When it comes to the Olympics, the medal count is overemphasized but it serves as something of a measuring stick to pare down all of the diverse sports into one tangible outcome.
Team USA won the overall medal count for the fourth straight Olympics, but came up short to China in the gold haul for the first time since 1992.
But the beauty of the Olympics is the individual perseverance to perform at the highest level that an athlete can at that moment in time or for a team to bring together varying skills into one cohesive unit. There are only so many Michael Phelpses and Usain Bolts.
Winning gold is the ultimate. Phelps’ accomplishments are off the chart. Fellow swimmer Katie Hoff acknowledged Phelps’ greatness but lamented that “it kind of makes the rest of us look like if we don’t win a gold medal, it’s not good enough.”
It’s interesting to watch the reactions of the athletes who earn a medal not plated in gold. Many times, particularly in track, it’s hard to distinguish who won what by the sheer elation of those in the top three. Making that awards podium matters regardless of which step you’re on.
Quarter-miler David Neville typified that as well as anyone. He is no doubt aware of the biblical admonition to “run in such a way as to win the race.” Neville didn’t win the race. But his head-long plunge over the finish line gave him the bronze and a USA sweep in the 400 meters. After the race he simply told the TV reporter, “I give God all the glory.”
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Kristen Zaleski’s fifth professional season with the Rockford Thunder ended last week. The Thunder finished at the bottom of the six-team National Pro Fastpitch league.
Zaleski’s numbers were off the staggering statistics she’d put up in previous seasons, but it was a down year in general for the Thunder, which moved from Texas to Illinois prior to the 2007 season. It didn’t help that the Thunder was without the services of their ace pitcher this year. Cat Osterman was busy devoting her services to Team USA.
Zaleski, a 1999 Temple grad who was the league’s MVP in 2005, hit .266 and led her team with 14 steals and 35 walks. She is the career leader in almost every offensive category for the Thunder. The center fielder left Texas State in 2004 as the Southland Conference’s all-time leader in hits, steals and runs scored.
If Zaleski isn’t the best all-around female athlete Temple has ever produced, the line in front of her isn’t very long. She went against the growing specialization trend, accumulating honors in basketball, volleyball and track to go with her stellar softball career.
It can be done.
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If the football historians have it right, the Cameron Yoe Yoemen are on the verge of a landmark 600th victory. The Yoemen come into the 2008 season with 598 victories in their illustrious history.
Unlike a lot of other schools with long winning histories, the Yoemen have done so without having one long-running dominant coach. Temple and Rogers have had the benefit of legends Bob McQueen and Donald Godwin respectively, both spending about 30 years accumulating the vast majority of their school’s victories with nice supplements by others along the way.
Toby York stands as a Yoe sideline legend, though in a relatively short period of time. He is the winningest coach in Yoe history, with 76 victories spanning just seven seasons from 1981-87. The Yoemen’s only state title came on York’s watch, in 1981. He won more than 86 percent of his games.
According to the records listed on the Texas Football website, only 13 schools have reached the 600-victory plateau. Groveton and Tyler John Tyler are one win away. Yoe is the fifth-winningest 3A school and has a shot at reaching No. 600 on Yoe Field with home dates against Waco Connally and Gatesville to start the season.
Incidentally, Temple stands at 676 wins, which is fourth all-time behind Dallas Highland Park, Amarillo and Plano.
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Through the first couple of weeks of volleyball season, only Gatesville from the immediate area merited a top 10 ranking. The Class 3A Lady Hornets maintain that despite fearlessly taking on higher classified opponents. Coach Rickey Phillips has established a program that is consistently ranked and annually makes a multi-tiered run through the state playoffs.
Phillips dispels the notion that old sportswriters can’t coach.
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To Cheeseheads, Brett Favre looks funny with a Jets helmet on. The old Packer legend follows a long line of sports greats who were inextricably identified with one franchise but played out the string somewhere else.
Emmitt Smith closed his career with the Phoenix Cardinals, Jerry Rice with Oakland and Seattle, Babe Ruth with the Boston Braves, Willie Mays with the New York Mets and Hakeem Olajuwon with the Toronto Raptors among the many.
And who can forget Michael Jordan’s curtain call with the Washington Wizards? His Airness might like to.
