*Usain Bolt wins 200 in record time, 19.30, breaking Michael Johnson’s 1996 Atlanta Olympics record. But as I scramble to complete this column, before heading overseas for a few days, I wish I could see the video because of what happens to Wallace Spearmon. [For those of you reading this before it’s shown on NBC, I’ll let you find out the rest on your own.]
Be glad you aren’t Liu Xiang of China. The 2004 gold medalist in the 110-meter hurdles, Liu was carrying the weight of a nation on his shoulders, the other night, and he didn’t even make it through his first heat. There had been rumors he wasn’t recovering from an Achilles’ tendon and/or hamstring injury, going back to last May, and they proved to be true.
“By Monday morning, the pain had become ‘almost intolerable’ [according to China’s track and field association] and Liu began to shiver in discomfort….
“During warm-ups, Liu seemed to grab his left hamstring at one point. His face creased in apparent agony. He then staggered out of the block, pulled up after another false-started and walked gingerly on his injured right leg. As he left the track, exasperated, despairing, he ripped from his side the adhesive number that signified he was competing in Lane No. 2….
“Liu’s coach, Sun Haiping, apologized for the injury then grew overcome with grief, covering his eyes and sobbing in a post-race news conference. Some Chinese reporters also cried.”
Sun Haiping said Liu had the Achilles injury going back to before Athens.
“This morning he felt the pain intensify,” he said. “Even though he felt the pain he decided to compete in the first heat. He arrived at the track with the greatest will and he wanted to compete. Liu would not pull out unless the pain was intolerable and there was no other way out.”
“The psychological impact of Liu’s pullout on his teammates also sparked a flurry of inquiries.
“And several sponsors including Nike, Amway and Coke also winced in pain as their money-spinner turned suddenly into a potential loss-making liability.”
Scalpers, expecting to make $thousands for Thursday’s finals will instead lose a like amount. It was poised to be one of the most exciting nights in Olympic history, 91,000 cheering their hometown hero wildly.
“The sadness radiated outward to fans and officials and journalists, who immediately wept at the downfall of their national hero. All over China, people felt the collective sting of failure, concentrated in one athlete, which is always a risky business.
“The spectators wanted no more of the morning heats at the National Stadium. They staggered out of the stadium as if in shock after witnessing a car crash.
“Liu’s body had failed, which, in the eyes of many Chinese people, meant they had failed, too.
“A visitor to China wanted to hug the horrified fans and say: It’s all right. Your athletes are leading the Olympics in gold medals by a huge margin. Your young people are the sweetest, most prepared volunteers any Olympics has ever seen. Your government has organized an efficient Olympic Games.
“Such words would not have given solace to fans like the 27-year-old man who gave his family name as Chu: ‘This is such a disgrace for China,’ he said, adding, ‘He must have been through a lot of pressure from the press. Both the media and Liu Xiang himself should take the responsibility.’….
“It is always dangerous to put faith in one person, be it dictator or elected official, singer or actor. Everybody is flawed, particularly athletes, whose Achilles’ tendons or hamstrings can go at any time.”
“It is difficult to put in context the numbing sense of anticlimax that enveloped the main stadium as, slowly, the knowledge that Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang would not give the host nation its crowning achievement – its Cathy Freeman moment – at these Games seeped into the collective consciousness of the crowd.
“Tiger Woods failing to turn up at the first tee at Augusta. A Melbourne Cup favorite scratched at the barrier. Freeman going lame before her big race.
“If you have been here long enough to understand how much a nation that, for all its recent achievements still has a surprisingly fragile self-esteem, had invested heart and minds in the hurdler’s success, then nothing adequately explains the poignancy of Liu’s Olympic drama….
“And yet, if the stadium was suddenly thick with emotion, you could also feel a chill. A sense that, because of the enormous expectations Liu had aroused by winning China’s first gold medal on the track in Athens, there would be recriminations.
