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Bar Chat

08/12/2024

Viva la France!

Add-on posted early Tues. a.m.

MLB Bits

--With little on Monday night, like nothing, I watched the Yankees-White Sox contest in Chicago, and it turned out to be a laugher for the 29-81 White Sox!  Former Wake Forest Demon Deacon Gavin Sheets tied a career high with four hits, three doubles, four RBIs, helping lead Chicago to a 12-2 win!  Goodness gracious.  It was so much fun to watch.

The Yankees had 20 base runners but were 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

Needless to say, this was Chicago’s best offensive output of the season, 18 hits in all. It was also the first win for interim manager Grady Sizemore.

May it be the first of many more Ws for the ChiSox the rest of the way.

[Yankee Jazz Chisholm left the game with a left elbow injury, suffered while sliding headfirst into home to score a run.  He says it’s no problem, but he’ll have an MRI today.]

--The Dodgers beat the Brewers 5-2 in Milwaukee last night, as Mookie Betts homered in his first game off the injured list, while Shohei Ohtani blasted home run No. 36.

Clayton Kershaw pitched 5 2/3, one earned.  Another positive step for him.

--Sunday, after I posted, the Mets got blitzed by the Mariners a third night in Seattle, 12-1, getting outscored 22-1 in the three games before heading home after a long road trip, just 4-6.  The bats have been in a total funk since the All-Star break.

While they are 12-11 in that period, not total disaster but also not good enough if they consider themselves real playoff contenders, you have someone like Brandon Nimmo, 16 home runs and 63 RBIs at the break, and 0 HR and 3 RBIs in 79 at-bats since.  That is hideous.

Pete Alonso, in his walk year, has had a pained look on his face all season, and his performance has pained us fans, Alonso batting .205 with runners in scoring position.  He keeps saying he wants to remain a Met, but management is thinking, we aren’t paying this guy anywhere near what he and his agent, Scott Boras, think he deserves.

Unfortunately, while the Mets were off yesterday, the three teams ahead of them in the wild card race, Atlanta, Arizona and San Diego, all won.

--Boston suspended All-Star outfielder Jarren Duran two games after he uttered an anti-gay slur at a fan during Sunday’s game against the Astros.

The NESN broadcast picked up Duran calling a heckling fan a “f---ing f----t” during the bottom of the sixth inning at Fenway Park.

Duran apologized in a statement released by the team: “During tonight’s game, I used a truly horrific word when responding to a fan,” Duran said.  “I feel awful knowing how many people I offended and disappointed. I apologize to the entire Red Sox organization, but more importantly to the entire LGBTQ community.”

Golf Balls

--When I posted Sunday, Max Greyserman had a 3-stroke lead after 9 holes, but with slow play, finishing the tournament before darkness set in seemed a near impossibility.

That said, Greyserman then went on a roller coaster ride like few fans of the sport have ever seen before.  He eagled No. 13 with a wedge from the fairway.  On 14, he then hit his drive out of bounds, compounded matters and ended up with a quadruple 8. He birdied 15 and bogeyed 16.  His scorecard read 2-8-4-5 for the four holes.  What had been a 4-stroke lead after No. 13 evaporated in a flash, and Aaron Rai, who didn’t know until he was playing the 18th that he was suddenly in the lead, birdied the final hole for a 2-stroke victory over Greyserman.

It was absolutely stunning.  Rai, the 29-year-old Englishman with five top tens this season coming into the tournament, picked up his first win.  He is a popular player, but immensely slow, and that didn’t help Greyserman, who as one of the CBS commentators said, ‘would play 18 in 2 hours and 25 minutes if he could.’

[Speaking of CBS, major kudos to them for sticking with the coverage until play ended, around 8:30 p.m.]

--Victor Perez, who started the week as the “Bubble Boy” at No. 70 in the FedEx Cup standings, finished T-33 and hung on for the last spot in the 70-man playoffs.  Good for the Frenchman. 

--On to the FedEx St. Jude Championship in hot, steamy Memphis this week for the first of the three playoff events.  These should be fun, and the Tour should get some good television audiences, with little else on before football kicks into gear.

--But I have to go back to the final hole Sunday, the final threesome, Matt Kuchar in the group with Greyserman.

Wanting to make sure his group teed off before officials blew the horn, stopping play due to the lack of light, Kuchar quickly blasted his drive, way left into the pine straw, but before the group ahead of him, including Aaron Rai, had cleared the fairway!  It was a total d--- move.

Play was then suspended after all three players in Kuchar’s group hit their tee shots, but all three then had the choice of whether or not to finish their rounds.  Chad Ramey and Greyserman did.

But then the CBS crew announced that according to chief referee Ken Tackett, Kuchar said he would finish Monday!  Kuchar walked up to his ball and marked it, 212 yards away from the hole, forcing the Tour to have an official come out Monday morning to make Kuchar’s score official.

No one had ever seen this happen.  A guy rushes to tee off, with the leader in the fairway ahead, and then opts not to finish.  It broke all the rules of etiquette, all the rules of golf.  And no one should be surprised it was Matt Kuchar who did it.

This guy was leading a charmed life until six years ago when word got out he stiffed his caddie at the 2018 Mayakoba Classic, an event he won.  Until then, Kuchar walked around the course  smiling, the beloved “Kooch,” but we learned then who he really was.  He’s largely been under the radar since, playing some good golf, but not worthy of much comment otherwise, and then he does this.

Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman in the CBS booth were more than perplexed.  You know Nantz wanted to totally go off on the guy, but held back, mainly because the network needed to get on with their Sunday night schedule, though it was CBS’ last tournament of the year (NBC broadcasting the playoffs).

Golf Channel’s Paige Mackenzie and Brandel Chamblee then came on and ripped Kuchar’s decision.

“Why did he tee off on 18 when the fairway wasn’t clear?  To me that was the egregious error,” she said.  “It was completely disrespectful.”

“That was more surprising to me than seeing Max Greyserman make a quadruple body,” Chamblee said. “I’ve seen people do what Max did.  I’ve never seen anything happen like what happened on the 18th tee.”

Well, as Nantz said before signing off, “I don’t think there will be anyone here to watch (Kuchar’s last hole Monday morning) and I don’t suspect we’ll be bringing you that coverage tomorrow.”

The Paris Olympics...final reaction....

Barry Svrluga / Washington Post

“The Olympic cauldron here was unlike any other, a hot-air balloon that rose nightly above Jardin des Tuileries.  That garden, the largest in this gorgeous city, is bordered by the Louvre on one side, the Seine on another and the Rue de Rivoli to the north, and it is a short walk to the Champs-Elysees.  What a picture.  What a place.

“The Olympics needed a reset. Paris provided it. In competition, sure, but the competition always has a way of burying whatever controversy du jour precedes it, regardless of where the Games are held or how the Chablis-sipping bureaucrats from the International Olympic Committee profit from it all.

“Leon Marchand and Stephen Curry.  Simone Biles and Summer McIntosh. Gabby Thomas and Katie Ledecky.  Stars, all.

“But the showcasing star here was the city of Paris, a stage without peer. It would be one thing to have a beach volleyball court that sits in the shadow of an iconic monument, another to stage fencing in a breathtaking palace, yet another to put the equestrian competition in the gardens of a 17th-century chateau.  Paris did them all – and more.

“Los Angeles hosts the next Summer Olympics. As a backdrop and by comparison, it won’t be the same....

“Nothing against Tokyo or Beijing, the hosts of the most recent Summer and Winter Games, respectively, but those Olympics were terrible.  Not athletically.  But viscerally and emotionally and aesthetically.

“The coronavirus pandemic dictated first that the Tokyo Summer Games would be delayed by a year, then staged in 2021 with no fans. The venues were Hollywood sets, nothing more. Any energy had to be provided by the athletes. That just can’t fill a stadium

“ ‘I’m not gonna lie,’ Megan Rapinoe, then a star of the U.S. women’s soccer team, said back then.  ‘That part sucks.’

“Beijing and its outskirts for the 2022 Winter Games were almost worse, not only because the pandemic lingered and fans were prohibited again, but because life in the Olympic bubble – zero interaction with outsiders, and swabs jabbed down throats on a daily basis – carried with it the heavy overtones of a controlling Chinese government.  The restrictions were based on medicine and science, sure. But it was hard to escape a draconian feel.

“Go back even further, back when there were fans.  PyeongChang, South Korea in the winter of 2018 felt far-flung and disjointed. Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 2016 was grotesque in its displacement of impoverished people and the construction of now-abandoned venues.  Sochi, Russia, in the winter of 2014 was a vanity project for an autocrat.

“So the contrast in Paris was stark.  The venues were full. They often danced and swayed and pulsed.  Certainly, not all the French people supported this endeavor. Indeed, the annual summer emptying of Paris by Parisians began early this year.

“But spend a few minutes with the home crowd packed into, say, La Defense Arena when Marchand won one of his four swimming golds. Now listen to every member of that crowd belt out ‘La Marseillaise,’ the national anthem, and tell the hairs on your arm not to stand up. Can’t do it.”

Oh, there were issues...like allowing the 11 Chinese swimmers who were among 23 who tested positive for a banned substance to participate in Paris. And the Seine was probably too dirty to swim in.  And a Dutch beach volleyball player who was a convicted child rapist was allowed to compete.

But as Barry Svrluga concludes:

“Staging the Olympics is fraught. The Games, for most, are a television program that largely revolves around what their American broadcast partner, NBC, needs and wants....

“But for future Olympics, there is now a modern model, and a renewed spirit, that were embodied here.  After the drudgery that dates back more than a decade, both are welcome.

“The competition almost always elevates the Olympics beyond whatever issues – self-inflicted or otherwise – threaten to hamper them. What played out in Paris were parallel tracks: athletes who deserve to be lifted up and admired, and a city that inherently elevates and inspires. We may not see such a perfect marriage again.”

--As of last Friday, for the first 14 days of the Olympics, NBCUniversal had a Total Audience Delivery average of 31.6 million viewers across the combined live Paris Prime (2-5 p.m. ET) and U.S. primetime (8-11 p.m. ET/PT) time periods – up 77% from Tokyo (17.8 million).

The U.S. Men’s 98-87 victory over France averaged 19.5 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, based on initial data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, making it the most-watched gold medal game since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

--The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced Monday it will not reconsider its ruling that led to the revocation of Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal, a major blow to the U.S. federation’s hopes of reversing the decision that pushed Chiles off the podium nearly a week after the floor final.

USA Gymnastics said they are not giving up on their appeal.

AP College Football Preseason Poll...released Monday....

