Rio Post Mortem, Pirates, Hearst, and Other Topics

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box.....

• The Rio Olympics ended this past Sunday amidst much pomp, ceremony, and overproduction.  Marilyn and I found ourselves watching much more of the games than we anticipated ahead of time, and we enjoyed them immensely.
• Everyone will have their own "Olympic Moments" to savor in their memories.  For me, however, the most enduring memories of these Olympics will be as follows:

• The complete domination of the sprints by Jamaica's Usain Bolt.  In particular, I will remember his anchor leg in the 4x100 event.  When he took the baton, the sprinters from Japan and the USA were almost dead even with him, and he proceeded to leave them in the dust.  Simply amazing.

• The dominance in the swimming pool, for the FOURTH OLYMPIAD, of Michael Phelps.

• The dominance in the swimming pool by Katie Ladecky, and at only 19 years of age, I suspect that she will still dominate in 2020, and quite possibly 2024.

Moving away from the Olympics....

• What do you make of the Pittsburgh Pirates?  In the month of August, they went 5-4 in a stretch against bottom feeders Atlanta, Cincinnati, and San Diego.  They then go an improbable 5-1 against the Dodgers and Giants on the West Coast, only to return home to face critical series against the Marlons and the Astros and go 1-5 and look completely impotent in doing so.  You just can't figure them out, or, as Yogi Berra once put it "In baseball, you don't know nothin'."
• The Steelers.  They are 0-2 in the practice games, have looked awful (or so I'm told; I think I've watched a total of about a half dozen plays in the two games, total).  What I think is happening is that Mike Tomlin is using these games as a coach should use them.  To look at newer and marginal players, to avoid injuries to key players (Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown, to name only two key players, have not played a down), to practice.  These are PRACTICE GAMES, people.  What a concept for a coach to follow.
• Of course, this doesn't stop the Steelers and their 31 NFL lodge brothers from charging full boat for the tickets and making purchase of these tickets mandatory in all season ticket packages.  Shameful.
• I have just started reading this recently released and current best seller...

• It's hard to believe, but you pretty much have to be over fifty years old to have a first hand memory of the Patty Hearst Kidnapping and the amazing and bizarre story that followed it.  I am only about forty pages into it, but it promises to be an interesting and fascinating book.  Rest assured that The Grandstander will be providing a full review upon completion.
• My mentioning of this book on Facebook yesterday prompted some comments along the lines of "Whatever became of Steven Weed?"  Anyone under age fifty reading this know who Steven Weed is/was?  Anyway, a Google search reveals surprisingly little about him. Google will show a successful realtor in Menlo Park, CA named Steven Weed, that is about the right age, but no indication if he is THE Steven Weed.  Perhaps Toobin's book will reveal the answer.

The Happy Couple

• Speaking of Usain Bolt, look what has been turning up on various golf courses western Pennsylvania of late:

• What a legacy, huh?

Ledecky's Amazing Feat

We have really enjoyed watching the Olympics throughout the first week, especially the swimming events.  The performance of 31 year old Michael Phelps in his fifth Olympics has been nothing short of remarkable, but I think that the most astonishing single performance was watching Katie Ledecky completely demolish the field in the 800 meter freestyle race.

To that end, these may well be the most memorable images of the these Olympic games for me.

The Rio Olympics - Seven Days In

I have been watching a lot of the Olympics.  Not as much as my friend Fred Shugars has been watching, to be sure, but enough to ensure that I haven't been to bed before midnight all week, and it's killing me.

Anyway, here are some Kwick Komments from this part of The Grandstand.....

• Michael Phelps.  The guy is 31 years old and in his FIFTH Olympics.  I never would have thought that what he has done in Rio would have been possible.  It is simply amazing.

• Ryan Lochte may be one of the greatest swimmers of all time.  Wonder if he ever says to himself, "Why did MY prime have to coincide with Michael Phelps' prime?"
• When I watch Katie Ledecky swim her events, I think of Secretariat at the Belmont Stales in 1973.  Another simply amazing athlete.

• Staying in the pool, HUGE props go out to American Gold Medalist Simone Manuel for all kinds of reasons.  Hers was a landmark performance in a lot of ways.  Her emotions after winning and in post-swim interviews last night was one of the highlights of the Games.

• Allison Schmitt, the great-niece of one of our Stonebrook neighbors, Barb Meyer, won a gold medal in one of the swimming relay events the other night.  This goes with four medals that she won in London in 2012.  Here's to a little reflected glory for our little neighborhood!

• Female beach volleyball players high five and hug each other after every point.  Talk about slowing up the pace of play.
• I watched the final set of a men's beach volleyball match last night between the USA and Italy, and found it to be totally and completely compelling.
• Saw the last ten minutes of the USA-India field hockey game last night, won by the USA, 3-0.  Isn't that a sport that has historically been dominated by India in the past? (That's a serious question.)  Anyway, that USA team is now either 3-0 or 4-0 in pool play, so when did the USA become a power in field hockey?
• I am not sure if I have ever seen ten minutes of field hockey, total, in my entire life before last night, but, hey, Let's Go USA!!!!
• When Australia gave the USA men's basketball team a bit of a scare on Wednesday night, it produced the best quote of the Games so far.  Kyrie Irving said that the Aussies gave the USA a great game and forced them to "play with our backs to the ropes" all night.
• I applaud the skill sets of the female gymnasts, and I am glad that they are producing a haul of medals for the good ol' US of A, but something about watching those young girls (and, yes, they are for the most part, still girls) makes me a little uneasy.  Too many stories from the past about abusive coaches (that means you, Mr. and Mrs Karolyi) makes me squeamish.
• The maniacal husband/coach of Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu is far and away the most annoying character to emerge from these Games.  Does he ever wash that green t-shirt he's always wearing?
• Team handball.  I never see this enough to really learn the rules and the intricacies of the game.  It seems to combine basketball, hockey, and soccer all in one sport.  It seems intriguing and looks like something that I might actually like watching, if given the opportunity to learn more about it.  It doesn't seem to be a sport that is played with any great seriousness in the USA.
• Of the sports contested in this first week, I am glad that the scheduling was such that most of the final swimming events have been contested live and in prime time.  Those are the ones we have most enjoyed seeing.  I hope that the same will be true of some of the signature track and field events, which begin today.

That's it for now.  More to come in the week ahead.