pimblr.com

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Sitting in the interview room at the Players Championship, Paul Goydos proudly displayed the Long Beach State Dirtbags hat he wore during his first round. The Dirtbags, he had to explain to those not familiar with Long Beach State, was the nickname for the baseball team at his alma mater.
The hat that the former 49er golfer found in the Charlotte, N.C. airport must have been lucky, as Goydos fired a first-round 68, to put him at 4-under for the day in a tie for second with Kenny Perry. Goydos carded seven birdies in the round, including a stretch of three in a row on the front nine at TPC Sawgrass.
Further cementing the Long Beach presence on the leaderboard is John Merrick, who stands just two shots behind Goydos in eighth. The Long Beach native, along with former Long Beach State golfer John Mallinger, has become part of the PGA Tour’s recent 20-something surge, climbing their way up the rankings in just the short time they’ve been on Tour.
“Unfortunately for me, they’re much better than I am,” Goydos joked. “I learn from them. They’re good, smart kids. I think Mallinger had a year last year better than any year I’ve ever had. It’s good to see.”
“He’s been great,” Merrick said. “He’s a good friend. He’s been there to help me out and answer any questions I’ve had about the Tour.”
While Mallinger didn’t fare as well at Sawgrass Thursday, carding a 3-over-par 75, the Virginia Country Club trio was able to conquer one
of the most difficult three-hole stretches on Tour, the infamous holes 16, 17 and 18.
“It’s pretty challenging,” Merrick said. “Especially with them being downwind.”
Merrick and Mallinger both managed to avoid the water on the short, island par-3 17th hole, a hole that has become one of the most recognizable in golf.

presstelegram.com

Island runner Janelle Kraus started strong at the Olympic marathon trials in Boston Sunday. She was within seconds of a 6:00 mile pace at the halfway point. But then a hip injury that has plagued her since February manifested itself. Her gait and grimace told the story — she would not qualify for the Olympic team.
She “hung on” despite the pain, her former high school cross country coach Cliff Clark reported after watching the race, to finish 57th in a field of 162 with a time of 2:45:01.
Mr. Clark described the race conditions as “perfect. The weather was clear, the temperature in the mid-40s with a modest wind at the 8 a.m. start.”
Ms. Kraus, interviewed via email this week, was moved by the event. “The atmosphere in Boston on that day was unlike any race I have ever seen before; there were crowds at every turn cheering for everyone in that race. I am so grateful to all my family and friends that were there to support me.” In addition to Mr. Clark, the fans cheering her on in Boston included parents Chuck and Linda Kraus, Janelle’s siblings Amanda and Patrick, uncle and aunt Ken and Gina Kraus, grandparents Ceil and Charlie Kraus and many friends including Melanie LoBue, Fay and Warren Walker and Kevin Barry.
Mr. Clark described the course, which “started near the Prudential building in mid-town Boston and made multiple loops around mid-town, across the Charles River via the Harvard Bridge to Memorial Drive (between the Charles River and MIT campus) and back across the bridge to mid-town.
“Janelle was running magnificently through the first half (13.1 miles) and a little beyond. Note one of the pictures that shows the halfway clock at 1:19:01. … She looked great through that point, from every measure. She really looked like she would run the second half faster than the first.”

www2.timesreview.com

Straight D’s across the board for Drillbit Taylor, which narrowly avoids a full-on failing grade for its forthright truth-in-advertising: “You get what you pay for” goes the poster art tagline (true dat: apparently, we’re coughing up our hard-earned cash for a swift kick to the ‘nads by “deserves better” star Owen Wilson). There are worse things, I suppose, than being below-waistline roundhoused by a Hollywood celebrity. Chief among such tortures would be experiencing the complete sense of desperation that marks Drillbit Taylor’s each and every scene - “slumming it” is too kind a descriptor for House of Apatow screenwriters Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen, dusting off a twenty-years prior treatment by John Hughes (here credited under his Dumas-derived pseudonym Edmond Dantes). To put it as horrifically as possible, imagine Curly Sue, but McLovin-ized.
Hence the unlikely, high-concept pairing of homeless war vet Drillbit Taylor (Wilson) with three high school freshmen (Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile, and David Dorfman - all cruelly treated, first and foremost, as gangly, fat, or nerdy walking punchlines) bent on protecting themselves from the deranged high school bully Filkins (Alex Frost, bringing his subdued Elephant psychosis to the fore). Hughes’ shallow, Sturges-lite depiction of the world’s down-and-outs thus merges with the Judd Apatow brand of sentimentalized alpha-male analysis (Eww, he said “anal”!) of the adolescent horndog, an already limited perspective (prone to a few hollowed-out “Man Getting Hit By Football” guffaws) that Drillbit Taylor all but decimates as it fumbles aimlessly along. It’s rather jaw-dropping to ponder the disconnected minds that would tenuously link a con-artist “Iraqi Freedom” deserter with randy, brace-faced teenagers, finding time along the way to shout-out The Untouchables and Fight Club, to indulge in a laugh-free “Asians, they are a funny race!” interlude (days of Long Duk Dong, how I’ve missed ye), and to hinge a frenetic house party climax on a flying samurai sword, a severed finger, and a conveniently handy margarita sure to give Jimmy Buffett future pause. But then, this is a film whose height of wit comes when Drillbit, posing as a substitute teacher, amends his name to “Dr. Illbit”, so astonishment is probably a futile reaction where full-on rejection would be more proper.

ugo.com