Australia 2 gold, 0 silver, 1 bronze
Hungary 2, 0, 0
United States 1, 4, 0
South Korea 1, 1, 0
Japan 1, 0, 4
Argentina 1, 0, 0
Belgium 1, 0, 0
Thailand 1, 0, 0
Vietnam 1, 0, 0
China 0, 2, 3
Italy 0, 1, 1
Kazakhstan 0, 1, 1
Brazil 0, 1, 0
Denmark 0, 1, 0
Indonesia 0, 1, 0
Canada 0, 0, 1
Poland 0, 0, 1
Spain 0, 0, 1
Uzbekistan 0, 0, 1
On NBC Sports Network now: Women's beach volleyball.
ReplyDeleteAt least I won't have a hard time getting myself out the door to church.
A bunch of rowing has been postponed. Hmmm ...?
ReplyDeleteMedal Standings:
ReplyDelete1. CHN: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6
T2. USA: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5
T2. JPN: 1 + 0 + 4 = 5
4. AUS: 2 + 0 + 1 = 3
In the rest of the world, they rank countries by gold medals. So that ranking would look like this:
ReplyDelete1. AUS: 2 + 0 + 1 = 3
2. HUN: 2 + 0 + 0 = 2
3. CHN: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6
4. USA: 1 + 4 + 0 = 5
5. JPN: 1 + 0 + 4 = 5
OK, the Gold Zone is back. Two American women are up 1 set to 0 in their match with a team from Poland, but they trail 10-17 in the second set.
ReplyDeleteThe Poles win the second set 21-13, and appear to be much the better team.
ReplyDeleteNow NBC, which usually avoids medal ceremonies like the plague, is showing us the medal ceremony for the women's 10 M air pistol. But I suppose it's OK to show this ceremony, since the gold medal went to China, and no Americans won any medal at all.
Now we have an American man fencing against an Egyptian man in individual foil. The American man leads 8-2, whatever that means.
ReplyDeleteOn Sirius XM Channel 7, Casey Kasem is wrapping up the countdown for August 1, 1970. Number 9 is "Tighter, Tighter," by Alive & Kicking.
ReplyDeleteThe Poles are up 9-4 in the third set, and they are going to win this match. I don't really understand how the Americans won the first set.
ReplyDeleteWe watched the entire match. The USA looked the better team in the first set.
DeleteNumber 8: Temptations, "Ball of Confusion." Casey tells us that this is their fourth protest song in a row.
ReplyDeleteThe Poles wrap up their victory: 14-21, 21-13, 15-7.
ReplyDeleteNumber 7: Eric Burdon & War, "Spill the Wine."
ReplyDeleteNumber 6: The Jackson Five, "The Love You Save." At this point, every single released by the Jackson Five -- "I Want You Back," "ABC," and "The Love You Save," -- had gone to number one.
ReplyDeleteNumber 5: Stevie Wonder, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." This countdown is now really starting to roll.
ReplyDeleteThe Gold Zone is doing preliminary women's gymnastics.
ReplyDeleteNumber 4: Freda Payne, "Band of Gold." What a great countdown!
ReplyDeleteOK, now we have women's basketball. The USA leads Senegal 9-2 with 7:30 left in the 1st.
ReplyDeleteNumber 3: Three Dog Night, "Mamma Told Me Not to Come."
ReplyDeleteNumber 2: Bread, "Make It With You."
ReplyDeleteWith 5:22 left in the first:
ReplyDeleteUSA 18 - 5 SEN
Number 1: The Carpenters, "Close to You."
ReplyDeleteThis is probably the best top 10 I've ever heard on the Countdown.
Meanwhile, the women's cycling road race has begun -- 84.3 miles to go.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Russia has been banned from the Paralympics due to massive cheating at the 2014 Winter Paralympics.
ReplyDeleteI come from a place where people have sometimes been known to cheat, but I can't even imagine cheating in the Paralympics.
Even Dean Smith and Roy Williams would hesitate about cheating in the Paralympics.
ReplyDeleteThe score after one quarter:
ReplyDeleteUSA 35 - 9 SEN
So now we've gone to men's volleyball, where Brazil and Mexico are whacking the old ball around in front of a huge and enthusiastic crowd. Mexico won the first set 25-23, but Brazil won the second set 25-19, and the Brazilian fans are ecstatic.
ReplyDelete7 minutes left in the 2d quarter:
ReplyDeleteUSA 41 - 14 SEN
Here's how the Guardian describes the U.S. women's road racing team:
ReplyDelete"The USA, a team reportedly at odds over tactics, with all four riders fancying their medal hopes, have Kristin Armstrong involved at the front."
