Thursday was the Individual race here in Vancouver. I'd had some shaky performances on the range in shooting the previous two days, so I needed to sort that out first and foremost, as an Individual is heavily weighted toward the superior shooter. I spent a little bit of time doing SCATT laser training with my coaches on Wednesday night and used the remaining time during zero on Thursday morning to shoot a few extra clips, just to make the mechanics smooth. The day was sunny and a warm one inside our one-piece powerweb racing suits, so I was grateful it was also the one race in which we're allowed feeds. With temperatures dropping a little lower at night during the past week, the tracks held up surprisingly well even when the sun came out. They probably became just a little slower as the snow was churned up and the top layer turned to water. At least we started in the morning instead of the after the men.

-- L.S.

A couple of other things that were on the Berkshire County sports landscape on Feb. 22, 1980...

- Monument Mountain's Todd Lane (101 pounds), Louis Ely (108) and Geoff House (141) advanced to the Division II state semifinals in wrestling. At that time, Berkshire County had nine wrestling teams, and the Spartans were the county champions.
- Wahconah's girls basketball team was celebrating its first North Division championship, while Lee was the South Division champion.
- The Hennessy League had a whopping NINE hockey teams in two divisions. Pittsfield High School and Drury were the division champions.

So...what do YOU remember about Feb. 22, 1980?

- M.S.

This article originally appeared on www.fasterskier.com. You can follow Laura Spector year-round at blogs.fasterskier.com/lauraspector. FasterSkeir.com is a Williamstown, Mass.-based company that provides year-round coverage of cross-country skiing, biathlon and Nordic combined.

"I was actually not feeling nearly as fresh as I could have hoped to be. But although it wasn't the strongest race of the year for me, the experience was something that's never been equaled for me before. I started in bib number 9 as the first North American, so when the crowd heard that over the loudspeaker they went crazy. I've never before seen the crowd cheer so loudly for a North American, and it made me truly grateful to have a huge group of family and friends out there supporting me at the biggest event of my career. It's great to have the races so close to home this year because it makes their trip out more manageable.

Once I made it out of the stadium and past all the noise I had to figuratively pinch myself and remember the race at hand. I came through the first lap feeling as though I had paced well, and looking back at the analysis, I actually skied a decent time. As most of you have probably already read, the organizers put fertilizer down on the course to help compact the snow, as warm temperatures and rain had caused it to become deep and slushy. This made a huge difference and the course was actually somewhat fast in many places, not to mention that our wax techs turned out some excellent skis considering the variability in conditions throughout the course. Our team of technicians has been doing considerable research over the past four years at this venue to turn out some Bauer grinds designed especially for these conditions.

The crowd was cheering wildly as I approached the range, but I realized to my relief that it was for a Canadian just leaving the start, so I convinced myself that I was all alone on the shooting range. I missed my last shot and it was when I got up off the mat that I realized how beat my legs were. They started to burn on the first uphill after the stadium and when I tried to jump-skate the next big hill, they simply didn't want to respond. It was disappointing and tough to face the fact that I was going into one of the most important races ever on the tired side. The training has been so focused yet minimal this past week, but it seems that it just wasn't enough of a taper for me this time. In the end, I missed one target each in prone and standing but finished out of the top 60, so I won't be starting the pursuit on Tuesday. Instead, I'll use the next four days to get the rest I need in order to start the Individual on Thursday, our longest race at 15 kilometers, refreshed."

-- LS

- Of course, Leitch earned the praise from his classmates with his third-period glove work Wednesday night. Wahconah has one of the toughest offenses in the league, and it threw everything it had at the St. Joe's net in the third period. Leitch was up for the challenge - and so was the Crusader offense, finding ways to give its goalie some breathing room late.

- By comparison, Taconic's win over Mount Everett was so slowed by penalties that it made St. Joe's-Wahconah feel like a 4-on-4 game.

- Just a quick reminder that Wahconah's girls basketball boosters will dedicate their program to late coach "Boog" Powell at Thursday night's girls basketball game against Monument Mountain. I'm told by Wahconah softball coach/expert hockey scoreboard operator Ken Pease that Spartan coach Tom Kinne, a good friend of Powell's, will speak during the ceremony.

-M.S.

There was a decent crowd at the game, including a lot of students. The fans were into it, too - even getting worked up on simple glove saves.

In honor of the new season, here's a favorite song of mine from the late Warren Zevon, whose talents are appreciated by at least two Eagle sports staffers.

The song is called "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)." The lyrics were written by noted sports columnist/author Mitch Albom. If you listen to the song, you may recognize the guy yelling "Hit somebody!" in the chorus. (In case you don't listen to it, I'll just reveal his identity: David Letterman.)

The song is so good, director Kevin Smith ("Clerks," "Mallrats," etc.) - a big hockey fan himself - wants to make it into a movie.

