight, and at the time, Game 26 didn't upset me nearly as much as Game 27 against Roger from Ontario. Roger got ready for the game by getting a big hug from his girlfriend and installing his earplugs. I tried to shake off the horror that was Game 26. I got off to a terrible start by allowing ANALISE*, going back to my old habit of giving Division 2 opponents too much credit. I got away with PRIAM* (which is an old brand of modem, not a word) and later played FILCH for 47 to get back in the game. But things looked better toward the end as I drew the second blank (Roger played the first in QiS). Roger blocked my bingo or ORATIoN. There was an opening for RATIONeR, but I knew the word was no good, and that Roger would challenge it, given that the game was on the line. Rather than using my seven remaining minutes to keep looking for ANTeRIOR, which did play, I played off and hoped for better the next turn. Running low on time, Roger managed to go out while losing only 10 points of overtime penalty to claim the win, 369-383. When he pointed out ANTERIOR and I looked up ANALISE, I was sick. I didn't know how I'd get through the last game. Overall, 9-18, -1037.

Playing my friend Judy again (my first repeat opponent of the tourney) in Game 28 sure helped, as did drawing an early blank to play AILErON. Judy answered with FELSITe to take a 34-point lead. I played from slightly behind, catching up slowly until Judy's last rack full of consonants sunk her. I played WINTER for 30 to take a 31-point lead. She answered with PINS for 27, but when I went out with AWEE for 13 the game was mine and the tournament was over. I hope Judy didn't mind my play-by-play commentary, "And the crowd goes wild!" Final game score, 385-368. Overall record, 10-18, -1020. Fortunately, the players using my equipment back on Table 58 had finished their game, so I was able to pack up right away and leave perhaps my last ever NSC in Division Two (at least for awhile, as I lost almost 100 rating points), unless I make some kind of effort to improve my game. As they almost say on Bravo Network, we'll see what happens.



Here's a picture of NSC 2008 champion, Nigel Richards of Malaysia. Nigel now holds the singular distinction of holding both the world and US titles at the same time, even though the two tourneys are played with different dictionaries.

Thanks very much for reading to here. You are a true friend and fan of the game.

Should've Bet the House - Celts Crush Lakers to Win NBA Championship

June 18 Update - 131-92! In a history-making blowout before their hometown fans, the Boston Celtics won both Game Six and the 2008 NBA Championship with a 4-2 final series triumph over the Los Angeles Lakers. Their seventeenth NBA championship overall, but first since 1986, caps an unbelievable turnaround from a 24-win season in 2007. Enough said.

June 17 - First an apology for being so late to this subject. Last year I blogged almost the entire NBA playoffs, which culminated in the desultory Finals sweep of the Cavaliers by the Spurs. The 2008 playoff season has been more exciting, particularly due to the appearance of my home-state New Orleans Hornets. I've followed the playoffs with interest, but lifestyle changes along with travel and photo blogging (http://ztrip2008.blogspot.com/ and http://www.photoblog.com/dadlak) kept me from providing a running account of this year's tournament.

Now we're down to one or two games in Boston between the Celtics and the Lakers, historical NBA rivals going back almost 50 years, though not so much in the last 20, as the Celtics haven't been very good. The Lakers forced Game Six by taking last night's elimination game in LA by 103-98. The win has inspired some "it's not over yet" talk, but my opinion is that "it'll be over soon"--probably on Tuesday night after Game Six. (Did the Staples Center have this in mind with their "NOT IN OUR HOUSE" message on the scoreboard after Game Five--the implied message might be "but probably in your house").



The probability of the Lakers winning two in Boston seems very, very low to me. They were fortunate to win Game Five in LA, blowing separate 19 and 14 point leads before prevailing on Kobe's steal and rescue of a loose ball in the last minute of play.


In this series the Celtics have convinced me that they're the best team in the NBA. In both this series and against Detroit they corrected the problem they had on the road vs Atlanta and Cleveland.


I'm also concerned that the Lakers are conflicted as a team. They want to play team ball, but when things go bad they give the ball to Kobe and get out of the way. The Celtics know this, and collapse on Kobe so that all he can do is take a bad shot or make a bad pass. A few of the bad shots go in or result in foul shots, but not enough to win the game.


Still, stranger things have happened, most recently in the 2004 ALCS that is so beloved in Boston. The best thing the Lakers can do is to ignore the scoreboard and play every possession on both ends like their season depends on it, which it does. Despite the Lakers' desperation it will be the Celtics who play like their season depends on it, to prevent a "one game for everything" Game Seven. As a result, the Celtics will light victory cigars, probably very early on Wednesday morning, an amazing turnaround of a team that won fewer than 30 games just one year ago.

My First All-Star Ballot

The Major League All-Star Game is less than a month away, which seems like about the right time to begin considering a ballot (OK, to begin voting).

Here's the ballot I just submitted:

National League

1B - Lance Berkman, Astros - an easy choice with an OPS of 1171, particularly now that Albert Pujols is hurt.

2B - Chase Utley, Phillies - Dan Uggla is closer than I thought at this position, but MVP contender Utley gets the nod.

SS - Hanley Ramirez, Marlins - another MVP candidate is the choice from a strong field

3B - Chipper Jones, Braves - with a .500 OBP and 15 HRs to go along with his headline-grabbing .414 BA, Jones is the obvious choice

C - Geovany Soto, Cubs - a close call over Brian McCann of the Braves; I used team standing as the tiebreaker.

