Anybody watching the basketball game?
Closer than expected, but a W is a W.
Great game! What a fourth quarter for the US, and 35 points for Curry. Serbia played three quarters of amazing ball.
15 3-pointers for Serbia in the first 3 quarters. None in the 4th.
Curry, James, Embiid, and Durant were awesome in the 4th.
Correction: 36!
That’s well over a third of the US points. I would have been equally glad to see Serbia win though. I think they just got nervous after the fourth foul by Jokic and that six point play, and nerves and three pointers don’t much mix.
Great observation. Perhaps the turning point of the game, as Jokic picked up his fourth foul on the play.
All right, so Noah Lyles wins the bronze in Tokyo, y’know, the one which had Covid hanging over it, which he considers a big disappointment, then he makes a tweet saying that the NBA champions should not be called the “World Champions” because they’re not actually playing against the world, which, to judge by the responses, you’d think he accused Barack Obama of treason, because as we all know poking the bear never backfires, then he apparently talks a bunch in this year’s Diamond League, then he showboats or whatever at trials and that’s apparently the biggest offense in the sport in the past ten years, then some random E.coli-for-brains boasts about crushing him in the 200, then NBC uses him to a draw a comparison to the speeds of platform divers and that means the network is slobbering all over him, and finally he gets a bronze in the 200 after winning gold in the 100 and immediately reports that he has Covid (creating a strange bookend with Tokyo), which makes him either a pathetic loser making excuses or a plague rat that put dozens of other runners at danger, and in any case it’s now time to be absolutely sick of him. Did I get all that right? 
Pole vaulting has got to have the longest waiting-to-action ratio in the world. But to see Armand “Mondo” Duplantis make history, that made it all worth it. (Having a fast forward button definitely helps. 
) He is strong. One caveat: I am so, so tired of hearing every megastar athlete compared to Michael Jordan. I have had goddam enough Michael Jordan for fifteen lifetimes. Therefore, effective immediately I am declaring Mondo the Hakuho of pole vaulting. Overwhelming dominance for over 13 years (with no silly break to play minor league baseball) deserves recognition.
Hey, did anyone notice that men’s beach volleyball has the frumpiest athletes in the Olympics? Everyone I saw had on a loose tank top and baggy long shorts (with no midriff showing) It’s weird, all this talk about “not wanting sand to get in there”, and what they’re wearing looks like it’s going to let sand in everywhere. Understand, I don’t have a problem with this; obviously this game draws from West Coast beach culture and that’s how they look. I’m just saying that if they were required to wear, mmm, bike-style swim trunks with no shirts, I’d be fine with that.
On a related note, I’ve been enjoying beach volleyball more than the more conventional indoor version, and I finally figured out why. Two things, actually. The first is that because beach has much fewer players, this opens up the game and makes it a lot more creative. I’ve seen all kinds of shots that would never work in the indoor game. On the defensive end, even with fewer players, they usually know who’s going to take the shot, so they can still force a bad hit or anticipate where the ball is going for a dig. Indoor, the pace is faster and there are more offensive options, but it’s a lot more effort for less reward. That often leads to lots of long rallies and back-and-forth scoring where neither side can really assert himself. Competitive, yes, just not very thrilling. The second reason is that indoor is plagued…absolutely plagued…by endless ticky-tack challenges and reviews. Swear to Hecatia, some matches it seems like every fifth point has one of these. Uh-oh, did a hand touch the antenna? Uh-oh, did a hand touch the net? Uh-oh, was that a lift? Uh-oh, did someone step under the net? Uh-oh, was that on the line? Endless. In beach, there’s “out” and “not out”. Matches flow. I don’t have to add 30 minutes to the recording time.
Really enjoying these Olympics! 
Anything in particular to watch out for the last three days?
Re Volleyball:
I dont disagree about the challenges - but that is the world we live in when we have ultra-high definition replays available. However, I will say that the most exciting rallies in ‘normal’ volleyball are far more dramatic than beach.
The only sport that doesn’t use Hi-Def replays for ajudication is race walking - and you can draw your own conclusions from that.
I was really pleased to see that the footraces (100m, 200m, etc.) were using photo finishes, much like a horse racing track.
Is it because everyone is cheating and it’s all about who gets caught? I’ve heard that race walking is almost impossible to catch all the little cheat moments.
Seems to me the technology exists to improve detection of violations.
The implication is that violations are too regular an occurrence, so the use of technology is disfavored.
I recall but can’t find an article stating that it’s impossible to find any examples in competition where any of the top finishers did not have any such little cheat moments when the video is thoroughly analyzed.
US Women’s basketball team currently crushing Australia 45-27 at halftime in the semifinal game. Australia came into the Olympics ranked 3rd on the FIBA World Rankings. US was number 1.
The way it’s going, we might have the same score in the men’s soccer final.
Foot races have been using photo finishes since they were invented. It’s just that they are only shown to the public in really close races.
I just watched the women’s cycling Madison final. It really looks like organized chaos out there, and I watch a lot of cycling. Wicked cool event.
I like Lyles confidence, and understand his desire to still run the 200m. I guess Covid was diagnosed a couple days ago and he is said to have isolated since Wednesday. Supposedly wore masks except for the actual race.
I don’t know how I feel about the decision to let him compete. No problem with it, if no problem for anyone else?
US women kicked butt and won the 4x100.
US men blew the exchanged and didn’t even come in top 3 for the 4x100. I’m disappointed.
This soccer match is exciting as hell. I generally root against both these teams, so no strong preference, but great to watch.