From The Sports Desk

[bounty]

I watched the last bunch of kilometers where it was the two chasers after the two in front and that's always fun to watch. and I agree with the "picked the moment" part for sure. she timed the attack really well---but my goodness the other three should be absolutely ashamed. as soon as Faulkner attacked, the other three just looked at each other, and worse, they continued to look at each other.

this was super exciting:

https://youtu.be/2sb32uxUO10

and in terms of "women inspiring", this is heart warming, almost maybe tear producing:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Mx_Z6...?feature=share

[Danik 2016]

Just watching women football finale
US against Brazil

[bounty]

how was it?

[Danik 2016]

US won but it was a narrow win. Both teams played very well.

[Sancho]

For me one of the best images from the games was on the podium of the women’s artistic gymnastics. Gold went to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. Silver went to Simone Biles, and the Bronze to Jordan Chiles, both from Team USA. There’s a joyous Andrade, arms in the air, while Biles and Chiles pay tribute. It’s fantastic:

https://www.newscenter1.tv/news/simo...fa22998d4.html

[Danik 2016]

Thanks for metioning it, Sancho, you can imagine how this scene got viral here. And it seems that Rebeca at a time wanted to give up because of her knee surgeries and it was Simone Biles that encouraged her to go on. She is not only the best, she is very generous too.
All applause for these hard working girls!

[Sancho]

I didn’t know that part of the story, and it makes it even better. The whole thing epitomizes good sportsmanship, which sometimes is lacking in a win-at-any-cost sporting event.

I’m sure you saw the picture of surfer Gabriel Medina levitating above the wave with his surfboard.

[bounty]

i haven't paid close attention to the news but there was some judging/scoring controversy in women's gymnastics that has made a mess of things.

Sancho, normally ive been trying to reserve Wednesdays for a mid-week visit to litnet, but im peeking in today in case you see this in time and might be interested. I just joined the Vuelta a espana fantasy site and made my first ever fantasy team.

if you are interested in joining in on the fun:

https://fantasybytissot.lavuelta.es/#/game/play

i had to make a tough choice between sepp kuss and adam yates, and wout van aert and Mathieu van der poel and had to do some switching in and out to make my budget.

im pretty happy with my team. i was hoping to pick mads Pederson but the site doesn't have him presently listed as being in the race. if he becomes available, that might throw a monkey wrench into my line-up.

i might have shared this site with you before. if you want to join, it could help you with your selections:

https://www.procyclingstats.com/index.php

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race...2024/startlist

[Danik 2016]

I didn’t know that part of the story, and it makes it even better. The whole thing epitomizes good sportsmanship, which sometimes is lacking in a win-at-any-cost sporting event.

I’m sure you saw the picture of surfer Gabriel Medina levitating above the wave with his surfboard.

You are right, Sancho, good sportsmanship is half of it. And US still remains at the top and deservedly, because the athletes are trained and become support since they are kids. In Brazil there usually is only government sponsorship for male football. The other athletes have to rely on private sponsorship and their own efforts. I remember one gymnast complaining that they didn´t even get a sandwich. And Brazilians that don´t compete in elite sports like sailing and horse riding are usually very poor.Even so, miracles are always expected at the Olympics(Brazil is very good at expecting miracles).
For Brazil these Olympics weren´t so brilliant. Even so, the most important medals were brought home by women, it was a women's Olympics. And yes, I saw the famous feat of Gabriel Medina. It seems they got frightened at him, because at the endgame they were very small and tame.

[hellsapoppin]

The Olympics were awesome beyond belief. Got terrible eyestrain from watching the TV so much. But it was worth it to see both basketball teams win gold and to see the girls gymnastics. Suni Lee is such a big hero to everyone here in St Paul and South St Paul where she grew up.

[Sancho]

I didn’t have a chance to watch a lot of it, but what I saw I enjoyed. I guess I prefer the races as opposed to the judged events. On the track, in the pool, on the bike, the first one across the line gets the gold. I understand those sports.

You know, Danik, I’m no expert but I don’t think the athletes get any government funding here, except secondarily through school sports programs. I’ve seen a few news stories about which colleges “won” the Olympics. Also there have been a few stories about how past legislation in the US Congress effected the games for US athletes, specifically Title IX of the Education Act. Title IX is anti-discrimination legislation for any schools receiving federal funding. Nowadays it’s become shorthand for women’s sports. Colleges can’t just take all the government bucks and roll them into the football team, they gotta put some of the money into the softball team too. Title IX was passed back in the 70s and evidently it’s having some effect. As in Brazil, the women here brought home more medals than the men did this time.

As for the sports that aren’t commonly supported by colleges, archery, badminton, breakdancing (Go Raygun!), and the like, I get the sense the athlete’s parents are draining their 401k accounts to support their child’s dreams. (A 401k is a tax-advantaged retirement account.)

[Sancho]

Thanks for the links, bounty. I’m afraid I’m too much of a casual fan to be any good at picking a fantasy road cycling team. My first pick - Dave Stoller.

[bounty]

our government doesn't directly fund our Olympic athletes but there are some fungible things that go on where its not quite right to wholly say they are not involved either.

title ix has been a very mixed bag and the interpretations of it very problematic. casual readers are familiar with the explosion of girls and women's sports subsequent to the law's passing. what often gets lost (and football shares some blame here) is that the implementation of the law has caused thousands of mens programs at the college level to disappear and tens of thousands of men opportunities to be lost (something which continues to this day). I can elaborate if anyones interested.

im pretty excited about the fantasy league and im happy with my team. so the watching was going to be fun already, paying attention to how my riders are doing during (or finding out afterwards) is going to add to the excitement.

ive got three "leaders" (kuss, skjelmose and riccitello), two "all-arounders" (van aert and juaristi) and three "climbers" (paret peintre, Ciccone and vergalitto).

initially I went with adam yates but I ran out of money so I had to "downgrade" to sepp kuss, which is okay because for home-country prides sake i wanted some americans (the other is riccitello who should be in the hunt for the "best young rider" jersey) on the team anyways.

they have a feature where you can designate each stage's winner from your team. today im going with wout van aert and since its a time trial, I can earn bonus credits by guessing the time. I just entered 13:29.

I look forward to stopping in a couple times a week to share the news...

mama mama---the Italians are coming!

[Sancho]

Dad: What is this?
Mom: It's sautéed zucchini.
Dad: It's I-ty food. I don't want no I-ty food.
Mom: It's not. I got it at the A&P. It's like... squash.
Dad: I know I-ty food when I hear it! It's all them "eenie" foods... zucchini... and linguine... and fettuccine. I want some American food, dammit! I want French Fries!
Mom: [to the cat] Oh, get off the table, Fellini!
Dad: Hey, that's my cat! His name's Jake, not Fellini! I won't have any "eenie" in this house!
Dad: [to the cat] Your name's Jake, you understand?

[bounty]

my favorite part with the father was how he spent the whole movie being a hard guy but then at the end when the little 500 is going on, he's sitting in his car at the dealership listening on the radio, getting really into it, and steering the wheel back and forth while making grimace faces and then he starts the car and tears off to the track to watch in person.

im in 9394th place in the Vuelta fantasy league! laughs...

unfortunately I don't know how many people are playing, so that might be not too bad. but it doesnt sound too good. I was looking at some of the leaders teams and they made some good choices I didn't make, but I went heavy on the climbers who don't tt well, so im hoping to improve as the race goes up.