One of Tony La Russa’s favorite sayings is “men not machines.” It’s his way of reminding all of us that athletes are human too.

That applies to women, of course, as ESPN.com columnist Pat Forde observed after watching U.S. track stars Sanya Richards and Lolo Jones fail to win the gold in the 400-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles respectively.

Both seemed destined to win their events, as expected. Both were pulling from the pack.

But Richard tweaked a hamstring muscle and Jones clipped a hurdle with her front foot.

“It’s like driving a car at maximum velocity and coming to a curve,” Jones told reporters. “You can either maintain control or crash and burn. Today, I crashed and burned. It’s the hurdles. If you can’t finish all 10, you can’t be a champion.”

And if your hammy doesn’t hold up, you can’t be champion.

“The thought of waiting another four years is really too much,” Richards said. “I have a strong faith. Everything happens for a reason, but I don’t know what lesson I have left to learn.”

From another Olympic front, Tipsheet enjoyed this update:

BEIJING, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Table tennis is desperate to attract more viewers and some in the sport believe a simple enough solution exists: get the women to wear skirts and shirts with “curves”.

Half-empty stands for women’s games at the Olympics in China, the country most obsessed with table tennis, reinforce concerns that the sport needs a make-over to shed its fusty image.

Women players mostly wear baggy shorts and shirts unlike their tennis counterparts who dress for comfort as well as style.

“We are trying to push the players to use skirts and also nicer shirts, not the shirts that are made for men, but ones with more curves,” International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) vice president Claude Bergeret said.

On the other hand, Philadelphia Daily News scribe Jenice Armstrong protested the sexploitation of young athletes at the Summer Games:

“Do you mean to tell me that there isn’t a piece of double-sided tape strong enough to hold their leotards in place? I know I’m grasping here, but wedgies just don’t have a place in world-class athletics. And I refuse to believe that it’s so incredibly difficult for someone to design a female gymnast’s uniform that doesn’t ride up into an athlete’s backside. Why weren’t the design wizards at Victoria’s Secret consulted about this seemingly insurmountable design dilemma? Couldn’t they have just competed in, say, stretchy boy-shorts instead of leotards?”

Geez, we almost feel icky sharing this video: