Softball player puts mark on Bush

BEIJING — U.S. softball Olympian Laura Berg left her mark — a chalk one — on President George W. Bush. Well, on the back of his shirt, anyway.

Bush over the weekend visited competitions or practices of several American teams, including the U.S. women's softball team practice at the Fengtai Sports Center.

Bush

huddled with the team for photos, and when they broke up, there was a

chalk handprint on the back of his sweat-stained blue plaid shirt.

"You've been 'Bergied,'" he was told by the players, referring to the signature prank of outfielder Laura Berg.Berg won gold medals with the U.S. softball team in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics.

Leaning

against the chain-link fence surrounding the field, Bush watched the

players warm up with calisthenics, then take batting practice.

Softball

is being dropped as a medal event after Beijing, and the earliest it

could be reinstated is 2016. Bush, one-time co-owner of the Texas

Rangers major league baseball team, said he hopes that happens.

"It's good for the world to have girls playing softball," he said. "And these women are going to show young girls how to win."