“It had been reported Liu alone accounted for 10 percent of the Chinese Olympic team’s sports science budget. That five kinematics scientists worked full-time monitoring his condition, analyzing training and race footage and spying on rivals, and that a dozen of Liu’s friends on the Chinese track team had been relocated from Shanghai to his training base in Beijing to act as stable ponies.
“At an Olympics where the slightly imperfect versions of Western food, language and other staples can leave you with the uneasy sense a woman might feel clutching a $20 ‘Gucci’ handbag, those accounts added to the impression that the Chinese really were trying to create their own Freeman experience – to the power of 1.3 billion….
“[The head coach of the Chinese track and field team, Feng Shuyong] painted the portrait of an athlete valiantly trying to meet the expectations of a vast nation, even after it was apparent his body had let him down at the cruelest time imaginable. It was a raw – to the less skeptical – even a touching plea for understanding.
“But, even as the virtual vultures of the Internet were circling with cruel taunts and conspiracy theories, perhaps it was not necessary.
“About an hour after Liu had limped away, girls who had worn feathered wings to the Bird’s Nest laughed and flirted with their boyfriends. Others posed for photographs.
“Before the torch was lit, all sorts of disastrous scenarios were envisaged for Beijing. An attack by local activists or international terrorists. A repressive crackdown on Western visitors.
“For a few moments, Liu’s withdrawal cast an awful pall. But, if a local runner getting a sore foot is the worst thing that happens, even the devastated Chinese might think it is not a bad Olympics.”
Thomas Boswell / Washington Post
“Since the day Beijing was awarded the Olympics, these Games have been about China’s national pride. Perhaps only the Chinese can grasp how it feels to have a history that is glorious when measured in millennia, mortifying when measured in centuries and suffused with suffering when measured in recent decades.
“For seven years, China has diligently planned and constructed a way to express that vast, squelched national pride. The huge Olympic Green, with its glowing red Bird’s Nest and its luminous blue Water Cube, has no rival. The budgetless Opening Ceremonies, with a city of 15 million illuminated by fireworks, was a national statement.
“However, over the last four years, one deified athlete has come to symbolize the country in the public mind here: the slim, handsome hurdler Liu Xiang.
“For 10 days, this Olympics surpassed itself for glory. No one has ever won as many gold medals at any Games as Michael Phelps. No one has ever run as fast as Usain Bolt.
“On the 11th day, out of a clear sky, in a preliminary qualifier for the 110-meter hurdles, we may have seen the saddest and most burdened man in Olympic history: the injured Liu, now buried under 1.3 billion bodies….
“At these Games, Liu is China. How it got that way we Westerners may only guess.
“But it is unlikely we will ever see an athlete in greater emotional pain, or a country that takes a loss more personally, or a cast of trainers and coaches who feel more devastated.
“ ‘Liu Xiang will not withdraw unless the pain is intolerable, unless he has no other way out,’ said China’s national team coach Feng Shuyong. Liu’s coach, Sun Haiping, broke down sobbing several times at a news conference.
“Time will tell whether Liu and his coaches truly thought that he had any hope of racing on Monday. What’s certain is that, whatever his condition and whenever his injury occurred, Liu absolutely had to make an appearance to prove – by falling down, by attempting a restart after it was clear he could never clear the first hurdle, by kicking a wall in anger numerous times – that he was really hurt.
“This, remember, is a country that, for generations, has seldom known what was real and what was propaganda, which of the missing were alive or dead, what official stories were true and which complete fabrications.
“Even after Liu’s photo gallery full of misery was on view, large numbers of Chinese… felt more anger than sadness. Some said he should have crawled around the track rather than walk off.
“If Phelps, who slipped and broke his wrist last winter, had gotten hurt and never swam here, it would have stunned and saddened America. Few would have been angry.
“But this is a nation so obsessed with making an impression, and not embarrassing itself, that it has a government department dedicated to controlling the weather during the Olympics – and it may actually be working….
