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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: elpolvo who wrote (50877)	7/12/2004 10:14:22 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

'The Dots Never Existed' _________________________ A damning report on Iraq intelligence failures throws the administration a Curve Ball msnbc.msn.com

To: elpolvo who wrote (50877)	7/13/2004 9:23:47 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Loss doesn't deter Phelps _____________________________ Posted on Tue, Jul. 13, 2004 contracostatimes.com • He finishes second in 200 backstroke, but is the first American to earn Olympic berths in five individual events LONG BEACH - THE TIME HAS COME to change the music. Since last year's world championships, Michael Phelps has turned to Eminem's "Till I Collapse" for pre-race inspiration. For the next 349 days, Phelps hadn't come close to collapsing. The fall, such as it was, arrived Monday night at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials. Now for the poignant reality: Phelps dropped from super-human status to mere mortal simply because he couldn't stay unbeaten. Aaron Peirsol lowered his world record in the 200-meter backstroke to steal a decibel of Phelps' thunder. Phelps had to relinquish his golden-boy title for the first time here, trading it for silver. Overshadowed Monday was the fact that Phelps became the first American man to earn Olympic berths in five individual events. He also has a reserved spot on the 800-meter freestyle relay team. Lost in the moment is the fact that Phelps won the 200 individual medley, still qualified for the Olympics in the 200 backstroke and advanced to tonight's 100 butterfly final. Oh yeah, and he set a world record in the 400 IM on day one of the trials. Such success, it seems, becomes pedestrian when the swimmer in question expects far more of himself. He decided to chase Mark Spitz's record seven gold medals from the 1972 Olympics. He stockpiled 17 races in eight days at the trials. He embraced a schedule Monday that crammed two finals and a semifinal into a 67-minute time frame. And for that, all he got was polite applause from the VIP spectators he passed after the 200 backstroke. Australian superstar Ian Thorpe, warned him not to spread himself too thin. Second place, what a shame. What a shame, indeed, if any of what Phelps has accomplished can be classified as a failure. He can run his Olympic team supremacy to eight spots before the week is done. Thorpe, meanwhile, will compete in no more than six events. He needed one of those gift-wrapped from a teammate after he was disqualified from the 400 freestyle at the Australian trials. At least Phelps dared to take a stab at Spitz's record. No one else has tried seven events since Matt Biondi at the 1988 Olympics. Biondi came home with five gold medals. No way would anyone call that a disappointment. Already Phelps has accomplished what on paper looks impossible. It's like asking Smarty Jones to run a Triple Crown race every day for a week straight. Or making Michael Jordan play a championship basketball game twice in the same night. Both probably could do it. But could they do it again five weeks later? Even the world-record holder who beat him still admires Phelps' tenacity. "He's doing an excellent job," Peirsol said. "If he comes back with half of what Spitz did, it would be just as good." In Athens, Phelps will face the likes of Peirsol in every race he swims. He will do it three or four times a day. He may have to look across the lane marker and relive Monday's celebration of a world record, from the loser's perspective. Guaranteed, he will hate every minute of that. "I don't like to lose," Phelps said. "Tonight's 200 back gave me a message or an eye opener. I knew what I was trying to attempt would not be easy." Every race ended with an old man's wince etched on his 19-year-old face. His legs looked wooden on his victory march at night's end. Yet, he shrugged off the pain with a "I feel better than I thought I would." He may tinker with his swim program before he hits the pool in Athens. Making the Olympic team eight times over gives a swimmer that luxury. Knowing Phelps, he won't scale back the program much, if at all. This is a guy who knows no limits, who turns disappointment into almost instant success. He failed to win a 200 butterfly medal at the 2000 Olympics. So six months later, he broke the world record in that event. He lost the 100 butterfly to Ian Crocker at the 2003 world championships. So, he hung a magazine cover of Crocker on his bedroom wall. Today, he gets a crack at Crocker. Tomorrow, he gets to rest. Next month, he gets to take on the world. In the distance plays the strains of Puff Daddy's "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------