Olympics Update

After beating Japan 4-2 on Monday, the U.S. women’s soccer team will play for the gold vs. Brazil. The game will be broadcast live Thursday at 9am ET on USA Network.

With their 107th consecutive win, defending Olympic champions Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor of the United States will play for gold in the beach volleyball championship game. For some reason we are really into beach volleyball this Olympics. Hmm … maybe because it’s on every night in primetime or seemingly every time we turn on the TV. That’s OK though… it’s been fun to watch … go Misty May!!!!

On a touching note, according the Associated Press, “Just as she did four years ago, May-Treanor sprinkled some of her mother’s ashes on the sand before the semifinal, saving another half-portion for a similar ceremony at the gold medal game. “You can’t leave home without her,” May-Treanor said, tapping the plastic film canister she used to carry Barbara May’s remains. “But she’ll stay here.”

There has been a bit of a controversy over Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (the sprinter who set a world record and won the gold medal in the 100-meter dash). NBC host Bob Costas and track and field commentator Ato Boldon were extremely critical of Bolt for his excessive celebration BEFORE he crossed the finish line.

“It was a display that should not have been there,” Boldon said. “You kids at home, this is not how you behave as an Olympic champion.”

NFL Update

In Chicago, Kyle Orton beat out Rex Grossman for the Bears starting QB spot.

NY Giants quarterback Eli Manning looked impressive in the “Monday Night Football” 37-34 exhibition win over the Cleveland Browns. But the big performance of night came from WR Domenik Hixon. With three of the Giants’ wide receivers injured, Hixon stepped in to catch 2 TD passes from Manning, and added an 82-yard kick return for a TD.

Olympics Week One is in the books. And it has been a huge hit around the country, with NBC reporting that roughly 30 million tune in every night to watch. It seems that America has caught Olympic fever. Here are some amazing highlights:

1) Michael Phelps, or as the Chinese have been calling him “America’s Super Fish” has done it. A record-breaking 8 GOLD MEDALS!! However, they didn’t come easy. He won two medals literally, by his fingertips. He was behind in one race the entire way, until a late surge in the end put him in contention to win the race (note the word “contention”). It still seemed that his Serbian opponent, Milorad Cavic, was poised to win the race. But at the last 1/100th of a second, he charged the wall and with a heavy amount of amazing luck, Phelps’ fingers touched the wall before Cavic. Beyond surreal.

2) Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt shattered the 100m world record on Saturday, crushing the competition with a finish time of 9.69 seconds. Keep in mind that this was a guy who just started running this event two months ago. He’s a natural, and now holds the distinguished title of “Fastest Man In The World.”

3) In gymnastics, Nastia Liukin from the United States won the all-around gold. This was an event China was heavily favored to win, so Liukin’s victory is both spectacular and an underdog victory.

4) And in some sad news, Liu Xiang, possibly China’s most marquee athlete in these Olympic Games, hobbled off the field before his first heat in the 100m race. The whole nation was waiting to see how their hero would perform, and now, four years in the making, they won’t get that chance. And neither will he.

5) Serena and Venus Williams won gold medal in women’s doubles tennis.

Watercooler Discussion: What has been your favorite Olympic moment in week one?

PHELPS WINS 8TH GOLD MEDAL OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES!!!!

Phelps completed his incredible journey of winning 8 gold medals in 8 events …in 9 days!!! He broke Mark Spitz’s record of 7 golds in one Olympics and is now being talked about as one of the greatest Olympians (if not athletes) of all time. You have to love Phelps’ comments after his win, “I don’t even know what to feel right now,” Phelps said. “There’s so much emotion going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom.” He just wants to see his mom. How much do you love this guy?

Watercooler Discussion: Is Phelps the greatest Olympic Athlete of all time?

NEW OLYMPIC RECORD!

“I don’t even know what to feel right now,” Phelps said. “There’s so much emotion going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom.”

Olympics

Legendary!!!!

Michael Phelps is unbelievable. If you didn’t see the 100m butterfly Friday night, you HAVE to watch it on a replay. It was the most exciting and unbelievable race I’ve ever seen. Phelps barely won…..in fact, he was behind until he charged the wall and won by 1/100th of a second (basically the skin of a fingernail). The Serbian swimmer Milorad Cavic touched the wall seemingly convinced he’d already won. In fact, it was so close that the Serbian delegation filed a protest, which was overturned by swimming’s governing body who confirmed the accuracy of the touch pads.

