“I’d be screaming, ‘To infinity … and beyond!’ ” Marino said, referring to the Disney character Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase in “Toy Story,” one of Christopher’s favorite movies. “Then I would hear him and it would be more and more and more distant, until finally I couldn’t hear anything.”

Happily — perhaps miraculously — both father and son survived the night, thanks to good Samaritans and the U.S. Coast Guard. Walter and Christopher Marino, along with Walter’s daughter Angela and the children’s mother, Robin Bishop, beamed their way through a joyous interview with Matt Lauer on TODAY Wednesday.

Walter, Christopher and Angela were enjoying a family day at the beach at the Ponce Inlet south of Daytona Sept. 6. Late in the afternoon, Christopher was swimming near his father when he got caught in a current, and his dad paddled rapidly to retrieve him.

“We were both just sucked out,” Marino told Lauer. “The forces just took us out so quickly, it totally took me by surprise.”

Darkness falls
On the beach, Angela could no longer see her father and brother and quickly called 911. The Coast Guard and the Volusia County Beach Patrol launched a search-and-rescue effort, but were unable to locate the pair and called off the search when darkness set in.

TODAY Walter Marino thanks his rescuers.

Meanwhile, Walter and Christopher treaded water while looking at each other face to face. Christopher, who is largely nonverbal, “watches a lot of Disney movies,” explained his father, and Walter kept calling out Christopher’s favorite Disney lines, including the “Infinity” phrase.

But as the hours ticked off in the dark night, Walter could no longer hear his son. He tried to reconcile himself to the worst.

“I knew in my mind he was gone,” Marino told Lauer. “The only thing that got me through was I could not lose my daughter. I could not let my daughter lose her brother and her father on the same day.”

Around 7:30 a.m. the next morning, fishermen spotted a glint in the water from Walter’s necklace and rescued him. With the fate of Christopher still unknown at the time, Walter had little hope of finding his son alive.

Three long steps
“The Coast Guard asked me if I wanted to be evacuated to a helicopter to go to the hospital, or stay on the boat and continue the search,” he said. “I stayed on the search. They asked me if I wanted to be above or below — I chose to be below, because I knew in my mind that Christopher was gone and I didn’t want to see my son floating facedown.”

After nearly two hours, the Coast Guard asked Marino to come on deck. “That was my Green Mile,” he told Lauer. “I thought they wanted me to come up and identify the body. Those three steps, I just needed help to get to the top.

“

I got up there and they pointed to the helicopter and said, ‘See that helicopter over there? That has your son, and he’s fine.’

“I never kissed so many Coast Guard men in my life!”

Christopher was picked up some 3 miles from where his father was found, and some 8 miles from shore.

While an animated Marino showered his rescuers with thanks, appreciation — and yes, kisses — he also cited plucky Christopher as a hero, saying the boy actually helped his father get through the nightmare ordeal.

“His lack of fear was calming to me,” Marino said. “He was on an adventure — I mean, he was laughing. It was just a day in the ocean to him. It wasn’t until the jellyfish started stinging that he started to freak out a little bit.”

Marino also offered a shout-out to the animated superhero who helped him communicate with his son. “Buzz Lightyear got us through,” he said.

Rescue team member David Birky said he was awed at Christopher’s resolve. “That kid is an amazing kid,” Birky said. “To tread water for almost 14 hours — I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could do that. They have amazing willpower to be able to do it.”

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Lesnar, a former NCAA wrestling champion and World Wrestling Entertainment star, is one of the greatest athletic prospects to ever come into the sport. He has size, strength and, most of all, incredible quickness and reflexes for a man who had to cut weight to make the 265-pound heavyweight limit.

But as he heads into Saturday’s UFC 87 showdown against rugged veteran Heath Herring, he runs the risk that his headlining fame will be over just as quickly as it started.

“There’s always pressure to win in every circumstance,” said Lesnar. “Me, being very new, nobody wants to follow a loser. I don’t want to say my back is against the wall, but I put pressure on myself. There’s no added pressure in my mind, but I want to win the fight.”