LF - Pat Burrell, Phillies - Pat "The Bat" has had his best season ever if you add 2H 2007 to 1H 2008 (and one of the best in the majors over that span)

CF - Aaron Rowand, Giants - Nate McLouth of the Pirates has better stats (969 OPS to 892 for Rowand), but I'll still pick the veteran who's done everything the Giants are paying him $12 million per season to do.

RF - Ryan Ludwick, Cards - Ludwick's 1065 OPS is too far ahead of the field to overlook.


American League

1B - Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox - one of my favorite players, with good stats to support my vote.

2B - Brian Roberts, Orioles - Ian Kinsler of the Rangers has better stats, but I've heard that he's a poor fielder. This is about the weakest position in either league.

SS - Michael Young, Rangers - Better known players like Derek Jeter, Edgar Renteria and Jhonny Peralta are having off years. Young never seems to have an off year.

3B - Alex Rodriguez, Yankees - Another weak position. A-Rod's season is far from his 2007 campaign, but good enough to hold the All-Star berth.

C - Joe Mauer, Twins - The AL batting leader (and 2006 batting champ) leads a weak field by a wide margin.

LF - Manny Ramirez, Red Sox - Hard to deny a .300 hitter in the year when he hit his 500th career HR.

CF - Josh Hamilton, Rangers - Triple Crown threat is one of the big stories in MLB this year. An easy choice.

RF - JD Drew, Red Sox - The oft-maligned outfielder is having the season the Sox signed him for - 992 OBP.

DH - Hideki Matsui, Yankees - hitting .323 after losing the regular LF position to Johnny Damon.

Photo of the Day - Now on Vacation - please visit www.photoblog.com/dadlak

June 10 - Photo of the Day is on hiatus while we take our summer trip. To see plenty of photos, please visit www.photoblog.com/dadlak and

http://ztrip2008.blogspot.com

May 27 - Our bike repair wasn't ready so I snapped this shot of the bike display on the way out of the store.

May 26 - Razzberry found this terrier just a little too friendly at the dog park.

May 25 - No question about my favorite photo from this day. Razzberry seems the least comfortable in this pose.

May 24 - We went to dinner at Cafe Des Amis in Breaux Bridge on Friday night. I took several pictures on the way and at the restaurant. I like this one looking out of the restaurant best.

May 23 - I got my new Canon PowerShot camera today and took just a few pictures. I like this closeup of my glasses best.

May 22 - I called this one "Bunk Beds". Razzberry and Rascal don't often sleep so close together.

May 21 - This was another "fill-in" day while I waited for my new camera, but Mom's shots of a shuttle launch last year got a lot of nice comments.

May 20 - Here's a shot from 2007, taken at the end-of-year banquet for 8th graders and their parents. Both the menu and entertainment had a Chinese flavor.

May 19 - I had to post two pictures today. Here's half of a bluegrass band we saw on Sunday in Abita Springs, LA

I call this one "Still Life With Brie Cheese". Some fans at the Abita Springs concert brought this spread.

May 18 - The vet and her assistant give Razzberry an abdominal exam to determine why she threw up all over the living room on Friday.

May 17 - This regular gave one of the best performances at Daiquiri Cafe's Karaoke night on Friday. He sang George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone."

May 16 -Unknown to us, our pug Razzberry was sick when we left the house Friday morning. We found out when we came home to three pieces of vomit-splattered furniture. We're going to the vet today.



May 15 - This is the elevated walkway between the parking garage and the terminal at the Baton Rouge airport as seen from the second floor of the garage. I liked the lighting and the geometry of the windows and the roof supports.

Another photoblogger inspired me to start a new feature here - my Photo of the Day. I'll post here the best picture I posted at www.photoblog.com/dadlak the previous day (my opinion only). Feel free to visit Photoblog to see the rest of my photos.

Our Governor or McCain's Running Mate?

I don't post often on politics, but last night's appearance by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal with presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, his fourth such since being inaugurated in January, made me wonder about Jindal's commitment to his self-described beloved home state. I wrote the following letter to the editor of the local newspaper on the subject.

To the Editor

The Advocate

June 5, 2008

Bobby Jindal’s self-stated love for his home state drove him to run successfully for the governorship rather than continue to serve in Washington as Congressman from the 1st District. The last few weeks have made me wonder where our governor’s heart really is. In time that he could have spent solving Louisiana’s myriad of problems, Jindal appeared three times on the stump with presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain and spent a weekend at McCain’s ranch in Arizona, all the time coyly denying any interest in becoming McCain’s running mate.

Jindal’s appearance with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show seemed more about introducing him to a national audience than about Jindal’s beloved home state. In another overtly partisan activity, our governor also devoted significant energy, at least as indicated by the number of mailings and phone calls that came to our house, campaigning for unsuccessful Republican candidate for the 6th Congressional district, Woody Jenkins. Unless Jindal finds his way onto McCain’s ticket, and perhaps even then, I sadly expect an all-too-soon reprise in the fall.

Governor Jindal, please come back to all the people of Louisiana, so many of whom supported you in last year’s election. There will be plenty of time for a national political run and for partisan politics after you complete your term as Louisiana’s governor, fulfilling your pledge to make the state one where anyone would want to raise their children.