One of the lowest and highest moments in the 2008 Olympics, for me, happened in the Women's 100m hurdles final. Lolo Jones was out in front and on her way to a gold medal when she struck the ninth of ten hurdles and finished out of the medals. That was the lowest point of the night, the highest point is what came next. Lolo, who admitted to NBC TV that when she took the lead she saw the gold medal around her neck, offered no excuses. She didn't use that awful line "I guess it wasn't meant to be" that we hear so often from athletes coming up short you start to wonder if they can handle defeat. No, Lolo accepted defeat with honor an class, something we can all aspire to. Hopefully Lolo will be back in 2012 and I will be rooting extra hard for her to take the gold.

I am not going to say 'I told you so', but I predicted that Usain Bolt would break Michael Johnson's 200m world record and he did just that. It was great to see him run hard all the way to the tape. Frankly, I don't understand all the hoopla over Bolt's apparent grandstanding in the 100m. He was the class, no, the super-class, of the field. All the criticism sounded like sour grapes from a bunch of people who realize that the 100m is going to be a pretty boring race for the next 8 years or so. Why don't people embrace Bolt's dominance like the do Tiger Woods? What's the difference between Tiger's fist pump and Bolt's chest thump? Give the kid a break. He is the biggest thing on the track and field scene in years and hopefully he can propel the sport out of the spectre of doping where it currently resides.

My apologies to the tiny nation of Togo. I inadvertenly reported that the nation of Tonga won the bronze in the whitewater kayaking. Sorry about that.

OK. One last question. Are you a Merritt or Wariner fan? Who's gonna win the men's 400?

Bruce

The good news: Team USA has dominated every one of their opponents during the Beijing Olympics. The bad news: Team USA has dominated every one of their opponents during the Beijing Olympics.

There was a time when the competitive balance of fastpitch softball on the international level was fairly even. During the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the distance between the pitching mound and home plate was a paltry 40 feet; leading to close—if high-scoring games--that gave any international team a chance to win.

"Granted the games went too long but at least they were competitive and everybody had a chance to beat us,” said  Hall of Fame softballer Michele Smith . “Australia had a chance to beat us and did. Japan had a chance to beat us and did beat us. China did the same thing. That's exciting."

Some fear the now standard 43 feet between mound and plate in international play, which was introduced to cut down on scoring, has produced a competitive advantage for a dominant USA Softball pitching staff that is almost impossible to hit.

And losing the Olympics might be the price we pay for success.

We're Number One

Everyone has a theory about what happened. Why a sport that seemed to be ascending in the world of international competition was suddenly removed from the Olympic rotation after the 2008 games in Beijing.

Some, such as Smith, think softball got lumped in with the national pastime unintentionally. "I think they expected to make that decision for baseball and not for softball. It was a comedy of events for softball to get voted out." Others think it's nothing more than an Anti-American bias. (Check any softball message board for affirmation to this fact.)

Others, like shortstop Natasha Watley of the U.S. National team, think the international fan base just isn't there. "Softball is a great spectator sport. We have great fans here in the U.S. But I think that's where we're hurting. It's not a world-wide sport."

But everyone agrees that it's imperative to get softball back in the Olympics. Not just so players like Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch have places to throw their devastating riseballs but for countries who depend on international Olympic funding to support their teams and promote softball in their respective countries.

"I worry about the Australian teams--Italy, Great Britain, and Greece," Smith points out. "Any of the teams that were really starting to make some progress in the European countries where we have to get stronger--it's essentially going to kill them over there."

Beijing or Bust

Osterman echoes the sentiments of many current and former USA softball players when she stresses the significance of this year’s games in China. "This is one of our last go-arounds. We're ready to put everything we have into it."

But it may be the performance of the Chinese National Team that determines softball's chances for inclusion in the 2016 games. Of all the rising teams in international play, nobody has improved faster or spent more money leading up to the games than China.

So if you see some members of the USA Softball fraternity privately waving a Chinese flag during the Olympic Games you'll know it's not just case of conflicted loyalties -- but self-preservation.

