I just read from the Reporter Herald that Colorado State (football) kicker Jason Smith broke his arm, and he won’t be able to play in the game verses Colorado University.
I’ve seen other football players play with casts and be just fine. My question is, why would it matter if a kicker has a broken arm? For one thing, a kicker shouldn’t need his arm to kick. Secondly, a kicker should never be touched on the field.
Softball has only been played at the Summer Olympics three times: 1996, 2000, 2004. This year’s Olympic Games will mark the fourth time the sport has appeared at the Olympics. Because of a lack of world-wide interest, softball will not be played in the 2012 Olympics. The United States has won gold at all three previous Olympic Games.
Medal count
United States: 3 Golds
Australia: 1 Silver, 2 Bronze
Japan: 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
China: 1 Silver
2004 Medalists
United States: Gold
Australia: Silver
Japan: Bronze
Appearances at all 4 Olympic Games (including 2008)
Australia, Canada, China, USA, Japan
Chinese Taipei has appeared at 2 previous Olympic Games and will appear in Beijing.
See also: Wikipedia for 2008 Softball Schedule.
Here are a few statistics about Baseball at the Olympics:
2004 Olympic Medalists
Gold: Cuba
Silver: Australia
Bronze: Japan
2000 Olympic Medalists
Gold: USA
Silver: Cuba
Bronze: Korea
All-time medal leaders
Cuba (3 Gold, 1 Silver)
USA (1 Gold, 1 Bronze)
Japan (1 Silver, 2 Bronze)
And some background information from Wikipedia:
Baseball became an official sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics, with the familiar eight team tournament. Players were required to be amateurs. The tournament consisted of a round-robin, in which teams played each of the other teams, followed by semifinals and finals. The format of the competition has remained the same since then, with the only major change being that starting in 2000 players were not required to be amateurs.
Participate in my little competition by picking the teams that will go gold:
(This form will only be open until August 6th)
I’ve been researching various Olympic statistics in preparation of the Summer Olympics. Here are some stats about Women’s Handball at the Summer Games. (Source: Wikipedia)
2004 Medalists:
Gold: Denmark
Silver: South Korea
Bronze: Ukraine
All-time top medal leaders:
Denmark (3 golds)
South Korea (2 golds, 3 silvers)
Soviet Union (2 golds, 1 bronze)
Yugoslavia (1 gold, 1 silver)
Norway (2 silver, 1 bronze)
Hungary (1 silver, 2 bronze)
NBC Predictions
Gold: Norway
Silver: Russia
Bronze: Romania
On the first day of 2008, Georgia football beat Hawaii in the sugar bowl, 41-10. Normally, a team from the a conference like that WAC isn’t even invited to play in a BCS like the Sugar Bowl. However, Hawaii’s undefeated season won them that rare opportunity this year, even though they never played an opponent that was nationally ranked.
Had Hawaii won, it would have made a strong argument that any team that can go undefeated should go to a big-time bowl. Hawaii’s loss, however, suggests that a football program needs to do more than simply go a season without loosing. Consider this Sugar Bowl story quote from Rivals.com writer Steve Megargee:
Usually when a top team from a BCS conference faces an upstart from a less established league, the BCS program is going to win. Even in a year as crazy as this one.
BYU isn’t one of those teams blessed to belong to a BCS conference. In order for BYU to ever play in a bowl games like the Sugar Bowl, BYU will have to be ranked as one of the very top football teams in the country (probably top-10). That ranking will be even more difficult now that Hawaii, ranked number 10 before their loss, has shown that simply being undefeated isn’t proof of a great football team.
BYU is going to have to do more than play great and win all their games. BYU will have to do that against other teams that are considered great.
Good news comes from the fact that even though the BYU’s Mountain West Conference isn’t a BCS conference, 4 of the 5 teams from the conference that played in various (smaller) bowl games won those games.
BYU’s mens’ basketball team is off to a great start. Their record is 5-1, with their only loss to the number 1 ranked team, but only after they knocked of the number 6 team. This record has helped BYU to become ranked in both the AP Top 25 poll and the USA Today/ESPN poll. In the AP poll BYU is ranked 21, and in the ESPN poll, they are ranked 23.
While BYU seems to be doing well, I am not yet convinced that this is the best BYU basketball team that I’ve ever seen. They seem solid, but I keep on waiting for something more magical.
Perhaps the success is in BYU’s starting lineup, who play very well together and are getting better with every game they play. I’m concerned though that the bench is kind of weak.