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.
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.
