Friday, August 3, 2012

Summer Olympics 2012: Day 6 Update

Big day for the USA yesterday!  The women's gymnasts did what they do and Gabby Douglas won the gold medal in the all-around.  Michael Phelps did what he does and DOMINATED the 200M IM for gold.  And Ryan Lochte did what he does....choked in both events winning only a bronze and silver medal on the day. 

Quick programming note:  I will be out of town all weekend at a wedding so I will not be doing any Olympic updates.  Mike will be gone as well, so you'll have to get your Olympic fix elsewhere.  I'll be back Tuesday.

Mike's recap below: 

Day 6 Update:

Last update for a while as I am traveling this weekend. 

We got upset in team fencing, but weren’t expected to medal there.  We did get the gold in rowing and judo as expected.  We lost a predicted medal in shooting but so did China.  Got really close to another medal in Archery but came in 4th.  A lot of 4th place finishes recently.

In Tennis kind of a mixed bag but we are in a good position to pick up 3-4 medals.  In the Women’s Gymnastic All-Around Gabby Douglas took the Gold.  The US was expected to get a medal.  The bad news is we tied for 3rd but due to some weird tiebreaker that we lost we finished 4th

But the day was all about Swimming.  Soni got a Gold in the 200 Breast as projected.  We got gold and silver in back but it was Cleary and not Lochne getting the Gold.  Once again this was projected.  In the 200 IM it was Lochne vs Phelps.. Simply put, Phelps DOMINATED… He is GOAT and is the man and Lochne is a nice swimmer but not even close.  In the women’s 100 China picked up medal and we came close to stealing one. 

Because of the great day we had, we have passed China for the lead of overall medals and have tied them for Gold’s.  This is great news and at this point it is a complete coin toss for who will win the overall. 

This weekend:

Track and Field gets going and a lot of events the USA is favored in.  A lot of sports wrap up, including Tennis which will be fun to watch because of so many American’s.  I will try to send out an update this weekend. Until then U…S… A… U-S-A !!! USA!   #USA!

2012 Olympics US Snapshot Day 6
Country
Overall
Gold
Silver
Bronze
+/-
Prediction
USA
37
18
9
10
+5
88
China
34
18
11
5
+1
94
Team Sports
W
L
T
Standings
Place to make it to Medal Round
M-Basketball
3
0
1
Top 4
W-Basketball
3
0
1
Top 4
M-Volleyball
2
0
T1
Top 4
W-Volleyball
3
0
T1
Top 4
M-Water Polo
3
0
1
Top 4
W-Water Polo
2
0
1
T1
Qualified
W-Soccer
R8 August 3rd -vs- New Zealand
W-Field Hockey
1
2
4
Top 2
Beach Volleyball
W
L
T
Standings


M- Dalhausser/Rodgers
R16 August 3rd -vs- TBD
M-Gibbs-Rosenthal
R16 August 3rd -vs- TBD
W-Trenor/Walsh
R16 August 3rd -vs- TBD
W-Kessy/Ross
R16 August 3rd -vs- TBD
Tennis
Round
W-Swilliams
R4
3-Aug
M2-Bryan
R4
3-Aug
W2-Huber/Raymond
R4
3-Aug
W2-Williams
R4
3-Aug
Mix- Raymond/Bryan
R8
3-Aug
Boxing
M-Fly Warren
R16
3-Aug
M-Middle Gausha
R16
2-Aug
M-Welter Spence
R16
3-Aug
W-Fly Esparaza
R8
6-Aug
W-Light Underwood
R16
5-Aug
W Middle Sheilds
R8
5-Aug

My Two Cents:

I would suggest going here for your Olympic fix over the weekend.  I know I promote this guy's Olympic Guide like he's my family member.  But I really do think it's the best way to check what events are on that day and where you can find them. 

