Or as the Associated Press reported it: "With the Polish flag clenched between his teeth, Korzeniowski crossed the finish line in the virtually empty Olympic Stadium Friday morning."

Take that, table tennis.

Royal mistakes

From Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star:

SEATTLE - It was the sort of inning that has been a recurring loop for the Royals in this miserable summer. Three errors, including two on one play, resulting in two soft runs.

See, Reds fans, it could be worse ... a lot worse.

Great expectations

Washington Redskins assistant coach Joe Bugel on the team's first day of training camp, as quoted this week in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"I got here about 6:15, and the parking lots were full. They were throwing footballs around. It was like game day. Then I really started getting nervous."

100 years ago ...

The San Bernadino Sun reported that the U.S. men's track totals of "eight of nine sprint medals is the best Olympic performance by the Americans since the sparsely attended 1904 St. Louis Games, where U.S. athletes swept all three events."

That's right, St. Louis had an Olympics. See, that "Cincinnati in 2012" idea wasn't so crazy.

Nature boy

According to the Miami Herald, former Dolphins running back Ricky Williams "is living out of a tent in Australia and recently was bitten by some insect he described as a caterpillar, causing so much pain and swelling in his legs he could hardly walk for days."

Whoops

Duce Staley, acquired by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the offseason, scored a preseason touchdown this week against his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles. He then ran through the end zone and handed the football to a young boy wearing a jersey of former teammate Donovan McNabb.