“This Olympic Games have been a worldwide weighing of pros and cons for a nation that thinks it’s on the verge of greatness. Everything, down to hotel occupancy rates, is fair game. Always sensitive to criticism from outsiders, China feels picked on.
“As the Games wind down, the Chinese know that their medal hopes will dwindle dramatically. In track and field, always a weak suit, the hosts still have a few medal contenders. But none like Liu.
“In recent centuries, China’s self-esteem has been its Achilles’ heel. It’s been a long time since the invention of gunpowder and moveable type. This Olympics was going to change that. And to a significant degree, it already has.
“However, just as West can learn from East, the opposite is also true. In the same heats in which Liu pulled up lame, American Terrence Trammell, whose medal chances were considered almost as good as Liu’s, pulled a hamstring and couldn’t finish.
“Trammell did not feel any shame. ‘I tried to see if I could just take the first hurdle, but I couldn’t,’ he said. ‘I did everything I needed to do, and I couldn’t have done anything else.’
“So did Liu. If any, or all, of the 1.3 billion people who are now piled on his back would get off, we can get on with the Games.”
–If you asked me after attending the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., who the two locks for gold were, I’d have said Sanya Richards and Lolo Jones. Sanya’s 3rd place in the 400 meters was a shocker, especially after she was seemingly cruising to victory, and Jones’ hitting the 9th of 10 hurdles in the women’s 100 meters was equally shocking. But as we say, it’s why you play the game!
–Congratulations to America’s Stephanie Brown Trafton for becoming the first U.S. women to win the discus since 1932.
–I have to admit, I have newfound respect for Venus and Serena after watching their reaction to getting gold in the doubles, and I also can’t believe it, but I like everything I’ve seen from Kobe Bryant in terms of being a great ambassador for his country. Yes, you can easily be a cynic in the case of all three and say some of their emotion and sentiment is staged for endorsement purposes, but I found much of it to be sincere.
–I’m sorry, folks. I love the U.S. women’s gymnastics team, but the sport itself is bogus. I like swimming and track like I do because judges have no bearing on the results. You either perform or go home empty handed.
–2004 / Athens medal count
1. U.S. …35 gold…39 silver…29 bronze…103
2. Russia…27…27…38…92
3. China…32…17…14…63
4. Australia…17…16…16…49
5. Germany…14…16…18…48
Perhaps the biggest story thus far from a country standpoint is Britain. At Athens the Brits went 9-9-12, 30 total. Thru Tuesday, however, the Brits were already 16-9-8, 33. Jolly good, chaps.
I sponsor the Babe’s page on baseballreference.com and frankly I’m embarrassed I didn’t write of this before Ken Schlager of the New York Times did last Sunday. Every now and then you need reminded just why Ruth – not Mays, Aaron, or Williams – was the greatest player in the history of the game.
Now you all know that from 1915-1917, Ruth was one of the best pitchers in the American League.
Ruth led the league in shutouts (9) and ERA in 1916 and was #1 in complete games (35) in 1917, plus he was in the top three for wins both years. He also had a combined 3-0 record with a 0.87 ERA in the 1916 and 1918 World Series. Of course at the time he was with the Red Sox before becoming a Yankee in 1920 and the rest is history.
But what I have failed to focus on was what he did in 1930 and ‘33. Ken Schlager:
“Nobody ever bothered to tell Babe Ruth about pitch counts, five-man rotations or the Joba rules. He would not have listened.
“Ruth had no such concerns on an early fall day in 1930 when he approached the Yankees’ rookie manager, Bob Shawkey, with the idea of pitching the season’s final game. Ruth figured the stunt would help draw a card.
“It was a no-brainer for Shawkey. After all, the Babe would be pitching on nine years’ rest.
“The game itself was inconsequential. The Yankees were in third place when they traveled to Boston for the season’s final weekend to play the cellar-dwelling Red Sox.
“So Shawkey gave Ruth the ball on Sept. 28, 1930, and he pitched a complete game.”