Like Mike said, HUGE day in the pool for the USA yesterday.  I always make sure to pull up the NBC Olympics live online feed around 2:30 each day, as that is when the swimming events are typically live.  I watched Soni set the world record (again!), Lochte choke and lose to Clary and then Phelps clean house like a boss.  I definitely recommend checking out the live online feed from time to time.  You can do that here

Anyone catch that nail biter between USA and Nigeria in men's basketball?  WOW.  Came down to the wire.  On a serious note, that was maybe the most dominating Olympic performance I've ever seen in any sport.  For those that do not know, Team USA beat Nigeria 156-73.  That's not a typo.  They won by 83 points.  They set multiple Olympic records:  most points (156), biggest margin of victory (83), most 3-pointers (29) and Carmelo Anthony set the record for most points in a game with 37.  For those thinking "oh, Melo must have shot 1,000 times to try and get the record" you are way off.  He scored 37 points in about 14 minutes of playing time!  He was 10-12....from 3-point land!  An absolute statement game by the 2012 Men's USA basketball team. 

On tap for today:

7:00am:  Tennis - Bravo:  Serena Williams is just crushing everyone and will play her semi-finals match today.  I think we have a few USA teams in the doubles matches, but watching tennis doubles is like the Hampden pool in the summer time - a little too crowded for my tastes.  Also, big international matchups on the men's side with Federer-Del Potro and Murray-Djokovic. 

9:30am:  Women's Soccer Quarterfinals - USA v. New Zealand - NBC Sports Network:  Finally the knockout rounds.  This is where things start to get exciting because if you lose, you are out.  The USA is always strong in the international competitions, so hopefully they keep on trucking.  Bonus coverage:  After the game, change the channel to Bravo to see a WWE-style cage match between Hope Solo and Brandi Chastain.  Should be fun!

2:37pm:  Swimming - Men's 100M Butterfly - Computer:  Most likely Phelps final individual Olympic performance of his career.  A can't-miss event. 

There are also some Track and Field events that start up this afternoon, and some volleyball throughout the day that is always exciting too.  As Mike said above, Track and Field really gets going this weekend, and those are always fun events to watch.

Have a great weekend everyone.  USA USA USA!!! 

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Summer Olympics 2012: Day 5 Update

Let's just kick things off with Mike's email.  Also, we finally get a glimpse of that world-famous spelling....

Day 5 results:

The day started off with us going 0-3 in Boxing, not good.  Also the #1 Archery guy got upset who was a USA guy.  If you watched the team competition he was very overrated anyway.  We still have 1 Women alive in Archery. 

We did pick up a +1 medal in Cycling and it was a Gold!

In rowing there were 3 events, we were supposed to get 1 medal and we did(in a different even then what was projected)

China broke even in Weightlifting.

Because one of their women’s badminton teams got the kicked out of the Olympics, they will lose a medal there as well.

Our Men’s Gymnastic came up big.  Leyva came out of nowhere to win a medal and a +1 for USA.(major spoiler alert too late)  Just to give you an idea with the remaining Gymnastic events(counting of course the Trampoline which is considered Gymnastics) China is expected to get 13 medals and we are only expected to get 3.  I think If we get a few of our people to step up here, it could be a double whammy, one for us to get a couple medals and 2 for us to keep China from getting some.  The all-around events are a lot of work for 1 medal.  But the individual events can give us a chance to rack up some medals fast. 

Fencing saw 2 Americans make it to the semi-finals.  Mariel Zagunis the world #1 was dominating up 10-2(you play to 15) but completely CHOAKED and lost 15-13.  Her male counterpart Kelsey also lost a heartbreaking 6-5 matchup in the semifinals.  In the Bronze Medal match Kelsey went into a sudden death overtime.. Honestly does anyone else think they should take all the gear of in Fencing for Sudden Death?  Either way we lost in overtime and a chance to steal a medal.  Heartbreaking.  In the Women’s Bronze medal match Zagunis lost again after being up 8-2.  Boy this Woman is a complete CHOAK artist and cost our country a medal and a -1. 

Let’s spend some time talking Tennis.  USA Today’s projections had no doubles or mixed double projections.  We also weren’t predicted to win in Men’s or Women’s(Serena is ranked #4).  That said we have quite a few alive and you can see below where they are and when they play next.  Venus did lose a heart breaking match today in singles.  If we get 2-3 medals in Tennis it will go a LONG way to us catching China

Also knock out round in Beach Volleyball and Soccer will get started soon.  You will see the standing update turn into a schedule update, similar to Tennis and Boxing. 

In Swimming we lost one in the 200 Brest.  Also disappointing Michael Jamison from Great Briton got out touched for Silver.  He is my favorite non-American of course.  We didn’t medal in Women’s Butter either and China won, but China was predicted to win 2 medals and didn’t.  In the Men’s 100 Free we picked up another un expected medal and a Gold!  We also won Gold in the 4 x 200 after an unbelievable finishing leg by Schmidt.  Wow.  China also lost a medal in that event.  