1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Texas
5. Alabama
6. Ole Miss ...Wake Forest hosts the lads Sept. 14...uh oh...
7. Notre Dame
8. Penn State
9. Michigan
10. Florida State
11. Missouri
12. Utah
13. LSU
14. Clemson
15. Tennessee
16. Oklahoma
17. Oklahoma State
18. Kansas State
19. Miami (FL)
20. Texas A&M
21. Arizona
22. Kansas
23. USC
24. North Carolina State
25. Iowa

Stuff

--Austin Dillon turned both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in a chaotic short-track overtime Sunday night in Richmond, claiming the victory and ensuring a spot in the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

After losing the lead to Logano to start the two-lap shootout, Dillon hit Logano in Turn 4 coming to the checkered flag, spinning the No. 22 Ford, and then as Hamlin appeared poised to pass Dillon and grab the win, Dillon clipped the rear of Hamlin’s No. 11 and sent the Toyota into the wall.

Dillon then held off Tyler Reddick for his first victory since Aug. 28, 2022 – and fifth overall of his career.  Dillon had entered the race No. 32 in the standings and this was probably his last shot for the needed win.

Needless to say, Logano and Hamlin were furious, Logano saying of Dillon’s actions, “What a piece of crap.”

But Logano added: “I get it.  I just hate I was a part of it.  It would have been fun if I was not one of the two guys that got taken out on the last corner.”

NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer, said the end of the race will be looked at.

“In my view, that’s getting really close to crossing the line,” Sawyer said. But NASCAR wouldn’t vacate the victory, most believed.  Certainly they could tweak the rules on aggressiveness at the end of races for next season.  As Logano put it, “bump and run” is acceptable, this was different.

As The Athletic reported, someone in Dillon’s ear was openly on board with the driver’s action. It was on the team radio as it was happening: “Wreck him! Wreck him!”  Dillon said after: “I hate it, but I had to do it.  Whatever it takes.”

--New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers did not suffer a serious lower leg injury in practice Sunday. The team said it is a minor ankle sprain and he shouldn’t be out long.

--The Jets have a big mess on their hands with a major offseason acquisition, Pro Bowl edge rusher Haason Reddick, as Reddick officially requested a trade.  The Jets immediately fired back, saying they have no intention of satisfying his demand.

Reddick has yet to report to training camp, and the holdout has cost him $1.7 million. 

In March, the Jets traded a 2026 conditional third-round pick to the Eagles for Reddick. They were under the impression that he’d play under his existing contract, but it became an issue when Reddick skipped the entire offseason, including mandatory minicamp.

The Jets won’t negotiate with a player unless he’s in camp, and Reddick refuses to report unless his contract is upgraded.

Jets GM Joe Douglas is being excoriated for not understanding Reddick’s stance prior to acquiring him, though the team is saying they did offer to extend him, though what they offered isn’t clear.

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

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[Posted early Sunday p.m.]

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tues.

Golf Quiz: With the FedEx Cup Playoffs starting this week, how many winners of the Cup title from the first 17 years (it started in 2007), can you name?  Fourteen different golfers.  Answer below.

Olympics Wrap-up

Well, the French pulled it off and congratulations are in order for President Emmanuel Macron, the security team (at least as I go to post), and the French people, whose enthusiasm at the Stade de France, the swimming venue and all over was off the charts.

I’m a guy who for years has been saying, ‘Ditch the Olympics...the cost is too high...the risks as well in this troubled world’...and that we should instead focus on making the world championships in sports like swimming and track and field terrific one-week annual summer extravaganzas, in late July and August, the dead season for sports in general, and just have them like at 4 or 5 set venues, still around the world (same for the Winter Games, skiing and figure skating in February), and they would be big hits.

But this time I was very wrong.  These Games were absolutely terrific!  Except for when I was on the road most of last Saturday, I saw every swimming and track and field event ‘live,’ which is all I wanted, and then I focused on basketball when we got to the semis, and I loved the men’s golf. 

And what a commercial for Paris.  If you haven’t been there yet, don’t you now want to go?

[Hint: Go in late April / early May, or late September...and avoid the Louvre.  And avoid the celebrity restaurants and instead, find an appealing little neighborhood spot, sit down at 4:00 p.m. when few people are there, and tell the waiter, ‘I don’t need a menu, just tell the chef he can make anything he wants for me/us.’  Of course that gets the chef coming out to talk to you, asking about food allergies and that kind of thing, and then telling you what he would like to do for you, and it’s a wonderful experience.  Do you think he then wants to really impress you?  Of course!  I’ve done that more than once and it’s the only way to go.]

Anyway, Viva la France!  And Viva Team USA! ...especially the U.S. women in the pool, the entire U.S. track and field team, Scottie Scheffler, Simone Biles and Crew, and the U.S. men’s and women’s hoops teams...to name a few.

As a track fanatic, I’d also like to single out distance runners Grant Fisher and Cole Hocker, and New Jersey’s own, the great Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

For the archives....

Tuesday....

--In one of the most anticipated races of the Olympics, and in a stunning upset, American Cole Hocker, a long-haired Indianan by way of the University of Oregon, broke an Olympic record in the men’s 1,500 meters, shocking the world and spoiling the heated rivalry between Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr.