Lesnar can’t afford a second straight loss on a major pay-per-view event and still be considered a long-term main eventer.

And with a hefty contract, Lesnar (1-1 overall; 0-1 UFC) is unlikely to be kept around unless he can be a major pay-per-view seller. It’s not a lock that if he loses he’ll be gone, but if he looks bad or is knocked out, it’s a distinct possibility. UFC last year cut Mirko Cro Cop, a similarly highly paid heavyweight, after two losses.

“I plan on being around for a while,” said Lesnar.

After signing a lucrative UFC deal, Lesnar’s first match, on Feb. 2, was against Frank Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champion, who is noted for being one of the best submission heavyweights in the sport. Lesnar looked like an unstoppable, but also undisciplined, force – for about 85 seconds. Lesnar exploded for takedowns that were more like violent linebacker hits. His quickness in moving on the ground was freakish for a man of his size, leaving Mir in immediate disbelief. Lesnar was battering the former champ on the ground, who kept thinking to himself to just keep moving so the match wouldn’t be stopped. Lesnar even knocked Mir down with a punch.

Five seconds later, it was over, and Mir’s arm raised in victory.

“I had a dominant position and I stood up and made an amateur mistake,” said Lesnar.

Lesnar got to his feet after escaping an armbar on the ground, leaving his leg behind, and Mir caught Lesnar in a kneebar, causing him to tap out. It was a spot Lesnar drilled regularly in practice before the fight, and even more after.

In response to the loss, Lesnar added Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros, a seven-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, to his team of coaches.

“I worked a lot of stand-up this camp,” he said. “We worked on all aspects of wrestling, a lot of jiu-jitsu defense, a lot of leg kick defense. Heath has a strong right hand and is well-rounded with his kicks. We haven’t left any rock unturned for this fight.

“First and foremost, I didn’t like to lose,” Lesnar said. “Nobody likes to lose. I have to be a little more relaxed. I’m a little more relaxed and a little more polished. I’ve had a few more months to train. The Brock Lesnar now against the Brock Lesnar then, I’d beat him.”

The estimated 600,000 buys Lesnar’s match with Mir did on pay-per-view is bigger than any boxing or MMA match has done so far this year, and among the biggest in MMA history. Even more impressive, UFC sources indicated nearly half had never purchased a UFC event before.

Because UFC president Dana White saw the potential of bringing new fans to the sport, Lesnar walked into the company as one of its highest paid fighters, at a $250,000 base guarantee plus undisclosed bonuses.

But because of that same drawing power, and the cost, his early path is opposite to how UFC has treated similar heavyweight prospects Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez, or how Elite XC has booked Kimbo Slice.

The others have been given lower or mid-level opponents to start out with to build their reputation. UFC decided that with what they were paying Lesnar, there was going to be no such slow grooming process.

“I said from the beginning I didn’t want any easy fights, and Heath is not an easy opponent,” said Lesnar.

Things are a lot different in match No. 2. The company did an intense marketing campaign around his debut, pushing him as a former WWE champion, showing clips of his pro wrestling matches and using him as an outsider from pro wrestling coming into UFC to see what happens if a pro wrestler were to fight for real.

But for this fight, things are different. Lesnar is no longer a novelty act to either the media or the audience. He’s a name fighter, but one who has to prove himself. He hasn’t been marketed as hard as he was for the first show. He’s clearly the draw for the live show and expected to be the most popular fighter on the show, which heading into the week has sold 11,000 tickets for $2.2 million. That’s a 180-degree turn from the Las Vegas crowd, which booed him out of the arena, seeing him as a fake pro wrestler invading their sport. But on a national basis, the main event is clearly Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight title defense against Jon Fitch.

“I think experience is something that is much needed,” admitted Lesnar, now 31, facing a man who is actually a year younger than he is even though he’s almost a pioneer heavyweight in the sport.