Anyway, here's the song, from Zevon's 2002 album "My Ride's Here."

- Matthew Sprague, Eagle sports editor

- Ashley Raftery's solid service was no surprise to Lee volleyball coach John Warner after Wednesday night's three-set sweep at Monument Mountain.
She's had that kind of success since the start of the season.
"Her serve percentage is somewhere between 83 and 85 percent serve-in," the coach said. "Phenomenal serve percentage. She didn't miss a serve the first three matches of the season. She has been ... very reliable. She's got depth on her serve, it's got penetration, it's a biting serve. It's one of the effective weapons we have."

- Despite staying unbeaten, Warner still sees room for improvement.
"We need to hone our blocking," he said. "As we head forth into the postseason, the offenses become much more potent. We need to establish a double block on some of the more potent hitters, and the middle block is a little late. As we progress, the speed of the hitters becomes that much faster."

- Piazzo said he wouldn't trade his current Monument team -- which has already qualified for Western Mass. tournament play -- for any other team playing right now.
"I'm very, very comfortable with this team," he said. "I really like these girls. I can't imagine them being any more tenacious. We need to work on a couple things. I'd like to find our team's Michael Jordan -- the person who can score those final points at the end of the game to put it away. That's our goal between now and the end of the season."

- In the middle of a hotly contested set, Piazzo wasn't above a little comedy. In between points, a couple of Monument players were slipping on a spot in the front row. Piazzo, who was out on the court to talk to his players during a stoppage of play, did his best to fake a slip on the spot before drying it with towels himself. That brought a decent ovation from the Monument fans in attendance.

- The Thunderstix craze apparently isn't limited to Los Angeles Angels fans (though it'd be just fine, frankly, if it was). A couple of Spartan students figured out halfway through the match that a couple of empty Mountain Dew bottles can serve as a substitute for the noisemaking props when you bang them together.

- Matthew Sprague, Eagle sports editor

In soccer, players from the top two teams are also dueling on the top of the goals list. Wahconah's Darcey Sullivan is on top of the girls' soccer goals list, and she'll only grow her lead after her electric performance on Friday night in Wahconah's first game since the passing of girls soccer coach/girls' basketball coach/athletic director/youth sports leader Robert "Boog" Powell. McCann, by virtue of its strong Tri-County showing is the only school with multiple players.

In golf, the scoring championship looks to be a two-man race between Barrett Ramsay, who made his debut as a fresh face two years ago with a Western Mass. title, and Garrett Alibozek, the new kid on the block and the freshman out of Hoosac. Expect this one to go down to the wire. Strangely enough, the first player from the current top team in the county, Jon Jewell, of Wahconah, stands fifth.

This isn't so much Chicago's fault, though, as the fault of recent history.

Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Games. Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Games. Vancouver gets the upcoming 2010 Winter Games. That's three Olympics for North America in the last 13 years. The U.S. has hosted two of them. South America has never hosted an Olympic Games.

If New York City couldn't land the Olympics, Chicago wasn't going to, either.

I also believe that, while politics play a large role in the IOC's ultimate decision, there was little that American politics (or politicians) could do to help the Second City. The President showed up in Copenhagen with the First Lady - and Oprah - to help pitch a possible Chicago Games. None of it mattered. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the rest of the 1995-96 Bulls could have been there, and a win wasn't going to happen for Chicago.

In the end, I think it was a case of bad timing for the Windy City.

What a victory (and a challenge) for Rio de Janeiro and the country of Brazil, though. Talk about an extended view on the world stage - Brazil had already landed the 2014 World Cup. Now it gets the Summer Games in 2016.

For Americans, the question is this: Is there a city vying for the 2018 Winter Games? (Denver/Colorado Springs, perhaps?) How about the 2020 Summer Games? (How would the Olympics look in Dallas/Fort Worth?)

- Matthew Sprague, Eagle sports editor

After an abbreviated Week 1 of the golf season, Mount Greylock and Taconic look like the teams to beat for the second consecutive year.

Both are unbeaten (The Braves are 2-0, the Mounties 1-0) and also lead the county in scoring average.

Also once again, the early leader for the scoring championship comes from Greylock.

Last year, All-Eagle MVP Dylan Dethier walked away with the scoring crown. This time around, Taylor Dunn's +1 against St. Joseph's leads the league early on.

Look for weekly updates to the list here, along with occasional updates on our High School Extra page, which will run Thursdays during the fall season. As the season progresses, I also plan to have the standings listed here as well.

--Chris Carlson

I know it's only one playoff series, and there's a long way to go before the B's can vie for the Stanley Cup. But the view from here is the Bruins looked awfully impressive in disposing of their long-time rivals.

They played strong positional hockey, for the most part, giving the Canadiens few passing lanes for breakout plays, and won all the battles for loose pucks, which resulted in those David Krejci-Michael Ryder goals last night. They also maintained their composure, and when was the last time you could say that about a Bruins' team?

