Some days you have it, some you don't.

Adam Craig realized he didn't have his best Saturday afternoon in the Olympic men's mountain bike cross country race.

He wanted to do well, but not necessarily for himself. Every athlete at these Games knows that if you do well in your sport, there tends to be a boost back in the States. Craig figured if he and teammate Todd Wells put on a good showing, more people might take up mountain biking.

It didn't happen. Craig was credited with a 29th while Wells finished 43rd. And while both were officially credited with finishing the race, both were pulled off the course before they could complete the eight laps.

It's a weird rule. If a rider doesn't complete his lap within 80-percent of the time the leader completes his, they pull the slower rider off the course because they don't want to clog the course. They don't want the lead rider to have to slow down to lap another rider.

Anyway, Craig showed remarkable poise dealing with the media afterward, all wondering just how disappointed this Exeter, Maine, native was. Personally not at all. But he was disappointed on a missed opportunity to give his sport a boost.

So I thought you'd like to see some photos of what it looked like out at Laoshan Mountain Bike Park.

If you weren't under the shade of a tree, you needed some protection from the sun. These fans brought theirs:

Yeah, the mascots are everywhere, here dancing to "Cotton-eye Joe.''

Adam Craig looked pretty relaxed at the starting line …

… considering how crowded it was.

He even found time to slurp this mixture of honey and ginseng:

Once the race was over and we were heading out, I noticed this:

Yep, a ferris wheel. There's a big amusement park next to the cycling venue.

Okay, that's it for today.

One more day and I'm heading home. I'll let you know about the Closing Ceremonies tomorrow night.

Well, I'm here at Laoshan Mountain Bike Course and it is hot.

The sky is blue, the sun is high and the temperature is 90 degrees.

Not sure how the competitors are going to handle it, but they're trying to take care of the media.

Here's what they've done for those of us sitting outside in the media tribune:

Yeah, it's shade, but not a whole lot cooler. Still, I'm happy to be under one, especially right in the front row. But, yeah, I still feel like I'm baking here.

Fans have begun to arrive, an hour before the race, and they are scrambling to find the shady spots. This is going to be a hot, hot one.

Now I know you're all enjoying these goofy photos of me, so here's another one, taken by me at the U.S. men's basketball 101-81 win over Argentina Friday night.

This Redeem Team, as they're calling themselves, hoping to wipe out eight years of gold medal futility, might be better than the original Dream Team. I know the talent they're playing is better than it was back then.

That's Michael Phelps on the big scoreboard at the National Aquatics Center here in Beijing after getting his eighth gold medal Sunday morning.

It's fitting. He was larger than life at these Olympic Games.

Eight gold medals!

A writer from Finland opened his question by telling Phelps that his country has never won a gold medal in swimming since 1896.

Even Phelps had to laugh at that.

In listening to Phelps speak, one gets the sense that he might be the most humble superstar ever.

"This is all a dream come true,'' he said. "To just imagine anything and to work toward is, to have the ups and downs and to be able to accomplish everything you've ever dreamed of … ''

His goal, he says, is to raise the sport of swimming to its highest level possible, where it isn't in our nation's consciousness just every four years.

If anyone can do it, surely Phelps can.

It's a work in progress. "It's going to take some time to get the sport where I want it to be,'' he said.

He captured everyone's imagination. Other swimmers, from other nations, stopped what they were doing on days he raced and came to watch.

"You can't put into words the level of his achievement,'' said Australian's Grant Hackett. "In my opinion, we'll never see it again.

"Michael is a great racer and a nice guy. Over the past few years I've never seen him change.''

Asked if he needed any mementos to treasure from this historic meet, Phelps said he has everything he needs: the suits, the goggles, the caps, the warmups, the medal, mostly the memories he shared with his U.S. teammates.

Phelps said he's going to take a little vacation, enjoy the rest of the Games with some friends, then it's back to getting swimming on the U.S. sports culture radar screen.

"I just want more people to get involved,'' he said. "I want them to be aware of what we do every day. And I think it's going to happen.''

Now it's off to rowing, where three Mainers go for gold today, and then back to the track for Anna Willard's run for steeplecase gold.

Wow!

I don't know about you, but I sure thought Michael Phelps' pursuit of Olympic history ended Saturday morning here in the 100-meter butterfly.

To the naked eye, it sure looked like Milorad Cavic of Serbia beat him for the gold medal. But to the electronic eye -- the one that matters -- Phelps beat him out for the gold by one-hundreth of a second.

That's the same margin that Portland's Ian Crocker lost the bronze medal to Australian Andrew Lauterstein.

How do you measure that? A blink? Or a muscle twitch?

There is some confusion as to whether the Serbians filed a protest. Originally, meet officials said no, but in the same press conference five minutes later, they said a protest was filed.

Regardless, they said, the Serbians were pleased with what they saw in the videotape proof of the results.

Jamie Fabos, a spokeswomen for USA Swimming, said the tape was reviewed and broken down to one ten-thousandth of a second, and it showed the results were correct.

Anyway, Cavic, in his press conference, showed a lot of class by asking that any protest, if there were one, to be dropped.

"On the scope of what happened, I'm very happy,'' he said. "I don't want to fight this. You have to understand, I came here with the goal to win a bronze. I had my best time and I won a silver, which is better than a bronze.

"For me to end my career now, if that's what I chose, I would be completely happy.''

Crocker, meanwhile, showed no disappointment in his result, despite losing out on a medal. He spent about six minutes talking to the media after the race which, anyone will tell you, is an incredibly long time.

