News & Neuigkeiten » the race with white caps on the l

TROON, Scotland -- A look at the key hole Friday in the second round of the British Open::HOLE: No. 8YARDAGE: 123PAR: 3STROKE AVERAGE: 3.05RANK: 11KEY FACT: Phil Mickelson came within a few inches on a hole-in-one and made birdie for the second straight day. Trouble arrived in the afternoon with the wind and rain. Nathan Holman took three to get out of the bunker and made 6. Shugo Imahira took a 7. There were 15 scores of double bogey or higher.Devin Hester Jersey . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. Gale Sayers Bears Jersey . One game after a miserable showing in Oklahoma City, Gay tied a career high with 41 points and the Sacramento Kings cruised to a 114-97 victory at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. http://www.bearsrookiestore.com/Bears-Anthony-Miller-Jersey/ .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. Brian Urlacher Womens Jersey . On Tuesday, Ottawa placed forward Cory Conacher and defenceman Joe Corvo on waivers as trade rumours swirl around the Senators. Jim McMahon Bears Jersey . The 31-year-old Spain midfielder hasnt played since Madrid lost in the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid in May due to back and foot injuries.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Apparently filthy water is nothing to make a stink about at the Olympics.All seemed well Saturday at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, a picturesque body of water not too far from the famed Copacabana Beach. Flanked by deep green mountains and gleaming white high rises, it looked to be the perfect spot for the worlds best rowers to chase Olympic gold.It didnt even smell that bad, though locals say there are many days the lagoon emanates odors usually associated with a toilet in bad need of plunging.This is a beautiful venue, Canadian rower Eric Woelfl said. How often do you get to row in a place with mountains, sun and a fantastic crowd? What more could we ask for as competitors?Uh, clean water might be nice. So would decontamination spray for the pair of Serbians who were last seen bobbing up and down in the water after becoming the first Olympians to capsize their boats in 12 years.Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik picked the wrong Olympics to take a header. An Associated Press investigation over the last year showed 1.73 billion adenoviruses per liter in the lagoons water at one point, though by June the readings were down to 248 million adenoviruses.Levels like that would have authorities in the U.S. closing down beaches and lakes and taking emergency measures to protect the public health.Here in Rio they simply handed out bottles of hand sanitizer.We wash our mouths out with an anti-bacterial wash after rowing, and really try to prioritize our hygiene, said Australias Kim Brennan. We try to avoid any hand to mouth contact and try to avoid getting any of the water in our mouths.That was dicey duty on the opening day of the Olympics, when the winds picked up and water not only sprayed over competitors but filled boats so much that some thought they might sink.Rio is a dangerous city, something that anyone reading about these Olympics surely knows by now. Some spectators at the opening ceremony found that out Friday night when they came upon the body of a man who had been shot dead near Maracana Stadium, blood still coming from his wounds.There was also a bizarre incident Saturday at the Olympic Equestrian Center, where a military bulllet pierced the roof of the media tent and landed on the floor in front of startled reporters.dddddddddddd.So maybe a little dirty water isnt so bad after all. Unless, of course, youre the one covered in it.I was greeted with a bottle of hand sanitizer on the dock. So, thats one thing, said Canadas Carling Zeeman, who rowed in a boat she said was filling with water.If the water at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon was bad, at least no rowers noticed anything fishy floating around in it. That figures to change when sailing opens at nearby Guanabara Bay, where helicopters and roving trash-collection boats will be employed to spot and remove floating rubbish that often clogs the bay.Half of Rios sewage flows untreated into Guanabara, which you might think would give Olympic organizers pause. The fact it didnt is that the bay looks beautiful on television, with Sugarloaf Mountain and the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in the background.Thats the same reason rowers were dipping their oars in a lagoon where last year thousands of dead fish washed up on shores. Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon looks good to everyone but the horrified scientists who test its waters.Rowers are by nature a hardy bunch and this is the Olympics, so they werent complaining much. There was more grumbling about the fact they held the race with white caps on the lagoon than the chance they had to get violently ill by coming into contact with the very water they race on.Obviously, we were pretty much swimming in it today, so well find out soon enough whats in there, Brennan said.Listen to those running the sport, and Brennan and her fellow competitors should have no worries. Matt Smith, who heads FISA, the rowing federation, called the water swimming quality and suggested fears over getting sick from it were overblown.On the opening day of a very troubled Olympics there were at least two drenched Serbs hoping he is right.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg ' ' '