Team U.S.A. Men's Basketball

The Rundown: Weekend Preview Edition - The End Is Near

All good things must come to an end and the Summer Olympics are coming to a close on Sunday. Don’t go into a “what am I going to watch every night until midnight?” depression yet. There’s a whole weekend of Olympic excitement ahead as well as a gold medal quality UFC fight.

We prefer gold teeth,

The Last Night’s Game Team


Summer Olympics

  • Kind of a big deal. The debate on whether or not Usain Bolt is “best sprinter ever” got a little more exciting. He won his third consecutive gold medal in the 200m race - the first man to ever win three Olympic medals in the 200. That was most likely his last individual race of his career although it’s not too late to witness the best; he will compete in the 4x100 relay today.
  • Get that gold. For the first the time ever, Americans swept the 100m hurdle race. Brianna Rollins (gold), Nia Ali (silver) and Kristi Castlin (bronze) claimed the top three spots in the race to make history.
  • Marriage made of medals. American Ashton Eaton won his second consecutive gold in the grueling event that is the decathlon. His wife Brianne Theisen-Eaton (you might recognize the duo from the VISA commercial) won a bronze medal in the heptathlon for Canada. That’s what we call a fit family.

What to watch before it’s all over

  • Team U.S.A. women’s basketball team play Spain for the gold tomorrow. The women have been dominating the Olympics. Fingers crossed they’ll win their sixth straight gold medal.
  • Team U.S.A. men’s basketball team plays Spain today in the semifinals. It should be a great game as it features a rematch of the past two gold medal games.  
  • 18-year-old American high jumper Vashti Cunningham, daughter of former Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham, advanced to finals of high jump and will go for gold today.
  • Click here for a full Olympic schedule. 

UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)

  • Save the drama for your mama. Yesterday’s UFC press conference featuring fighters Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz looked like an episode of Jerry Springer. Tensions ran high and clearly there was enough talking as the conference turned into a profanity laced, water bottle throwing tirade. The roots run deep here as the first fight between these two was the highest grossing Pay-Per-View in company history. For the record, Diaz won that fight.  

Tensions are so high that all team members, minus the fighters, are banned from attending the weigh ins today. Mostly because the UFC was tired of splurging on bottled water.

Overtime

  • The U.S.A Olympic Committee, is apologizing to host Brazil for a PR nightmare started by four U.S.A. swimmers. The group, lead by Ryan Lochte, said they were robbed at gunpoint. Surveillance video shows the foursome at a local gas station where they vandalized a bathroom. Long story short, the group tried to leave in their taxi but were confronted at gunpoint by security to pay for the damages, which they did. Brazil said it’s not likely to press charges but they’re not happy about the men lying by saying they were robbed and would like an apology. The hashtags #LochteGate and #Lochtemess are now trending. Of course.

Sideline stat

  • While it seemed like a brilliant marketing plan at the time, McDonald’s put a location in the Olympic village offering free food for the athletes. After years of training and eating healthy, the athletes are known to splurge on junk food post medal stand. They’ve been so popular that this McDonald’s location, with lines longer than a football field, had to put a limit of 20 items ordered at a time per person. We’ll have fries with that.

Coaches’ corner

  • The Boston Red Sox (baseball) coaches put in a request to delay the start time of their game vs. Detroit Tigers. The Red Sox arrived very late into Detroit (at 3 am) for a 1 pm game. The travel schedule and 162 game season is tough on players but the Tigers had the competitive advantage and denied the request. The Tigers had an ulterior motive as they are 3.5 games behind the Red Sox in the standings. Cheeky move. FYI, the Red Sox ended up losing the game.

The Rundown: Weekend Wrap Up Edition - Monday Already?

Weekends were made for binge watching right? Good because that justifies the indent in our couch from the non-stop Olympic coverage.

In non-Olympic news, preseason football is happening and the start of the season is looming. You know what that means? Fantasy football drafts are starting. Would you be interested in joining a Last Night’s Game fantasy football league complete with coaching and Fantasy Football 101? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook or via email.

Always learning,

The Last Night’s Game Team


NFL (National Football League) 

  • Get is started. It may have only been a preseason game but the vibes around the L.A. Coliseum were electric. Shattering NFL U.S. preseason attendance records, close to 90,000 fans came out to see the Los Angeles Rams play their first professional game in L.A. since 1994. In the end, the Rams beat the Cowboys. The Rams moved to L.A. from St. Louis this season.

