Antron Brown wins Top Fuel final at NHRA Sonoma Nationals

 Antron Brown probably will face all kinds of questions in the coming days about how he has another opportunity to sweep the NHRA's three-race Western Swing. If Sunday was any indication, he'll do his best to evade every single one of them.

Brown defeated Don Schumacher Racing teammate Spencer Massey with a pass of 3.814 seconds in the NHRA's Sonoma Nationals' Top Fuel final Sunday in front of roughly 31,000 people at Sonoma raceway. It is Brown's third win in four years at the track, and his second straight victory this season, after his win July 22 in Denver.

Schumacher Racing also had both finalists in Funny Car, as Johnny Gray beat Matt Hagan to earn his first victory in Sonoma. In the Pro Stock final, Allen Johnson beat Greg Anderson, and Eddie Krawiec beat Andrew Hines in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final.

Brown, who beat Massey by 0.012 seconds, now has the opportunity to become the first NHRA driver to sweep the Western Swing for a second time as he prepares for next week's event in Seattle. Not that he had any interest in talking about that potential accomplishment.

"Everyone keeps on asking the same questions, and we're not going anywhere near talking about it," said Brown, who swept the Western Swing in 2009. "We can talk about sweeping if we get to the final round of the next race."

It was the fifth time this year DSR drivers had met in the Top Fuel final, and the third such time it's happened in Funny Car.

The seven-car DSR team has pretty much dominated the nitro divisions so far this season. Brown and Massey are tied for first in Top Fuel with 1,174 points each, and Tony Schumacher is third. In Funny Car, the team has three of the top five spots, led by second-place Ron Capps.

Sunday gave DSR its 11th and 12th wins this season in the nitro classes.

"Let me tell you, there are a lot of egos in" the organization, Don Schumacher said. "Trying to blend these people together, get them to work together, cooperate, is really a task."

Brown beat Steve Torrence, Tony Schumacher and Brandon Bernstein to reach the final. He's now won 12 of his last 13 rounds in Sonoma.

"Learning from 2009, we'll just take the same approach," Brown said. "We didn't take anything for granted, and we never looked too far ahead. We're just focused on the here and now. When we go to Seattle, we're going to worry about qualifying."

Gray beat Tim Wilkerson, Gary Densham and DSR teammate Jack Beckman to advance to the final, where his elapsed time of 4.142 seconds was more than enough to top Hagan (5.461 seconds).

The 59-year-old Gray, who has competed in seven eliminator categories in his career, is in a good position to clinch a spot in the Countdown to the Championship. He missed the Countdown by one spot last season, but his second year with DSR has so far been one to remember.

"You can buy all of the parts and pieces that you want, but if you don't have a family of crew members and crew chiefs that share information, you get lost and can't find your way back," Gray said of the Schumacher team. "We've been lost a couple of times in my car since I've been over here, and the other crew chiefs come over to look at what we're doing. That's what it's all about."

Johnson beat Matthew Hartford, Jeg Coughlin and won a close battle with Jason Line to get to his fifth final of the season. In the final, Anderson's reaction time was 0.001 seconds compared with 0.011 for Johnson.

But Johnson, the No. 1 qualifier, had the most dominant Pro Stock car all weekend and won in 6.542 seconds compared with 6.573 for Anderson. Johnson, like Brown, has a chance to sweep the Western Swing next week.

Krawiec was also a No. 1 qualifier. He breezed past the first two rounds, then beat Hector Arana by .038 seconds in the semifinals and Hines by .030 in the final. It was the third straight week Krawiec beat Hines in the final round.

Driver Rich Takahashi, competing in the Top Sportsman class, had a frightening accident Sunday when he lost control of his car. It slammed against both retaining walls and came to rest right side up, with parts strewed all over the track. Takahashi 

was taken to a hospital, but his injuries were not considered serious.

No fun in watching the U.S. men's basketball team dominate competition

 First impressions first: There is nothing quite as schlocky as an NBA game presentation, other than perhaps a European rendition of an NBA game presentation.

