<table> </table> <strong><span class="subhead">Were they a bunch of babies?</span></strong></p><p>Former Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil wouldn&#8217;t have been pleased with the performers at the opening ceremony. Turns out, many of them were wearing diapers.</p><p>While many of the volunteer performers made minor sacrifices, others were injured, fainted from heatstroke or forced to wear adult diapers so the show could go on.</p><p>In the Olympic ceremony segment showcasing the Chinese invention of movable type, the nearly 900 performers who crouched under 40-pound boxes donned adult diapers to allow them to stay inside for at least six hours, Beijing organizers said.</p><p>Filmmaker Zhang Yimou, the ceremony&#8217;s director, insisted in an interview with local media that suffering and sacrifice were required to pull off the Aug. 8 opening, which involved wrangling nearly 15,000 cast and crew. But some news reports have raised questions about the lengths to which Beijing went in trying to create a perfect start to the Games.</p><p>Chinese officials were accused of fakery for using computer-generated images to enhance the show&#8217;s fireworks display for TV viewers.</p><p>Organizers also have been criticized about their decision to have a 9-year-old girl lip-synch &#8220;Ode to the Motherland&#8221; because the real singer was deemed not cute enough.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Global troubles get in the way again</span></strong></p><p>President Bush was here for the opening ceremonies. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won&#8217;t be here for the closing ones, as had been expected.</p><p>Where&#8217;s Vice President Dick Cheney when you need him? Hopefully not out hunting.</p><p>Rice, confronted with a sudden array of global troubles, has dropped plans to attend the closing ceremonies this weekend.</p><p>She will be replaced by Labor Secretary Elaine Chao as leader of the U.S. delegation for Sunday&#8217;s finale.</p><p>National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the change was made &#8220;because of ongoing events around the world.&#8221;</p><p>Rice was in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday for a NATO meeting dealing with Russia&#8217;s invasion of Georgia. The U.S. also lost an ally in the war on terror with the resignation of Pakistan&#8217;s president, Pervez Musharraf.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">More proof that Phelps is grrrrreat</span></strong></p><p>Move over, Tony the Tiger, here comes Olympic champion Michael Phelps.</p><p>Phelps, the record-setting swimmer, will soon be appearing on boxes of Kellogg&#8217;s Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes.</p><p>Kellogg Co. made the announcement Tuesday. Phelps, the winner of eight gold medals in Beijing, will be featured on Frosted Flakes and Corn Flakes boxes expected to be in stores by mid-September.</p><p>Battle Creek-based Kellogg says the images of Phelps that will be used will highlight some of the most memorable moments of the games. Phelps is a Baltimore native who has lived and trained in Ann Arbor in recent years as part of the Michigan-linked Club Wolverine.