…Continued from the previous post.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering what gives me the right to insert one full week in between Part I and Part II of The Ten Most Memorable Performances, when David Letterman, the Godfather of all Top Ten lists gives you everything all at once.

Point well taken.

But consider the exhaustive research that goes into this. Like having to read my own blog posts, for example. Which almost always leads to pouring myself a beverage appropriate for that point in the day, and warmly reflecting on the circumstances surrounding each Memorable Performance.

Keep in mind that I also have to carve out time to make sure that all of the functional departments that report up through the “It’s Game Time Somewhere” global franchise are operating smoothly.

But truth be told, it’s mostly that beverage and reminiscing thing. I’ve seen some remarkable things, and reliving them is almost as good as seeing them for the first time. Why don’t you grab a libation of your own and join me…

 (#5) Chris Lieto – Nautica Malibu Triathlon, Malibu, CA:  This 20-year-old triathlon is an L.A. athletic staple, with its 3,000 competitive openings typically selling out in less than six hours. It starts at the first hint of dawn, with the first of many waves of athletes sprinting into an ocean that checks in at a balmy 60 degrees – or colder, as was the case this year. I have no idea why anyone does that voluntarily.

But apparently Danville, California’s Chris Lieto enjoys this stuff. At least enough to win three Ironman contests and finish second at the 2009 World Ironman Championship in Hawaii.

In Malibu he was solidly on his game. He swam a half-mile in the choppy Pacific surf faster than I could walk down the beach to see him exit the water and set out on an 18-mile bike ride through the hills. Which he completed in 56 minutes. When he switched over to start his 4-mile run, he already had a lead of over 8-minutes. He very nearly beat the officials and the media to the Finish Line when he cruised in with a mind-boggling time of 1:18:20. This picture of him was taken moments after he finished his day’s work – completely spent. Or not.    

(#4) Ashton Eaton – Pac 10 Decathlon Championship, Berkeley, CA:  Another athlete operating in a different realm than that of the rest of his competition was this University of Oregon superman. When I saw him capture this particular decathlon with such ease (winning seven of the ten events outright), I wondered if it was a career best for him. Umm…not even close. In fact he’s been blowing away elite fields quietly and efficiently for some time now. But his days under the radar screen are numbered, for he is well-positioned to win Olympic gold in London next year – and with it the title of “World’s Greatest Athlete.”  

Until then Eaton has been biding his time with some helpful hobbies. In February of this year, for example, he set a world record for the men’s indoor heptathlon at an international meet in Tallinn, Estonia. The guy who owned the record at the time had set it in March of 2010, breaking a mark that had been in place for 17 years. A guy by the name of Ashton Eaton.

He will be smiling back at you from a Wheaties box next year. Bank on it.

(#3) Stevie Goldstein – CIS Southern Section Softball Playoffs, Torrance, CA:  Roughly halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs lies a small but proud Catholic high school named Aquinas. Hardly a SoCal sports power, their softball team had been expected to make a quick exit from last Spring’s playoffs. But they somehow managed to win their first and second round games, despite scoring just three runs in total.

That “somehow” was named Stevie Goldstein, an unflappable pitcher who fired strike after strike after unhittable strike. But could she handle a North Torrance High team that had piled up 34 runs in their two playoff games?

Well, yes – she could. In fact, she could handle them to the tune of no hits and no walks for the full seven inning game. The thing was however, Aquinas hadn’t scored either. So on Goldstein went, into the 8^th, the 9^th, the 10^th inning without allowing a hit. Aquinas had baserunners on in almost every inning, but just couldn’t push that one run across for Goldstein. So she kept going.

Finally, with two outs in the 13^th inning, she gave up her first hit. And in the 15^th inning North Torrance scratched out a run to win the game and end Goldstein’s high school career. She handled the devastating loss well – better than I did in fact.    

(#2) Jenn Suhr – U.S. Indoor Track & Field Championships, Albuquerque, NM:  While the brilliance of Stevie Goldstein had taken me totally by surprise, I knew what I was getting when I staked out a prime spot at the U.S. Indoor Championships to watch Suhr, the reigning American queen of the pole vault.

I’m not sure, but I think she dozed off while taking a pass on the first several heights. By the time she easily cleared the bar on her first attempt of the day, it was almost 1 ½ feet higher than it was at the start of the competition – and half the field had been eliminated. As she went on to effortlessly clear higher and higher marks, I got the feeling that something unusual could happen.

Unfortunately that “something unusual” was me about to miss a plane. I hung in as long as I conceivably could before sprinting for the airport. At that point, Suhr had just missed on her second try at besting her own U.S. record of 15’ 10”. I shouldn’t have been surprised when the next day I learned that, had my flight’s departure time been 10 minutes later, I would’ve witnessed a new American record of 15’ 11”.

Technically, that would make this performance 99% Memorable and 1% Imaginable for me. But I’m not proud – I’m claiming it.

(#1) Sean McGonagill – Columbia at Brown, Providence, RI:  My friend Doc swore that McGonagill had made a deal with the Devil. There was no other way to explain how the smallest player on the floor could dominate a Division I basketball game so thoroughly – while wearing a protective mask, no less.

See, McGonagill’s face had been on the receiving end of a teammate’s knee during a loose ball scramble in practice just 48 hours prior to the game that we attended. So when he, his surgically repaired face, and his badly outmanned teammates took to the floor against a team that occupied first place in the Ivy League standings at the time…well, put it this way – Doc & I had seriously considered keeping the car running in the parking lot.

Forty minutes of brilliant play later, the 6’ 1” (on his tiptoes) McGonagill had turned in a stat line of 39 points (on 15 of 19 shooting), six assists, four rebounds, one steal – and a blocked shot, just for grins. Oh, and his Brown Bears had handed heavily favored Columbia an 8-point loss.

Did I mention that McGonagill was a freshman?