It’s not the crowd — the basketball patrons here seem hip enough. They understand the rules and applaud or moan at the right intervals. It’s just that sometime during the last few years, a marketing guy decided they must address the patrons like they’re 6-year-olds at a circus.

The PA guy here sounds like he’s recreating Bill Murray’s old lounge singer act.

And the mono-maniacally cheerful timeout MC sounds exactly like his American counterparts, only with a thick Jamaican accent.

But at least we’ve always had the game, right? We’ll always have Paris. So we can always live with the artificial noise.

Only sometimes you can’t even call the game itself a saving virtue, even around here, where honest competition is supposed to be all that matters.

Which is not easy to admit, lest we risk expulsion from the One True Sporting Church.

The thought does not go away that unless Spain or Argentina pull a Villanova and literally stun the world in the next few weeks, this anticipated walkover for the NBA All-Stars — or as they are known, Team USA — is going to be an authentic walkover.

And while this might be the wrong time to ask this question, we’ll do it anyway: Where is the fun in that, exactly?

They opened with a 98-71 pummelling against a group of Frenchmen composed of a half-blind Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum with his aching back, something with the size and agility of a Winnebago named Boris Diaw, and a rotation loaded with D-League talent.

We’ll spare you the details, other than to remind you that France is the third- or fourth-best team in this tournament, and it was out of this first-round game as soon as Kevin Durant and his friends hit six homers in the second period; and that by halftime, the only drama was whether Mike Krzyzewski would play somebody more than three minutes before spinning his rotation’s irritating revolving door again.

“We’re used to that,” Russell Westbrook said of the three-and-out (slight exaggeration) Coach K employed. “We know what we need to do to win. We’re not here for ourselves, we’re here for USA.”

This was clear by the apparel that sported as they sashayed along the rope line, all of them wearing gray shirts that read “United States of America” in block letters under the Nike swoosh.

But stylistically, it was also a bust — not entirely their fault, because the refs called 52 fouls and rewarded 65 free throws. It made you thankful that the quarters are only 10 minutes long — though it took 32 minutes in real time just to get through the first period (NBA 22, France 21).

“From here on out, if that’s how it’s gonna be officiated, we have to live with it,” said Carmelo Anthony, who rebounded well and looked in midseason form by flinging 10 shots in 16 minutes. “We know everyone expects us to win by 20 or 30 or 40, but at the end of the day a win is a win.”

He shrugged. They all shrugged.

And on the other side, there was this grudging consensus: “They’re going to be very, very tough to beat,” said Parker.

Poor Tony is about five weeks removed from having shards of glass penetrate “99 percent of my left eye,” after wandering into the middle of a nightclub brawl involving careless rich people. He was probably the best point guard in the NBA in 2011-12, but this American team made him disappear like smoke — 10 points on 11 shots and four turnovers in 26 minutes.

He’s also wearing some wraparound goggles, which makes him look like an amphibious Clark Kent.

Speaking of Superman, the one guy who seemed preoccupied with efficiency was LeBron James, who was showing the most frustration during the first half — consulting twice with referees over their excessive tweets, slapping himself in the noggin a few times, shaking his head at some misplays.

We surmised that these histrionics were because he’s the only one who cares about perfection, which — given the month they spent on preparation, and the dough they spent on sunscreen — is what this team might as well strive for.

“We didn’t play a perfect game — turnovers, too many fouls,” James said. “So we have room for improvement.”

So the mix was weird, the execution was ragged — but it’s still a glimpse of NBA basketball, and not everyone on this side of the pond gets to see it. It’s just a shame they won’t get to see NBA competition between two NBA teams, unless something extraordinary happens.

And if it doesn’t, we still have that MC during the timeouts, spreading his relentless joy around the temporary arena.

At one point, he introduced the crowd to the kiss cam — even demonstrating it with some female usher, though something tells you he didn’t have to explain it twice to a largely French audience.