In fifth place at the start of the final lap, in a race Norway’s Ingebrigtsen, the reigning gold medalist, had led the whole way, Hocker stayed with the lead. He waited for Kerr, in third, to make his move with about 250 meters left, and before the final turn, about 150 meters from the line, Hocker bolted to the inside, passing Ingebrigtsen, and then Kerr.  With about 30 meters to go, the kick that had made Hocker a collegiate superstar and U.S. trials champion carried him  past Kerr.

And to make things even better, teammate Yared Nuguse took the bronze, all three breaking fourth-place finisher Ingebrigsten’s Olympic record from Tokyo, Hocker with 3:27.65.  Just incredible stuff.

It was the first time the U.S. had two medals in the 1,500 since 1912.  Hocker is just 23.  Nuguse is 25.  Hobbs Kessler, who finished fifth, is 21.  All three could easily be in Los Angeles in 2028 (but you’ve got to get through the U.S. Olympic Trials first).

--As if Hocker’s U.S. exploits weren’t enough, American Gabby Thomas then won the women’s 200 meters, a new star in women’s track and field.

Thomas won bronze at the Tokyo Games, but an Olympic gold for the United States, the first time in this event since Allyson Felix in 2012, catapults her into a new stratosphere.

“She’s the female that needs to be in front of the track world,” said McKenzie Long, the 24-year-old American who had a good view of Thomas from Lane 2.  “She’s that type of female that everybody should look up to and want to be like, you know?”

Heck, Thomas has a neurobiology degree from Harvard, and a master’s in public health from the University of Texas.

With running not always the most important thing on her plate, Thomas thought about hanging up the spikes, but “found the beauty” in the sport of track, as she put it.  “I just love chasing goals, I love chasing my dreams, I love moments like this where everything comes together.”

Oh, and American Brittany Brown took bronze, behind 100-meter champ Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia.

--America’s Katie Moon picked up silver in the women’s pole vault...Nina Kennedy of Australia taking the gold, while Canada’s Alyshia Newman won bronze.

Wednesday....

--American Quincy Hall had a comeback for the ages in the men’s 400 meters.  Hall was in fourth, struggling, it seemed, when he summoned up a final sprint to the finish, ending up with the gold.  Just spectacular.

--In a dramatic men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final, Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali defended his title from Tokyo, with American Kenneth Rooks taking silver, totally out of nowhere.

But we had a scary scene near the end when Ethiopian runner Lamecha Girma failed to clear a hurdle and fell hard on his head, needing to be stretchered off the track.

The other runners were able to avoid making contact with him.  Girma was hospitalized and at last word recovering and should be OK.  He was unconscious when the medical folks got to him. That’s scary.  He then regained consciousness on the way to the hospital.

Thursday....

--Noah Lyles settled for bronze in the 200 meters and clearly was not his best in a race he hasn’t lost in years, saying afterward he had tested positive for Covid.  No one except his family and coaches knew he was sick.

“I woke up early, about 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning and I just was feeling really horrible. I knew it was more than just being sore from the 100,” Lyles told NBC.  “Woke up the doctors and we tested and unfortunately it came up that I was positive for Covid.

“My first thought was not to panic, thinking I’ve been in worse situations.  I’ve run with worse conditions, I felt.  We just took it day by day, trying to hydrate as much, quarantined off and I’d definitely say that it’s taken its toll for sure but I’ve never been more proud of myself for being able to come out here and getting a bronze medal.”

So no double in the 100 and 200, and then Lyles said he was taking himself out of the 4X100 relay, which would prove to be disastrous for Team USA.  There are no Covid protocols at the Paris Games, no mandatory testing, but it was a reminder...the little virus is still around.

But back to the race, dramatically, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won gold in 19.46.   The 21-year-old was motivated by the death of his mother, who died after a short illness in May, aged 47.  Tebogo becomes his nation’s first gold medal winner and only second ever African sprint champion.  American Kenny Bednarek took silver.

--But for the day, it was Team USA taking gold.  Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone came through, breaking her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles for a sixth time, breezing to gold in 50.37 seconds, obliterating the 50.65 she ran to win the U.S. Olympic trials in June, and a time which would have left her just one place short of making the final of the 400m flat.  The 10 barriers mean little to her.  Us Garden Staters in New Jersey are very proud of Sydney.  Go Union Catholic High School!

U.S. teammate Anna Cockrell had her own special moment, finishing second over fading Dutch star Femke Bol to take silver in 51.87.  Bol was expected to present a stiff challenge.

McLaughlin-Levrone ran her first world record of 51.46 to win the gold medal in Tokyo, before improving that again to 50.68 to win the 2022 World Championship title.

--Grant Holloway avenged his Tokyo heartbreak by winning gold in the 110-meter hurdles.

--And Tara Davis-Woodall won gold in the women’s long jump, making this the fourth straight Olympics with an American medaling in the event.

--And then there was the U.S. men’s basketball team, down 17 points early in its semifinal game against Serbia, and down 13 entering the fourth quarter.

But four former NBA MVPs – LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid – all played clutch down the stretch for a 95-91 comeback victory that will be long remembered, especially if Team USA then captures the gold in the finale against France and Victor Wembanyama.

Curry was on fire throughout the game, 36 points, with nine 3-pointers.  James had a triple-double (16-12-10), while playing terrific defense on Nikola Jokic, Durant was huge in crunch time, and Embiid had 19 points.

Friday....

--First up on the track were the men’s and women’s 4X100 relay races, and the U.S. women, surviving a rough last baton pass between Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson, blazed to gold, thanks to Sha’Carri’s heroics.  That’s three out of the last four Olympics for the American girls.

