Whenever you can stick it to the French, well, that”s a good day. And whenever you can stick it to a Frenchman who has been talking smack about beating the Americans, even better.
When Jason Lezak, who at 32 is the oldest U.S. men”s swimmer competing in the Summer Games at Beijing, caught and passed Alain Bernard of France in the final feet of the 400-meter freestyle relay on Monday, out-touching him by a finger callous at the finish line, the United States scored a wonderful trifecta – Olympic gold, world record and four Frenchmen on the medal stand attempting to look cheerful while the Star Spangled Banner blurted out over the PA system.
It was magnifique.
Few moments are so cherished as the underdog smacking the top dog on the snout on the world”s biggest sporting stage. In the process, Michael Phelps continued his bid for an Olympic-record eight gold medals, but it was Lezak, catching and passing the outspoken Bernard, that made the 4×100 a marvel to behold, the Olympics at their finest. Lezak swam the anchor leg in world-record time of 46.06 seconds.
Each of the top five teams in the 400 freestyle relay beat the old world record.
Lezak”s last-second heroics even topped the San Francisco Giants” come-from-behind wins both on Saturday and Sunday against the team that plays in America”s air-quality sister city of Beijing, Los Angeles.
The Giants scored twice in the bottom of the 10th on Saturday to win 3-2 and twice in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday to win 5-4, knocking the Dodgers out of first place and below the .500 mark.
And it couldn”t happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
While Phelps and the Giants had an exciting weekend, there was no such luck for the San Francisco 49ers, who certainly revved up that offense in the offseason under new offensive coordinator Mike Martz.
I was frankly dazzled by the way the 49ers moved the ball on the ground and through the air, setting up two quality field goals for four quarters of work. Ah, yes, it”s going to be another humdinger of a season for the 49ers” offense and its three-headed quarterback platoon, all of whom are tugging the body in different directions at present.
Forty-niner fans have to be asking, “We waited all that time for this?”
I especially loved the gutsy play calling by the 49ers, who opted to kick a field goal in the fourth quarter instead of go for a first down/touchdown on a fourth-and-two play. That was a bold move in an exhibition game played in early August.
Over in the East Bay, the Raiders certainly have assembled what appears to be a good backfield with the likes of Darren McFadden, Michael Bush and veteran Justin Fargas. Quarterback Jamarcus Russell certainly wasn”t impressive, but it”s still very early in the game for him. Remember when it was early for Alex Smith? Can”t say that anymore. It”s late, real late.
New twist
While official practice for the high school fall sports season doesn”t begin until next Monday, the Record-Bee is busy preparing for its fall sports section and is doing something a bit different this year with the cover page. Instead of using a montage of sports photos on the cover, the Record-Bee is going to use a single photo of members of a single sports team. The question is which sport and which team? The choice will be between volleyball, cross country, soccer and football. We”ll use what we feel is the strongest photo on the cover, but we”ll also use the runners-up inside the section, reduced from full size, but in all their splendor. You can tell us then if we made the right choice.
Upon further review, it stands
Reading John Berry”s column on Saturday about a group of golfers trying to rewrite history at Rob Roy (formerly Hobergs) Golf Course, where the late George Hoberg Jr. holds the course record with a 55, I wasn”t surprised.
Sports fans often disrespect records set long before they were aware of the sporting scene or before they were even born. That is nothing new. What is new is trying to invalidate a record because you”re not sure of its authenticity. Of course, unless you have a smoking gun, there”s really no way to do that. And those who question Hoberg”s record apparently don”t have one.
As far as I”m concerned, until you beat Hoberg”s 55, the record stands. The time to question its legitimacy long ago passed and any attempt to invalidate it or cheapen it is purely sour grapes.
It was only a few months ago when Clear Lake High School softball coach Gary Pickle was discussing the staying power of records as it related to his record-setting 2007 squad. That 2007 team went 27-0 on its way to winning the North Coast Section Class A title. As amazing a run as that was, Pickle told me, “Twenty or 30 years from now, when another Clear Lake team is off to a good start, someone will say, ”I wonder if a Clear Lake team has ever gone undefeated?” And when they find out, they”ll wonder if we were really that good.”
Schaefer, Copeland win
On the Lake County junior golf front, congratulations to Nick Schaefer of Buckingham and Lisa Copeland of Hidden Valley Lake for winning the Lake County Junior Classic at Adams Springs Golf Course. It was Schaefer”s first title and Copeland”s fifth in a row. Schaefer also won the Buckingham Summer Junior a day earlier at Buckingham, shooting a tournament-record 66.
Ironically each golfer entered in the Lake County Junior paid $10 to compete, which is the amount Hidden Valley Lake charged high school golfers to compete in a conference match back in April. Though HVL has since admitted its mistake and refunded the money, the $10 charged by the Lake County Junior is a real deal. Each golfer received a free round of golf, golf balls and towels, lunch, and if you were lucky enough to finish high enough in your flight, a trophy. Talk about a bargain.
My son, Josh, who competes on the golf team at Healdsburg High School, absolutely loves Adams Springs Golf Course. A week before the Lake County Junior, he played at Adams most of the day and paid only $10 in green fees because he is a junior golfer. Not even his home course, Tayman Park in Healdsburg, supports junior golf the way Adams Springs does.
To all the Lake County Junior sponsors, to the course marshals who provided their expertise free of charge, and to Adams Springs Golf Course, you are to be commended for a job well done.