The Canadiens, on the other hand, were disappointing. They took the play to the Bruins at some points, but every time the B's began to roll they folded. Their defensemen had a horrible series. Too many bad clearing passes, and failures to clear rebounds in front of Carey Price. Sure their best defenseman, Andrei Markov, couldn't play, but really, that's no excuse. Teams that care suck it up during the playoffs. The Celtics lost Kevin Garnett, who means a lot more to them than Markov means to the Habs, yet they're still compete. This is the first time that I can remember that the Bruins had a decided talent edge on the Canadiens.

Time to break up the gang in Montreal. Go Habs Go!

Brian Cogswell, the Lenox athletic director, said last night that Nicole Patella, an assistant with the team last year and the daughter of former coach Fred Lafave, will take over the team next year. Lafave had coached the team for the past 13 years and a total of 17 years. During his career with Lenox, coaching both boys and girls, he won a state record 628 games.

The trip, which costs $90 and is put on annually by the Lee Community Tennis Association, includes a $52 ticket good for all courts and bus fare, which is a pretty reasonable price considering you’d have to pay for parking, gas, and drive home after sitting out in the sun all day if you went on your own.

I guess the thing that stood out the most was simply how close you can get to the athletes. While watching a second-round match between China’s Li Na and Italy’s Sara Errani on one of the outer courts, we sat in the front row. Now, front row is always a good seat, but this one was unreal. We could literally smell the aftershave of the baseline judge. The only thing separating us from the man was a chain-link fence. He sat directly in front of us, and diagonally to the right. Imagine peering at pitches over the shoulder of a baseball umpire and that was our viewpoint. And this for a match that featured a Chinese player who, just a short time earlier, had beaten Venus Williams and lost in the bronze medal match of the Summer Olympics.

Errani, who is 5-foot-4, 132 pounds, won’t be compared with Venus or Serena Williams very often. But yesterday, to casual fans from my vantage point, she was a reminder of just how well trained tennis athletes are. While serving in traditional tennis attire, a tank top and a skirt, Errani’s stretching serve lifted her shirt to reveal a chiseled set of abs. Sometimes, while watching tennis players play, I forget the type of conditioning it takes to run sprints for a solid 90 minutes or put enough torque on a first serve.

The only negatives where the typical combination of New York and stadium prices. A sausage as $7.50, a basket of chicken tenders and fries $9.50 and the official cocktail of the Open, a honey deuce, made with Grey Goose vodka, was selling for $13.

Over the course of the day I ventured into each of the areas you read about. Arthur Ashe Stadium was huge, but didn’t house a bad seat. I missed the most dramatic moment of the day there – second-seeded Jelena Jankovic’s survival in a third-set tiebreak – but did catch some of Novak Djokovic’s dismantling of Arnaud Clement. Clement is a very solid player and seemed, to me, to be playing quite nicely. Yet, Djokovic sent him home with a stress-free straight-set victory and wasn’t broken at all.

I also caught portions of matches from Janko Tipsarevic, a personal favorite who battle Roger Federer to five sets in Wimbledon and showed nicely in Wimbledon. He also reads the work of famous authors while on tour (Fyodor Doystoyevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe). Any athlete that does that type of thinking is an inspiration to me, but unfortunately, Tipsarevic couldn’t think his way out of an ankle injury and lost to Sam Warburg.by forfeiting after one game in the second set.

We also saw a terrific bit of doubles from the 12th-seeded mens team of Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna, and the return from injury of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Muhammad Ali look-alike who, not so long ago this year, advanced to an Australian Open final.

While he hasn’t been heard of since, prompting many to think of that run as a fluke, it’s been an injury, rather than poor play, that’s kept him quiet. He had surgery in May for a torn right meniscus and was playing his first match since then against Santiago Ventura.

Ventura played well early, but tired late, losing in four sets. Despite the rather routine win, Tsonga played to the crowd after a big fourth-set point and pumped his fists afterward, declaring this was not just any other day for him at the U.S. Open.

You could say the same for me, so a big thank you to Ed and Clare Lahey, who helped put the event together for the CTA, as well as the folks that made my first visit such an enjoyable one.

Every team remaining here had a winner of an award. Their names should be posted on the Babe Ruth Web site.

- Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle staff

It was a good overall game. Tori Shepard dominated like she has been throughout the tournament. The crowd was pulling for Prairie Village. Miranda Malone pulled a liner to right center at game's end, but it was caught by centerfielder Jerika Senecal. Lodi celebrated in the outfield. They're the champs!

Now, the presentations are about to begin! Congratulations to Lodi, Calif., who finishes the tournament undefeated. Senecal wins player of the game honors for that great catch to save the game.

- Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle staff

- Winton Brown, Berkshire Eagle staff