41.  Despite a blessed pregame downpour, I personally required three bottles of water at $3 each to survive the heat.

42.  Despite all that they have accomplished this season, each team's weakness has been glaring.

43.  Despite all the care, concern and discussion, I can count on a few calls each week about the front page.

44.  Despite all the fluttering rhetoric that is unfurled around each Olympics, the Games are a high-stakes hustle.

45.  Derek Bell was 3-for-6 with three singles, and Carl Everett and Ausmus each had two hits.

46.  Derek Brown and Darrick Heath lead the Americans in scoring with 19 goals each.

47.  Derek Fisher and Mark Madsen both say they are ahead of schedule in rehabilitating from offseason surgery and each expects to be playing sometime in November.

48.  Derek Jeter and Wade Boggs each slapped his third single to put runners on first and second.

49.  Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada will be in the lineup for each game, winning or losing.

50.  Dermot Sherlock, general secretary of the Irish Olympic Committee, said that Smith had been drug-tested at least six times and had passed each test.