Heck, we don't even get that much time with Tom Brady after a game.

Much has been made about the rivalry between Crocker and Phelps, but it didn't seem like it was very deep.

Crocker praised Phelps after the race, saying what he did was truly incredible.

"For someone who's had the amount of success he's had and crossed the bridge as far as taking swimming to next level, I think he's a really great guy and a guy you're proud to be on his team and able to race next to him,'' said Crocker.

After winning his sixth gold medal Friday morning in the 200-meter individual medley, then qualifying for the finals of the 100 butterfly, Michael Phelps -- the darling of the Beijing Games thus far -- met with the media to discuss the possibility of winning eight golds.

"I think the next two races are pretty important,'' he said. "Tomorrow morning's race (the 100 butterfly) is probably the most important race of this meet.''

Classic understatement, eh?

Phelps is trying to become the first athlete to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games. Standing in his way in the 100 butterfly is Ian Crocker of Portland, the world record holder in the event.

Crocker is trying to ignore the outside interests in this event, those that see him as the last chance to stop Phelps' bid.

Anyway, Phelps' biggest obstacle Friday morning here was getting ready to swim in the 100 butterfly.

He had just received his gold medal for the 200 IM and was whisked off the pool deck and told to get ready to swim in the first heat of the 100 butterfly.

"I didn't know I had as little time as I actually did, I didn't even have time to go to the ready room,'' he said. "I went from walking off the pool deck to taking my awards sweats off, to putting my parker on, trying to put my cap and goggles on … I literally had about two minutes to do it.

"I knew it was a tight turn there. The only thing I wanted to do was win my heat in the 100 fly and get a center lane and I was able to do that. It will set me up for something hopefully good tomorrow.''

Finally, he was asked about his trading card, which reportedly is now selling for $500. Wish I had one.

"Wow,'' he said. "That's a pretty good deal.''

So I'm at the U.S.-Korea baseball game on Wednesday night, a heart-breaking 8-7 loss for the Americans in their opening game at Wukesong Baseball Field, and I notice a name on the U.S. roster that seems familiar.

Hmmmmm, where have I seen that name before.

Wait, I know, Hadlock Field. Portland Sea Dogs.

Blaine Neal.

Neal, the 2001 Doggies closer (when they were affiliated with the Florida Marlins), is a reliever on Team USA. He had been pitching for the Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit) in Triple-A where he was 1-0 with a 1.31 ERA and an International League-leading 24 saves.

You know, maybe he should have been used Wednesday night, considering the U.S. gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth to lose, after rallying for three runs in the top of the ninth to go ahead.

Anyway, he had that one marvelous season at Hadlock, when he saved 21 games and had a 2.38 ERA with a 2-3 record.

I didn't get a chanced to talk to Neal after the game -- heck, only one U.S. player stopped in the mixed zone -- and hope to later on.

Tonight, Ian Crocker hits the pool for the first time. I will be there.

The U.S. men's eight crew, including fourth seat Wyatt Allen of Portland, surged past Australia in the final 500 meters to win their repechage race and advance to Sunday's Olympic finals at the Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park.

The repechage is a second-chance race for the six teams that did not win the heats. The U.S., Australia, the Netherlands and Poland advanced, joining Great Britain and defending world champion Canada in Sunday's finals.

The U.S. women qualified for the finals on Monday. Their race Sunday will be at 5:10 a.m. while the men's race will be at 5:30 a.m.

The U.S. men are the defending Olympic champions.

The U.S. won in 5:38.95, making up a .91 second deficit to Australia in the final 500 meters. Australia finished second in 5:40.31.

"There were a couple of places we wanted to press and that was one,'' said Allen. "We take pre-planned pushes where the (rowing) rate goes up and you empty your tank for the finish.''

Allen, who was a member of the Gold medal winning team in 2004, went on to say the race was probably the "best piece I've been part of the last couple of years.''

The question has been raised, what is repechage?

The rowing community knows, but perhaps I should have explained.

A repechage is a second-chance race for those boats that did not qualify for the finals.

It allows each boat another opportunity to get to the finals. In today's men's eight repechage, which includes the U.S. team with Portland's Wyatt Allen, six boats will race for four spots in the finals.

Hope that explains it.

And another question might be, how the heck do you pronounce it?

Even the rowers just call them "reps.''

Hope you have a good day. It's once again overcast, very hot and very humid here in Beijing.

The U.S. women's eight crew, fueled by Camden's Anna Goodale and Boothbay Harbor's Elle Logan, took a huge early lead and won its heat race Monday afternoon, advancing the two-time defending world champs to Sunday's Olympic finals.

In the second men's heat race at the Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park, the U.S. men's eight team, with Portland's Wyatt Allen in the third seat, finished second to Great Britain, meaning the men must race again Tuesday in the repechage to have a chance to advance to the finals.

In the women's race, the U.S. finished the 2,000-meter race in 6:06.53, more than two seconds ahead of Great Britain. But defending Olympic champion Romania had the best time of the day, with a 6:05.77.

That didn't matter to the U.S. rowers. After having their race postponed one day because of a thunderstorm, they were in the finals.

"We're excited,'' said Goodale. "It's what we've been training for for the last four years.''

The men's team will race at 5:40 a.m. Tuesday in the repechage, with four of the six repechage boats advancing to Sunday's finals.

The U.S., which is the defending Olympic champion, had the fastest time (5:29.60) of the six repechage boats.

The finals will be on Sunday, the women starting at 5:20 a.m., the men at 5:40 a.m.