We're getting a lot of heats in the women's 100 M backstroke right now. The Australian swim team, by the way, is known as the Dolphins.
ReplyDeleteBrazil beats Mexico 3 sets to 1 in the men's volleyball.
ReplyDeleteWe're getting a lot of fencing, but it all means nothing to me -- I don't even know how close they are to handing out medals -- so I don't have much to say on it.
2:00 left in the 4th Quarter:
ReplyDeleteUSA 117 - 45 SEN
And now we have women's rugby. The USA makes an absolutely stupid play and gives up an easy try to Australia, who lead 5-0 after 3 1/2 minutes.
ReplyDeleteSorry. The Aussies lead 5-0 with 2 minutes left in the 1st.
DeleteFinal Score:
ReplyDeleteUSA 121 - 56 SEN
OK, the USA women are back in this rugby game. They lead 12-5 with 2:20 left in the 2d. The announcers are very excited, because Australia is apparently the number-one team in the world.
ReplyDeleteThis game is "Rugby Sevens," by the way, with seven players on a side.
ReplyDeleteBut the USA defense collapses, and Australia gets another try in injury time. The game ends in a 12-12 tie. What a debacle.
ReplyDeleteAustralia had already qualified for the quarter-finals anyway. I think the USA has now qualified for the quarter-finals, but I don't know.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile we have whitewater canoeing. This is one of many upper-class sports where the Americans are simply useless.
ReplyDeleteNBC has an Australian announcer doing the canoeing.
ReplyDeleteOK, the men's individual foil has worked its way up to the quarter-finals. An American is tied 5-5 with someone from Italy after 1 of 3 periods.
Wikipedia tells me that the USA women did qualify for the quarter-finals. They will play New Zealand, who outscored their three opponents 109-12. So I wouldn't count on a medal there.
ReplyDeleteThe USA guy is going out in the men's quarterfinal of individual foil. He trails 13-7 late in the 2d (of 3) periods.
ReplyDeleteFinally, the Americans send out an athlete who knows what she's doing. Serena Williams wins her tennis match 6-4, 6-2 over Daria Gavrilova of Australia.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has 20-something children, I think these commercials about how parents don't understand what it means for their kids to work at GE are just nuts.
ReplyDeleteWe have Tanith White hosting Gold Zone today. She is a former ice dancer who won a silver medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame the Australians calling the swimming for rooting against the Americans -- just like I wouldn't blame Tennesseans from rooting against Alabama's football team -- but I am mystified that NBC thinks I would prefer announcers who don't want us to win.
ReplyDeleteOK, here's a real men's basketball game: Brazil v. Lithuania. This should be pretty good.
ReplyDelete3:29 left in the 1st:
BRA 12 - 14 LTU
Lithuania on a roll now. They lead 23-14 with 1:20 left in the 1st.
ReplyDeleteLithuania is up 33-19 in the second quarter, so we're stuck with Australian swimming coverage.
ReplyDeleteThis was an odd game. LTU had a huge lead at the half, and then held on for an 82-76 win.
DeleteNow Andrew Siciliano has shown up, and he tells us that the Gold Zone will keep rolling until 7 P.M. tonight!
ReplyDeleteWe're in trap shooting, where more Australian announcers are happy that the gold medal match in women's trap will be between an Aussie and a New Zealander.
Corey Cogdell of Palmer, Alaska, who is married to Mitch Unrein of the Chicago Bears, wins the bronze medal in women's trap shooting. It is her second bronze medal; she won another in 2008. The Australian announcer sounds suitably annoyed.
ReplyDeleteIt occurs to me that once Unrein retires from the NFL, he and his trap-shooting wife should probably move to Alaska and go into politics.
Delete12.6 miles left in the women's road racing, and the Australian accents for these announcers are so strong that I'm really not sure who's in the lead.
ReplyDeleteAnd now, since we had an Australian winner, we get the medal ceremony for women's trap shooting. NBC!
ReplyDeleteCogdell's medal is a good pickup for Team USA, as, at London 2012, we failed to medal in either of today's shooting events.
ReplyDeleteShooting, women's 10-metre air pistol: China gold and Greece bronze
Shooting, women's trap: Australia gold, New Zealand silver and United States bronze
By the way, the guy I wrote off in individual foil not only came from behind to win his quarter-final match, he just won a semi-final match. He's in the finals!
ReplyDeleteMedal Count (USA Version):
ReplyDelete1. USA: 1 + 4 + 2 = 7
2. CHN: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6
3. JPN: 1 + 0 + 4 = 5
4. AUS: 3 + 0 + 1 = 4
ESPN's count was wrong here. At this point, we had only 6 medals, not 7.
