August 26, 2007

Fatigue latest theme in sports world

RANDY YOUNGMAN
Register columnist

Why are world-class athletes suddenly so tired, so fatigued, so spent?

Did someone surreptitiously spike all the coolers of sports energy drinks across the country?

First, Tiger Woods, one of the world's best-conditioned athletes, decided to skip this weekend's FedEx Cup playoff opener, saying he was mentally and physically drained from winning back-to-back tournaments in the heat and humidity.

"My body is spent," he said on his Web site, "and I need a short break."

Then, the MLS Galaxy announced David Beckham, another superbly conditioned athlete, was so exhausted after playing three games in six days — how did he do it with only three days off? — that he will not travel to Colorado for today's Galaxy-Rapids game.

"I'd love to be on the pitch with my team ... but our training staff has advised me that it would be detrimental to not only my health for this game but for the rest of the season as well," Beckham said in a statement issued by his team.

Excuse me for a second. I need to pause, momentarily, to regain my strength after typing those past few paragraphs. It takes a lot of energy to punctuate sentences.

OK, I'm refreshed again.

At least the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers had an excuse for being tired Saturday. Inclement weather delayed the start of Friday night's game at Comerica Park until 11:05 p.m., and the game didn't end until Detroit's Carlos Guillen homered in the bottom of the 11th inning — at 3:30 a.m. Saturday — as Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" blared over the stadium sound system.

Earlier in the week, the Texas Rangers punched themselves out by scoring 39 runs in a doubleheader sweep of the Orioles, including a 30-3 romp in the first game, then flew home and didn't arrive in Texas until 4 a.m.

Their 9-4 loss to Seattle that night wasn't surprising.

"I think everyone might have been a little bit tired," Texas' Frank Catalanotto said after Thursday's loss. "I know I was dragging a little bit. You don't want to make excuses, but ..."

But sometimes they are necessary. Sometimes, we all need them. I've had some long nights at the ballpark, too.

Covering UC Irvine's 5-4, 13-inning victory against Cal State Fullerton in this year's College World Series — a 5-hour, 40-minute marathon that was the longest game in CWS history — actually was fun.

But I can't say the same thing about a twi-night Dodgers-Cardinals doubleheader at St. Louis' Busch Stadium in 1987, when I was the Dodgers beat writer for this newspaper.

The first game, scheduled for 5:35 p.m., was delayed twice by rain, and the second game went extra innings before Jack Clark mercifully drove in the winning run with a 10th-inning single off Dodgers reliever Ken Howell — at 4:01 a.m.!

We had an afternoon paper back then, so I ran down to the clubhouse to talk to a few players before filing my story.

"What are you doing?" Mike Scioscia, then a Dodgers catcher, asked incredulously as I interviewed a couple of bleary-eyed players. "Go to bed."

Makes me tired just thinking about it again. Good thing I didn't have a FedEx Cup tournament the next day.

But everybody in sports seems to be exhausted these days. What's next? Will the New York Red Bulls, the MLS team named after an energy drink, need to forfeit a game when a shipment comes in late?

Ba-da-bing!: From Bob Molinaro of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, on the 3,600 hours of NBC programming planned during the 2008 Beijing Olympics: "Luckily, NBC's schedule has built-in nap times. They're called synchronized swimming."