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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Ryan Lochtes apology was about as real as his story.How can you tell? There wasnt a dude, brah or jeah anywhere in it.No bogus, either, and thats a word Lochte really knows something about.Some All-American hero Lochte turned out to be. John Wayne in Brazil, minus the white horse to ride into the sunrise on.One minute hes an Olympic star who bravely stares down bandits, a gun to his forehead. The next hes fleeing back to the states, leaving his younger teammates -- two still college students -- to clean up his ugly American mess.This could be a new telenovela, the soap operas that millions of Brazilians are hooked on. About the only thing missing is a female fatale, though the guess is there were some involved in the making of this story.Lochte tried to portray himself into some kind of hero, a macho athlete who stared down the barrel of a gun and said whatever to some imaginary bandits. While his teammates cowered in fear of their lives he stood tall, his faux platinum hair glistening in the early morning light.Turns out it was an easy story line to sell, especially to NBC which is constantly in search of Olympic heroes and swallowed his wild tale whole. Later he doubled down, telling Matt Lauer we couldnt make this story up.Actually, thats precisely what Lochte did. And Fridays apology for doing that was about as lame as the short-lived reality show he once starred on.Obviously written by someone with experience in crisis communication, it at least begins with the right words, which are I want to apologize. From there it goes off the deep end, much like his original tale.Its traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country -- with a language barrier -- and have a stranger point a gun at you and demand money, the statement said.Dude, dont go there. Theres a huge difference between being robbed by men masquerading as police and being confronted by security guards after vandalizing a gas station bathroom.Dont want a gun pointed at you? Dont kick in gas station doors.On the list of things that matter, the Wild West dustup at the gas station ranks low on the scale. Thanks to Lochte, though, it morphed from a drunken mistake into an affront to an entire nation, something Lochte and his drunken buddies will probably never be able to understand.Actually theres little Lochte seems to understand. Hes the archetypical dumb jock, always ready for the next frat party and always eager to have someone read him his press clippings. Its no surprise that he is the athlete that most embarrassed the U.S. at these games.Close behind him is goalkeeper Hope Solo, who called the Swedish players who scored on her cowards after the favored American womens soccer team was eliminated. Like Lochtes embellishments, Solos comments should be no surprise. She badmouthed her coach and teammates after a loss in 2007 and made jokes about the Zika virus before the Olympics, making her a target for Brazilian fans.The whole thing is a bit reminiscent of the U.S. hockey players who trashed their rooms in Japan during the 1998 Olympics, only to infer it might be the fault of the Japanese for building cheap furniture.All they did, though, was damage some furniture. Here the national pride of Brazil -- a country trying to pull off these Olympics in the face of long odds- was damaged.Surely Lochte wasnt thinking about those kinds of consequences when he dreamed up his robbery tale. Probably wasnt thinking much at all after a long night out on the town and an imaginary encounter with Brazilian desperados.This is a guy, you might remember, who tried unsuccessfully to register his catchphrase jeah as a trademark even if he couldnt define what it meant.The irony of it all is that Lochte may have done these Olympics a big favor. His story has dominated the news out of Rio in recent days, pushing aside the lingering images of green pools and empty seats.The truth is that Rio can be a dangerous place. There have been a number of very real crimes during the Olympics.Indeed, Lochtes initial account of things seemed entirely plausible in a country where the police might not always be what they appear to be and anyone with a cellphone or a wallet is a potential target.As bad as Rio might look at times, though, Lochte looks even worse. Hes become a joke, mocked for everything from being a child of privilege to simply being an idiot.Its hard to imagine any sponsor sticking with him, hard to imagine USA Swimming officials even allowing him to compete. Brought to Rio to represent his country, he embarrassed it on the biggest stage imaginable.An apology every bit as phony as his hair color did nothing to change that.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg Clearance Nike Shoes From China . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Nike Shoes China . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. https://www.nikeshoeschina.us/ . PETERSBURG, Fla. Nike Shoes From China . The 27-year-old Scrivens will be joining his third NHL club since signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2010. The move also reunites with him with head coach Dallas Eakins from their time together with the American Hockey Leagues Toronto Marlies. Nike Shoes From China Outlet . Arsenal failed to take full advantage of its main rivals stumbles on Saturday as substitute Gerard Deulofeu levelled with a hard shot from a tight angle in the 84th minute to give Everton a deserved point. Ahead of a crucial fortnight that will see them play against Napoli in the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal leads by five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea. LAS VEGAS -- New team. Same old result.Full of new star power -- and dominant on the inside -- the U.S. mens basketball team opened its bid for a third straight Olympic gold medal Friday night with a 111-74 exhibition romp over Argentina.A game that was over almost before it began showed the U.S. has to improve its shooting and conditioning. It also showed that there is plenty of talent among a group of players who seem to want to play well for each other and their country despite the absence of Olympic stalwarts Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.Theres a willingness from these guys to work on anything we need and to work hard, coach Mike Krzyzewski said. These are very good guys.A U.S. team that hasnt lost a game in 10 years had little trouble with Argentina, which some consider to be a medal contender in Rio de Janeiro. Paul George scored 14 first-half points, Kevin Durant added 12, and the U.S. blew open the game early before an appreciative crowd on the Las Vegas Strip.Even with Bryant retired and James taking this Olympics off, there was no real talent drop-off on a team heavily favored to win gold once again. The depth of the U.S. showed as Krzyzewski rotated players in and out, searching for the right combinations on a team with 10 new players from 2012.Nothing is for sure, Durant said. We want to get this gold, and right now we have a job to do. We have to prepare the right way.Count the Argentines among those who were impressed at the first real game for the Olympic team.Obviously, they have the best talent and the best size in the world, Argentinas Luis Scola said. Thats a big difference in their favor.The game was the first of five exhibitions the U.S. will play before traveling to Rio to defend the gold medal. The U.S. team has spent the past week practicing in Las Vegas in preparation for the tour and the Summer Games.There werent any opening-night jitters, though the U.S. shot only 45 percent and missed all but 14 of 41 3-pointers. With DeMarcus Cousins pulling doown 15 rebounds in just 16 minutes, the U.ddddddddddddS. dominated inside, outrebounding Argentina 53-30.The big thing is getting in shape, and they are not there where they will be, Krzyzewski said. But we really have an inside presence on the boards.For Durant, the game was a chance to play with a pair of his new Golden State teammates, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. It was also a chance for Durant and Carmelo Anthony,?the only two players from the 2012 team, to demonstrate that this will be their team in Rio.Both players cheered from the bench as the minutes were spread around, jumping up to clap for teammates. Every U.S. player got quality time, with Greens 12 minutes the least played by any American.Were going to have fun and were going to enjoy ourselves, Anthony said. If its not fun, its not worth it. Were going to enjoy ourselves, but at the same time were going to be focused in trying to get that gold medal.Durant finished as the games high scorer with 23 points, and George had 18 and Carmelo Anthony 17. Andres Nocioni had 15 and?Manu Ginobili added 11 for Argentina, which lost to the U.S. in the semifinals of the 2012 Olympics.Though at times little defense was played, there was plenty of offense to keep the crowd at the new T-Mobile Arena happy. The teams combined to put up 70 3-point attempts, 41 of them from the U.S.Oddsmakers had made the U.S. a prohibitive 29.5-point favorite in what at times looked a lot like an NBA All-Star game. But while the U.S. team is loaded with 12 NBA players, the Argentines had only three on their roster, and the talent difference showed.While the team is full of new players, the gold-medal run will be the last for Krzyzewski, the national coach for the past decade. His teams have lost only one game during his reign, which will end after the Olympics with San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich taking over. ' ' '