21.   Despite that ordeal, McLaren practiced as usual and was his normal ornery self, although he was forced to breathe through his mouth exclusively.

22.   He was laughing and joking and playing around a little bit, acting his normal self.

23.   Someone else is mourning the loss of an ordinary Thursday, straining to find some corner of the afternoon that is just its normal self, untouched by formality.

24.   He was his normal consistent self at shortstop.

25.   Hernandez was his normal fidgety self on the mound, tugging at his shirt and hat and demonstratively shaking off signs from Posada.

26.   Nevertheless, after sinking my teeth in the first bite of sea-cucumber, I am back to my normal self.

27.   Rhodes was his normal bustling self from the start, hustling the fielders into small errors, and grabbing runs where runs seemed impossible.

28.   She was her normal self.

29.   Milan outplayed us early on and our players were only shadows of their normal selves.

30.   On Tuesday, however, Pierce was a shadow of her normal self.