BEIJING • Death and games don’t mix.

We make a huge fuss about our games, but deep down we know they don’t amount to much. They entertain us. They divert us. They help us forget the grim and troubling corners of life. One of those corners is death.

Pity the U.S. women’s indoor volleyball team. It’s being forced to mix death and games.

When Todd Bachman was stabbed to death Saturday at the ancient Drum Tower in an apparently random attack by a deranged man, his fellow Americans here in China were saddened and frightened.

But the women’s volleyball team suffered an especially excruciating jolt. Elisabeth Bachman, Todd’s daughter, had been a teammate to many of the current players in the 2004 Games.

Todd and his wife Barbara served as special cheerleaders for the 2004 team, which was expected to win gold but instead stumbled to three losses in six games.

But after each match, win or lose, the Bachmans greeted U.S. players. The smiling couple from Minnesota slapped players on the back and offered only encouraging words.

“Go get ‘em,” the Bachmans would shout.

Now, Todd is dead and Barbara’s life remains in danger.

She, too, was stabbed by a mysterious assailant, 47-year-old Tang Yongming, who leaped to his death from the massive tower.

And the volleyball team, stricken with grief and confusion, must still play games.

It’s no surprise the United States got pounded Monday by Cuba in preliminary competition. The Cubans, led by charismatic star Yurnika Ruiz, swept the Americans, 25-15, 26-24, 26-17.

Even if the U.S. was playing at full strength, it would struggle to conquer the Cubans. Playing with the burden of sadness, the Americans had not a chance.

After the match, U.S. setter Lindsey Berg did what Americans do. Following in the tradition of Joe Namath while valiantly trying to inspire her teammates, she guaranteed victory in the team’s match tonight against Venezuela

“I promise you we’ll get that win,” she said. Later, she described Venezuela as “a team we will beat.”

U.S. coach “Jenny” Lang Ping, a Chinese native, didn’t seem so sure of the future. During a post-match press conference, she looked as if her mind had wandered to a place far away from a volleyball court.

The Bachman tragedy, she admitted, devastated her. After hearing the about the stabbings, she was so overwhelmed she could not break the news to her players.

The tragedy, she said, has drained her team.

“We have to capture our energy again,” she said.

Energy was no problem for the Cubans. During the match, they were rambunctious. Ruiz, perilously thin at 5-foot-11 and 139 pounds, kept ripping slams her opponents often didn’t even touch. She waved her right fist in a power sign, danced with joy and dominated the afternoon.

The Cubans enjoyed one long party while the Americans all but slumbered through the match.

But the competition wasn’t the only story, or the best one.Cuba and America, of course, don’t enjoy the friendliest of relationships. There’s that embargo we imposed after Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, and there are all those Cuban athletes who defected to freedom, and a mountain of cash, in the United States and …

The list of troubles could go on and on.

Yet after the rout, Cuban coach Antonio Perdomo offered kind words for a team he knows struggles with burdens that make games look meaningless.

“I hope the U.S. can win the next few matches in the tournament,” Perdomo said through an interpreter.He paused.

“Except against us.”

Lang understood the words, even before the interpreter spoke. She smiled and shook hands with Perdomo.It was a tender moment in the middle of a savage week.-Contact the writer: Columnist David Ramsey can be reached at 476-4985 or david.ramsey@gazettedev.gazette.com. Check out David’s blog at http://daveramseysez.freedomblogging.com

Olivia Christensen, left, and Katie Ehrlich tried out their locker combinations Sunday during the Palmer Ridge High School dedication and open house. Residents voted for the tax bond on the $46 million building in 2006. Photo by