That was last Wednesday at the PD's high school sports banquet. A celebration of stellar athletes and stellar student-athletes. But when Jacob Gowan of Cardinal Newman stepped on stage to receive his award, boos were heard.

That was ridiculous. First off, if that person who booed had ever met Jacob, he/she would have found nothing about Jacob to boo. Plainly put, he's a good kid, smart as a whip and quite kind. So if the boo was directed at Gowan being from Newman, that was such a selfish act, missing the whole point of the night. There are times to put away jealousies or dislike and just savor the moment. Jacob didn't deserve it. It was bush.

Ben Bostrom, who finished second Sunday in the AMA Superbike race at Infineon, gave his second-place silver medallion to a kid who asked for it as Bostrom was leaving the winner's circle.

Bostrom, who grew up in Sonoma County and went to Petaluma High School, has given away every trophy or medallion or any prize he has ever received from motorcycle racing. All to kids. All they have to do is ask and Bostrom gives it to them.

Why?

"Because the kids come here," Bostrom said. "This (racing) is for them."

"So you have nothing at home, not one trophy or medallion?" I asked.

"Nothing," Bostrom said.

In the 46 years I have been doing this, I have never come across such generosity and perspective. Never.

Windsor's Lauren Rusert has been named to the first-team All-American rugby team. A junior at Penn State, Rusert, 21, experienced her second national championship in three years on May 2. Penn State defeated Stanford, 46-7.

Rusert has been selected to represent Penn State on a hand-picked United States women's rugby team that will travel later this month to Europe.

A 2006 graduate of Windsor, Rusert wrestled for the boys team and finished fifth in state.

Jacob went to Maria Carrillo, wrestled for a couple years, and is now in Colorado, training at the U.S. Olympic Center. Jacob, 21, is ranked first in the nation by the U.S. Judo Federation in the 90-kilo class. His goal is to make the U.S. Olympic team for the 2012 Summer Games in London.

Seven months ago Jacob shredded the ligament in his left elbow is now rehabbing - with a new ligament, a transplant from a cadaver.

Getting in and out of Infineon Raceway can be a little time-consuming and Infineon officials are not happy that the state is conducting an overnight paving project on Hwy 37, a 12-mile stretch from 37 and the 121 intersection east to Vallejo. The construction will be going on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. The state says vehicle access will not be affected.

My question is: Why? Infineon has only four weekends a year in which traffic is heavy because of major races. Would it have been so difficult, in this case, to wait a week and not have the project run at the same Infineon is hosting the AMA races?

Apparently discussions are still on-going, that maybe the consruction will be delayed a week, due to, of all things, common sense.

Ben was two weeks shy of graduating from Petaluma HS in 1992 when he left school to compete in three jr. national motorcycle races that helped launch his career. Ben asked if he could be given a waiver, since it was only two weeks, but was told he didn't have enough credits. He had to go the last two weeks or not graduate.

He raced instead and now at 35, he told me Wednesday he wouldn't have to work another day in his life, he has made enough.

I'm not recommending dropping out of school. Then again, I'm also not recommending if you are an athlete and giving up on your dream. It's an individual decision and Ben obviously chose the right one.