Pirate Galaxy » job listening to my warnings. I hope the guy

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Apparently filthy water is nothing to make a stink about at the Olympics.All seemed well Saturday at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, a picturesque body of water not too far from the famed Copacabana Beach. Flanked by deep green mountains and gleaming white high rises, it looked to be the perfect spot for the worlds best rowers to chase Olympic gold.It didnt even smell that bad, though locals say there are many days the lagoon emanates odors usually associated with a toilet in bad need of plunging.This is a beautiful venue, Canadian rower Eric Woelfl said. How often do you get to row in a place with mountains, sun and a fantastic crowd? What more could we ask for as competitors?Uh, clean water might be nice. So would decontamination spray for the pair of Serbians who were last seen bobbing up and down in the water after becoming the first Olympians to capsize their boats in 12 years.Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik picked the wrong Olympics to take a header. An Associated Press investigation over the last year showed 1.73 billion adenoviruses per liter in the lagoons water at one point, though by June the readings were down to 248 million adenoviruses.Levels like that would have authorities in the U.S. closing down beaches and lakes and taking emergency measures to protect the public health.Here in Rio they simply handed out bottles of hand sanitizer.We wash our mouths out with an anti-bacterial wash after rowing, and really try to prioritize our hygiene, said Australias Kim Brennan. We try to avoid any hand to mouth contact and try to avoid getting any of the water in our mouths.That was dicey duty on the opening day of the Olympics, when the winds picked up and water not only sprayed over competitors but filled boats so much that some thought they might sink.Rio is a dangerous city, something that anyone reading about these Olympics surely knows by now. Some spectators at the opening ceremony found that out Friday night when they came upon the body of a man who had been shot dead near Maracana Stadium, blood still coming from his wounds.There was also a bizarre incident Saturday at the Olympic Equestrian Center, where a military bullet pierced the roof of the media tent and landed on the floor in front of startled reporters.So maybe a little dirty water isnt so bad after all. Unless, of course, youre the one covered in it.I was greeted with a bottle of hand sanitizer on the dock. So, thats one thing, said Canadas Carling Zeeman, who rowed in a boat she said was filling with water.If the water at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon was bad, at least no rowers noticed anything fishy floating around in it. That figures to change when sailing opens at nearby Guanabara Bay, where helicopters and roving trash-collection boats will be employed to spot and remove floating rubbish that often clogs the bay.Half of Rios sewage flows untreated into Guanabara, which you might think would give Olympic organizers pause. The fact it didnt is that the bay looks beautiful on television, with Sugarloaf Mountain and the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in the background.Thats the same reason rowers were dipping their oars in a lagoon where last year thousands of dead fish washed up on shores. Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon looks good to everyone but the horrified scientists who test its waters.Rowers are by nature a hardy bunch and this is the Olympics, so they werent complaining much. There was more grumbling about the fact they held the race with white caps on the lagoon than the chance they had to get violently ill by coming into contact with the very water they race on.Obviously, we were pretty much swimming in it today, so well find out soon enough whats in there, Brennan said.Listen to those running the sport, and Brennan and her fellow competitors should have no worries. Matt Smith, who heads FISA, the rowing federation, called the water swimming quality and suggested fears over getting sick from it were overblown.On the opening day of a very troubled Olympics there were at least two drenched Serbs hoping he is right.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg Custom Julius Erving Jersey . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. Cheap Custom Nets Jersey . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal. http://www.customnetsjersey.com/ . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. Custom Nets Jerseys . -- Arizona raced out to a big lead and did not back off, hitting the accelerator instead. Cheap Nets Jerseys . LeBron James and Chris Bosh didnt need any more. Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. Oregon earned its highest ranking ever in the Associated Press poll on Monday but then started to drop on Tuesday when the fourth-ranked Ducks fell to 1-1 with a 66-49 loss at Baylor.The Ducks are back on the court at home Thursday night against Valparaiso, which went 30-7 last year, including a 73-67 loss at Oregon.Valpo won 30 games last year and I said they would do that before the season, Oregon coach Dana Altman said. I said they were going to win 30 and I hoped we were not one of them. And they are going to win 30 games again, and I hope we are not one of them.Valparaiso is 3-0 after wins over Southern Utah, Trinity Christian and Coppin State, but Oregon will present a bigger challenge.The Ducks are expected to once again be without all-conference forward Dillon Brooks, who had foot surgery in July. The Ducks are hopeful he can return next week when Oregon plays in the Maui Invitational.We did not have him in the summer or for preseason practices, so it is no excuse at all, Oregon junior forward Jordan Bell said. When he comes back, he will help us.Oregon had a lackluster start to the season. After a 91-77 win over Army, the Ducks lost by 17 at Baylor. Point guard Dylan Ennis scored 16 points as the Ducks shot just 32.8 percent against the Bears.We have a lot of work to do, and Ive been really telling the guys thatt for the last two or three weeks, Altman said.dddddddddddd. I liked our first couple weeks of practice and then we got stuck in gear. We had a hard time getting out of that, but I hope we can figure out a way to get it in another gear.Oregon has a veteran team, with four returning starters, and Altman said he hopes they hear his message soon.That comes from leadership within the team, he said. They have not been doing a good job listening to my warnings. I hope the guys talk about it, because it is their team. They are going to make a decision on the identity for their team. We give them some suggestions, but they are going to have to change the way they approach it.Oregon has a difficult schedule. After Valparaiso, the Ducks head next week to the Maui Invitational, where they will open against Georgetown. The Ducks are one of three teams currently ranked in the eight-team field.This is as tough of a start to the schedule as we have had here, said Altman, who is beginning his seventh season at the school.Senior forward Alec Peters is averaging 26.3 points per game for Valparaiso while senior guard Shane Hammink is scoring 18.7 per game for the Crusaders, who are averaging 82 points per game. ' ' '