Then came the guys...who notoriously f’ed up the prior four Olympic games in this event, and they would do it again.

The first pass between Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek was a disaster, they ended up being disqualified, though they would have finished seventh, Canada with the gold.

So the U.S. hasn’t medaled in the event in 20 years, since winning silver in Athens.  Just pathetic.

None other than Carl Lewis, on site, was fuming after, writing on X:

“It is time to blow up the system.  This continues to be completely unacceptable.  It is clear that EVERYONE at @usatf is more concerned with relationships than winning.  No athlete should step on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom.”

NBC’s Lewis Johnson said: “First of all, he’s angry about a system that he says is not set up to help the United States move forward and do well.  He’s also angry that they didn’t have the right people in the right places.  If Noah Lyles was out sick with Covid, they should’ve just replaced the anchor leg and nothing else.  But the fact they reordered the entire relay had him worried and at the end, had him upset.”

As Johnson was talking, viewers could see Lewis mouthing, “I’m done.”

--The Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino won the women’s 400, the first female to win gold for the D.R.

--Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet completed a spectacular double, adding the women’s 10,000 title to her gold in the 5000.  Amazing.

--And America’s Rai Benjamin did his nation proud, winning the men’s 400-hurdles, defeating rival and Olympic champion Karsten Warholm.

This race, along with the men’s 1500 and the women’s 400 hurdles were probably the most anticipated for a variety of reasons, and Benjamin gained redemption after falling to Warholm in Tokyo, despite breaking a world record. 

Benjamin led the entire race, winning in 46.46, a time only the other two men on the podium have ever beaten. Warholm took silver and 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos earned the bronze.

As Benjamin spoke with reporters, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone walked past on her way back from a medal ceremony.  She stopped, squeezed Benjamin’s shoulder and mouthed, “Yaaaay!”  America’s two golden 400-meter hurdlers hugged.    The members of the U.S. women’s gold medal 4X100 team watched Benjamin trackside after their own ceremony, and they erupted when Benjamin crossed the line.

“I don’t know if there’s anyone more deserving than he is,” sprinter Gabby Thomas said.  “He’s such a great talent.  He’s such a great runner.”

Saturday....

As the action in Paris wound down....

--In the men’s 800, Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi edged Canada’s Marco Arop by 1/1,000th of a second...1:41.19 to 1:41.20...amazing.

--American Masai Russell won the gold in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, with France’s Cyrena Samba-Meyala picking up silver, thrilling French President Macron.

--In the men’s 5000, Jakob Ingebrigtsen got the gold over Kenya’s Ronald Kwemoi, but once again, Team USA’s Grant Fisher was the story here in the States...a massive comeback from eighth in the final 200 to pick up a second bronze after opening the track competition with bronze in the 10,000.

Stunning, glorious stuff. Fisher is the first American to medal in both the 5000 and 10,000!  Wow. 

[Ingebrigtsen was the 5000 winner in the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.]

--And to finish up on the track, both the U.S. men and women won the 4X400 relay.  The men won without 400m winner Quincy Hall, who was out with an injury.  But Rai Benjamin took the anchor spot and in a totally thrilling final lap, Benjamin, the 400 hurdles winner, held off Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, the 200m winner, Great Britain getting the bronze.  Sixteen-year-old Quincy Wilson, who ran for Team USA in the semis, brings home a gold medal to show his high school.

The U.S. women won for the eighth time in a row, blowing away the field by over 4 seconds, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone with a dominating second leg that signaled game over.  The Netherlands, with Femke Bol on anchor, took silver, while Great Britain was again third.  Gabby Thomas, who ran the third leg, becomes the first American runner since Allyson Felix in 2012 to win three golds.

The U.S. thus won 11 of the 25 events held on the track.  The American men didn’t win a single individual race three years ago in Tokyo.  In Paris, the men took gold in five (Noah Lyles, Quincy Hall, Cole Hocker, Grant Holloway and Rai Benjamin).

In all, the men medaled in nine of 10 individual track races – the most for any country since the first time all of these events were part of the Olympic program in 1920.

--Speaking of stunning, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, a mother with a 6-year-old, accomplished something no one has done, win three consecutive gold medals in the women’s 1500, with Australia’s Jessica Hull picking up her nation’s first medal in the sport (silver), and Georgia Bell, away from the sport for five years, gaining the bronze for Great Britain.

--In the men’s high jump, Hamish Kerr of New Zealand picked up his nation’s first medal in the sport, and its gold, in a jump-off with Team USA’s Shelby McEwen. McEwen could have insisted on sharing the gold, and for this he’s being criticized.  To the critics, get a life.

--And last but not least, the USWNT defeated Brazil 1-0 on a Mallory Swanson score at the 57’ mark, winning their first gold since the 2012 Summer Games.

I’d say the transformation is complete...from that early, round-of-16 exit at the 2023 World Cup, arriving here with a new coach, England’s Emma Hayes, and a revamped roster.  Good for them.

And in the men’s basketball gold medal game, the U.S. had its hands full with Victor Wembanyama and France, leading just 82-79 with less than three minutes to go, when Steph Curry took over, draining four consecutive threes, the U.S. winning the game 98-87, the fifth straight Olympic gold medal.  It was Curry’s first Olympics, and along with elders LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the trio were clutch the final two games.

All three help their ‘Q’ rating even further.

