Olympics Update (for Saturday)

By BJ

After avenging their semifinal loss in the 2006 FIBA World Championship to Greece (2-2), the U.S. (4-0) took care of Spain (3-1) as well, steamrolling past them 119-82 on Saturday. The win in the match up of undefeated squads clinched the first seed for the U.S. in Pool B, who will finish opening-round play against Germany (1-3) on Monday before advancing to the quarterfinals.

Anyone who didn’t know if Kobe Bryant or LeBron James was the leader of the team, here’s what James had to say after the game. “I’m the leader of the team, and I’ll make sure there’s no slippage.”

The dream race in the 100-meter Olympics never formulated, rather it was a one-man show by Jamaica’s Usain Bolt. American Tyson Gay finished fifth in the semifinal to be eliminated from the final, and Asafa Powell finished in a disappointing fifth in the final. The 21-year-old Bolt captured his first gold medal in stunning fashion Saturday, breaking his own world record of 9.72 seconds with a 9.69 finish, despite looking around and posing for cameras before crossing the finish line.

Now that’s impressive. As for those who might see it as mockery to his fellow competitors, the 6’5″ sprinter responded, “I wasn’t bragging. When I saw I wasn’t covered, I was just happy.” Heck, he can do cartwheels across the finish line if no one can catch him. Bolt is the heavy favorite to win the 200 meters next week, and Michael Johnson said that he is prepared to see his 12-year-old world record of 19.32 seconds be broken. And just think, Bolt hasn’t reached his prime yet.

Roger Federer won his first medal in three Olympics, gold in doubles play of all things. He and Swiss partner Stanislas Wawrinka defeated Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the final Saturday. Federer truly is the paradigm of sportsmanship. His Wimbledon loss was nothing short of respectful (unlike James Blake‘s recent loss) and his uncanny doubles win resembled that of a child winning something great. But I definitely tip my hat to Federer, one of the greatest tennis players ever.

Remember the Greco-Roman wrestler who dumped his bronze medal in the middle of the mat during the medal ceremony? He’s not getting it back. The IOC ruled on Saturday that Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian would be the fourth athlete kicked out of the Games and have his medal be the third removed, but the first not associated with doping.

Brett Favre makes his debut tonight as a New York Jet in preseason action against the Washington Redskins at 4p PT. I just now really took the time to think about how Favre’s Jets are in the same division as New England, and the AFC South and AFC North are stacked so they have 0% chance of making the playoffs. I can’t see what he’s playing for at his age other than for the love of the game because it’s going to be a long, playoff-less season for the future Hall-of-Famer.

With the AP preseason poll released Saturday, Georgia held top rank as well as in the coaches’ poll. Ohio State switched spots with USC with Oklahoma and Florida rounding out the top five. Check out the rest of the poll on ESPN. Season kicks off on August 28.

After Upsetting Federer, Blake Turns to Pouting

By BJ

Jayson Stark from ESPN wrote an article Thursday on how signing Manny Ramirez to a 4-year, $100 million contract this offseason would be dangerous for the sport of baseball. His problem? That “it would, in effect, be an open invitation to every selfish superstar in baseball to pull a Manny. Act up. Stop hustling. Stop trying. Refuse to play. Make up an injury. Whatever you have to do to get back out there on the free-agent market.”

That, my friend, already happens and won’t affect those who don’t have that type of attitude. If you want to pay a 36-year-old outfielder $25 million a year until he’s the age of 40, that’s your choice to be that stupid. Stark said it himself, there are only two players in history to have three 30-homer seasons after turning 37 – Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron.

But seriously, the first name that comes to my mind that has experienced a similar situation is Brett Favre when he was in Atlanta back in 1991. He wasn’t getting playing time; the starter on that team was Chris Miller, who was a Pro Bowler that year, so Favre acted up and got dealt like he wished. It’s not going to change a damn thing in the sport. There are always people who will act up for money or whatever, and Ramirez’s antics won’t negatively affect baseball one bit.

After pitching a scoreless ninth to record his second career save on Tuesday, Brad Ziegler of the Oakland Athletics gave up his first career run in two innings of work Thursday. Tampa Bay’s B.J. Upton did Ziegler in with an RBI double, but not after Ziegler posted the modern record for longest scoreless streak with 39 innings.

Ziegler’s current stat line:
40.0 IP, 1-0, 2 SV, 9 HLD, 18 K, 0.23 ERA

In Friday’s men’s tennis singles semifinal, James Blake of the U.S. lost to Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez 4-6, 7-5, 11-9. Notwithstanding three match points he failed to convert, Blake decided to blame the loss on Gonzalez for not admitting a disputed point two games before the finish. As the only American to have a shot at a medal in the men’s or women’s singles, Blake needs to shut up about the issue. He didn’t lose from that one point and even if Gonzalez got a lucky break, Blake is being hypocritical about sportsmanship in the Olympics. Regardless, this is what Blake had to say about his competitor. “Whatever he wants to say is fine. Whatever is going to get him to have some sleep tonight, then that’s fine.”

In all fairness, it’s not up to the player to make the calls – that’s what the judge is for. And I’m sure he wouldn’t be so enthusiastic to rectify the point with a chance at a gold medal on the line. I don’t buy that. Gonzalez will face Rafael Nadal in Sunday’s final, as Nadal beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

Update on Michael Phelps:

7-for-7 in Gold medals

Friday – Gold in 200 IM
Saturday – Gold in 100 butterfly
Sunday – 400 medley relay

U.S. Olympic basketball (3-0):

Thursday – def. Greece 92-69
Saturday – vs. Spain @ 7:15a PT