Fill-in or shoe-in?

Shaw Grigsby was invited to participate in the Bass Fishing competition at the third annual ESPN Great Outdoor Games as an alternate. Not being one to let an opportunity go to waste, the Gainesville, Fla., angler took full advantage Saturday to claim the gold medal.

"It was a blessed day," said blissful gold medallist Shaw Grigsby. "I can't say enough for what's happened to me all week. This whole week has just been... amazing."

The angler who Grigsby replaced? Denny Brauer. Brauer missed the Great Outdoor Games in 2001 because of back surgery, and had to bow out this year because of a scheduling conflict.

Pressure cooker?

Gold medalists Jamie Fischer and Mandy Erdmann inaugurated the Boom Runs Champions Challenge, with Fischer besting Erdmann in two straight races to win the co-ed event.

"It was by far the funnest event, just going out there with Mandy and running," said Fischer, who already had Boom Run gold medals from the Men's and Mixed Doubles events.

The pressure level, he added, was "about a one out of 10."

Overheard:

"You're standing up there and you're saying, 'Oh, Lord, let that dog do what she's bred to do, because I can't help her.'"
— Larry McMurray, who handled Pepper in the medal round of the Retriever, Trials, on how Pepper was out of sight for several minutes hunting for a hidden retrieving dummy.

"I said we should have climbed up with disposable cameras, snapped some pictures from up there."
— Brian Bartow, tree topper, on what he said to Ed Smith while the two rested at the tops of their respective 65-foot poles after the Tree Topping consolation round

"That's just a rest. Just like a big bar stool. I just need to let the blood get back to everything, savor the moment."
— Ed Smith, tree topper, on his practice of sitting atop the pole after completing a cut

"It's not the notorious chunk. They wouldn't give it to me."
— A woman seeking Wade Stewart's autograph on a chip of wood, shortly after he nearly lost his Tree Topping semifinal match because of a shard he didn't quite cut through

"I think they realized it was just a freak thing. You can sometimes get a gut feeling if a guy is trying to cheat, and I really wasn't. I think they sensed that."
Wade Stewart, on the crowd's applause when he advanced despite his controversial cut in the Tree Topping semifinals

Attendance:

Saturday's total: 7,400 Event total: 57,050 2001 event total: 31,070

Saturday proved to have the largest crowds for the event, as 26,200 fans attended at least one of the venues.