--On the golf course, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko took gold, Germany’s Esther Henseleit silver, and China’s Xiyun Lin the bronze.

Sunday....

--The amazing Sifan Hassan, who won bronze in the 5000 and 10,000, traded elbows with Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa with 150 meters left in the women’s marathon, then passed her for the win.  Hassan, an Ethiopian-born racer who runs for the Netherlands, thus ran more than 62 kilometers for her three medals.

In Tokyo, Hassan won the 5000 and 10,000 and finished third in the 1500.

--We then had the women’s gold medal game in basketball...USA vs. France, and just like on Saturday with the men, the U.S. women came through in a thriller, 67-66, as France’s Gabby Williams nailed a shot at the buzzer for the tie, only her foot was on the 3-point line, Williams having made a clutch three moments earlier.

The U.S. hit its free throws down the stretch, and that makes it 61 straights, 8 gold medals, the most dominant team in team sports in Olympic history.

The gold was also number 40 for the U.S., tying us with China, though in overall medals Team USA kicked butt...126 to 91.

U.S. ...40-44-42...126
China...40-27-24...91
Great Britain...14-22-29...65
France...16-26-22...64
Australia...18-19-16...53

Ukraine had 12 medals...Ireland 7 (terrific for them).

Russia had zero.  [heh heh]

--America’s Jordan Chiles is being forced to give up her bronze in gymnastics floor exercise after the International Gymnastics Federation restored Romania’s Ana Barbosu to third.

The IOC confirmed the reallocation of the medal less than 24 hours after the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided an appeal from Chiles’ coach during Monday’s competition that vaulted her over Barbosu and onto the podium.

Chiles finished her routine with a 13.666, which was fifth behind Barbosu and Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea at 13.700.

Cecile Landi, Chiles’ personal coach and also coach for Team USA in Paris, appealed to the judges to have an element restored to Chiles’ routine.  Judges approved the appeal, boosting Chiles’ score by .1, good enough for Chiles to earn her third career Olympic medal to go with the team silver she won in Tokyo in 2021 and the team gold she helped the U.S. capture in Paris.

The Romanian Gymnastics Federation then asked CAS to review the procedure surrounding Landi’s appeal of Chiles’ score.

International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) guidelines require coaches to make any appeal of a score within one minute of the score being posted.

CAS ruled that Landi officially made her appeal in 1 minute, 4 seconds, just past the deadline.

The IOC then said Chiles has to return the bronze, the IOC being the ones to allocate medals.

It turns out the judges also screwed up on Maneca-Voinea’s score and maybe she is the one who should be third.

The U.S. said it is appealing.

Chiles, needless to say, went off social media, all manner of idiots weighing in, but Simone Biles posted on Instagram: “Sending you so much love Jordan.  Keep your chin up Olympic champ!  We love you!”

Jordan, this too shall pass.  You are indeed an Olympic champion.  You have a gold medal.

My advice to you...stay off social media and do some talk shows.  The love you’ll receive will repair any damage to your psyche.

MLB

--It’s a tension convention in the AL East, the Orioles, after Saturday’s play, 70-48, one game ahead of the Yankees (69-49).

Baltimore took the first two against the Rays down in Tampa Bay, 4-1 and 7-5.  Friday, Zach Eflin had his third straight quality start for his new team, 7 innings, 0 runs, and then on Saturday, Jackson Holiday homered for the fifth time in ten games for Baltimore.

You remember Holliday...the 20-year-old phenom who was brought up by the Orioles early in the season and promptly went 2-for-34.

Well, he got his game back in the minors, and he recovered from a little injury, and now he’s most likely up for good...like the next 20 years.

Sunday, however, the Rays won 2-1.  The Orioles 70-49.

--The Yankees have been dealing with a lot of weather issues this week, forced to play two doubleheaders, including a split with the Rangers at the Stadium Saturday.

New York took the first game 8-0, Carlos Rodon with 5 2/3 scoreless (but 110 pitches) to move to 13-7, 4.18.

But in the nightcap, Gerrit Cole was dominating, 10 strikeouts in 5 1/3, one run, but he was taken out after 90 pitches, being on a strict pitch count, the Yankees’ bullpen collapsed, and Texas won it 9-4.

Today, the Yankees were up 8-3 late on home runs from Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge (No. 42) and Juan Soto (two, Nos. 29 and 30).

But Texas cut it to 8-6, when Clay Holmes was brought in for a 4-out save, Holmes having blown 9 saves this season, most in the majors, and 6 of his last 11.

And it was top of the ninth, 2nd and 3rd, two outs, now 8-7, but Holmes induced a groundball to second, barely fielded cleanly by Gleyber Torres, and the Yanks moved to 70-49.

So I was watching the Yankees’ telecast, and befitting what a horrible announcer Michael Kay is, understand, the Orioles game ended an hour before.  Yet in his wrap up as the players left the field, he didn’t say what all of you would have been mouthing, as I was, ‘And the Yankees are tied again with the Orioles for first.’

Nope.  What a freakin’ loser.  [And I stayed on for the opening in the post-game studio show and they didn’t note the obvious either!]

#Mets #GaryKeithandRon

As I turn off the pathetic telecast to go back to golf and the closing ceremony, the YES Network did just put up a graphic that the Yankees are tied with the Orioles.  No human voice has uttered this simple fact.