DeleteChina picks up a gold in synchronized diving, and moves into first place:
ReplyDelete1. CHN: 2 + 2 + 3 = 7
2. USA: 1 + 4 + 2 = 7
3. AUS: 3 + 0 + 2 = 5
4. JPN: 1 + 0 + 4 = 5
ESPN's count was still wrong here.
DeleteKosovo just won a gold medal in women's judo. They have never previously medaled as a separate country, so Eric can take them off of his list.
ReplyDeleteGreat for Kosovo! That's really wonderful.
DeleteBy the way, here was SI's predicted medal count:
ReplyDelete1. USA: 45 + 34 + 39 = 118
2. CHN: 45 + 25 + 15 = 85
Now, let's remind ourselves what the count was in 2012:
1. USA: 46 + 28 + 29 = 103
2. CHN: 38 + 29 + 21 = 88
So SI, in its wisdom, believes that China will win three medals fewer than it did in 2012, while we will win 15 medals more. I will be absolutely stunned if either of those things happens.
The South Korean women just won the team archery gold for the eighth time in a row.
ReplyDeleteOh, no. Now we have men's volleyball between the USA and Canada. Naturally, the Canadians lead 24-22 in the first set. I don't know how it's possible for the USA to lose to Canada in volleyball, but I'm sure there's a good explanation.
ReplyDeleteCanada wins the first set 25-23.
ReplyDeleteAlexander Massialas, of San Francisco and Stanford, got pounded in the finals of men's individual foil and will settle for a silver. Daniele Garozzo of Italy won 15-8, and deserved his victory.
ReplyDeleteThis is our first medal in this event since 1960.
DeleteHere is the current medal count:
ReplyDeleteT1. ITA: 2 + 3 + 2 = 7
T1. CHN: 2 + 2 + 3 = 7
T1. USA: 1 + 5 + 1 = 7
T1. JPN: 1 + 0 + 6 = 7
Australia still leads the International Medal Count with 3 golds.
DeleteMeanwhile, the Americans are down 2 sets to zero to the Canadians in men's volleyball. Given the great beach life in Canada, I can see why we're struggling here.
ReplyDeleteI cannot find a good web page that updates the medal count in real time. They're all about 30 minutes to an hour behind.
ReplyDeleteThe count on the official Rio2016.com web page appears to the fastest. I'm going with that one for now.
ReplyDeleteRemarkably, they are playing the women's rugby quarterfinals today. Andrew Siciliano says that they are doing "two-a-days." There's no score with 3:50 left in the 1st.
ReplyDeleteNormal rugby games have two 40-minute halves. But in Rugby-Sevens, you have seven-player teams on a full-size field. So the game consists of two seven-minute halves. That gives the game a sort of 21-zip quality.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, there's no score with 20 seconds left in the first.
And then New Zealand suddenly goes 50 yards for a try. So NZL will lead 7-0 at the half, and that should be your ball game.
ReplyDeleteIn men's volleyball, Canada crushes the USA 3 sets to 0, so our effort is not off to a great start.
ReplyDeleteThe USA trails 5-0 in rugby -- NZL must have missed the conversion. There's 3 minutes left.
ReplyDeleteFinal score from the women's quarter-finals:
ReplyDeleteNZL 5 - 0 USA
This was a real shame. Our players were clearly better than the players from both Australia and New Zealand, but they appeared to have no coaching at all. If Coach Haskins could have spent a week with these girls, they would have won the gold medal.
I really like the rugby.
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea for the American team -- practice hanging on to the ball. Also, have some plays.
DeleteThe women's rugby semifinals tomorrow are going to be Australia against Canada (I haven't seen either of these teams) and New Zealand against Great Britain. I think New Zealand will beat Great Britain. Great Britain is scrappy, and they beat Fiji, which appeared to have one really great player. New Zealand appeared in its game against the United States to have two really great players--a super-fast one who scored the only touchdown and then a giant woman who did everything else. I predict having twice as many great players than Fiji will be enough to push New Zealand past scrappy Great Britain. Meanwhile, I am rooting for Canada.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happens to anyone else, I hope Australia beats Canada 50-0.
DeleteThe Williams sisters have lost the first set of their doubles match, and just allowed a break to open the second set. So they won't be around much longer.
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian reports that Venus is unwell.
DeleteThe ESPN medal count has finally updated.
ReplyDeleteThe Gold Zone is now showing four events: women's doubles (featuring, for a change, an Australian announcer), men's basketball (Croatia v. Spain), women's beach volleyball (Germany v. Egypt), and women's singles table tennis (Japan v. N. Korea).
