Here’s the news followed by the views: 

Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian ever? 

According to a Toronto Star poll; Michael Phelps led the voting with 37 per cent followed by sprinter Jesse Owens with 26 per cent. Surprisingly, gymnast Nadia Comaneci came third with 11 per cent. 

With 22 medals, including 18 gold, it is undisputable that Phelps is the best swimmer ever, but Owens, at the age of 22, had much more adverse conditions to deal with at the 1936 Olympics and that is why he has my vote. 

To review, Owens performance at Hitler’s Olympics in Berlin went far beyond sports. The African American, son of an Alabama sharecropper, won gold in the 100 metres, 200 metres, long jump and the 4 by 100 relay right in front of the German dictator and the Nazi Games organizers who were eager to use the Olympics as political propaganda to highlight German superiority. 

According to Wikipedia, Hitler shook hands only with the German victors on the first day and then left the stadium in a tirade after Owens captured a gold medal. Olympic committee officials insisted Hitler greet every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted to skip all further medal presentations. While Hitler was delighted with each of the German wins, he did not hide the fact he was disturbed by the success of Owens. 

Owens never competed in another Olympics because the Games were cancelled in 1940 and 1944 because of World War II. 

Christine Sinclair scores a hat trick for Canada in a controversial women’s soccer 4-3 semi-final loss to the United States. 

This match was the best ever performance (win or lose) by a Canadian athlete in a traditional women’s team sport at the Summer Olympics. I certainly can not think of a better effort. Considering the magnitude of that game, a case can be made that Sinclair, from Burnaby, is the best female soccer player in the world. 

The IOC disqualifies eightbadminton players from China, South Korea and Indonesia for discrediting their sport by trying to lose.This decision is justified because of the integrity involved, but is this really any different than the 14-0 Indianapolis Colts pulling a healthy Peyton Manning and other starters early in the 2^nd half against the New York Jets? Certainly, no one can suggest the Colts went all out to win that game.

Peyton Manning’s first appearance in a Denver Broncos scrimmage draws 41,304 fans, almost double the old record of 20,782 in 2010 when Tim Tebow was a rookie. 

Here’s the best way to put that in context. The most fans this year to a CFL regular season game is 35,538 (in Edmonton June 30^th vs Toronto) which is nearly 6,000 less than the Broncos scrimmage.

 The P.G. Spruce Kings announce on August 1^st that they are looking to hire an Assistant Coach.

 The position has been vacant since June when Kurt Walsten bolted to a similar position with the Drumheller Dragons. This would suggest the Spruce Kings could not find anybody in July willing to take the job for the honorarium and that the team is desperate to find someone with training camp approaching. 

The Prince George Cougars trade their captain, defenceman Jesse Forsberg, and 5^th and 7^th round draft picks to the Seattle Thunderbirds for another19-year-old, forward Colin Jacobs. 

So much for brotherly love. Jesse asked for the trade rather than play with younger brother Alex Forsberg (17). Wouldn’t it be a nice change if some notable player actually requested to play in P.G. rather than a one way ticket out of town? 

Sportti.com first reported that the Prince George Cougars top pick, 5^th overall, in the 2012 CHL import draft, has come to terms to play for a team in Helsinski. 

Can anybody think of a reason why 18-year old goalie Joonas Korpisalo would sign a two-year contract with Jokerit of the Finnish League rather than play for the Cougars? Perhaps Jokerit stands for “Joke” that someone played on the Cougars suggesting they select the Columbus Blue Jackets 2012 third round pick. However, it’s not like this is the first European to stray “Cats” away. 

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I was pleasantly surprised to be voted Best Columnist and Best Sports Reporter in the 11th annual Best of PG Free Press Reader’s Choice Awards. Thanks very much to all the voters.

P.S. I didn’t realize I had that many friends.

 From the Quote Rack:  

The Chicago Cubs blew multiple leads Sunday in their loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving up runs in four of the last five innings. Are the Cubs trying to be the official baseball team of Olympic badminton?

In England, they are celebrating the Queen’s granddaughter winning a silver medal. And some in the U.S. are saying, “wait a minute, I didn’t even know Elton John had grandchildren.”

Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, Californiawww.leftcoastsportsbabe.com

The bad news for France is that soccer Olympian Nicolas Batum whacked a Spain player below the belt. The good news for France is that at least he didn’t head butt him there. 

Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice reportedly used a stripper pole to train. In fact, any endorsements will be paid to her in Austrailian one dollar bills.

Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California 

An Alberta Health official who ran up $335,000 in expenses has been released and the Gov’t is not going to give him a severance cheque. This is similar to a dispute last year in the CFL when a player was released for purchasing an unauthorized Big Mac during a road trip. 

The Canadian Women soccer team was beaten by the US when a rarely called 6 second penalty for holding the ball was given to the Canadian keeper. The call is rarely used, the last time was when a 6 year old grabbed the ball, ran home and shouted “my ball my rules”.

Contributor Derek Wilken of Calgaryhttp://smacksport.blogspot.com

150,000 condoms were handed out to the athletes at Olympic Village. Remember, this is England, what did you expect to be given away, 150,000 packs of dental floss?

 Michael Phelps says he’s has left the pool forever. BONG! The clock stikes 12. HOOKAH blame him?

Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver (http://alwaysfunny.com/)

And in case you missed it: 

Canadian Olympic equestrian Hawley Bennett-Awad was thrown from the saddle, but she is reportedly in stable condition. And so is her horse.

Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com        

Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the PG Free Press. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com.

Follow him on twitter: @Hartley_Miller