--The Mets are finishing up their brutal road trip (Los Angeles to St. Louis to Denver to Seattle) tonight on the ESPN game and they better hit today.  They’ve been shutout in the first two games by the Mariners’ terrific pitching staff*, 6-0, 4-0.  [Those scores make it look like the Mets basically quit in the second set...which is what their bats have done.]

*Seattle has the best team ERA in baseball, 3.44.

So with San Diego and Arizona en fuego, the Mets are once again behind in the wild card race.

Entering tonight’s Mets game, with the D’Backs and Braves finishing up after I post...

NL Wild Card standings....through Saturday

San Diego 66-52...+4 ...the Padres had won 16 of 18! [They then lost to the Marlins today, 7-6.]
Arizona 65-53...+3
Atlanta 61-55... --
Mets 61-56...0.5
San Francisco 61-58...1.5
St. Louis 60-58...2

--Pittsburgh is in Los Angeles, facing the Dodgers (that’s a cool, old-time series), and the Pirates have lost the first two, 9-5, Shohei Ohtani hitting No. 35, and then 4-1 last night as Paul Skenes had a poor outing, six innings, 4 earned for the first time...Skenes now 6-2, 2.25, and not overwhelming his last few outings.

Skenes has thrown 92 innings in the majors, to go with 27 in the minors this season, and he could be a bit tired.  Another 30 innings and that’s 150 for his first full year in professional baseball.

Ohtani, by the way, is just 6 for his last 44, .136, as his average has fallen to .300.

--The Chicago White Sox snapped their 21-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 5-1 victory against the Athletics in Oakland, and then started a new one, Wednesday, falling 3-2 to the A’s.

[Chicago tied Baltimore’s 21-game streak from 1988 and fell two shy of the 1961 Phillies’ 23-game losing streak.]

With an off-day Thursday, and a 28-89 record, Chicago then fired manager Pedro Grifol.  He ends up 89-190 in his brief tenure.

The White Sox commenced a series Friday against the crosstown Cubs and fell 7-6 with Grady Sizemore as interim manager, Garrett Crochet (6-9, 3.65), hit hard, 2 1/3, 7 earned.

And they lost Saturday, 3-1...now 28-91.

Both teams are bizarrely off Sunday.

--Going back to some midweek contests, Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber had himself a game Wednesday in Los Angeles, a 9-4 win. Schwarber went 4-for-4, 3 home runs, a double, a walk and 7 RBIs.  He became just the 4th player in MLB history to have a game in which he recorded at least those stats.  [The others being Harold Baines, George Mitterwald, and Jimmie Foxx.]

--Tuesday night, Houston’s Framber Valdez was one out away from completing a no-hitter against the Rangers when he threw a slider to shortstop Corey Seager, who sent it deep into the right field stands at Globe Life Field.  A heartbreaker.

At least Valdez (11-5, 3.46) got the win, after Josh Hader came in for the final out of a 4-2 victory.

--Major League Baseball is going to hold a game at Bristol Motor Speedway next season, a game between the Reds and Braves.

Bristol, on the Tennessee/Virginia line and about 90 miles north of Asheville, North Carolina, seats 150,000 for NASCAR events.  In 2016, Tennessee and Virginia Tech played a game on the infield that drew 156,900 fans, a record for an NCAA football game.

--Bill (“Billy”) Bean died at the age of 60.  He was a special advisor to commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB’s senior vice president for diversity, equality, and inclusion.

Bean (not to be confused with Billy Beane, which more than a few did), played in six MLB seasons from 1987-95, spending time with the Dodgers, Tigers and Padres.

In an interview with the Miami Herald in 1999, Bean became the second MLB player ever to come out as gay. [Glenn Burke was apparently the first.]

In a statement, Manfred called Bean “one of the kindest and most respected individuals I have ever known,” who “made baseball a better institution, both on and off the field.”

NFL Bits

--As teams just try to get through training camp and preseason games without any serious injuries...the Giants lost backup quarterback Drew Lock to a bone contusion and oblique injury, meaning Tommy DeVito gets another shot to backup Daniel Jones.

DeVito engineered the Giants’ two scoring drives in a 14-3 win over the Lions Thursday, earning praise from head coach Brian Daboll.

“He’s getting better. I think he’s got firm control of the offense.  The guys have a lot of confidence in him.  I have confidence in him.”

DeVito will stick on the roster for sure.

But today at practice, stud rookie receiver Malik Nabers went down with a left-leg injury, the extent of which is not known as I go to post.  Uh oh.

--I saw just a little of the Jets-Commanders preseason game, though didn’t watch Sam Hartman, who was 8/13, 83, 0-0 in his debut for Washington.  Hartman is the fourth QB behind Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota and Jeff Driskell.  But he’s looking to impress the coaching staff and maybe grab the 3rd slot.

--Former Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh received a four-year show-cause order, including a one-season suspension, from the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions on Wednesday in connection with violations of the Covid-19 dead period in 2021.

Of course this is really just a formality, as Harbaugh is head coach of the Chargers these days.

What it does mean is that if Harbaugh were to return to college football during the four-year show-cause, he would be “barred from all athletically related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings, at any NCAA school that employed him,” according to the NCAA.  He would also be suspended for 100 percent of his first full season of employment.

--Nick Foles announced his retirement as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, Foles being the lone Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the franchise.  He will be formally honored by the team as part of a special ceremony on Sept. 16, as the Eagles play their home opener.

Philadelphia has not issued Foles’ number (9) since he left the franchise after the 2018 season.

In 2017, Foles completed 72.6% of his passes in the playoffs for 971 yards, six touchdowns, one interception, and a 115.7 passer rating.

In Super Bowl LII, Foles took home MVP honors after going 28 of 43, 373 yards, three TDs and a 106.1 PR (also catching a touchdown pass from the “Philly Special”).   He’s the only quarterback to throw and catch a touchdown pass in the postseason, and he still has the highest completion percentage in NFL playoff history (68.1%), slightly ahead of Patrick Mahomes (67.9).

Foles said he was grateful for the opportunity to retire as an Eagle.  “The City of Brotherly Love has always felt like home to me as an NFL player... Thank you, Philadelphia, for embracing me and making me a part of your family forever.  Your love and support have meant the world. Fly, Eagles, Fly!”

--Duane Thomas, a former running back who helped the Cowboys win their first Super Bowl, died.  He was 77.

Playing in 11 games in the 1971 season, Thomas rushed for 793 yards and a league-leading 11 touchdowns. 

Thomas added a combined 205 yards and three touchdowns in the 1971 postseason, including 95 yards and a score as Dallas stifled the Dolphins 24-3 in Super Bowl VI.

Thomas had an outstanding rookie season in 1970, finishing second in the ROY vote on offense, 803 yards on 151 carries, 5.3 average.  [He was big in my Strat-O-Matic lineup.]

Thomas was well known for being a malcontent and he was out of football after the 1974 season.

Golf Balls

--They played the final regular-season event down in Greensboro, N.C., Sedgefield Country Club, and it wasn’t going to be easy to complete the tournament on time due to Thursday’s opening round being washed out by Tropical Storm Debby.  They couldn’t finish the first round until Saturday morning due to the saturated conditions. 

Would the PGA Tour limit the tournament to 54 holes?

The problem is twofold...it’s the last event to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs and they start next Thursday.

Incredibly, however, there is a chance the tournament will end today, barring a playoff, but I’m posting now, with next door Short Hills, New Jersey’s own, Max Greyserman, with a 3-shot lead through 9 holes.

For a few, it’s all about making the top 70 and that is where France’s Victor Perez currently is, and I really want him to do so.  He was terrific in the final round of the Olympics and was a major reason why that day captured the golf world’s fancy.

More in my Add-on.

Scottie Scheffler wasn’t in the field, but he won another $8 million anyway for winning the FedEx Cup regular-season points title, bringing his earnings to more than $36 million on the year.  And now we have three big-money purses coming up.

--We note the passing of the colorful Hall of Fame golfer, Juan “Chi Chi” Rodriguez, 88.

Chi Chi, after a poor upbringing in Puerto Rico, became one of the sport’s most popular players during a long professional career, winning eight times on the PGA Tour and then racking up 22 victories on the Champions Tour from 1985-2002.

“Chi Chi Rodriguez’s passion for charity and outreach was surpassed only by his incredible talent with a golf club in his hand,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement.  “A vibrant, colorful personality both on and off the course, he will be missed dearly by the PGA Tour and those whose lives he touched in his mission to give back.”

While his playing record didn’t warrant the Hall of Fame, his contributions to the game with his showmanship and charity and devotion to youth development was gigantic.

He started an academy for children in the Tampa, Florida, area in the 1970s, focusing on those who were at risk.  “Why do I love kids so much?  Because I was never a kid myself. I was too poor to really have a childhood,” Rodriguez once said.

Chi Chi was best known for fairway antics that included twirling his club like a sword, sometimes referred to as his “matador routine,” or doing a celebratory dance, often with a shuffling salsa step, after making a birdie putt.  He often irritated his fellow players but insisted it was good-natured fun.

Stuff

--The Knicks named Jalen Brunson captain, the team’s first since Lance Thomas in the 2018-19 season.  Well deserved.

“Jalen is a natural-born leader, and I am confident he will continue to represent our organization, fans, city and his teammates with the same heart, grit and class that he has displayed each and every day since he came to New York,” said team president Leon Rose.

It’s gonna be a fun season at the Garden.

--Charles Barkley said he is staying at TNT to fulfill the duration of his 10-year deal, which was signed in 2022.

“I love my TNT Sports family,” Barkley said in a statement.

While you might be thinking what would Barkley do if TNT doesn’t somehow maintain a relationship with the NBA beyond next season, he could easily become involved in TNT’s Big East basketball coverage, college football, the NHL.

But I think TNT will just have a good studio show.  I’d watch it.

Top 3 songs for the week of 8/15/70:  #1 “(They Long To Be) Close To You” (Carpenters)  #2 “Make It With You” (Bread)  #3 “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” (Stevie Wonder)...and...#4 “Spill The Wine” (Eric Burdon and War)  #5 “In The Summertime” (Mungo Jerry)  #6 “War” (Edwin Starr)  #7 “Band Of Gold” (Freda Payne)  #8 “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” (Three Dog Night)  #9 “Tighter, Tighter” (Alive & Kicking)  #10 “Ball Of Confusion” (The Temptations...B+ week....)

Golf Quiz Answer: FedEx Cup winners....Rory McIlroy (3), Tiger Woods (2), Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Brandt Snedeker, Henrik Stenson, Bill Haas, Billy Horschel, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland.

Very brief Add-on up top by noon, Tues.

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