[After acquiring Ruth, he had pitched in just three games for the Yanks in 1920 and ’21, winning all three, but hadn’t appeared on the mound since then.]
In the second game of the Boston series, Ruth hit two home runs, giving him a league-leading 49. Then the next day he hurled nine innings, giving up 11 hits but just three runs as the Yanks won 9-3. [Only 12,000 showed up, however.]
Three years later, with the Yanks out of the pennant chase, Ruth volunteered to pitch the last game of the season again, this time at Yankee Stadium. Ruth, now 38 [Schlager incorrectly has 39] and out of shape, did throw a little batting practice a few weeks before to warm up for this appearance. 25,000 showed up, a good crowd given the circumstances, with some thinking it would be his last performance in pinstripes. [He played one more year for them as it turned out.]
Once again Ruth went the distance, shutting out Boston the first five innings before giving up four runs in the sixth (after hitting his 34th home run), and then toughing it out for a 6-5 win.
Schlager interviewed former Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson, who when informed of Ruth’s feats said “It’s incredible.”
Peterson said it normally takes six weeks to get a starting pitcher into shape, thus spring training, and what Ruth did was amazing. So when you’re quaffing an ale or two with friends at the neighborhood watering hole, bring up this tale….spread the legend of the one and only Babe.
–The “Dirtball Organization of the Year” award could have just been wrapped up by the Cincinnati Bengals as they re-signed receiver Chris Henry. Henry had been released last year after being arrested for a fifth time, and coach Marvin Lewis did not want him back, but owner Mike Brown insisted Henry be given another chance.
A local judge had famously referred to Henry as a “one-man crime wave,” but since the Bengals’ top two receivers have gone down in training camp, it appears they’ve had a change of heart. At least Lewis said:
“I obviously know that at the end of the day, the owner has the final say-so on whether or not he wants to give a guy an opportunity or not.”
What’s even more stupid is that Cincy made the move even though Henry has to sit out the first four weeks of the season because of his rap sheet.
–If you see Phil Simms in a restaurant or at the grocery store, stay away from him. The former Giants quarterback must be incredibly pissed because his son, Matt, was just suspended by Louisville for the team’s first four games for breaking team rules.
“The Yankee star was spotted in two cities squiring two different cuties last week….
“A-Rod stepped out with a mystery blonde last Wednesday night, starting with a cozy dinner at Dan Marino’s in South Beach. The duo showed up around 9 and shared a ‘fairly animated’ dinner conversation, spies told Page Six. ‘They looked to be thoroughly enjoying themselves,’ said one source.
“So much so that the ballplayer and his date left the eatery and walked to nearby nightspot Bougainvillea. There, they sat at a secluded outside table that was shielded from prying eyes by some well-placed shrubbery.
“As they got up to leave around 1 a.m., the duo seemed surprised to be greeted by a photographer’s flash. ‘Up until that point, I don’t think they thought anyone had noticed them,’ said a witness.
“Once spotted, the gallant A-Rod ran across the street, ‘trying to make out like he wasn’t with her,’ said the source. Realizing that witnesses weren’t buying the ploy, Rodriguez said, ‘This is nothing. She’s an old friend of mine. Leave us alone.’ They then got into his Mercedes and sped off into the Miami night.
“Back in New York on Sunday night, Rodriguez hit the roof of Soho House with a tall Asian beauty with ‘good hair,’ sources report. And this time, instead of trying to pretend he wasn’t with a woman, A-Rod – decked out in jeans, a white T-shirt and black patent-leather Nikes – was ‘out-of-his-way nice’ to the staff.
“Just after 11 p.m., his date made her way downstairs, with A-Rod following a few minutes behind her. Then they jumped into a hybrid SUV cab and took off.”
But back to the Miami date, Bar Chat has an exclusive concerning what the two were discussing on the eve of a cataclysmic event in Europe.
“NATO is going to be made out to be a paper tiger,” said A-Rod, wiping some wine off his chin.
