IRVINE, Calif. - The KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour came to an end tonight  in Irvine, Calif., in front of 2,447 fans chanting USA as the USA  Softball Women’s National team beat Team Intensity. It was a perfect  way to close out the Tour after spending the past months in unfamiliar  territory as the majority of the team returned to their home state and  played in a stadium full of friends and family.

Throughout the 60 games, beginning in Tucson, Ariz., and wrapping up  in Irvine, the team has played in front of over 200,00 people in 45  cities . In front of amazing crowds and supportive fans, the team  kicked off competition Feb. 19 and experienced a diverse amount of USA  hospitality. Now with travel to China about a week out, the team looks  back on the past six months with fond memories but are now ready to go  over to China and defend their three-gold Medals.

“Tonight is bittersweet for us. These past few months have been  exhausting but also so amazing to see so much passion for the sport.  Although it’s sad to see it end, we are so ready to go over and bring  home our fourth gold medal,” said Jessica Mendoza (Camarillo, Calif.).  “The best way I can describe it is we are going to bottle up all the  places we’ve been, the fans we’ve seen and take them over to China. We  are going to represent them and know they are at home supporting us.”

The team jumped on the board with two runs in the bottom of the  second with Irvine native Natasha Watley making her hometown proud  leading off with a single to left field. Caitlin Lowe (Tustin, Calif.)  reached on an error by the third baseman to put two runners on. A  strikeout by Jessica Mendoza (Camarillo, Calif.) and a sac hit by  Crystl Bustos (Canyon Country, Calif.) looked to end the inning but a  two-RBI single by Kelly Kretschman (Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.) gave  the team a 2-0 lead.

After allowing a single in the first starter Jennie Finch(La  Mirada, Calif.) issued a walk to catcher Jen Schroeder in the second.  Katie Gollhardt would reach when she was hit by a pitch which brought  Head Coach Mike Candrea (Tucson, Ariz.) out of the dugout on grounds  that Gollhardt leaned in. The ruling stayed leaving two runners on.  Amanda Kamekona cleared the bases with a single down the middle. Lovie  Jung (Fountain Valley, Calif.) made the throw to Flowers but it was not  enough, pulling Flowers a little off base and allowing two runs to  score and tie up the game.

Kretschman, who during the Tour has been nicknamed “Clutchman”,  proved it was a warranted title with a shot to right field to take the  lead back to a USA advantage 3-2.

The United States put the game away in the fourth going on a two-out  rally to put three more runs on the board. Lowe got it started with a  double to centerfield, scoring off a Mendoza triple. Mendoza closes the  Tour with a team-high 107 RBI and was second on the team with five  triples. The tour leader in homeruns closed out her last at bat of the  tour in typical fashion as[ Crystl Bustos|http://www.active.com/video/play.htm?assetid=9853ee11-f53e-4a92-86d1-b2203a599e97] (Canyon Country, Calif.)  rocked her 28th homerun of the season for two RBI.

Finch closed out the Tour with a win and nine strikeouts, giving up two earned runs. She finished with a team high 19-1 record.

Mendoza was the team leader with 107 RBI hitting .495  (102-for-206).She lead the team in doubles and hits while starting in  59 of 60 games. Cat Osterman (Houston, Texas) had a team-high 247  strikeouts while allowing 37 hits. Finch worked a team-high 118.2  innings with 11 complete games.

“The dress rehearsal is done and now we’re even more focused on the  Olympics,” said Head Coach Mike Candrea. “We had a great tour this year  with some of the best stops till ‘96. The local hosts held some great  events and the communities really supported softball and that’s great  to see. Now we are on to why we are here, to bring home a gold medal.”

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- The LIVE television schedule for the 2008 Olympic Softball competition was recently announced by NBC. The USA Softball Women’s National team will begin competition on August 12 on CNBC at midnight/ET as the 32-game slate spans from August 12-21 at the Fengtai Softball Field in Beijing, China.

The three-time defending Olympic Gold Medal winning team will look to defend its title by playing seven round robin games before looking to advance to the playoffs on August 20 and the grand final on August 21. Six of the seven round robin games for the U.S. will be brought to the U.S. LIVE from CNBC. On August 17, they will play the Netherlands at 7:30 p.m. local time and that will be LIVE on MSNBC. See below for complete schedule.

• PLEASE KNOW ALL TIMES AND NETWORKS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. ** Log onto http://www.nbcolympics.com/ for the most  up-to-date T.V. schedule. </p>

*USA Television Schedule for 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

NOTE: Beijing, China is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. *

  Tuesday, August 12

USA vs. Venezuela - Noon Local - (Midnight EST) – CNBC & CNBC HD

  Wednesday, August 13

USA vs. Australia – Noon Local - (Midnight EST) - CNBC & CNBC HD

  Thursday, August 14

USA vs. Canada – Noon Local - (Midnight EST) - CNBC & CNBC HD

  Friday, August 15

USA vs. Japan – Noon Local - (Midnight EST) - CNBC & CNBC HD

  Saturday, August 16

USA vs. Chinese Taipei – Noon Local - (Midnight EST) - CNBC & CNBC HD

  Sunday, August 17

USA vs. Netherlands – 7:30 p.m. Local - (7:30 a.m. EST) - MSNBC

  Monday, August 18

USA vs. China - Noon Local - (Midnight EST) - CNBC & CNBC HD

*Tuesday, August 19 – *OFF DAY

  Wednesday, August 20 - Playoffs

GM1: Seed 1 vs. Seed 2 – 9:30 a.m. Local - (9:30 p.m. EST) - CNBC & CNBC HD

GM2: Seed 3 vs. Seed 4 – Noon Local - (Midnight EST) - CNBC & CNBC HD

GM3: Loser of GM1 vs. Winner of GM2 – 5 p.m. Local (5 a.m. EST) - MSNBC & MSNBC HD

