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Byline: Mark Purdy SEATTLE _ For the first time since 1977, the 49ers were pointless. And the Seahawks knew. Damn right they knew. And they relished destroying the last piece […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The absurdity was stamped and certified Wednesday. The National Hockey League decided to commit suicide, either temporarily or permanently. And as we all […]

Byline: Mark Purdy At every major league ballpark, it's pretty standard. The spectators' chairs are bolted to the concrete. The bullpen chairs aren't. Who knew it should be the reverse? […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS, Greece _ My last day in town. One more place I needed to see. That's the tough thing about working the Olympics. If you spend 17 […]

Byline: Mark Purdy PERISTERI, Greece _ One ugly eye, one beautiful medal. That's a pretty good tradeoff. And it wasn't even Andre Ward's most impressive accomplishment. Andre Ward won Olympic […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ We're No. 3! We're No. 3! We're No. 3! Be happy. This could have been much worse. The U.S. men's basketball team could have failed […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Don't cry for me, Allen Iverson. Also, don't tell me _ and us _ something that we already know. After the U.S. men's basketball team […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Let me get this straight. After almost two peaceful Olympic weeks, the United States suddenly has a fierce and heated international confrontation that includes a […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ I followed your orders. Obeyed your instructions. It was agonizing. But I faced down my worst Olympic fear: Synchronized swimming. Other people flinch and recoil […]

Byline: Mark Purdy PERISTERI, Greece _ A man walks into an arena. He knows there will be boos. Rowdy boos. Nasty boos. The Greek crowds are treating every American boxer […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Gymnastics never learns. No surprise. Gymnastics is the spoiled brat of the Olympics, because gymnastics gets the big television ratings. So nobody ever tells the […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Ask me the most heartwarming thing I have seen at these Olympics, and I will answer in the negative. I have seen no terrorist attacks. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Kerri Walsh was probably violating several Olympic security regulations, the ones about athletes mixing with unknown civilians in public places. As if she cared. "This […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS - At the Olympics, they say, there are no real losers. Except that here, in 2004, it is just the opposite. There are no real winners. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ For a nation in need of strong therapy after a week of drug scandals, Pyrros Dimas was just what the clean-and-jerk ordered Saturday night. Dimas […]

Byline: Mark Purdy Gary Hall Jr. stepped onto the pool deck dressed like Rocky Balboa, in a glorious star-spangled robe and boxing trunks. Then he threw a swift right hook […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ It was a night for the somersault ages. Carly Patterson turned herself upside down about a jillion times, and then turned the gymnastics world into […]

Byline: Mark Purdy OLYMPIA, Greece _ I believe it was the famous ancient Greek announcer Harryus Carryitius who first uttered the classic phrase: Fans, you just can't beat fun at […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ No question about it. The last few days, there were serious doubts about Athens as a sports town. The signs were all bad. There were […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ Tuesday night, the United States men's basketball team tries to shake off the Olympic stink. Don't be stunned if the odor expands. This could get […]

Byline: Mark Purdy ATHENS _ The scars on both his shoulders told much of Blaine Wilson's saga. The silver medal around his neck Monday night told how the saga ended. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Marion Jones threw off the yoke of her media oppressors Thursday night. She made certain she was not going to pitch an Olympic shutout. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Another day, another tetrahydrogesterinone whispering festival. Yes, here at the Olympic trials, we're pretty much all steroid gossip, all the time. Track and field […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ There was a time when many of us believed the All-Star Game was the coolest event of the summer. There was a time […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The San Jose Sharks should have just stayed in Calgary. They should have just forfeited Monday night's game. It would have saved everyone […]

Byline: Mark Purdy CALGARY, Alberta _ All right, so they like hockey in Calgary. They really, really, really, really like hockey. When the Sharks took the ice Thursday night, they […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Twenty seconds. That's how long the Sharks were not behind Tuesday night. Twenty seconds. For the record, the capacity crowd at HP Pavilion […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Turn off the soap opera. Turn on the hockey. Because the hockey is going to be good. Tough, and honest, and good. Oh, […]

Byline: Mark Purdy DENVER _ For the first time in history, the San Jose Sharks blew through the stop sign. Totally blew through the thing. It felt good. It felt […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Once the out-of-towners stopped talking, the people from San Jose were allowed to speak. And the honesty erupted. "This sucks," said Alex Garwood, […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Calm down. I know the ice beneath the Sharks is getting thinner by the minute. But here is my foolproof plan for them […]

Byline: Mark Purdy DENVER _ Like a tough piece of road-kill jerky, the Colorado Avalanche refused to be chewed up Wednesday night. You expected no less. Even though they were […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Pat Tillman would have hated what happened Friday. In the space of one morning, he was transformed from one of many brave and […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Never trust a hockey player in the spring. Never trust a coach, either. Never trust a trainer, or a public relations person, or […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ You won't find many people mention Mike Rathje and Barry Bonds in the same sentence. Of course, this column is never afraid to […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Generally, the sports world is divided into two camps: those who love hockey, and those who don't get it. This column is for […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ For those of you unfamiliar with hockey who are just tuning into the San Jose Sharks, here are some tips to help you […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN ANTONIO _ Want to know yet another reason Pac-10 basketball wasn't so great this season? The explanation was on display here Saturday. The explanation made the […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN ANTONIO _ You can try to make it sound less brutal. Less horrible. But you can't, really. If Patrick Dennehy had not been murdered last summer, […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SEATTLE _ Maybe it never really happened. The last three months, that is. Maybe the whole thing was a Stanford basketball mirage. The sweet 26-1 regular season. […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SEATTLE _ There are no crazy fools rooting for the guys in white and red uniforms at Stanford games. There is never a William Ligue Jr. on […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SEATTLE _ It took a while. But somebody in a Texas-San Antonio uniform finally stopped Josh Childress late Thursday afternoon. Too bad it was a cheerleader. And […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SEATTLE _ Really, it all boils down to this: Do Stanford's basketball players lack enough perspective about life to win a national championship? My gut feeling is, […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SEATTLE _ Needle on empty. You could see the fuel gauge, on the back of each Stanford basketball player, pushing toward the "E." Stanford was trying to […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ All pompons considered, the San Francisco 49ers made an excellent deal Thursday. They have been talking a lot about trying to gain salary-cap […]

Byline: Mark Purdy Hey there, Terrell Owens. How is your week going? Oh, excuse me. I didn't notice that you were doing one of your famous, funny dances. On top […]

Byline: Mark Purdy HOUSTON _ All right! Are you ready for some . . . sound fundamentals? Be warned, citizens. This Super Bowl will not be beautiful. And it will […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ TO81: Hello! Welcome to my chat room! Let's talk about me! NinerFan: Is this Terrell Owens? Is this you, posting online? How do […]

Byline: Mark Purdy OAKLAND, Calif. _ LeBron James ambled into the Arena in Oakland on Thursday night and took charge of the building. All eyes were on him, and the […]

Byline: Mark Purdy SAN JOSE, Calif. _ On the first play from scrimmage, Fresno State completed a pass _ to a UCLA defensive tackle. And thus was the fourth annual […]