All in all it was an OK day.  We fell behind the Chinese a little, but this is the reason why I do this.  We actually gained 3 on them on the projected medal count.  This was because today had some China friendly swimming events, and some Table Tennis medals.  However today could have been much better.  Two Fencing finishes like we had hurts and a couple of 4th places in swimming/rowing/cycling or else we would be on top of China right now. 

Day 6 what to watch:

Women’s Archery final, and in the round of 8 the last Chinese person is squaring off against the last American.  The all-around Women’s Gymnastic finals.  2 USA and 2 China competitors in that. We are actually favored in Women’s Judo tomorrow so look for a medal there.   In rowing there are 3 events again, and we are projected to get 1 medal.  We go head to head with China in shooting in Men’s double Trap in which we are both projected to medal.

In Swimming tomorrow there are 4 events and we are projected to get 5 MEDALS!  We have a total of 8 swimmers going and tomorrow is the day we find out if Ryan Lochte has “it” or not… 

2012 Olympics US Snapshot Day 5
Country
Overall
Gold
Silver
Bronze
+/-
Prediction
China
30
17
9
4
+1
94
USA
29
12
8
9
+6
88
Team Sports
W
L
T
Standings
Place to make it to Medal Round
M-Basketball
2
0
1
Top 4
W-Basketball
3
0
1
Top 4
M-Volleyball
2
0
T1
Top 4
W-Volleyball
3
0
T1
Top 4
M-Water Polo
2
0
1
Top 4
W-Water Polo
2
0
1
T1
Qualified
W-Soccer
R8 August 3rd
W-Field Hockey
1
1
4
Top 2
Beach Volleyball
W
L
T
Standings


M- Dalhausser/Rodgers
2
0
T1
Qualified
M-Gibbs-Rosenthal
R16 Next Match TBD
W-Trenor/Walsh
R16 Next Match TBD
W-Kessy/Ross
2
0
T1
Qualified
Tennis
Round
M- Isner
R8
2-Aug
*Federer Next
W-Swilliams
R8
2-Aug
M2-Bryan
R8
2-Aug
W2-Huber/Raymond
R4
W2-Williams
R8
2-Aug
Mix- Raymond/Bryan
R8
Mix - Huber/Bryan
R16
2-Aug
Boxing
M-Fly Warren
R16
3-Aug
M-Middle Gausha
R16
2-Aug
M-Light Ramirez
R16
2-Aug
M-Welter Spence
R16
3-Aug
W-Fly Esparaza
R8
6-Aug
W-Light Underwood
R16
5-Aug
W Middle Sheilds
R8
5-Aug
My Two Cents:

Don't let Mike's spelling throw you off here, because the world #1 fencer absolutely choaked!  I honestly do not have much to add on yesterday's events, as I only watched a small part of the men's gymnastics (enough to see Leyva make a nice comeback to score a bronze medal). 

As for today, don't forget to check out Thursday's Olympic Viewing Guide.  I'll start utilizing this space to preview what I consider to be the "high-profile" events of the day:

7:00am EST - Tennis - Bravo:  Some big matches in tennis this morning.  The only big USA match is Serena Williams v. Caroline Wozniacki.  A girl that used to sleep with Shaq v. the girl that is sleeping with pimple-faced Rory McIlroy.  Advantage - USA.

11:30am EST - Women's Gymnastics Individual All-Around - Computer:  2 competitors for USA are Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman.  We definitely should pick up at least 1 medal here.  Where is Jordyn Wieber you might be asking?  Oh, she's right here.

2:46pm EST - Swimming - Men's 200M Backstroke - Computer:  This is Ryan Lochte facing off against fellow American Tyler Clary for the gold.  Big night for Lochte as just a half hour later....

3:15pm EST - Swimming - Men's 200M Individual Medley - Computer:  Phelps v. Lochte.  Boom, roasted. 

5:15pm EST - Men's Basketball - USA v. Nigeria - NBC Sports Network:  Time to see what Team USA is all about!  Huge test here as they face their toughest....wait, what?  Oh, Nigeria?  107-50. 

USA USA USA!!!