Summer Olympics

  • Don’t let it go to your head. Men’s and women’s basketball completed the group stages undefeated.  The men’s team has had a few close games while the women have dominated their opponents. The quarterfinals start tomorrow.
  • You better sit down for this. In an Olympics full of firsts, we’ve compiled a mind blowing list of Olympic firsts from this weekend.
    • With her win in women's tennis singles, Tennis player Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first ever gold medal.
    • Usain Bolt won the 100m sprint, becoming the first man to accomplish that feat in three straight Olympics.
    • American Michelle Carter won gold in the shot put, becoming first American woman to win gold in the sport.  
    • Simone Biles won again. Yesterday she became the first U.S. woman to win gold on the vault and the first (male or female) to win three Olympic golds in a single Games in gymnastics. If you haven’t seen this girl carry out her craft, do yourself a favor and watch her compete again tonight.
    • Justin Rose made Great Britain proud when he won the first gold medal in golf since 1904. American Matt Kuchar won the bronze medal. Golf is slated to be one of the top events in Tokyo 2020. Start practicing your swing. 

Overtime

  • Thieves in Rio have taken picking on the blue hairs to a new level. American Gold Media swimmer, Ryan Lochte (whose dyed blonde hair turned blue from the Olympic pool's chlorine) and three other swimmers were robbed at gunpoint. Their taxi was pulled over by armed men posing as police officers. No one was injured but their wallets and phones were taken. Notorious for his partying and his enjoyment of Tinder, we're curious what the thieves will find on Lochte’s phone? Jackpot!

Sideline Stat

  • Singapore offers $1 million (SGD) as a reward for winning an Olympic gold medal. Until this weekend no Singaporean athlete has brought home a gold medal or any medal for that matter. On Saturday, Singaporean Joseph Schooling defied the odds and beat Michael Phelps in the 100m butterfly, earning Singapore’s first ever Olympic medal.  Gold medalist Schooling, who swims for the University of Texas, was met with a hero's welcome when he returned to Singapore, which included a standing ovation in Parliament (first ever for an athlete) and a selfie with the prime minister.

Coaches’ corner

  • Phelps won his final race of his career, bringing his career medal total to an unprecedented 28 Olympic medals, 23 of those are gold. He already has his retirement planned - Phelps is set to coach the swim and dive team at Arizona State University.

The Rundown: 5 Things You Might Not Know About The Olympics

We’re pretty sure you’ve heard that the Olympics begin this week. With all of the media coverage and talk about Zika, Team Russia and less than ideal living conditions for athletes we decided to take the road less traveled and bring you five things you might not know about the Olympics in Rio. 

Going for gold,

The Last Night’s Game Team


Five things you might not know about the Olympics

  1. Rio is the first city in South America to host the Olympics, which began in 776 B.C.
  2. The five Olympic rings on the flag symbolize each of the five continents (they represent America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Oceania. Yes, now there are seven continents). The ring colors also represent every country in the world as every country’s flag has at least one of those colors: yellow, green, red, black, and blue.
  3. You may know that the Opening Ceremony’s parade of nations is in alphabetical order but did you know that this year’s will take place in the home country’s language? That means you don’t have to wait until the end to see Team U.S.A as they will be introduced in Portuguese as Estados Unidos. As in tradition, Team Greece will be announced first and the delegation from the home country, Brazil, will go last.
  4. For the first time since 1998, you can also bet on the Olympics in the Vegas sports books. The U.S. is projected to bring home the most medals, followed by China.
  5. Some sports start before the Olympics officially kickoff on Friday. Women’s soccer begins today with Team U.S.A taking on New Zealand at 6 pm EST. Other notable sport start dates are: gymnastics and swimming (August 6th), track and field (August 12th), synchronized swimming (August 14th) and basketball (August 20th).

SUMMER OLYMPICS

  • Do us the honor. Swimmer Michael Phelps has been selected as the flag bearer for the U.S. team in the parade of nations during Friday night’s Opening Ceremony. Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals, was selected by a vote of U.S. athletes. Rio is Phelps’ fifth and final Olympics.
  • Carpool karaoke. Team U.S.A. men’s basketball players showed off their singing skills (or lack there of) on their flight to Rio, appropriately singing Vanessa Carlton’s song, A Thousand Miles. According to the video, veteran Carmelo Anthony was not impressed. He later said, it’s not you - it’s me, and apologized for not looking amused during video, blaming the early morning and not Vanessa Carlton’s music.

NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)

  • Put me in coach. Jeff Gordon will continue to fill in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. (concussion-like symptoms) for two additional races. Gordon has filled in for Earnhardt during the last two races and maintained in the middle of the pack.

Overtime

  • Monday’s Bachelorette finale came down to two men, Jordan Rodgers (former NFL quarterback and estranged brother of Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers) and some guy who wasn’t a professional athlete. Surprisingly the Bachelorette JoJo chose the former professional athlete. Who would have guessed? Rodgers then proposed and she said yes. Wonder what the Vegas odds are on this marriage?

Sideline stat

  • NBCUniversal will present 6,755 hours of Olympic programming in 19 days. That’s over 356 hours of footage per day.

Coaches’ Corner

  • The Associated Press has been ranking the best college sports teams for 80 years. In honor of its 80th birthday, they released a list of the all-time Top 100 College Football programs. Where does your school rank?