Baseball: Post 34 reaches state championship game. 3C
Sports
S U N D A Y , A U G U S T 5 , 2012
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CECIL HURT
Is there such a thing as offseason?
T
he joys of summer — sunny days by the swimming pool, trips to the beach or the lake with friends, wasting time on sultry evenings. Which of these perennial pleasures did the University of Alabama football players enjoy in the offseason? It’s a trick question. College football players don’t have an offseason any more. In the not-too-distant past, the opening of fall drills — the annual ritual that began at Alabama on Friday — really did represent a starting point, or at least the end of a hiatus. Every year, part of the ritual for practice-watchers was to see which player had enjoyed too much of Mama’s home cooking over the previous three months and would thus fail to complete the dreaded mile run, the fitness standard for all. Such a notion would seem like so much nonsense to players today. No one comes in looking fat and sloppy, sports writers excepted. Almost without exception, everyone, even freshmen, has spent the summer in rigorous personalized training. Practice time is too valuable to waste on waistlines. The start of August practice is still a watershed in some ways, the fi rst time that all the players and coaches are in one place at one time as a team. But individually and in small groups, the work has been constant for almost eight months. I am not naive enough to suggest that Alabama players have no fun at all. But quarterback AJ McCarron responded to a question on Friday about summer fun with approximately the same look Dick Cheney would use to greet a query about Lady Gaga. “We don’t celebrate much here,” the Crimson Tide’s junior quarterback said. “It doesn’t matter what we win. I think after the (BCS) championship game, we took off 72 hours and then went back to work. There isn’t any complacency here. That’s how people lose their jobs.” McCarron was similarly stern through two interview sessions. He’ll never be as glib as his predecessor, television-host-in-waiting Greg McElroy, which is fi ne. They are different personalities. SEE HURT | 10C
Phelps phinale
HEAVY MEDAL A look at U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps’ 22 career medals in three Olympic Games
2004 ATHENS
GOLD 100-meter Butterfly 200-meter Butterfly 200-meter Individual Medley 400-meter Individual Medley 4x200-meter Freestyle Relay 4x100-meter Medley Relay
Most decorated Olympian wins 18th career gold medal in final event of his career
BRONZE 200-meter Freestyle 4x100-meter Freestyle Relay
By Paul Newberry The Associated Press
2008 BEIJING
LONDON | The fi nale was a formality, more a coronation than a contest. Michael Phelps headed into retirement the only way imaginable — with another gold medal. Reclaiming the lead with the trademark butterfly stroke he first debuted in the Olympics as a 15-year-old in Sydney a dozen years ago, Phelps won the 18th gold of a mindboggling career in the 4x100-meter medley relay Saturday. “I’ve been able to do everything that I wanted,” he said. When it was done, Phelps hugged his teammates — Matt Grevers, Brendan Hansen and Nathan Adrian — before heading off the deck for the final time in his suit. He waved to the crowd and smiled, clearly at peace with his decision to call it a career. And what a career it was. Phelps retires with twice as many golds as any other Olympian, and his total of 22 medals is easily the best mark, too. He can be quite proud of his fi nal Olympics as well, even though there were times he had trouble staying motivated after winning a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Games four years ago. The 27-year-old could surely swim on for another Olympics, maybe two, but there’s really no point. “I told myself I never want to swim when I’m 30,” Phelps said. “No offense to those people who are 30, but that was something I always said to myself, and that would be in three years. I just don’t want to swim for those three years.” He hugged his longtime coach, Bob Bowman, who whispered three words that said it all, “I love you.” Their partnership was formed 16 years ago, when Bowman took a gangly, hyperactive kid with an extraordinary gift and helped turn him into a swimmer the likes of which the world had never seen. “Bob and I have somehow managed to do every single thing,” Phelps said. “If you can say that about your career, there’s no need to move forward. Time for other things.”
2012 LONDON
GOLD 2012 LONDON 100-meter Butterfly 200-meter Individual Medley 4x200-meter Freestyle Relay 4x100-meter Medley Relay
SILVER 200-meter Butterfly 4x100-meter Freestyle Relay
SEE PHELPS | 4C
BOXING
ALABAMA FOOTBALL
Tide readies for Fan Day
Wilder wastes little time, earns first-round TKO
Chase Goodbread Sports Writer
By Aaron Suttles Sports Writer
MOBILE | If there was a lesson learned Saturday night it was fi rst and foremost: Don’t talk trash or anger Deontay Wilder. Do so and you’ll pay the price. The “Bronze Bomber” slayed another overmatched opponent with a head-rattling technical knockout over Kertson Manswell at the 2:10 mark of the fi rst round in a nationally televised fight on Fox Sports Net. It marked the fi rst nationally televised boxing match in the state in 26 years. Wilder detoured from his initial fight plan, which called for him to sit back and show a laid-back style, after Manswell boastfully said he intended to “bury” the Tuscaloosa heavyweight. There was nothing laid back about Wilder’s attack plan. He began the fight with thumping left jabs that discouraged Manswell from coming forward like he wanted to. Not long after, Wilder dropped Manswell with a left hook to the jaw. The second and third knockdowns came shortly after SEE WILDER | 10C
GOLD 100-meter Butterfly 200-meter Butterfly 200-meter Individual Medley 400-meter Individual Medley 4x200-meter Freestyle Relay 4x100-meter Medley Relay 200-meter Freestyle 4x100-meter Freestyle Relay
TOP: Tuscaloosa boxer Deontay Wilder (right) lands a punch against Kertson Manswell in the first round of a heavyweight bout at the Mobile Civic Center on Saturday. Wilder knocked Manswell down three times in the first round and won by technical knockout after just two minutes, 10 seconds. Wilder stays unbeaten at 24-0. LEFT: Wilder holds his daughter Ava after Saturday night’s win. PHOTO | MICHAEL CHANG
TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama football fans get their only chance of the preseason to see the Crimson Tide Sunday for Fan Day at Bryant-Denny Stadium. For fans, it will be a chance not only to watch practice but to pick up autographs from head coach Nick Saban and UA players as well. For players, however, it’s another opportunity to impress the coaching staff with only four weeks left before the Crimson Tide opens the season against Michigan in Dallas. “When you have a young team, I think you’re going to basically do how well your team learns to execute on a consistent basis,” Saban said. “I think that’s probably one of the biggest goals that we have in this fall camp. We’re SEE FAN DAY | 3C
ALABAMA FAN DAY ■ When: 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ■ Where: Bryant-Denny Stadium ■ Notes: Gates open at 1:30 p.m. at gates 11 and 17. A 45-minute autograph session will follow practice. The line for autographs will form before practice begins at gate 46. Fans are limited to one item per person for autographs. Parking will be available on the West ten Hoor area of campus.