ARMY DIVER RECOVERS FROM BROKEN NECK

Army diver Zach McLain is back on the boards.

AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS PREVIEW

The coach of the Malawi national team gives the Times a rundown of what to expect in the African version of the Euro.

The toughest kid ever

While the major sports writers in America get to deal with idiots the likes of Bobby Backstab Petrino, some get to watch truly great athletes. Glad ESPN took notice of Claire Markwardt.

ONE IRON MAN

The next time you feel like it's tough and you don't know how you're going to make it through another day at work, or whatever, listen to the story of Scott Johnson. His lungs didn't work and he was about to die. Resigned to it. Then they put someone else's lungs in him. Now he does triathlons. Like the little girl with cystic fibrosis in Australia in the story, I've added Scott Johnson to my list of favorite athletes. This is worth a listen.

MORE ON OSCAR PISTORIUS

This is a good blog - The Science of Sports. Above is their take on Pistorius. The link to the main page of the blog is here:

http://scienceofsport.blogspot.com/

OSCAR PISTORIUS UPDATE

Abled, disabled or ultra-abled? That's the question about Oscar Pistorius. The South African sprinter's back in the news again as he pursues a ruling on being able to run against guys with legs. The story above is the NYT's excellent look at the question from back in May. There's a British update from yesterday here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/athletics/article2903673.ece
Not sure where I come down. Some people are just born with unfair advantages - Indurain and Lance Armstrong aren't normal humans - they have some genetic screw up that makes them superhuman. Same for Yao Ming - abnormally tall. Unfair? Not really.
This guy was born without regular legs and what he's got are prosthetics. Not really that much different from cyclists who are born with super VO2 max, and then capitalize on that by having the better bike than the other guy.
OK maybe not - his legs are metal and springy. But it's an interesting question.

UM, WEIRD, BUT AWESOME

Old ladies playing hoops. Cool.

NOW, THIS IS A SPORTS HERO

Dara Torres, getting older but swimming faster. Nice profile in The New York Times.

NYC MARATHON

A run in the park compared to living in Sudan

THIS GUY'S BUSTING UP A STEREOTYPE

They should play the Ride of the Valkyries when this guy carries the ball.

SA RUGBY WINGER FASTER THAN CHEATAH

My choice for most interesting thing about the world-cup-winning South Africa rugby team is that one of the Springboks' wingers, a guy named Habana, raced a cheatah and it looks like he won. I've watched this race a couple times, though, and the result is due mainly to the cheatah's lack of technique. He wastes probably two or three strides by jaunting sideways a bit a couple of times. With some really good form coaching, this cheatah could just be the fastest animal on Earth.

RYAN OUT AS US WOMEN'S COACH

Watching Briana melt in the Brazil game you knew this was coming. When you set a goal of winning the World Cup and you don't, no 45-1-9 record will save you, I guess. Personally, I don't see how you fire a guy for one incredible blunder when he has that kind of record, if the firing is based on outcome alone. (I don't know what kind of internal struggles/personality conflicts might be going on, though.) But If I won as many games as he did and lost as few (ONE LOSS, I REPEAT, ONE LOSS), I'd be pretty happy. OK, technically, they lost two on his watch. They lost a penalty shootout to Germany, but for some reason that counts as a draw.
Soccer America has a different take, and makes an interesting case - that it wasn't the record, or even the Brazil loss, but the style (or lack thereof) of play. Check that out:
http://www.socceramerica.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=24082

S.A. TAKE RUGBY WORLD CUP

The Springboks are world champions of rugby. I watched the final in delay today - good match actually. England had a try that they weren't awarded, but the 'Boks probably would have won anyway. Everything you want to know about it is in the story you read by clicking the link above.

RUGBY W.C. FINAL PREVIEW

It's England v. South Africa this weekend to see has the best rugby 15 in the world.

WHEN THE GAME MEANS MORE THAN THE GAME

Today's soccer story is actually from April. This is why you love soccer.

IN HONOR OF THE START OF NHL SEASON

Hockey used to be one of the big four sports in the States, but now it has honored "other sport" status and therefore can be talked about freely on this page. In my opinion, hockey was ruined when it went south, trying to market itself to people who didn't grow up with the game. Hockey should be played in Montreal, Buffalo, Philly, Boston and Chicago not Atlanta, Nashville, Phoenix and Tampa. But whatever.

ENGLAND JOINED BY SOUTH AFRICA, FRANCE AND ARGENTINA

World Cup semis are set

ENGLAND FIRST SEMIFINALIST IN RUGBY WC

England are through to the semis in France. Is it me, or has this tournament lasted like 5 months?

AN AMERICAN WOMAN TO WATCH FOR FUTURE WORLD CUPS?

Ashley Harris is leading a resurgent Florida

US WOMEN HAVE EASY TIME WITH ENGLAND, GO THROUGH IN WORLD CUP

The US got second half goals from Wambach, Boxx and Lilly and will face the winner of Australia-Brazil. England had some goalkeeping blunders and possession problems, and faded in the second half.

WOMEN'S WORLD CUP UPDATE

Ives Galarcep has this update on the WWC on his Jersey soccer blog. Most of today's games have been postponed because of Typhoon Wipha or whatever it's called.