The United States' women's soccer team is going for gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, and will play Brazil at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Brazil has become a nemesis for the Americans. Two of the most explosive incidents involving the U.S. in recent years have occured against the Brazilians:

• Hope Solo. Ahh yes, it after the World Cup match against Brazil where Solo publicly blasted fellow goalkeeper Briana Scurry after not starting over her, saying "There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. And the fact of the matter is it's not 2004 anymore. It's 2007, and I think you have to live in the present. And you can't live by big names. You can't live in the past. It doesn't matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold medal game in the Olympics three years ago. Now is what matters, and that's what I think."

• Just last month, the Americans' Olympic hopes were damaged by the loss of star forward Abby Wambach in a so-called friendly match against Brazil in San Diego. Wambach was handled aggressively the entire match by the Brazilian defense until a collision left her with a broken leg. Truly, this is an opportunity for the U.S. to cry, "Win Won For Wambach!" (I know I misspelled it, but c'mon. Alliteration is beautiful.)

The casual fan knew of Shawn Johnson before Beijing. The girl-crazy teenage boys, according to Google, soon found out about Alicia Sacramone.

But the United States' golden girl at the 2008 Olympics was Nastia Liukin, a Russian immigrant and daughter of former gold medalist Valeri Liukin. Nastia won four medals, including the hat-trick in individual events (gold, silver, bronze).

Of course, the silver came about under bizarre circumstances, when she finished in a tie in the uneven bars with a Chinese girl. Not accepting a tie, a misguided IOC rule dissected the individual judge's scores and determined Liukin the runner-up.

Hmmm, breaking a tie with scores within a tie? That sounds completely wacky, whether Nastia benefited or not.

The 2008 women won't leave the legacy that the Magnificent Seven left at the 1996 Atlanta Games. But let's face it: Nastia was the best gymnast above suspicion in Beijing, and the United States was the best team above suspicion.

Only one gold was won by the U.S. women, Nastia's all-around title. But it was a good showing nonetheless.

BEIJING, China --- The first night game of the 2008 Olympic Games proved to be a special one for the USA Softball team as winning pitcher Monica Abbott ( Salinas, Calif.) tossed a perfect five inning 8-0 victory over the Netherlands and the U.S. set the Olympic record for overall home runs in the Games with 12. A 6’3” south paw, Abbott recorded the first-ever perfect game by a U.S. pitcher in an Olympic Games, recording nine strikeouts in the 15 batters she faced.

“I am really excited,” smiled Abbott. “I kind of had a goal to come out and throw one when I was named to the team. I was glad I was able to go out and make some good pitches work and I had some great plays made today by the defense with Lovie (Jung), Tairia (Flowers) and obviously Bergy’s (Laura Berg) catch in right field. You can’t really ask for much more than that and I was just trying to take it one pitch at a time and stay focused for each one.”

The U.S. saw three long balls clear the fences for another Olympic record of most runs hit in an Olympic Games by a team. Currently, the U.S. has 12 total after three came tonight from Jessica Mendoza ( Camarillo, Calif.), Crystl Bustos (Canyon Country, Calif.), and Tairia Flowers ( Tucson, Ariz.). The previous record was held by Japan and Australia with 11 total in the 1996 Olympic Games.

With the win, the U.S. is 6-0 with its final round robin match up against China on Monday at Noon/Local. The U.S. also now knows it will be the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs on Wednesday, August 20 and will match up with No. 2 seed Japan at 9:30 a.m. at Fengtai Field. The No. 3 seed is Australia and the No. 4 seed is TBD on Monday, August 18. The playoffs follow the ISF page system with the gold medal game on Thursday, August 21 at 6:30 p.m.

Natasha Watley ( Irvine, Calif.) led the game on a positive start with a slap base hit through the left side continuing her hit streak to six consecutive games. Watley was later out at second with a fielder’s choice from Caitlin Lowe ( Tustin, Calif.). Mendoza then took a pitch off the side of her body from Venezuela starting pitcher Rebecca Soumer sending her 60 feet to first base forcing Lowe to second. Hitting .500, Bustos connected on her fifth RBI of the Olympics with a line drive through the left side sending Lowe across home plate for the 1-0 U.S. advantage.

