8. Grace Under Pressure

Before arriving in Beijing, 41-year-old Olympic swimmer Dara Torres was regularly described as inspirational, ageless, smoking-hot and ultra-competitive. All of which are true.

However, in the moments before the semifinals of the women’s 50-meter freestyle competition, Torres demonstrated yet another quality: decency. Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, also swimming in that semi, tore her swimsuit minutes before the race’s scheduled start (and Olympic officials are no less time-conscious than Mussolini’s train dispatchers were).

Torres, seeing Alshammar’s distress, first went over to assist the Swede. Then she stepped off the block and walked over to a poolside official, calmly asking the official to delay the start a few moments for Alshammar.

Appearing in her fifth Olympics, and one of the true marquee names of the Games, Torres probably realized that the officials would not begin the race without her. Still, it was inspiring to see Torres, who would end up with silver in this event, go out of her way to help a fellow athlete whom she barely knew.

9. Not Again

In Olympic parlance, it might be best to rename Murphy’s Law as Emmons’ Law. Four years ago in Athens the American shooter aimed at the wrong target on his final shot, costing himself gold (he finished 8th). That story had a happy ending, though, as a lovely Czech shooter, Katerina Kurkova, first consoled him and then married him.

Four years later in Beijing, Kurkova won gold on the first day of Olympic competition. Then it came time for her husband to redeem himself. Once again, Emmons had a seemingly insurmountable lead heading into his final shot. This time, as the New Jersey native lowered the barrel of his rifle toward the bull’s eye, a shot rang out.

Emmons had misfired. The gaffe left him in 4th place, once again out of the medals.

10. Class Act

Hugh McCutcheon was in the midst of a dream and a nightmare.

On Saturday, Aug. 9, the first full day of events at the Beijing Olympics, McCutcheon's wife and her parents were visiting a popular local tourist site, the Drum Tower. McCutcheon, a New Zealand native who was the head coach of the U.S. men's volleyball team, was preparing for his squad's opening match.

McCutcheon’s in-laws, Todd and Barbara Bachman, were stabbed by a Chinese man who then leaped from the tower and took his own life. The crime was senseless and random, and Todd Bachman was mortally wounded.

Suddenly, McCutcheon, a relatively obscure figure in the U.S. contingent, was an international figure. Should he remain with the team, or should he accompany his wife, Elisabeth, herself a former Olympian, back to the United States with her mother?

There was simply no protocol for how to handle this. McCutcheon handled the grief and the pressure with consummate grace, however. He excused himself for three matches to be with his family, then returned in time to shepherd the men to their first Olympic gold in men’s volleyball since 1988.   

"This isn't any vindication," said McCutcheon after the U.S. beat Brazil to win gold. "This isn't anything that is going to alter any outcome. But when I look back at this thing, I'm just going to think, 'Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, what a great thing.'

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"And I'm going to mourn the loss of my father-in-law," he said. "We can do that. We can be happy and feel a tinge of sadness, as well."

11. From High to Low for Lolo

With world-class talent and Maxim-worthy beauty, American high hurdler Lolo Jones seemed poise to cash in on Olympic gold faster than you can pant "Amanda Beard". Jones, a radiant beauty with mixed-race ancestry, seemed the poster girl for an Obama-ready republic.

In the 100-meter high hurdles Olympic final in Beijing, Jones, 26, was pulling away from the pack when she clipped the 9th of the ten hurdles. The three-time NCAA champ stumbled and finished out of the medals. Later she was seen in a hallway crying, mouthing the question “Why?” to herself over and over.

12. The Miracle On Dirt

It loomed as more than a gold-medal contest. It would be the final, at least for the foreseeable future, Olympic softball game ever played. The United States entered the game on a 22-game Olympic win streak and had won gold in all three prior Olympics in which the sport had been staged.

Dominating? The U.S. women outscored their opponents 51-1 in Athens and entered the gold-medal game against Japan having outscored teams 57-2. Entering the finale against the Japanese, American pitchers had held opposing hitters to a .054 batting average.

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That hegemony, in fact, was often cited as the prime reason the sport was being dropped from the Olympic program.

Simply put, the U.S. women were too good for their own good.

All of which rendered the final Olympic softball contest that much more ironic. Japan won, 3-1, in what should be considered alongside Rulon Gardner's defeat of Alexander Karelin in Sydney and the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" as one of the all-time incredible upsets in Olympic lore.

What was supposed to be a benediction, a fond farewell for Team USA, became instead the most painful of defeats. How do you cope with a loss when you know that "We'll get 'em next time" is not an option?

13. They’re Already Behaving Like Veterans

Former Kansas teammates Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers were ejected from the NBA’s Rookie Transition Program in Rye Brook, N.Y., last September. The former Jayhawks, who helped lead KU to the national championship last April, were allegedly found with women and marijuana in their hotel room on the eve of the four-day seminar.

Arthur and Chalmers were sent home and will have to repeat the program next summer. Here’s a question: What if the duo repeat-offend? Do they get to pony up a nominal fine and miss the four-day course again? Sounds as if they should be teaching this seminar, not taking it.

14. Sound Advice

Video   Top '08 sports soundbytes Tom Brady, Allen Iverson, Mike Singletary, Bill Belichick, Bobby Knight and President Bush all make the cut.

Former UCLA quarterback Rick Neuheisel, in his debut as head coach of his alma mater, watched current Bruin quarterback Kevin Craft throw four interceptions in the first half (one of which was returned for a touchdown) against Tennessee. Neuheisel was asked what he told Craft, who was making his own UCLA debut, at halftime.

"I told him, 'Punting is winning,'" says Neuheisel.

Craft did not throw an interception in the second half and UCLA scored a come-from-behind victory.

15. Lance in Leadville

The Leadville Trail (Colo.) 100 is to mountain bikers what the Tour de France is to road cyclists. Also known as the “Race Across the Sky”, Leadville begins at 10,500 feet and ascends to 14,000 feet over its 100-mile course.

Leadville even has its own version of Lance Armstrong, and that would be six-time champion Dave Wiens. Last August Wiens was once again nearing the finish line in first place, having shaved more than 13 minutes off his own course record, but more spectators were gaping in awe at the rider in second place.

Lance Armstrong. The seven-time Tour de France champion jumped on a bike for his first competitive ride since his last time down the Champs-Elysees in Paris three years earlier. And, facing the off-road version of himself, Armstrong finished second by less than two minutes.