“And Georgia thought the U.S. would always be there to help it,” said the hottie, leaning forward to reveal………….
–Ah yes, it’s fun being in the New York sports universe. The Yankees are sucking wind and A-Rod has a had a good but far from great season, while he’s paid to be all-world, so that’s not working out. And captain Derek Jeter has been an above average shortstop, nothing more.
So it’s funny how the media is now beginning to make a stink of Jeter’s expiring contract ….after the 2010 season! We’re two years away and I guarantee this will be an all-consuming story next year. It is kind of intriguing, though. Jeter will be 37 in mid-2011 and his career appears to be on the decline, if ever so slightly, yet he’ll be looking for a 5-year deal after the 2010 season, with options, I imagine, at $20 million plus. As Joel Sherman of the Post wrote the other day, the divorce rate in sports is “getting higher and uglier, and we are not talking Alex Rodriguez and Cynthia.” No, Sherman is talking about Shaq, Joe Torre, Manny Ramirez and Brett Favre.
Jeter is head and shoulders above A-Rod in terms of class and Jeter has won, A-Rod hasn’t. But now the Yankees are committed to A-Rod well beyond 2010. He’s the face of the Yankees as much as, if not more so, than Jeter in many respects these days.
–Former WFAN sports-talk radio co-host Chris Russo did indeed sign with Sirius for a reported $3 million a year (though I still say he lasts only one year, despite the length of the contract….however, I may have a change of heart later).
But first, I just have to share the thoughts of the New York Daily News’ David Hinckley on the farewell show last Friday with former co-host Mike Francesa. Along the lines of the Post’s Phil Mushnick, Hinckley adds:
“I’m listening to Mike Francesa delivering Friday’s eulogy for the Mike and the Mad Dog show. And he gets to the part about how ‘someone’ told him this was like the Beatles breaking up.
“And I’m thinking, ya know, that’s the one trouble with Francesa. He’s too modest.
“Oh, sure, there’s a Beatles connection. The Beatles did their last show at Candlestick Park, and Russo’s favorite team played there. Whenever I think of the Beatles, I always think of Mike and the Mad Dog. It’s an automatic.
“But the Beatles analogy isn’t enough. It’s like a fly ball that dies at the warning track.
“The John, Paul, George and Ringo Beatles lasted just seven years. MMD ran almost 20. The Beatles may have had a few hit records, but how did they do with men 25-54? No one talks about that. Ever wonder why not?
“No, I say the breakup of Mike and the Mad Dog can’t be compared to the trivial fissure of some mere entertainment outfit. Simon and Garfunkel? Martin and Lewis? Britney and Kevin?
“Don’t make me laugh. Even if Francesa is too modest to point it out, the only decent analogy for the loss of Mike and the Mad Dog is the breakup of the Holy Roman Empire.
“The HRE, for those who were listening to some other station, started with Charlemagne in 800 and ended with Francis II in 1806.
“I won’t get into which one is Francesa and which one is Russo.
“Let’s just point out that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, Mike and the Mad Dog were more popular than the Beatles, and you do the math.”
[I have to admit that in discussing Russo’s move to Sirius XM last time, I was forgetting that the combined stations now have every sport imaginable covered. There certainly are synergies and more than enough for Russo and the others that will fill out the programming to cover.]
–We wish Carl Yastrzemski the best as he recovers from triple bypass surgery. By the way, who are the five Red Sox to have their numbers retired? Answer below.
–Goodness gracious. Since the Brewers picked up C.C. Sabathia, the mammoth hurler is 8-0 with a 1.60 ERA. And he can hit.
–From Jerry Crasnick / Baseball America: Among Hall of Famers that faced recently enshrined Goose Gossage, Dave Winfield went 0-for-10 and Robin Yount 6-for-37. Another who didn’t make it to Cooperstown but was a solid player, Al Bumbry, was 2-for-30. But in reading Crasnick’s piece, I was reminded that former NBA star Danny Ainge played parts of three seasons for the Blue Jays, hitting just .220 in 665 at-bats. Like for Michael Jordan, baseball at the professional level isn’t as easy as it seems.
