by John Walters
A Medium Happy 35th to Roger Federer, who’s won more men’s grand slam singles titles (17) than anyone. He’s betterer, he’s Federer.
The Starting Five
1. Sports Natation
Katie Ledecky, who won gold and broke a world record in the 400-meter freestyle (3:56:46) last night, may as well be swimming in another pool . And she’s up against the world’s very best swimmers.
Michael Phelps adds to his gold haul (19 career) by swimming the second leg of the men’s 4×100 free and, at age 31, turning in the fastest split of his career. Phelps went into the turn in 2nd place and when he resurfaced, the USA had the lead. That was the difference.
2. The Grisly Games
Not right Said fred
Some nasty, nasty spills in the first two days of competition from Rio. On Saturday French gymnast Samir Ait Said broke his lower left leg when he landed awkwardly on the vault.
Yesterday Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten was leading the women’s race with just 11 kilometers remaining when she skidded out on a downhill turn and went head over handlebars into a curb. Van Vleuten lost both the gold and consciousness. She suffered three minor spinal fractures, so in a way she was kind of lucky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyxgToqzKR0
3. A-Rrivederci
The final shoe dropped. The Yankees, after trading two All-Stars and the man with the fastest pitch in baseball, and after watching former All-Star Mark Teixeira to retire, finally persuaded Alex Rodriguez to hang up his needles spikes. A-Rod will play his final game this Friday (I have three tickets; offers start at $200 for one, $700 for all three) because the Yankees were going to release him anyway and eat the remaining $25-million or so on his deal, so why not go out with a little dignity?
The Legends Era is officially over as of Friday. Tainted numbers, sure, but if he never gets another hit, A-Rod retires No. 1 in grand slams (25), No. 4 in home runs (696), No. 3 in RBI and No. 20 in hits. As recently as last season he jacked 33 homers and had 86 RBI, but this season he is batting .204 with 9 homers and 29 RBI.
He’s got four games left. I’d love him to pull a Kobe-60 and hit four out in his final four games, but I’m not sure that he’ll play more than one game. It’s not going to happen (but that’s what we said about Kobe, too).
4. PaintGate
Not a Seinfeld episode. No, the NFL’s first game of the season between the Colts and Packers, on a lovely summer night in Canton, Ohio, was canceled due to rock-hard paint at midfield and the end zones. Could it really have been any worse than the artificial turf the Women’s World Cup used last summer?
5. Death on the Waterslide
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The German word for insane if “verrukt,” which is also the name of the world’s tallest waterslide (168 feet, 7 inches, or 17 stories, or taller than Niagara Falls) at Kansas City water park Schlitterbahn. Yesterday the park held Elected Officials Day (they and their families were admitted free) and Caleb Schwab, 10, the son of a lawmaker, somehow died in an incident associated with Verrukt, which has a 60-degree drop, then climbs five stories before continuing down. No one is quite saying how he died at the moment.
The 2014 opening was delayed three times for safety reasons.
Music 101
Venus
There was once a seminal pop-punk band named Television in the mid-Seventies in New York City that all the music aficionados love, but that radio just did not. Ah, the pain of being an early adopter. You can hear a little of The Cars and even ELO in their sound. You may have heard of lead singer Richard Hell. Anyway, this is one of the band’s top songs.
Remote Patrol
Olympics
NBC 8 p.m.
More Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps, plus Missy Franklin jumps into the pool. Both USA men and women’s hoops tonight. Also, synchronized diving, the only Olympic sport that would get you kicked out of the pool if you tried it back at the McClintock Pool in Tempe back in the 1970s.
I did not see but heard about the French gymnast & OMG, glad I didn’t see that on TV! OWWWW! Poor guy. I was, however, watching the Women’s Road Race LIVE though & when that girl went off the road/flipped/hit that curb & DID NOT MOVE, I thought maybe she had died. It looked that bad. I was glad to finally hear on the coverage later that she was conscious & on the way to the hospital. The men’s race the day before actually had 5 times as many crashes & bad injuries (broken collar bones/shoulders/pelvis,etc), & LUCKILY they had dry roads or it could have been far worse – the descent was forecast as “treacherous” & it lived up to its billing.
I’ve done nothing since Friday night but sleep a little, eat a little, poop a little, drink copious amounts of Diet Pepsi & WATCH OLYMPICS! My eyes are blurry but I’m an Olympic watcher of the caliber of Michael Phelps as a swimmer! Yes, WORLD CLASS! Hot damn, did you SEE that relay?! AWESOME! We had not won that relay in World champ or Olympic competition in 7 years & we were NOT expected to win this one. In fact, we were supposedly going to have to fight for the Bronze… HA! All our guys did great but MICHAEL shot off his turn like a rocket & put us a body length in the lead which the remaining 2 guys mostly kept. I was standing & screaming from the moment Michael hit the water.
And KATIE! She’s just getting started! So proud. So happy.
And then the women’s gymnastics prelims last night – OMG! I’ve been so worried the past few weeks when the “experts” & media kept harping that the team gold was “in the bag”, we’d dominate, etc, etc. Last thing we need is to put MORE pressure on those girls, but wow, they came out & kicked butt from start to finish. They finished ahead by 10 POINTS, which if you compare to, say basketball, it’d be like a win by 70 (SEVENTY!) in the NBA Finals. Over the best in the world. They are truly the best women’s gymnastics team I’ve ever seen.
Not all has been fab – NBC does not mention it & they TRY to keep the cameras from revealing it too much, but more than HALF the venues are virtually EMPTY of spectators. They should cut the prices to $5/ticket or GIVE them away to fill up the seats. It just looks bad.
And I personally was VERY disappointed with the Opening Ceremony – maybe in person it was great but on TV, it looked small & CHEAP. And not enough space! When the athletes came out, they looked all jammed in there. Fave part was seeing Michael carrying the flag & leading the USA. (And what the hell is Christine Brennan’s problem with Michael leaving the OC early? Heck, the LAST thing I wanted is for him to stand for hours & tire out his legs! Plus, as NBC showed over the weekend & called it “smart thinking” – various countries’ athletes left after the Parade of Nations).
At least most of the venues look like they are holding up ok (even if largely empty of spectators). However, ALL the rowing events had to be cancelled (I assume just postponed) yesterday due to the strong winds. I was disappointed as I love watching Olympic rowing. At least I got to see one heat of the women’s quad on Saturday.
Last night was the women’s synchronized springboard. Tonight it is the men’s synchronized Platform. We have a medal-possible team.
Also tonight – Men’s gymnastics Team competition.
And I saw your tweets & the IOC is not in charge of the Paralympics, it’s governed by another org – the IPC.