Photo: ESPN
After 8 years if embarrassment, the United States’ Mens’ Olympic Basketball Team is back on top. While most of the country slept this morning, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and company squeaked out a 118-107 win over Spain to capturethe gold medal. Dwayne Wade scored 27 points and Kobe added 20 in a hard-fought, offensive game in which the US led by only 2 points with a couple minutes remaining. The US beat Spain by 37 points earlier in the Olympics and most people expected a similar result in the gold medal game. Spain had different ideas however. They came out ready to play and never let up. As a team, the Spaniards shot 51.4% from the field and 47.1% from 3-point range. They out-rebounded the US 37-31 and had only one fewer assist then the Gold Medal Winners. Pau Gasol had 21 points for Spain while Rudy Fernandez had 22 points. In what was supposed to be a celebration game for the US, Spain nearly pulled the upset of the Olympics.
As I look back on this gold medal run for the US team I have to wonder, why was this final game so close? Except for a preliminary game against Australia, the Americans destroyed every other team they met except for last morning’s game. They beat this Spanish team by 37 points earlier in the games and Spain was missing Jose Calderon this time. There is one glaring difference between the gold medal game and every other game the US played. The US took the final game for granted. Theystopped their throttling defense and yes, Spain shot the lights out, but they also had more wide open jumpers than any team that has played the US so far. It shouldn’t have been close, but it was. Kobe saved the team from another embarrassing upset by scoring 13 key points in the 4th quarter, including a four-point play in the final minutes of the game. Read more…
Photo: SI
Michael Phelps completed the unthinkable last night, winning eight gold medals in a single Olympics to surpass Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record of seven gold medals in one games. Phelps swam 17 races, won 8 gold medals, and set seven world records. He won one of the closest races of all-time, when he snuck in front of Milorad Cavic at the last moment to beat Cavic by .01 seconds. He watched Jason Lezak complete on the greatest comebacks in swimming history to keep Phelps’s hopes of eight gold medals alive. He has secured the title of Greatest Olympian of all-time. Some are even asking if he is the greatest athlete ever. Phelps’s accomplishments at this Olympics go past the unreal, past dreamland, and into the absolutely unimaginable.
Only Mark Spitz knows what Michael Phelps is going through. When you swimming 17 races at full speed in 10 days, conduct countless interviews, and get mobbed by fans everywhere you go, life must very tiring. Phelps pushed through though. He carried a smile at all times, except before races when he walked out headphones in his ears and a stern, concentrated look on his face. He may need a couple weeks off before getting in the pool again, but I don’t think so. With someone like Michael Phelps, he lives for he water and no amount of pain is going to keep him away from that liquid bliss. Will he back in 2012? Yes. Now I can’t say that for certain, but I cannot imagine a situation other than injury that would keep Phelps away from the 2012 games. Read more…
The unfathomable seems to have happened. A Steinbrenner has admitted defeat. Two days ago, Hank Steinbrenner commented that injuries have cost the 2008 Yankees and it may be time to look forward to the 2009 Season. Wow. I didn’t think I’d ever hear a Steinbrenner utter those words and yet, they make sense. The team has been ridden with injuries and poor performance by young pitchers. Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui, and Chien Ming Wang have all suffered serious injuries this year and are not expected back for the rest of the season. Combine that with Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy’s shockingly bad performances this year and you have a team ready to break. The Yanks have held around as Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte have had strong seasons thus far, but both are old pitchers and they will almost definitely not be able to keep pitching well.
Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter have both have had sub-par season and Robinson Cano has not lived up to expectations. Alex Rodriguez has had an excellent year and recently acquired Xavier Nady has played out-of-this-world, but it isn’t going to be enough. Hitting wins games, pitching wins championships. The Yankees have excellent hitting, but their starting pitching isn’t going to hold up. It has barely held up so far. The Yankees are nine games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East and six games behind the Boston Red Sox for the Wild Card. The Twins also lie between the Yankees and the Sox in the Wild Card. The Red Sox and Rays both look strong, even though they have both suffered their own injuries in recent days. For the Rays, Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford were placed on the DL. a big setback to an already weak lineup. The Red Sox meanwhile lost Tim Wakefield and Mike Lowell to injuries. Read more…
