WHITE BACK FOR ONE LAST SHOT AT GLORY

It was7th gamein 7nights for refwho swallowedwhistle

BY MARKZEIGLER

FORT COLLINS,Colo.

Three thoughtsonSan Diego State’s 58-57 lossat ColoradoState onFriday night:

1. Thenon-call DidSDSU get the short endofthestick?

Theshort answer:probably.

Thebroader context is that Matt Bradley’s aggressive drive andwhistle-less collisionwith6-foot-10 260poundColoradoState center James Moorsinthe controversial,closing seconds was just one momentina 2,400-second game, all with theoreticallythesameimpactonthe result.

“Listen,allthese games that comedown to the wire …”ColoradoState Niko Medvedsaid, “we losta gamein Laramietheother night,and I don’t want to hearanything aboutpeople talkingabouttheofficials thisandthator whatever. There area lotofpossessionsinthe game There are somanythings thatcan influencewinningorlosing. You don’thavecontrol over allthose things.”

Interesting Medved shouldmentionthe gamein Laramie, an84-78 overtime loss HisRams were down onein regulationwhenstar forward David Roddy went barreling downthe laneand crashedinto Wyoming’s GrahamIke,who jumped verticallywithhisarms extended.Official Mike Reed whistled a foul even though replaysindicatedRoddylost theballbefore contact.

BY LES CARPENTER

BEIJING

One day last November, Shaun White satinthesnow on thesideof a mountainin Austria, deflated.Hisknee ached;hehad spenttheday watching younger snowboarders “throw down heavytricks;”andthen,duringa practice run,hisankle “just gave out.”Hefeltold.

Finally, White got upand headedfor a gondola to take him to the top ofthehalfpipe and wentthewrong way. To get to where he wanted to be,he climbedonto anempty chairlift andbeganthelong,slow ride backupthemountain.

TheSanDiego native thought about all the signs tellinghimhe couldnolonger keepup theinjuredankle, the wrong turn,thefutilesearch for theright gondola anddecided thismonth’s BeijingOlympics wouldbehislast.And there,