Sandpoint runners represent at Bloomsday

53 Sandpoint area residents donned their brand-new burnt orange Bloomsday shirts and congregated at Farmin Park for the annual picture on Monday — many of whom no doubt had advil coursing through their veins.

The most notable finisher, 78 year-old Sandpoint resident John Howard, was actually wearing a white shirt, a special commemorative shirt given to each of the 124 people who have run all 30 Bloomsdays.

"I'm just doing it," said Howard, who once postponed an operation to run in Bloomsday. "I'm slower than hell anymore. I used to be able to do it in about an hour, now it takes me two."

Four generations of the Rich family finished the race, ranging in age from 82 years-old to two and a half months. All told, 17 members of the Rich family finished Bloomsday, including Lewis Rich, who is running for Bonner County Commissioner. If there isn't already an adage that says a family that runs together stays together, there should be.

For the sartorially inclined, the finishers Tee-shirts provided mixed opinions. The majority of people gathered at Farmin Park seemed to like them. In an informal poll, 36 were pleased with the shirts and nine thought they were ugly, siding with Bee editor and Bloomsday finisher Caroline Lobsinger, who wasn't all that fond of the color choice.

Bee publisher David Keyes, who recently completed the Las Vegas Marathon, finished right around an hour. He was able to keep up with the strong contingent of Kenyan runners all the way up until the starting gun went off.

From a guy who gets gassed merely jogging a mile, much respect to all of the Sandpoint area residents who were able to finish Bloomsday.

Propers to Givens, Klontz and Young.

It should come as no surprise that Sandpoint is headed to state as the 4A automatic berth. Although they would never admit it, head coach Mike Givens and assistants Rick Klontz and Chris Young had a lot to do with it.

Perhaps more than any other sport, coaches have a direct influence on a baseball team. While talent and athleticism often win out in track, football and basketball, in baseball the small things make the difference.

Those are the operative words — small things. It's also what the Sandpoint coaches preach and hang there hats on. Sure, there are two or three sticks in that line-up with home run power, but you'll never see them striking out swinging for the fences.

The 2006 edition of Sandpoint baseball is solid defensively, moves runners, puts the ball in play, works the count, holds runners well, doesn't strike out a lot, produces one through nine in the batting order — in short, does all the little things well. In the course of nearly 30 games, doing those things will win you a lot of games.

They also have a nice chemistry, have fun playing and will give you all they have. . .mainstays of old-school baseball.

Even though Givens told me you can't get to state without the players, I beg to differ. There's some great talent on the Bulldogs team, but I've seen talent go nowhere under the wrong stewardship.

I don't know how Sandpoint will fare at state, but I do know one thing. They won't beat themselves and they will hit, pitch and field from the first pitch to the final out.

What's up Phil?

Far be it from a lowly sports scribe in the far reaches of Idaho to criticize the great Phil Jackson — he of the championship ring per finger — but am I the only one who thinks he blew it by mysteriously keeping former Zag Ronny Turiaf buried deep on his bench?

I'm a life-long Laker hater, and I love the brand of ball the Suns employ, so I'm far from disappointed. At the same time, I was hoping to see Turiaf get some minutes and at times even found myself — gasp — rooting for the evil empire. Turns out Phil got completely out-coached by the Suns' Mike D'Antoni.

Turiaf rode the pine for the first four games, not logging a second. Finally in the fifth game of the series, he got about ten minutes of playing time and promptly made two three-point plays, scored ten quick points and infused the one-man team with an abundance of energy they were totally lacking. Of course he never sniffed the court in the second half as the Suns ran away with the game.

In game seven, Phil waited until Kwame Brown missed eight short looks and fumbled away another three passes inside before finally letting Turiaf play. He promptly committed a few solid playoff fouls, but his hustle and ability to defend seemed completely out of place on the listless Lakers, who proceeded to get blown out. I guess Phil wanted four guys who were willing to stand around and watch Kobe, that's what he got anyway.

I'm miffed as to how a 6-foot-10 player that can run the floor, finish down low, defend and provide playoff hustle never sniffed the floor.