ReplyDeleteI really like the Gold Zone.
Meanwhile, the gutty Nats eked out a 1-0 victory over Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants. Wilson Ramos's homer in the 7th was the difference. Huge, huge, win for the Nats.
ReplyDeleteFor table tennis, by the way, NBC is going with a British announcer.
ReplyDeleteNow the Gold Zone is taking us to the final of men's 123-lbs weightlifting. GOOD FOR YOU, GOLD ZONE!
ReplyDeleteThe Williams sisters, down a set, are tied 2-2 in the second set. Venus does in fact look very ill.
ReplyDeleteThe Czechs go up a break, and lead 3-2 in the second set. I have to eat, and the Gold Zone will be wrapping up soon, so I will sign off now.
ReplyDeleteOnce more, here is the medal count:
1. ITA: 2 + 3 + 2 = 7
2. CHN: 2 + 2 + 3 = 7
3. USA: 1 + 5 + 1 = 7
4. JPN: 1 + 0 + 6 = 7
5. AUS: 3 + 0 + 2 = 5
6. KOR: 2 + 2 + 1 = 5
7. RUS: 1 + 2 + 2 = 5
I'll still be around to comment on other posts tonight, but I don't want to give anything away.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I watched her in her singles match against a woman from Belgium yesterday. She took a 10-minute-or-so break in the middle of the match, and she was within two games of winning the match. She couldn't put away the match, though, and the Belgian came back and won in a tiebreaker in the third set. It was sad to see her lose like that. I really enjoy the Williams sisters.
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese women are just amazing at the synchronized diving. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteDiving, women's synchronized 3m springboard: China gold, Italy silver and Australia bronze
Wu Minxia, a 30-year-old from Shanghai, becomes the first woman to win diving gold in four straight Olympics.
This event was a standings blow for Team USA, as we scored silver at London 2012. They might've explained this on the Bob Costas prime-time show, but it does not appear the United States qualified a team for this event for Rio 2016.
I am so glad Bob Costas is back.
ReplyDeleteThis is the eleventh time Bob Costas has hosted prime-time coverage of the Olympics.
DeleteWhen I was in college, I assumed that there would be a whole series of big-time sports announcers. It turns out that it's pretty much been Costas (born 1952), Al Michaels (born 1944), Marv Albert (born 1941), Jim Nantz (born 1959), and Joe Buck (born 1969). That's it. That's the list.
DeleteCroatia beat Spain 72-70 in men's basketball.
ReplyDeleteI messed up the equation in my 2012 "Event-Balanced Olympic Points (E-BOP)" proposal, but I stand by the basic argument.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, diving is awarding medals in eight events at Rio 2016, so that means each event has 12.5 points up for grabs. I'm thinking winning a gold should be worth as much as winning a silver and bronze put together, so I'm awarding 50 percent, 30 percent and 20 percent for gold, silver and bronze, respectively. That means, in the case of this women's synchronized 3m springboard, 6.25 E-BOPs for China, 3.75 for Italy and 2.5 to Australia.
The gymnastics is not really my thing--it just makes me too nervous--but I do love putting Al Trautwig at the mike for the prime-time show.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia: "Trautwig was a stick-boy for the New York Islanders in their early days in the NHL and a ball boy for the New York Nets when they played in the ABA. Both teams used the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York for their home games. He graduated from H. Frank Carey Junior-Senior High School, in Franklin Square, Ny. As a 22-year-old recent college graduate, Trautwig called New York Apollo soccer games on WBAU 90.3 FM, a student-run radio station on Long Island. ... Trautwig also hosts a weekly video podcast on television show Lost."
ReplyDeleteI think this might be the medal deal for women's floor exercise. Team USA won this event in London, and Ally Raisman, who did the winning, is one of the U.S. competitors this year. The other 2012 medal winners were Romania, silver, and Russia, bronze.
ReplyDeleteHey, there's Michael Phelps!
ReplyDeleteSwimming, women’s 100m butterfly: Sweden gold, Canada silver and United States bronze
ReplyDeleteSarah Sjöström, a 22-year-old from Salem in Stockholm County, claims Sweden’s first women’s swimming gold. The London 2012 medal winners the United States, China and Australia. The U.S. gold winner in 2012, Dana Vollmer of Syracuse, New York, was the 2016 bronze winner for Team USA.
On second thought, I'm going to do 1,000 E-BOPs per sport, not 100.