–“Sign of the Apocalypse.” A Brooklyn pet store unveiled a rare two-headed turtle, but hours after they became celebrities via news reports, someone came in and kidnapped the animal. It’s said the two fight over food and need to be fed separately. Sadly, they also won’t be able to go for the synchronized swimming gold.
–I lost a lot of respect for humpback whales with the story of the calf in Australia, abandoned by its mother, that was suckling a yacht, mistaking it for her. Alas, if it doesn’t find another female whale soon it will die; unless it breaks into the yacht’s kitchen and gets the needed milk that way.
–In the last All-Species List, “Man” was ranked No. 22 but Jets fans (of which I’m one) came in at No. 97. However, Jets fans are now subject to a new code of conduct at their Meadowlands home and at the first home exhibition game, one in which Brett Favre made his debut, only 8 of 76,132 were ejected for various infractions. In the past, on average 45,600 were tossed. Among the new rules that were instituted is one leaving only five hours to tailgate rather than the previously allowed seven. So instead of 14-17 beers before you enter the stadium, now most fans only have 8-12, a major improvement in sobriety.
But there is one real controversial move that some say is shades of the U.S.S.R. or Mao’s China. Patrons can send text messages to security personnel to alert them of problem neighbors.
–From the AP…Tokyo: “Former Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu was arrested Wednesday for allegedly assaulting a bartender after drinking 20 mugs of beer, a police official said. Irabu, 39, became angered after his credit card was rejected.” But no one was hurt and Irabu apologized afterwards. You’re reading Bar Chat.
–Ben Hirschler / Reuters: “Magpies can recognize themselves in a mirror, highlighting the mental skills of some birds and confounding the notion that self-awareness is the exclusive preserve of humans and a few higher mammals.”
Well whoopty-damn-do. I’m far from impressed, plus these crow wannabes are a real pain in the butt, know what I’m sayin’?
–Richard Black / BBC News: “A wild dolphin is apparently teaching other members of her group to walk on their tails, a behavior usually seen only after training in captivity. The tail-walking group lives along the south Australian coast near Adelaide.”
–You know who’s annoying? All those farmers in the Pyrenees who complain about the brown bears killing a few of their sheep. I mean with the import of five Slovenian bears, there are all of 20 of ‘em, but the farmers and their allies in the villages have erected banners proclaiming “Go home to Slovenia.” Two of the bears have since died in “accidents”.
But the villagers are also targeting Carla Bruni, who “adopted” one of the bears. Here’s hoping the bruins unite, recruit some mercenaries, like their grizzly cousins in North America, and mount a counterassault. [I’m still working on my ultimate man vs. bear, straight-to-video flick. Actually, the participation of France’s First Lady could give it big screen appeal.]
–We note the passing of LeRoi Moore, 46, one of the founding members of the Dave Matthews Band. [He was the sax player.] Moore died after suffering complications from injuries sustained in a crash involving his all-terrain vehicle on his Virginia farm. Moore had been released from the hospital after the June accident, but then had to be readmitted. What a tragedy.
Top 3 songs for the week 8/23/75: #1 “Fallin’ In Love” (Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds) #2 “One Of These Nights” (Eagles) #3 “Get Down Tonight” (K.C. & The Sunshine Band)…and…#4 “Jive Talkin’” (Bee Gees) #5 “Rhinestone Cowboy” (Glen Campbell) #6 “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” (War) #7 “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” (James Taylor) #8 “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” (Elton John) #9 “At Seventeen” (Janis Ian) #10 “Please Mr. Please” (Olivia Newton-John)
Red Sox Quiz Answer: Five to have uniform retired…Yaz, Williams, Fisk, Cronin and Doerr.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday…not Monday…due to travel.
