Thoughts and Headlines 8/22

There's been a lot going on in the sports world lately so here's a few quick thoughts on what's going on.

One More
The USA Mens BBall team is one win away from a gold. The 3 year commitment to the Olympics is one game away from showing it truly payed off. They will take on a Spain team that will be hungry to win gold. In the last Olympics the Spaniards finished undefeated in group play and didn't come away with a medal. Don't expect a big blowout over Spain like the USA did before. This Espana team is hungry and look for them to give the USA a run for their money. I expect them to pack it inside, try to get Dwight Howard into foul trouble early and make Team USA beat them from the outside. Michael Redd could be the X-Factor in this game.

Track and Field
Usain Bolt is just insane. Becoming the first person ever to break both 100 and 200m world records in the same Olympics. His 40 yard dash time translates to 3.53, that is just utter ridiculousness! Put this guy in an Eagles jersey and make him return kickoffs and punts. As long as he can catch, I want to see this guy in the NFL! But anyways, Bolt is just a phenomenal runner, just think he could have shaved .10 seconds off of his 100m time had he not show boated. I guess he doesn't care anyways.

USA Soccer
We know that the Olympic Soccer team was eliminated early, but that wasn't their best team. They were gearing up for a 2010 World Cup Qualifier against Guatemala. They won for the first time in Guatemala since 1988. This USA team just seems like a completely different team outside of it's own borders. The game had some iffy calls both ways and I think Guatemala got robbed on a few plays, but so did the Americans. I was very impressed by USA goalkeeper Tim Howard, he made some spectacular saves and really was a key to their 1-0 win.

MLB approves Instant Replay
The Umpires and league has agreed for instant replay. It will be limited to boundary calls, such as determining whether fly balls were fair or foul, or whether they were Home Runs. I definitely agree with the implementation of instant replay, but it needs to be kept pretty limited. The umps should only refer to replay, unless a manager uses their one challenge (that's if they let them have one challenge), only if they are absolutely unsure of a call. If they believe 100% a HR was a HR, then call it. But if they are unsure then they should go ahead and use it. But the game is already long as it is and replay will definitely prolong it. But as long as it is used minimally, I will be fine with it. But just because we will have instant replay now, doesn't mean we will still get the correct calls 100% of the time.

Olympic Update 8/13

Michael Phelps is a Freak
Michael Phelps cannot be human. Phelps won his 5th gold so far and it is looking like he will indeed break Mark Spitz's record of 7. I truly think he will go 8 for 8 but his biggest challenge could be the 4x100 free relay. The relay is obviously only 25% in Phelps's hands. Phelps isn't as dominant in a 100 free style. A lot of pressure will not only be on Phelps, but his 3 other teammates as well.

Greece awaits the 'Redeem Team'
Remember '06? I am sure most of us do. Greece will give Team USA their biggest test yet. If the US plays like they did against Angola they could easily get knocked off like they did back in 2006 vs. the Greeks. They need Kobe to step up his shooting and their overall outside shooting. The defense is there but they also need to utilize the inside more where Dwight Howard can dominate and give the defense some different looks.

USA Soccer eliminated
The US Soccer team was ousted after losing 2-1 to Nigeria. They played a man down from the 3rd minute on after Michael Orozco was ejected. They did not have had their best team but I was really expecting a better result and effort from the American footballers. I guess I can only hope for a better result in their next big event, the 2010 World Cup.

Spain's Photo
The Spain's Mens BBall team shot a photo with them all using their hands to squint their eyes. Even though they said they didn't mean to offend anyone, I don't get why they did it in the first place? If the Olympics weren't being held in China would they have done it? I doubt it. So I don't really get what the point of the photo was and why would they do it anyways? There has to be something they're not telling us and this happened a day after a heated battle with the Chinese BBall team. Yao Ming and Pau Gasol were going at it all night.