Texan Herring has 41 pro fights over the past 11 years, in nearly every major organization. He became a star in Japan at the age of 22, and has been in the ring with a Who’s Who list of the greatest heavyweights of all-time.

“For me, I’ve been able to get a lot of experience in the training room,” said Lesnar.

Herring, a big star during PRIDE’s heyday in Japan when he was known as “The Texas Crazy Horse” for his unique multi-colored hair, noted he’s beaten men bigger than the 6-2 ½, 277-pound Lesnar, as well as higher credentialed wrestlers. He’s best known for a 2000 win over Tom Erikson, a 300-pounder with better amateur credentials than Lesnar, who had never lost up to that point. But Erikson was 36 and had never focused 100 percent on the sport the way Lesnar has. Herring also beat Mark Kerr, a former NCAA champion, in 2001 when beating Kerr, an early MMA star, still meant something. Against the top wrestlers, both opponents come out strong with takedowns. But in both cases, they started getting tired. In each case, Herring caught them with knees as they shot in, and quickly finished them.

But in Herring’s UFC debut on January 25, 2007, that never happened and Jake O’Brien outwrestled him for three rounds to earn a decision win. O’Brien, while a good college wrestler, isn’t nearly as big, as strong, or the level of wrestler as Lesnar.

Herring (28-13), is known for being difficult to finish; he went the distance twice with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in their three meetings, after being submitted the first time. But he was beaten by his most famous opponents in Japan, by Cro Cop from strikes on the ground, and by Fedor Emelianenko due to blood.

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This weekend marks the latest installment of the Air Jordan Countdown Pack series. With a theme revolving around two Air Jordan generations which add up to 23, previous releases have seen the II/XIX, VI/XVII and X/XIII. This pack features the “Hare” VII and the Black/Red XVI with removable shroud. Look for this pack to hit stores on Saturday, June 21st at select Jordan retailers.

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Despite the Air Force 1 turning over the proverbial mic to the Dunk this year, the Air Force 1 is surely starting to gain some more steam with the launch of 1World website. The Nike 1World project will source 18 of the world’s most creative and innovative personalities in the realm of sport, music, art and design as they are each given an Air Force 1 as their design playground. The 18 styles will slowly trickle out over the next 8 months with the first batch including the Pedro Winter AF1 Low, Gore-Tex AF1 Low and Rasheed Wallace AF1 High. With each subsequent release, look for an in-depth profile of the collaborator and the inspirations behind their design. Check out the 1World site here.

FOX has released the first photo for the upcoming Family Guy spinoff ‘The Cleveland Show’ which will come to FOX in Spring 2009.

THE CLEVELAND SHOW (working title) (Sundays, 9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT): Many years ago, CLEVELAND BROWN (voiced by Mike Henry) was a high school student madly in love with a beautiful girl named DONNA. Much to his dismay, his love went unrequited, and Donna wound up marrying another man. Cleveland once told Donna he would always love her, and if this man ever done her wrong, he’d be there when she called. Well, this man done her wrong. Donna’s husband skipped town with another woman, leaving Donna with a daughter and a baby. Now she’s come to Cleveland and offered him another chance at love. Unattached after the Loretta-Quagmire debacle and true to his word, Cleveland joyously accepts and he and CLEVELAND JR. move to Stoolbend, VA, to join their new family. Once in Stoolbend, Cleveland has a few surprises in store for him, including a flirtatious new stepdaughter, a 5-year-old stepson who loves the ladies, as well as a collection of neighbors that includes a loudmouth redneck couple, a British family seemingly stuck in the Victorian era and a family of bears living at the end of the block. FAMILY GUY was only the beginning. Get ready for THE CLEVELAND SHOW (working title)!

The onset of spring is an opportune time to celebrate burgeoning gardens and the reawakening of nature with the children in our lives. Beyond venturing outside and experiencing the season first-hand, budding nature-lovers can find inspiration from the following titles, available in bookstores now.

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