ReplyDeleteSwimming, men's 100m breaststroke: Great Britain gold, South Africa silver and United States bronze
ReplyDeleteAdam Peaty of Uttoxeter, England, sets his second world record of the games, and Cody Miller of Billings, Montana, takes bronze, edging teammate Kevin Cordes of Naperville, Illinois, who takes fourth.
The 2012 winners in this event were South Africa, gold; Australia, silver, and United States, bronze.
Now the women’s 400m freestyle, and Katie Ledecky of Washington is the big favorite. France, the United States and Great Britain won the medals in this race at London 2012 ...
ReplyDeleteKatie Ledecky grew up in Bethesda, Md., and attended the Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. She will go to Stanford in the fall.
DeleteVirginia Thrasher grew up in Springfield, Va. and attended West Springfield High School. She's currently a student at West Virginia University.
It's like the kids in DC gave up on waiting for their professional teams to win, and decided to go win things for themselves.
DeleteBoom!
ReplyDeleteGOLD! LEDECKY!
ReplyDeleteWorld record.
ReplyDeleteAnd Leah Smith of Pittsburgh takes bronze! Great Britain scores silver.
ReplyDeleteLatest Medal Count:
ReplyDelete1. USA: 2 + 5 + 4 = 11
2. CHN: 3 + 2 + 3 = 8
3. ITA: 2 + 3 + 2 = 7
4. JPN: 1 + 0 + 6 = 7
Cool ... Leah Smith's great uncle was Billy Conn, about whom Frank Deford wrote this amazing thing.
ReplyDeleteThe Maya Angelou commercial for Apple is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYea! A CNN breaking-news alert appears on my laptop screen. I've grown to dread these. But this one is about Katie Ledecky's world record! Sports is so fantastic.
ReplyDeleteOK, men’s 100m backstroke semis … Team USA won gold and silver in this event at London, and they have the top two qualifiers for tomorrow night’s final in Rio—but they will not be favored, the NBC guys tell us. We’ll just have to root extra hard for Ryan Murphy of Jacksonville, Florida, and David Plummer of Norman, Oklahoma, tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHey, here’s Ryan Seacrest.
Oh, I'm so nervous for Michael Phelps.
ReplyDeleteHere's Dominique Wilkins signing autographs for youth on a commercial for a diabetes medication.
ReplyDeleteKathleen Baker of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Olivia Smoliga of Glenview, Illinois, advance out of the women’s 100m backstroke semis. Emily Seebohm of Australia, the 2012 silver winner, also makes it to tomorrow’s final. So does Katinka Hosszú of Hungary, who crushed a world record in another event yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThe London gold medalist was Team USA’s Missy Franklin, but she didn’t qualify in this event this time. Australia and Japan won the silver and bronze, respectively, in 2012.
I like that Walmart commercial with the Whitesnake song just fine. We have a new Walmart up at Hanson, and it's pretty nice, actually. It uses skylights doing the day, and that makes for a much better shopping experience.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fine commercial, as long as everyone has realistic expectations for their first day of school.
DeleteYES! YES! YES!
ReplyDeleteMICHAEL FREAKING PHELPS! HE JUST DID IT AGAIN!
ReplyDeleteboom! BOOM!
ReplyDeleteMedal Count:
ReplyDelete1. USA: 3 + 5 + 4 = 12
2. CHN: 3 + 2 + 3 = 8
3. ITA: 2 + 3 + 2 = 7
4. JPN: 1 + 0 + 6 = 7
Michael Phelps says that "we wanted to bring that relay back on American soil."
ReplyDeleteHe's right. The relays are the best. I love the relays.
After the first leg of the 4x100m freestyle relay, Team USA is in second place behind France. Michael Phelps of Baltimore dives in the water, and Team USA is still behind France when he tags the wall. But then he zips by the leader under the water on the turn and puts Team USA in the lead through two legs. The United States protects the advantage through the final two legs, and Team USA takes gold, ahead of France and Australia. France, United States and Russia won gold, silver and bronze, respectively, in 2012, so this was a nice pickup for Team USA.
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Michael Phelps of (Frank Deford's) Baltimore; Caeleb Dressel of Green Cove Springs, Florida; Nathan Adrian of Bremerton, Washington, and Ryan Held of Springfield, Illinois.
DeleteAnd CNN sends out another happy breaking-news alert.
ReplyDeletePhew. That was excellent!
OK, the annual pictures of Aly Raisman's parents watching her do her routines are just terrific. Hooray for those people.
ReplyDeleteAw, that's sweet ... Phelps's rookie teammate, Ryan Held, breaks down on the medal stand during the national anthem. Wow. What a night. That was fantastic. Hooray for the Olympics!
ReplyDelete