The vapid couple they targeted first didn’t quite get it — they kept staring back at the camera, their smiles plastered in place. They looked like they were having fun, or maybe they felt it was being forced on them.

Sometimes, we know the feeling.

Jordyn Wieber joins Michael Phelps among fallen stars

On Saturday, Michael Phelps fell off the Olympic marquee. On Sunday, Jordyn Wieber joined him.

Jordyn Wieber, a 2011 gymnastics world champion, failed to qualify for the all-around and event finals. (AP Photo)

She’s not as famous as Phelps, but Wieber was expected to be the Gymnastics Queen in London. That’s about as exalted an Olympic position as a female can attain (See: Nadia, Olga, Mary Lou).

Wieber had lost only two all-around competitions in the past four years. Now the 2011 world champion won’t even compete in that event.

Wieber had the third-highest score on the U.S. team in Sunday’s qualifying round. She will still be in Tuesday’s team final, but countries are limited to two gymnasts in the all-around and event finals.

Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman claimed those spots. Douglas was expected to be there. In this NBC storyline, she was supposed to be Ryan Lochte and Wieber was supposed to be Phelps.

Raisman was… pick any other U.S. male swimmer. She’s good, but nobody thought she’d sneak past Wieber, who was too distraught to speak to reporters afterward. London organizers distributed a quote from her.

“It is a bit of a disappointment,” Wieber said.

That sounds like something a British public relations specialist would come up with. Phelps at least has more individual races where he can reclaim his fame.

Poor Wieber didn’t literally fall on Sunday, but she can’t get up.

London Olympics: French swimmers get relay revenge against U.S.

We interrupt the coronation of Ryan Lochte to ask whether he had any business representing his country in the marquee relay of the Olympics Games.
 
Lochte might be America's best swimmer, but he blew the lead — and the gold medal — in the final leg of the 400-meter freestyle relay on Sunday.

France won, leaving second place and second-guessing to the Americans.

From the French perspective, this was a glorious response, four years in the making. After Jason Lezak delivered a miracle final leg in a come-from-behind U.S. victory over France four years ago, Yannick Agnel did the same for France against the Americans.

From the American perspective, there was Michael Phelps, cradling a silver medal that dangled from a necklace of purple ribbon.

"This is my first silver," he said.

That silver — to go with 14 golds and two bronzes — moves him within one of tying the career record for Olympic medals. He said he could not complain about winning a medal, but he hardly embraced its color.

"It is very frustrating," he said. "This will be something that will motivate us."

So might the performance of Dana Vollmer, who set a world record in winning the women's 100 butterfly, the second gold for the U.S. Vollmer swam the race in 55.98 seconds, becoming the first American woman — and second overall — to establish a world record since the high-tech swimsuits were banned but the records set in them were not.

"Being the Olympic champion is most important," she said. "The world record is the icing on the cake."

Vollmer, a former Cal swimmer, failed to qualify for Beijing four years ago. She expanded her training from swimming to include hip-hop dance, yoga and Pilates, switched to a gluten-free diet and did not shy from publicly stating her goal of breaking the 56-second barrier.

"I know I can be faster," she said.

Allison Schmitt set an American record in winning silver in the women's 400 freestyle, behind Camille Muffat of France. Brendan Hansen won bronze in the 100 breaststroke, duplicating his finish in the 2004 Olympics. He finished fourth in the event in 2008.

The relay that ended in disappointment started, well, swimmingly.

Nathan Adrian swam the first leg, giving the U.S. the lead. Phelps swam the second leg, redeeming himself for a dismal Saturday by tripling the lead. Cullen Jones swam the third leg, maintaining a comfortable lead.

Lochte had 100 meters to victory. He lost the lead within 50 meters and had nothing left.

"The 100 free, I don't really swim it," Lochte said. "I haven't swam it in a long time. I think I was just really excited. I overswam the first 50, which kind of hurt me for the last 50.

"You would think, doing distance events, I wouldn't get tired, but sprinting definitely takes a lot out of you."

U.S. Coach Gregg Troy spotted trouble in Lochte's first few strokes.