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V A N C O U V E R , British Columbia (AP) — Comebacks make for great Olympics stories, and they come in many forms. Just look at what Seth Wescott, Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn pulled off Monday. Wescott came to the Winter Olympics as the reigning champion in snowboardcross, yet also as damaged goods. He hurt his leg and pelvis two months ago and it showed in the races since. He opened Monday's event by finishing 17th of the 32 riders in qualifying, but found his stride to reach the finals. Then he found himself way back with five jumps left — only to make it up with a thrilling finish that snatched a gold from the host country. Miller is America's most decorated Alpine skier and the guy who let everyone down in 2006, failing to finish higher than fifth. He didn't earn a medal at the two world championships since then and considered retiring before deciding to give the Olympics one more try. After several days of weather delays, he was one of the first guys down the mountain. The result: a terrific time good enough for bronze, just nine-hundredths of a sec- ond behind the winner and only the third-ever downhill medal for the United States. Vonn was the headliner coming into Vancouver, then all the hype seemed for naught when she revealed a shin injury that made it painful to even wear a ski boot. But the bad weather was a bless- ing for her recovery and in her first training run early Monday, on the upper section of the course, she had the fastest time in the field. Then there was a downturn. A bumpy after- noon run on the lower section left her hobbling again and hoping for more weather delays. With Wescott's in-race rally and Miller's career redemption, the United States upped its medal collection to eight, double any other country. Ameri- cans have won two golds, topped only by Switzer- land's three. Two finals remained Monday night, pairs fig- ure skating and the men's 500 meters in speedskat- ing. ——— Men's downhill Miller's nine-hun- dredths of a second behind winner Didier Defago of Switzerland was the smallest margin between gold and bronze in the history of an event that began in 1948. ''It's such a relief to get a medal,'' Miller said. ''The fact that those other guys beat me to the hun- dredth of a second doesn't bother me.'' The only other Ameri- cans to win a medal in the event were golds by Tommy Moe in 1994 and Bill Johnson in '84. Miller won silver medals in the giant slalom and the combined events in 2002, then went into the 2006 Winter Olympics as one of the headliners, only to make the wrong kind of history. A fifth-place finish in the downhill started his demise; it turned out to be his best finish. A rebel- lious, couldn't-care-less Sports 1B Tuesday February 16, 2010 Tuesday Boys Basketball — Central Valley at Corning, 7:30 p.m. Boys Basketball — Liberty Christian at Mercy, 7 p.m. Girls Basketball — Corning at Central Valley, 7:30 p.m. Girls Basketball — Liberty Christian at Mercy, 5:30 p.m. Girls Basketball — Los Molinos at Biggs Girls Basketball — Pleasant Valley at Red Bluff, 7:30 p.m. I'll eat these words After last week's more serious column and staring the winter playoffs in the face the next couple of weeks, maybe it's time for something a little more light- hearted. With Valentine's Day now behind us, I'm left with a whole candy jar of conversa- tion hearts — you know those chalky little candies with messages printed on them like I LUV U or BE MINE with not one mil- ligram of actual nutritional value. I've noticed as the years go on, the messages printed on these things get further and further away from Valentine's Day. I can't help to think that some of these would be perfect to give out to our very own Tehama County athletes... SO FINE — I'm giving this one out to the Corning boys soccer team. The Cardinals are 31- 2-1 over the past two seasons, with one of those losses unfortunately coming in last season's play- offs. With the soccer brackets now out, the Cardi- nals need just two more wins to claim the Divi- sion I title. GET WELL — Lily Brose this one's for you. Let's hope the hardest thing about the recovery of Red Bluff's young sensational point guard is Brose having to learn there is a speed other than 100 percent. SAY YES — I'm not quite sure I understand what this heart means, but I'm going to give this one out to anyone teetering about coming out to a sporting event the next couple of weeks. Find some time to check out a basketball or soccer playoff or the Division I or Masters wrestling championships. Football isn't the only great high school sport to experience. So the next time you have a free evening, set the DVR if you have to, but say yes to supporting a local school. TOP DOG — This one's going to Corning's Cameron Nye. Has there been a better athlete this school year in the county? The junior, yes junior, rushed for 974 yards and scored 15 touchdowns helping the Cardinals to the D-I football playoffs. Now with the basketball team, he's leading Corn- ing with 14.5 points per game and 3.7 assists. YOU RULE — Corning's other point guard needs some love, so this one goes to the Lady Car- dinals Regan Albee. The senior is doing every- thing a senior point guard should do down the stretch and has Corning clicking heading into the playoffs. She's also averaging 10.3 points, three steals and four rebounds a game. And because she's also averaging 3.5 assists, I can rely on her to share this heart with the rest of her NAL Cham- pion teammates. UR DA BEST — I'll keep digging in the bowl until I find eight of these, one each for Jacob Haley, Candace Wabbs, Justin Emerson, Trevor Wilson, Trevor Chamberlain, Richie Lakin, T.J. Larson and Will Torres. The Los Molinos Bull- dogs captured their first league wrestling title over the weekend and coach Maxwell's group should be proud. WHATEVER — I'll give this Valley girl sounding heart to the NSCIF basketball playoff point system, because like the Tin Man it needs one for the way it's treating the Corning Cardi- nals. The boys team is 19-5 and undefeated in the Northern Athletic League, but is tied with 10-11 Las Plumas, 7-15 Paradise and 4-18 Oroville according to the playoff points. The system uses a formula where overall record, record