  *Thursday, August 21 – *Grand Final Game – 6:30 p.m. - (6:30 a.m. EST)  – USA &amp; USA HD

The USA Decathlon Team consists of three world class athletes that will represent the U.S. for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The U.S. already in my eyes has the edge in the event in terms of probable medal winners because of Bryan Clay & veteran Tom Pappas. Both have Olympic experience and Clay is the favorite to win the Gold this year as he attempts to be only the 2nd man in history to break the 9,000 point barrier.

Getting a chance to compete in the Olympics is just about every athlete's dream. After two days of fierce competition and years of training beforehand, Trey Hardee's vision of sporting the red, white and blue in Beijing is now a reality. The 24-year-old former University of Texas standout ended up with a second-place finish in the decathlon in Eugene and he posted a career-best total of 8,534 points, ranking him behind overall winner Bryan Clay and ahead of Olympic veteran Tom Pappas.

Not bad for the now 6-foot-5 track star who was once overlooked when he tried to make the basketball team in high school. Hardee's path to Beijing wasn't a smooth one. He had to overcome a hip injury, which cut his training short.

"At this time last year, I couldn't even train, I couldn't do anything," said Hardee, who lives in Austin, Texas. "My hip was pretty busted up. I couldn't run. It hurt to walk."

Once his hip healed, Hardee was forced to put his training into high gear.

"Really it wasn't until this year, until like late winter, early spring of 2008, that I was really able to train really hard again," he added.

Trey needed and had a breakout meet on the 2nd day as he set the stage for the rest of his day by an epic battle in the first event--the 110m High Hurdles. The event posted 3 world class times. Trey was trailing after 6 hurdles and over the final 4 looked like a man possessed as he sprinted to a 1st place finish and a time of 13.71 (PR) Whew! What a race!

The 24 year old at the end of the day found himself standing in 2nd place and bound for Beijing! At the Olympic Games over the course of 10 events anything can happen to anybody. Although he may not be everyone's favorite he is certainly mine. Trey is so young and so talented. His energy level cannot be matched. The title of the World's Greatest Athlete is up for grabs in Beijing and Trey Hardee wants it!

Below is the Video of the 110m HH Day 2 of the Decathlon Trials in Oregon

Trey Hardee is in Lane 7--Talk about shifting gears..

As the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing get closer you can feel the excitement and anticipation start to heat up everywhere. The Olympic Games is a spectacle of an event that will have over 200 Countries represented. The Olympics are one of the largest media events. In Sydney in 2000, there were over 16,000 broadcasters and journalists, and an estimated 3.8 billion viewers watched the games on television.

I've been reading numerous articles on the Olympics this year and last night as I was doing my normal web surfing at some of my favorite web breaks, I thought I would share a couple things that reminded me of how exciting it is every 4 years when we get to experience the Spirit of the Games.  

Since July 13, 2001, when Beijing won the right at the 112th plenary meeting of the International Olympics Committee to host the 29th Olympic Games, Chinese people under the auspices of the Chinese government have been endeavoring to make the 29th the best games ever. In publicizing the Olympics background information, the construction of the Olympics venues and other aspects, there are many moving stories.

Following are some of them.

To publicize the Olympic spirit, five men cycled around China

To welcome the coming of the Beijing Olympic Games, a group of four Chinese senior citizens and a Korean cycled 180,000 kilometers around China to publicize the Olympic spirit. When arriving at a city, they enthusiastically brought the Olympic spirit to local citizens. They handed out leaflets to citizens in different cities in China inviting them to watch the sailing competition in Qingdao. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they will cycle in other countries to publicize the games.

English Speaking Contest held to support Olympic Games

In Beijing, host city of the 2008 Olympic Games, an English Speaking Contest was held featuring the Olympic Games. Participants from 12 colleges in Beijing showed their enthusiasm for the Beijing Olympic Games through their brilliant speeches. Speech titles such as 'Olympic Games in My Heart' and 'One World One Dream' demonstrated participants' excitement about the Beijing Olympics.

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It was an impressive weekend in the pool for Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff as both captured world records at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials.

You know it’s going to be an exciting meet when Phelps and Ryan Lochte jump in the pool. The two friends and rivals continued to push each other to new heights this weekend in the 400 IM and were neck and neck for the majority of the race. In the last 20 meters Phelps pulled away from Lochte to set a new world record with a finish of 4:05.25.  Lochte came in less than a second later with a finish of 4:06.08.  Both times beat Phelps’ previous world mark of 4:06.22.  I have no doubt that the two competitors will be eager to go stroke for stroke again in August at the Beijing Games. It will be an exciting event that I will be sure to watch in a few short months.

Katie Hoff also broke a record on Sunday in the 400 IM with a finish of 4:31.12.  Her time beats the previous world mark of 4:31.46 set March 22 by Stephanie Rice of Australia.

It should be a great year for the U.S. Olympic Swim Team!