The look on Phelps’ mom’s face when she saw he won was classic! She looked like she was going to faint. Phelps tied Mark Spitz’s record of 7 gold medals in one Olympics. In an interview with the Associated Press, Spitz gave a classy endorsement of Phelps.

“It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he’s maybe the greatest athlete of all time,” Spitz said. “He’s the greatest racer who ever walked the planet.”

Football News

I just LOVE this story. Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren’s daughter, Calla was thrown off her fantasy football team because the team thought she was getting inside information.

“My daughter, who’s a doctor in Salt Lake City, she captained one of the fantasy teams and then was thrown out of the league because of ‘inside information.’ But I will say, she was clean,” the 60-year-old Holmgren said, chuckling. “It was the appearance. “She did not phone me about it. And she was very upset about it. But she knows football, as all my girls do.”

6 Golds, 6 World Records

Michael Phelps did it again! Phelps won his 6th Olympic gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley in a time of 1 minute, 54.23 seconds. He (of course) set another world record by finishing .57 seconds faster than his previous world record. No time to celebrate though. After the awards ceremony, Phelps was back in the pool qualifying for the 100-meter butterfly semifinal. Just one more win and Phelps will match Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds from the 1972 Munich Olympics.

More Olympic News
Just two years after undergoing a minor heart operation, Team USA’s Rebecca Soni won gold and set a new world record in the women’s 200-meter breastroke with a time of 2 minutes 20:22 seconds.

The USA men’s basketball team avenged their loss to Greece in Athens in 2004 by winning 92-69 on Thursday and advancing to the medal round.

By edging out teammate and friend Shawn Johnson by .6 of point, Nastia Liukin became the third American to ever win the women’s all-around gymnastics gold.

In the 1988 Olympics, Nastia’s father, Valeri, won two gold and two silver medals for the former Soviet Union and nearly took gold in the individual all-around competition.

“He was so close to winning that all-around gold medal,” Nastia said moments after her medal ceremony. “I hope I made up for that. I hope he is as proud of this as I am.”

Olympic Updates:

Alain Bernard (France) won the 100m freestyle swimming event (surprised, well, you shouldn’t be, Phelps did not race in this event).

Yang Wei (China) won the men’s all-around gymnastics gold.

In basketball, Spain won its match against Germany 72-59. Many thought Spain would crumble amidst the controversy over the photo ad of the team in a Spanish newspaper. The completely insensitive and idiotic ad showed the Spanish team pulling their eyes out in an apparent attempt to look like the Chinese players. The controversy was not reported by the state owned media in China, so there was no uproar in the crowds that watched the game.

NFL News:

Adam (Pacman) Jones mailed a letter to NFL Commish Roger Goodell asking for full reinstatement to the League. Jones was granted partial reinstatement in June which allowed him to work out at the Cowboys’ training camp and play in pre-season games. Jones has been arrested 6 times with 12 police intervention incidents. The most recent incident occurred in February, 2007 at a nightclub in Vegas that led to the shooting of 3 people. Cornerback Jones was traded from the Tennessee Titans to the Cowboys in April 2008.

“He is just a normal person, but maybe from a different planet,” said Russia’s Alexander Sukhorukov when describing Michael Phelps. That just says it all, doesn’t it?!

Phelps made history Tuesday night with his 10th and 11th career gold medals and his 5th world record in five events in Beijing. With broken goggles in his first event of the night (the 200m butterfly), he swam through blurred vision and still broke the world record. An hour later he won his 11th overall gold (5th in Beijing) in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay. So, if Phelps really is from a different planet, we’re just so happy he decided to compete for the U.S. team.

The women’s gymnastics team took silver. The Americans had the lead heading into the last two events, but Alicia Sacramone slipped off of the balance beam and then fell on her back during the floor routine. While silver is nothing to balk at, it was a disappointment as the U.S. team was considered the team to beat.

Baseball

In non-Olympic news, the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers played a wild game Tuesday night. After the first inning, the Red Sox had scored 10 runs, including two, three-run homers by David Ortiz. The Rangers fought back, but an eighth- inning, three-run homer by Red Sox Kevin Youkilis broke a 16-all tie. The home run was Youkilis’ second of the night and ultimately pulled the Sox ahead for the 19-17 win. 19-17! That’s a football score. Crazy!

WATERCOOLER DISCUSSION: WHICH OLYMPIC SPORT ARE YOU WATCHING?