In the bottom of the second inning, with one out, Flowers put her home run mark on the Games with a towering shot to left center for a solo home run and her first ever of the Olympic Games. With a 2-0 lead, right fielder Laura Berg ( Santa Fe Springs, Calif.) sent a blooper to left field and earned a hit and advanced to second on a fielding error from Venezuela’s Marloes Fellinger. Berg later scored her second run of the Olympics when the hot hitting Watley sent her second hit of the game over the third baseman’s head for the RBI and 3-0 lead. Lowe then repeated the first inning with a fielder’s choice resulting in Watley out at second base before Mendoza roped what looked like a home run to centerfield but was caught and ended the inning.

Continuing to lead from the plate, Bustos drove in her fourth home run of the Olympics with the second pitch of her at bat to lead the bottom of the third inning. A line drive just over the 220 fences in centerfield, the home run tied the Olympic record for most home runs recorded by a team with 11. Australia and Japan both had 11 during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. With a solid 4-0 advantage, Kelly Kretschman (Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.) and Stacey Nuveman ( La Verne, Calif.) both reached on base hits before the Netherlands brought in Judith van Kampen from the bullpen. The new pitcher didn’t faze Lovie Jung ( Fountain Valley, Calif.), who extended her hit streak to all six games of the Olympics, with an RBI base hit through the middle scoring Kretschman for the 5-0 lead. Another run was added in when Berg singled to right field plating Nuveman who marked the 6-0 lead.

As Abbott continued her perfection from the circle, the U.S. closed in on the run-ahead rule scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Mendoza roped her fourth home run of the Games to centerfield to kick start the inning while Bustos followed up with an infield single to the shortstop. A wild pitch from van Kampen moved Bustos to second before rookie Vicky Galindo ( Union City, Calif.) inked her first ever Olympic RBI with a single to left field pushing Bustos across home plate for the eventual 8-0 win.

Redeem Team Gets Redemption on Spain

LeBron James led eight U.S. players in double figures with 18 points and pulled down eight rebounds as the Olympic men's basketball team continued its dominating ways with a 119-82 pounding of previously unbeaten Spain. With the game tied 9-9 in the first quarter James took the ball from the top of the key and drove to his left a and threw down a left handed jam like a man possessed. The very next trip James comes down and splashed a three pointerin the heart of the Spain defense. Then the very next trip down the floor earned a trip to the free throw line and sank both free throws for another quick two. Team USA never looked back from that point on.

The Americans had 7 steals in the first quarter alone and finished with 18 for the game. "We are never going to take a step back in this tournament," said James. "We'll only take steps forward and give ourselves a chance to win. This game means we're 4-0. A statement game? I don't know."

We looked like the United States of Athleticism on Saturday. From steals to dunks to sinking the three pointers the Americans look unbeatable at this stage in the competition. A 17-5 flurry in the second quarter extended the margin to 56-36 and the Redeem Team was on its way to another rout, certainly a major difference to what was witnessed four years ago when the Americans were relegated to the bronze medal at the Olympics.

It was 61-45 at the half and Spain never threatened over the final 20 minutes.

The final game for the U.S. in preliminary round play is Monday versus Germany.

Here are some of the Top 10 plays from this years USA Mens Basketball Team.

There's not a whole lot to add. Michael Phelps' seventh gold medal of the Beijing Games was an epic comeback and one of the most thrilling finishes in sports history. As they say, the great ones always find a way to get it done.

Besides, rolling through a loaded Olympic swimming field perfect and winning a record number of gold medals can't come without a fingertip of luck. There's no shame in that.

The question is, which race is more likely to burn in your memory forever: The 4x100 freestyle relay, Phelps' second gold highlighted by Lezak's amazing comeback against the French; or the 100 butterfly with the finish so close the naked eye couldn't determine a winner?

I can't decide, but I'm leaning toward the 100 fly because we're so close to the end of Phelps' legendary program, and the finish was one of the most amazing things I've witnessed. If Phelps was .02 seconds slower--think about that--the whole nation would've woken up grumpy this morning.

That said, the relay still remains a classic race. So I can't call it.

How about you?