Sports Mix

 LONDON -- The humpbacked beasts of burden rumbled along the banks of the River Thames in a nation that is home to Wimbledon and Wembley: Camel racing had arrived in Britain.
Sarah and Sharifa took part in the three races of about 50 meters Thursday. Sarah won all three, galloping across Potters Field in the shadows of Tower Bridge and into the winner's circle for a champagne celebration.
"After months of training, winning was the best feeling in the world," said Andy Probert, Sarah's jockey. "This is a dream come true."

When sports talk goes from X's and O's to X's and Y's -- chromosomes -- the level of expertise falls off dramatically. Amid the furor of some screeching headlines ("She is a He!"), competitors' accusations and track officials' confirmation that they will subject women's world 800-meter champion Caster Semenya of South Africa to gender verification tests, most observers appear to be in over their heads regarding the complexities of sexual identity.
Almost everything about the issue is fuzzy: Where to draw the biological line between male and female, exactly what standard is used by the track authorities in deeming a female ineligible to compete as a woman, precisely what tests answer such questions. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has asked for reports that will take weeks to review -- from a gynecologist, an endocrinologist, a psychologist, a specialist in internal medicine and a gender expert.

It happened only last Sunday, so it's difficult to put into perspective so soon. But when you delve into the details, you could make an argument that Y.E. Yang staring down Tiger Woods and winning the PGA Championship is among the greatest individual upsets in sports history. A look at our choices for the top individual sports upsets:
-- Y.E. Yang beats Tiger Woods
Yang was ranked 110th in the world. His best finish at a major had been a tie for 30th, and that was the only time in four previous majors he even made the cut. Meanwhile, Tiger was 14-0 when leading after three rounds in a major and had won 36 of 37 tournaments overall when he took a lead into the final round. But Yang played the final 49 holes in 13-under par, and not only did he overcome a two-shot deficit to Woods heading into Sunday, he ended up winning by three shots.
-- Jack Fleck beats Ben Hogan

Michael Vick has a unique opportunity.
It's an opportunity that does not involve running or throwing a football for the Eagles, although his abilities with each should only boost his influence.
Vick has an opportunity to affect change for the species he once exploited: dogs.
In urban areas, Vick's words and presence can help change the inner-city culture of dogfighting, and it might just be that Philadelphia, which has been targeted by the Humane Society as having a higher incidence of the crime, could benefit most.

NEW YORK -- Andy Kessler, a trailblazer during New York City's nascent 1970s skateboarding scene and a designer of skate parks who was admired by boarders on both coasts, died Monday. He was 48.
Kessler died after suffering a heart attack following an allergic reaction to a wasp sting, Moose Huerta, a close friend and fellow skateboarder, said Thursday.
He was dismantling old wood on a shack in Montauk, Long Island, when he was stung, said Tony Farmer, a skateboarding friend and West Coast native who now lives in Brooklyn.

Team New Zealand won the America's Cup from Dennis Conner in San Diego in 1995. After a victory tour, the Kiwis put the Auld Mug, the oldest trophy in modern sport, on display at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland.
In March 1997, a protester of Maori heritage slipped into the trophy room with a sledgehammer hidden on his person and bashed the silver ewer to a pretzeled hulk when no one was looking. The yachting world was aghast.
The mug was swiftly resurrected by craftsmen in England, where it had been built in 1848. It was reinstated at the RNZYS and put back on display (in a guarded, bulletproof case) until 2003, when a boyish Swiss billionaire named Ernesto Bertarelli won and took it off to Europe.

The Dodgers and Mets were playing like girls.
Small ball was in full effect. There'd been no home runs, nothing hit deep to the warning track. This was about pitching, defense and fundamentals.
What a perfect game to watch with Jennifer Ring. "Look at this," she said, just after the second inning, the Dodgers ahead of the Mets, 2-0, on a warm May evening at Dodger Stadium. "What a cathedral! Look at that big, beautiful field. ..."
Ring, a baseball fanatic who doubles as a social critic and political science professor at the University of Nevada, then tosses a grenade: "I love baseball, but baseball has a big problem. It's just a sham that our national game basically excludes half the population. Women are pretty much shut out of this game."