Bob Bowman

Reporting from Santa Clara, Calif. — Eight, apparently, was just enough. Swim icon Michael Phelps couldn't have been more emphatic on the burning topic of again trying to go after eight Olympic gold medals. There is no doubt he won't be winning eight gold medals because he said he won't be competing in eight events in 2012. Been there, done that. But that is only part of it. Phelps pulled off the record, three summers ago at the Olympics in Beijing. He won five individual gold medals and three more in the relays.

Reporting from Santa Clara, Calif. — Eight, apparently, was just enough. Swim icon Michael Phelps couldn't have been more emphatic on the burning topic of again trying to go after eight Olympic gold medals. There is no doubt he won't be winning eight gold medals because he said he won't be competing in eight events in 2012. Been there, done that. But that is only part of it. Phelps pulled off the record, three summers ago at the Olympics in Beijing. He won five individual gold medals and three more in the relays.

Although they haven't completely turned the corner on boredom, jurors in Pasadena are certainly turning the page. Those waiting around to be picked for trials at the Walnut Street courthouse can thank Bob Bowman's periodical visits for that. As he has done each week for eight years, 84-year-old Bowman wheels a cart loaded with free magazines into the jury assembly room every Friday morning. These aren't dogeared National Geographics or ancient Newsweeks, either.

Ah, the good old days… Turning our lonely eyes to Aussie icons Thorpey and Klimey and remembering how American Gary Hall Jr. once set off a firestorm when he spoke about smashing the Australians like guitars. You might say with Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Hall now retired that the vaunted Aussie-U.S. swim rivalry has landed in the remainder bin. Not exactly. How about relocated? It all has, in a sense, gone more global, a fact expected to be fully on display with competitors from 21 countries on hand at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine.

His words sounded quaintly hopeful, rather than pretentious. Whether Michael Phelps was in Barcelona, Athens or even Long Beach, at big meets and small ones, he had resolutely stayed on message since 2004. Phelps spoke of wanting to elevate the sport during non-Olympic years, keeping swimming afloat once the last anthem was played. Elbow room on the ESPN crawl and highlight shows in 2009 and 2010? You almost felt like saying: Good luck with that.

Down goes Phelps. It was bound to happen some day to Michael Phelps. But not this way and not in this race and certainly not at the hands of a relatively anonymous German swimmer with an exceedingly modest resume. Paul Biedermann shed his anonymity only days ago when he broke a vaunted world record in the 400-meter freestyle. On Tuesday, he shed Phelps, handing the swim icon his first loss in about four years in an individual event at a major international meet.

Ah, the good old days… Turning our lonely eyes to Aussie icons Thorpey and Klimey and remembering how American Gary Hall Jr. once set off a firestorm when he spoke about smashing the Australians like guitars. You might say with Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Hall now retired that the vaunted Aussie-U.S. swim rivalry has landed in the remainder bin. Not exactly. How about relocated? It all has, in a sense, gone more global, a fact expected to be fully on display with competitors from 21 countries on hand at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine.

Media guides tend to accent the positive, which is probably why the College of the Canyons baseball book talks about pitcher Bob Bowman's "exceptional pickoff moves and quick windup" rather than his fastball. Maybe the author of that line didn't realize that such flattery would make people more wary of Bowman than confident in his ability to get batters out.

In the confusing world of drugs and drug testing, Bob Bowman of The Athletics Congress would like to believe U.S. officials are doing what is right. For that reason, Bowman and his colleagues on TAC's National Board of Review earlier this year overturned positive results by pole vaulter Billy Olson and shotputter Augie Wolf.

One high-speed collision in a warmup at a historic indoor pool built under the orders of Mussolini could have undercut another collision of ego and talent, the showdown between Michael Phelps and Milorad Cavic in the 100-meter butterfly. Who knew that blurry vision, an aching left shoulder and busted swim goggles after colliding hard with an Australian female sprinter would set the stage for what could have been Phelps' finest swim performance?

His words sounded quaintly hopeful, rather than pretentious. Whether Michael Phelps was in Barcelona, Athens or even Long Beach, at big meets and small ones, he had resolutely stayed on message since 2004. Phelps spoke of wanting to elevate the sport during non-Olympic years, keeping swimming afloat once the last anthem was played. Elbow room on the ESPN crawl and highlight shows in 2009 and 2010? You almost felt like saying: Good luck with that.

One high-speed collision in a warmup at a historic indoor pool built under the orders of Mussolini could have undercut another collision of ego and talent, the showdown between Michael Phelps and Milorad Cavic in the 100-meter butterfly. Who knew that blurry vision, an aching left shoulder and busted swim goggles after colliding hard with an Australian female sprinter would set the stage for what could have been Phelps' finest swim performance?

Down goes Phelps. It was bound to happen some day to Michael Phelps. But not this way and not in this race and certainly not at the hands of a relatively anonymous German swimmer with an exceedingly modest resume. Paul Biedermann shed his anonymity only days ago when he broke a vaunted world record in the 400-meter freestyle. On Tuesday, he shed Phelps, handing the swim icon his first loss in about four years in an individual event at a major international meet.

Although they haven't completely turned the corner on boredom, jurors in Pasadena are certainly turning the page. Those waiting around to be picked for trials at the Walnut Street courthouse can thank Bob Bowman's periodical visits for that. As he has done each week for eight years, 84-year-old Bowman wheels a cart loaded with free magazines into the jury assembly room every Friday morning. These aren't dogeared National Geographics or ancient Newsweeks, either.

In the confusing world of drugs and drug testing, Bob Bowman of The Athletics Congress would like to believe U.S. officials are doing what is right. For that reason, Bowman and his colleagues on TAC's National Board of Review earlier this year overturned positive results by pole vaulter Billy Olson and shotputter Augie Wolf.

Media guides tend to accent the positive, which is probably why the College of the Canyons baseball book talks about pitcher Bob Bowman's "exceptional pickoff moves and quick windup" rather than his fastball. Maybe the author of that line didn't realize that such flattery would make people more wary of Bowman than confident in his ability to get batters out.

Swimmer Michael Phelps, who has won more gold medals than anyone in Olympic history, acknowledged Sunday he had engaged in "regrettable" behavior and shown "bad judgment" after a photo of him smoking what appears to be marijuana from a glass pipe was published in a British tabloid over the weekend.

"I had a feeling we would win the game, but I didn't think it would be this bad," Woodcrest Christian Coach Charlie Ricards said Friday. But it was that bad. The Royals took a 17-0 lead, led by 33-2 at the end of the first quarter and by 61-6 at halftime before finishing off St. Margaret's, 105-14, Thursday at Woodcrest in a first-round Southern Section playoff game of the Small Schools Division. Said St. Margaret's Coach Bob Bowman: "We were just happy to be in the playoffs.