Exactly. I passed others (won) and others passed me (lost) at times. It was exciting to run that particular race.
Olympic thread: Penn State connections.
- Thread starter The Spin Meister
- Start date
Need Jennifer Valente to defend her track cycling gold to catch China (assuming Women’s bball gold). She leads with 1 race to go in the Omnium. Wish NBC would show it, but they’re showing volleyball where we are getting caned by Italy.
Valente does it! One Gold medal down to China, but Women’s bball is the last event either team has a chance in.
And since everyone makes fun of us for arranging the medal count by total medals, we’ll just have to lead their arrangement as well - number of golds, silvers as a tiebreak if golds are tied, etc. we are way ahead in both silvers and bronzes
I'm watching the indoor bicycle race. Who does this? How do you even get started much less support your habit? I looked it up online and saw that there are only 3 indoor bicycle racetracks (velodromes) in the USA and only one in Los Angeles that meets international standards.
I don't understand a lot of these sports where there are no professional leagues and no fans. What do the participants do for a living?
I don't understand a lot of these sports where there are no professional leagues and no fans. What do the participants do for a living?
How much you wanna bet, USWVB has a new coach shortly? We can't set to save our lives. Ugggggg. Boy, did this team need Micah and some serving weapons.
This gold medal game is not a showcase for the women’s game. Terrible shooting for both teams and very sloppy play. We have about 15 turnovers - several with no pressure.
They could really use Clark out there.
Calm down and hammer this team
They could really use Clark out there.
Calm down and hammer this team
This was one of the sloppiest played games I've ever watched. You're right, Clark playing this game would have made a huge difference with her outside shooting.
NPR already had an article about that. They said that even if we won, China was amazing, Australia had much better per capita, and if you combined all if the EU that they were the best.
Link
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Micha served a few times and they weren't nearly as powerful as she did in the past.
What else would you expect from NPR? They like to downplay American exceptionalism.
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Unfortunately, she was an alternate, and couldn't play without an injury on the team. Her serve is frowned upon on this team.
Yep. The first half was abysmal. Nothing but one on one nonsense. No team play led to 13 turnovers just in the first half. This team averages 14/ game. Had nothing to do with France's defense, we just didn't play team ball. Come out in the 2nd, and the same nonsense. Then they go down by 8 points. Hard fought victory, but very fortunate to win.
Yes, and China has 1.4 billion people. They also pay for their athletes, where the majority of Americans have jobs while competing. Hell of an accomplishment! Comparing the compensation of winning medals between China and the U.S. isn't remotely close.
Doubtful. Karch got them to their first gold and back in the gold medal game today. Italy was simply better, and significantly so. Near perfect passing, in system almost every point, dominated the US in blocking, still terminating seemingly at will even when in transition. I don't think the USA had a single block for a point in this match. Italy put on a masterclass in this tournament but also came into it as the top team in the world so it's not a huge surprise that they won.
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She's using a completely different serve, it's not that it wasn't as powerful as it was previously. Coach Karch insists all of his players use a jump float serve because statistically it's more effective than a jump topspin serve. He's correct in that topspin serves are easier to pass in general, unless you have one that is elite. But Micha's is elite, she set a record for aces in a season in her Italian league, and this is one area where I wish Karch would let her use it. Micha's topspin serve is effective not just because of her power but because she's left handed and the ball slices in the opposite direction than most passers are used to since the majority of players are right handed.
Thank you. She is an elite player, and we didn't use her, because we couldn't without injury status. Our setting wasn't good the entire tourney. This is also what has hurt Penn State volleyball for a number of years. In volleyball, you either hit down, or you hit high and out because your set is too far and off the net. Time to reset U.S. Women's volleyball. He has way too many favorites.
Even crazier! PENN STATE GODDESS! 91 aces in a single season at Penn State. The all time record.
I wouldn't say the setting was the problem, Poulter is fine. Hancock wouldn't have started anyway, she'd only get minutes as part of the double sub like she did during the one game in pool play, the same way Karch used Carlini. Carlini's defense is very good though, she had a lot of good digs in an earlier match in particular.
Today specifically, passing and lack of service pressure was the problem. Italy was able to pass nearly everything beautifully due to the latter, and when you can run your full arsenal of offensive options while your opponent is consistently out of system due to iffy passing you have a massive advantage. Italy's opposite also put on a show, making very few errors and executing very well.
I’m sure the EU athletes would love it if they were limited to 2-3 competitors per event and 1 team per team event. Call their bluff - all you 28ish nations cobble together 1 total team.
Was a great two weeks of sports. Sorry to see it over but NFL and Penn State football right around the corner.
I thought we had more. And my cousin in Austin, and a crazy Longhorn fan, said two days ago UT had 13 medals.
Could be this is athletes only and fan bases are counting the coaches in the total.
Also, this may be only US medals and many athletes from US schools represent other countries. 🤷🏿♂️🤷🏻♀️
Curry was incredible in the gold medal game. He hits four 3-pointers in the last two minutes or so. The final one was incredible. If he hadn't his the previous 3 you'd have thought it was luck.
Also, here is something that flew under the radar. France was led by a guy named Guerschon Yabusele. I had never heard of him before. He was drafted by the Celtics but chose to play overseas. Today he plays for Real Madrid but has a $2.5m buyout. In the final, he had 20 points while being guarded by Lebron James. Now, I know James takes some heat but he is an excellent defender with his size, strength and long arms. If James wasn't the best player for the USA he was second (only to Curry). It is very possible he is playing in the NBA next year for $15m to $20m.
Basketballer rips in himself for not playing but getting a gold.
I was wondering about him and where he played. He was better than Wemby for them. France would not go away. We just could not put them away until Curry went off in the last two minutes. They had some other guys who could ball. The U S. is really a collection of the best players in the NBA but not a cohesive team.
Closing ceremonies: Seems like the USA committee said ‘enough of this artsy fartsy , deep psychological imagery stuff. We are America!
Tom Cruise takes a huge leap, grabs the Olympic flag, rides through the streets of Paris on a motorcycle waving the flag, right up onto a massive cargo plane, then parachutes out over LA!
It was like a giant shot of testosterone. And huge burst of excitement and intrigue. A statement of ‘Hold my beer!’
Seems the contrast could not have been more pronounced.
Tom Cruise takes a huge leap, grabs the Olympic flag, rides through the streets of Paris on a motorcycle waving the flag, right up onto a massive cargo plane, then parachutes out over LA!
It was like a giant shot of testosterone. And huge burst of excitement and intrigue. A statement of ‘Hold my beer!’
Seems the contrast could not have been more pronounced.
And then you had sunshine, sand, lifeguard stands, palm trees and smiling people. I love France and Western Europe, but they’re lacking in some of those departments - gloomy weather alot of the time, especially anywhere north of Provence, rocky-ass beaches around most of the Med, dour people.