against division teams and strength of schedule are weighed equally. Nothing should be more important than what is done on the court. You can only play who you are scheduled and the Cardinals, who were moved up a division this year because of enrollment are being dealt a bad hand. One simple solution — make overall record worth half of the formula. That change would at least put Corning as the No. 3 seed. RESPECT — This one's for Mercy round- ballers Royce Crane and Aaron Gash. There's a lot of Royce Cranes and Aaron Gash- es out there. Players who may not fill up a stat sheet and grab headlines, but are still fun to watch. Every time I've seen these two, their motors are turning and they're giving everything they have to help their team win. SEE YOU SOON — I'm going to give half to the Los Molinos soccer team and half to the Mercy team and hope they can reunite it in the Division III championship. The teams have already met four times on the pitch this season and each game has been exciting. Both teams earned first round byes after splitting their series 2-2. With semifinal wins by both schools, there will a "football" version of the Little Tehama Shootout after all. GOOD LUCK — Here you go John Miller. With his experiences, I think the new Spartan coach should have no problem putting football into perspective for his players. #1 FAN — I think I'll save this one for myself. Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene will be sad once Easter passes, because there won't be another candy-associated holiday for six months. You can reach him with comments or questions at 527-2151, ext. 109 or by e-mail at sports@redbluffdailynews.com. Rich Greene By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor John Miller, a Salisbury High School teacher and Red Bluff junior varsity wrestling coach, has been chosen to take over the Spartans football program. The move will become official pending the Red Bluff Joint Union School District's approval at its Wednesday meeting. Miller who was raised in Corn- ing, played football at Butte Col- lege and at Valley City State Uni- versity in North Dakota. He also wrestled at California State Univer- sity, Chico. Since 1994 Miller has spent time coaching football, wrestling, base- ball and competitive shooting at Corning, Willows and Red Bluff High Schools across freshman, junior varsity and varsity levels. In 2000 he was hired as a teacher at Salisbury High School. Most recently, Miller has served as the Spartans junior varsity wrestling head coach. He's also been the parent of a child going through the Red Bluff athletic program and has taken multiple courses on coaching and football to go along with his background at the high school, junior college and university lev- els. Miller delayed an interview with the Daily News until Monday, because he did not want to take any of the focus off of the Spartan wrestlers who were competing at the Eastern Athletic League Cham- pionships on Saturday. On Monday, Miller spoke often about his passion for kids and want- ing to see them succeed. He said he will bring to the foot- ball program the same philosophy the wrestling program teaches it's athletes. "It's not about going out to try to win — it's about going out to try to be the best we can be at that time," he said. That's not to say Miller doesn't see wins in the Spartans future, he points to Red Bluff being the fourth largest school in the Northern Sec- tion with a base of 2,000 students to draw from. "I believe we have Division I athletes. We have had Division I athletes in the past five years. There are Division I athletes walking around that campus. We just got to get them. We got to get numbers out. Kids will push each other. I'd love to see 100 kids come out for varsity football," he said. However, Miller said it doesn't take being a superior athlete to have a positive experience in a high school sports program. He said he wants all kids to feel like they can be a part of something if they come out to join the team. A defensive minded coach, Miller said he will preach the basics to his players and will have to wait until he sees what types of athletes he has before settling on an offen- sive system. Defensively however, Miller knows what he wants. "We're going to have a hitting defense and it's going to be swarm- ing. We're going to have all 11 guys getting to the ball," he said. Besides a new coach at the helm, the Spartans will also be playing in a re-organized Eastern Athletic League in 2010. Asked what fans should expect to remain the same about Red Bluff football, Miller jokingly answered they would still be wearing green and gold. "I'm ready to move on and I'm sure the kids are ready," he said. Miller said he is not set on any players locked into a position and wants the athletes to be pushing each other. He also welcomes challenging opponents and said he would look for ways to change the football schedule accordingly in the future. As for criticisms from parents and fans, Miller said his new role has nothing on another position he's held before — junior varsity base- ball coach. "The varsity football job will be easy compared to that," he said. Miller will also draw on his daily experiences dealing with at-risk youth and the tough conversations he's had with parents during his time at Salisbury. "I think parents are going to see how much me and my coaches love kids and I think it's all going to go away," he said. As for those assistant coaches, Miller said his deal is finalized, he will begin meeting with the current football staff as well as others from the community he'd like to bring into the fold. Miller said, while he expects the program will have plenty of wins in the future, he's not going to judge his success on that. Instead, he said he wait for five to 10 years down the line and what kind of impact he has made on players' lives. Miller said success to him is 10 years from now having a full sum- mer of weddings to attend, from former players who invited him. Spartans tap Miller John Miller Comebacks by Wescott, Miller, Vonn MCT photo USA's Bode Miller smashes through a gate during the men's downhill skiing final at Whistler Creekside in Whistler, BC, during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, Monday See OLYMPICS, page 2B