Hey, who let this guy in?

In a sea of misery, one proud American celebrates the United States' 5-3 hockey victory over Canada yesterday. Found this on Yahoo's fun Fourth-Place Medal blog.

Cal football - Redemption possible?

Last week at Oregon was no fluke. The soon-to-be unranked Cal football team tried to explain their 42-3 loss to the Ducks last week as uncharacteristic. And it did seem that way after their 3-0 start to the season.

But #7 USC pummelled the #24 Bears tonight 30-3 and revealed a Cal team with deeper problems. That's two field goals scored in two weeks. The Bears have not scored a touchdown since they visited Minnesota. Jahvid Best scored all five touchdowns that day, making him the only Cal player to score a touchdown in the last three games.

But, a few positive things to consider.

1. At least the defense performed a little better tonight, allowing the Trojans just one field goal in the third quarter, and one touchdown in the fourth - although that was the first time this season Cal allowed its opponent a touchdown in the final stanza.

2. The Bears get a break next Saturday, giving them two weeks of practice before they head down to challenge UCLA in Pasadena. They need to calm down and review the fundamentals - especially red zone offense.

3. This is USC! Did anyone actually think we were going to win? Our loss to Oregon was the key to our downfall, not the Trojans.

The Bears never really had a chance tonight. Going into the game the entire team's confidence was still aching from the Oregon humiliation, and Riley threw an interception, instead of a touchdown, in the endzone during our opening drive against USC.

Many fans believe the season is over because Cal will drop from the rankings, the Pac-10 title is probably out of reach, and Best's chances at the Heisman have disintegrated.

This is a disappointing reality, but I hope the Bears stay focused the next two weeks. If they summon their confidence and control the Bruins on Oct. 17, they can prove their resilience and their desire to win - and most importantly, their refusal to give up.

As we say every year: well, maybe next year.

Another teenage sporting sensation

Thirteen-year-old Casie Cathrea proved that qualifying for the CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge in Blackhawk was no fluke. The local teen sunk a hole-in-one at the 12th hole of her opening round today in her LPGA debut.

Contra Costa Times profiled Cathrea in today's paper, and I learned the news of her ace from an update to the Times website.

Cathrea is the second youngest player to qualify for an LPGA tournament. Michelle Wie was the first, at 12.

This is why I love sports

I began to choke up reading this article that came up as Yahoo's top story this afternoon. It's about an Arkansas high school football star's exemplary sportsmanship at the end of a game against a team mourning the recent death of one of its players.

Thamail Morgan returned the kick-off for what would have been an 80-yard touchdown, but when he was only a couple yards from the end zone, he stopped, backed up to the five-yard line, and took a knee. There were just seconds left in the game and Morgan's team, the Greyhounds, had already ensured victory with the lead, 34-16.

By itself, this is a mature and in Morgan's own words "classy" gesture, but it becomes even more significant because it came from a player who had made bad choices in the past. Morgan transferred to his current high school, Cave City, because he would have been ineligible to play his senior season at Newport because of a rule violation that was not disclosed in this article. Morgan's mistake was serious enough that Division-1 colleges interested in recruiting him stopped calling. Perhaps they should give him another chance.

This story reminds me why I love sports, and sports journalism. You don't even need to be a sports enthusiast for this story to get you in the gut. Morgan's gesture toward the Yellville-Summit team shows how athletics really can bring out the best in us - how pure competition can be when it doesn't involve fame and fortune. Unfortunately sports sometimes bring out the worst, as Serena Williams recently demonstrated during her outburst at the U.S. Open. But at that same tournament, we were inspired by teenager Melanie Oudin. The pros, who seem to have forgotten the fundamentals of sportsmanship, should look to Oudin and Morgan for examples of how to conduct themselves.

Highs and Lows of the Women's Game at U.S. Open

There is no excuse for Serena Williams’ behavior tonight that ended her run at the U.S. Open. But tensions were already high since her semifinal against Kim Clijsters had been delayed by more than a day due to rain. A foot fault called during the second set cost Williams the match after she berated the lines judge and was penalized one point – which turned out to be the match point that sent Clijsters into the finals.

Being a role model must be hard. I am often quick to criticize Tiger Woods when he fails to display impeccable sportsmanship, but hey, golf is one frustrating sport. I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten through a round without having a major temper tantrum. I expect professional athletes to handle themselves better, though. I understand that Williams (and Woods) is human, and if enough things conspire against her, she, too, is prone to boil over. The match’s delay must have filled her with anxiety that was difficult to control once it wasn’t going her way. The lines judge claims Williams threatened her and reporters say their verbal exchange was peppered with profanity from Williams. Sure, this is a major, and tennis is Serena’s life, but she has been around far too long to abandon discipline in this way. She simply crossed the line.

Serena marked the tournament low for the American ladies, but sunny 17-year-old Melanie Oudin demonstrated the highs. She seemed unstoppable beating three experienced Russians until she reached the quarterfinals and fell to Caroline Wozniacki, who will face Clijsters in the finals. This is a classic Cinderella story that inspires young girls to believe they can achieve anything, and has captured the attention of many who don’t usually follow tennis. Melanie’s success has been surprising not just because of her age, but because of her body type. At 5’6” she is significantly shorter than most of her competitors, and some say she lacks power. But she makes up for it with her stamina, speed, and confidence. I am one of those that rarely watches tennis, but Oudin caught my attention when she beat No. 1 Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon earlier this summer. Her performance at Arthur Ashe proved that Wimbledon was no fluke, and with Venus Williams’ early exit and her sister’s shameful loss of control, Oudin established herself as the American darling of this tournament.

Obama to release White House visitor logs - but not effective until after Sept. 15

From NPR News, Obama decides to release White House visitor logs.

A month or two back I wrote about all the celebrities who have been dropping by the White House, and the Obama administration's efforts to keep the visits hush-hush. The administration has at last agreed to reveal to the public who will be stopping by 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Note "will be" because the White House will only release its visitor records beginning Sept. 15. Information about visits that occurred between Jan. 20 and Sept. 15 will be available only by special request, and its release will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

I find it disappointing that the White House is still keeping visitors from his first eight months under wraps, but I do admire the effort of the administration to be more transparent. The Obama administration will indeed be the first to reveal this information at all.

The Mannahatta Project - New York City: 1609

Today, Times Square is a forest of flashing neon superscreens on the facades of high-rise buildings frequented by tourists and theatergoers. But 400 years ago, this Manhattan area supported a diverse population of plant and animal life.

I was attracted to the cover story, “Before New York”, of the latest National Geographic magazine which features a split photograph: the modern day cityscape on one side and the 1609 rendering of the same region to its left. I spent a month living on the Upper West Side earlier this summer and even more recently I finished reading The Last of the Mohicans, a wilderness survival tale about the clash between tribal communities and European colonists that takes place in (upstate) New York in 1757.

The article introduces the Mannahatta Project, an effort to uncover Manhattan’s original landscape and ecology, which was envisioned by Eric Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society. Ten years later, an interactive map is up and running on the project’s website. Users can type in their addresses or NYC landmarks to learn the details of the region's ecology in 1609.

This map reveals that the site of Times Square once contained a red maple swamp, and I learned that the area surrounding the Manhattan School of Music residence hall where I stayed this summer provided multiple kinds of berries and may have been a lucrative hunting location for the Lenape people.

Today Central Park may be the only place in Manhattan where it is possible to escape from the concrete and bustle of the city. Thank goodness for that.