Super Mom Makes An Olympic Splash

THE DRIVE-
      Brandon Dillard’s Achilles injury makes me limp…and I didn’t even see it. Just thinking about that body part scares me. As a life-long distance runner, the Achilles is something you stretch…and then hope it never lights up. If it does, it probably means you’ve got a form issue and then you’re looking at inserts and treatments I don’t like to think about. .But I digress…
      Everyone surrounding the Hokies football program is feeling for the Bassett product who worked so hard to get into this position, only to have this misfortune. Here’s to a speedy recovery. Meantime, we start the guessing game as to which “young gun” will step up and take control at the flanker position. There are plenty of highly touted choices. I haven’t seen enough of any of them except on film to take an educated guess, but I’ll weigh in on this come mid-August.

THE FAIRWAY-
      Hooray for 41-year old Dara Torres, qualifying for her 5th Olympic Games. If you watch me with any regularity you’ve probably heard me call her an old classmate. We were at Florida at the same time, and we crossed paths on occasion in Weimer Hall (the Journalism & Communications building). I remember interviewing her a couple of times for our Gator Radio network flagship station, WRUF. Already an Olympic gold medalist when she stepped on campus, Dara was one of the greatest athletes in Florida history. I’m pretty sure she maxed out the “All-American” status with 28 honors. No, we weren’t buddies or anything, but I’m glad I got to meet her, no matter how briefly. Olympians don’t grow on trees.
      It should be noted that some in the national media are skeptical that she, at her age, two years removed from becoming a mom, could turn in her best times——without some help.  I will only point out that she’s come back after long layoffs before, and that she voluntarily enrolled in the new US Anti-doping agency study “Project Believe” back at the start of the year. They’ve reportedly taken and tested her blood and urine upwards of 15 times since then. And it is being stored, so that it can be tested later as new methods become available. She’s offered anyone interested to test her, wherever, whenever.  I’m not sure what else she can do. She knew the skepticism was coming. She answered it the only way you can. I don’t recall Barry Bonds ever volunteering for any tests.

THE GREEN-
      Seriously….the 76ers are going to be….a contender? Stop it. Stop teasing. Leave me alone. Elton Brand? Surely you jest. If this is a practical joke, somebody better explain themselves, and quickly. I might actually start caring about the NBA again.
      Naaah. Couldn’t be.

THE JAR-
      Tony Stewart, quite possibly the “most in need of therapy” interview I’ve ever had, appears to be a totally different person. He’d better be, now that he’s an owner. When in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Tony was set to appear at the farm show there. The place was packed…and the local media (local TV stations and print writers) were all waiting for him in the wings. We were told we’d get a couple of quick questions with him before he did his public deal for the crowd. This was all decided, explained and cleared ahead of time. But when Tony rolled up…he got one look at the three cameras and small contingent of press there and went ballistic. Waving his arms and saying ..”Get them out of here…” we were ushered out of his way in some kind of mock security sweep. But just in case you weren’t convinced that was of his doing…he takes the microphone and in front of the entire crowd, points to us and starts tearing into us—-. (You see…we were the sole reason Tony was getting bad pub…through our fabrications….we were pure evil.) I didn’t realize I had that kind of power. Anyway, the guy was unstable, angry, rude and way, way out of bounds. We were just a couple of local stations in Pennsylvania hoping to get a couple of questions about Pocono. That’s all. It was ridiculous. This was probably five years ago now. Since that time I have encountered a softer version of Tony, although his sarcasm is never far from the surface. Now the guy seems thoughtful, mature, and even easy to like. Maybe it’s because Kyle Busch wears the black hat now!  I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I am rooting for him to succeed at Stewart/Haas, because what he represents now—-is not the big, multi-car team, but the ideal that the smaller teams can compete with the right mix of knowledge, experience…and yes, money.

    No, really…the 76ers are going to be contenders?