The Real Reason Paris Lost 2012 Games

Brett Simpson, a competitor in the upcoming Honda U.S. Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach Pier, said it’ll be good to be back at his home break.

He spends much of the year traveling and there are perks, such as being able to sample international cuisine.

But the food isn’t always good, he added, surprisingly listing France as an example: “All those baguettes and hard rolls ... your gums start bleeding after eating those things.”

Fortunately, the American Embassy is usually close by. That’s the name surfers have given McDonald’s. “We spend a lot of time in the American Embassy,” Simpson said. “They even speak English there.”

*

Trivia time: On this date in 1985, Houston’s Nolan Ryan became the first pitcher in major league history to record 4,000 strikeouts. Who struck out?

*

Wie worth her weight: Mike Downey of the Chicago Tribune, defending Michelle Wie’s right to play on the men’s tour: “It isn’t as if golf is too rough for a 15-year-old. Vijay Singh isn’t going to make like a linebacker and tackle her.

“And it isn’t as if a female can’t compete with these finely tuned physical specimens. I just watched John Daly, Tim Herron, Olin Browne and Jason Gore play in two big tournaments. They looked like sportswriters.”

*

Leader by example: The Glasgow Rangers have reached across the pond to find someone to motivate their players: Allen Iverson, who is known for playing hurt. Ranger Manager Alex McLeish has a framed article about Iverson hanging in the team’s training room “just to show the guys who perennially come in with little knocks, a wee hair pulled out of their legs here and there.”

McLeish is quoted in the Philadelphia Daily News as telling his players, “Look what that guy’s done. That’s your example.”

*

Better example: Iverson has nothing on the crew of Challenged America, which today will set sail in the 2,225-mile Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu. The team:

Jim Halverson, leg amputee, cancer survivor; Scott Meade, arm amputee, cancer survivor, arthritis; Urban Miyares, blind, diabetes, kidney transplant, hearing impaired, bilateral nerve damage in legs, stroke survivor; Jeff Reinhold, quadriplegic; Kevin Wixom, leg amputee, and Joshua Ross, Challenged America program director, military veteran.

*

Got bait? Pro anglers in Pittsburgh practicing for the CITGO Bassmaster Classic are not used to so much media attention.

Said Gerald Swindle in Inside BASS: “I got up a little before 5 yesterday and I only ate three sandwiches from then until 11 o’clock at night. Instead of calling this practice week, they ought to call it hell week.”

*

Trivia answer: Danny Heep of the New York Mets.

*

And finally: From Comedian Argus Hamilton: “The International Olympic Committee dropped baseball from the Olympic Games on Friday. Since the sport was added nearly 20 years ago, Cuba has won most of the gold medals. To make it up to Cuba, all the freestyle swimming events will be held in a shark pool.”