The Rundown: 5 Things to Know About Olympic Uniforms

Ever wonder why the Olympic athletes’ uniforms look like they do? Has the thought of “who in their right mind would put on the smallest banana hammock ever and then jump off the high dive” crossed your mind? Ours too. That’s why we’re bringing you today’s five things to know about Olympic athletes’ uniforms.

Sparkles and spandex,

The Last Night’s Game Team

Five things to know about Olympic uniforms

  1. Looking preppy and prepared, Ralph Lauren has designed the Opening Ceremony uniforms for Team U.S.A. for the past five Olympics. The entirely Made in America attire that included boat shoes and blazers would cost more than $1,400 if purchased. (Yes, each piece is for sale in Ralph Lauren stores).
  2. Under Armour has a leotard deal with U.S.A. gymnastics through Tokyo in 2020. Although Team U.S.A is sponsored by Nike therefore the girls (and all U.S.A. athletes) wear their Nike gear on the medal stand.  
  3. Let’s talk diving. Why the really small suits for the men but one pieces for the women? According to uniwatch.com, the men don’t want a lot of fabric mostly because they might get caught in the material while doing their tricks. Women dive in a one piece over a two piece simply for looks; because a two piece would break their line and not be as aesthetically pleasing. The design isn’t as much about no splash - that’s more about hand positioning.
  4. Aqua Sphere partnered with Michael Phelps to develop his “MP” line for this year’s Olympics. An interesting move since he’s been with Speedo since age 15 but he’s winning so it must be working. Phelps also has a deal with Under Armour said to be worth $5 million for three years. Their partnership also brought us this incredible commercial featuring Phelps.
  5. Where did the rubberized full body swimsuit go? The suit was outlawed after 43 world records were broken. Apparently they were too fast. FINA (Swimming Federation) now restricts the coverage of men’s suits from the waist up and set maximum coverage restrictions for women.  
  • Extra credit - Ancient Olympians competed naked. My how things have changed.

Summer Olympics

  • Golden girls. U.S.A. women’s gymnastics team, the self-proclaimed “Final Five,” had been touted as the best team in American history and they lived up to the hype. The girls brought home the gold with the biggest margin of victory (over eight points) since the current scoring system was enacted in 2006.
  • Don’t poke the bear. While we were eating Oreos on the couch, Michael Phelps won two gold medals in an hour last night. Phelps avenged his loss in the 200-meter butterfly in London to South African swimmer Chad le Clos. Le Clos had been taunting Phelps over the past few days (see #PhelpsFace) but Phelps let him know who was numero uno in the pool. (For the record, le Clos didn’t even medal). Phelps then hit the pool again to win another gold in the 4x200 freestyle relay race.
  • Work it ladies. U.S.A. women’s soccer tied Columbia yesterday. The tie was good enough to win their group and advance to quarterfinals against Sweden on Friday. 
  • Sorry Serena. Rio has not been kind to Serena Williams. First she and her sister, Venus, lost in doubles and yesterday she lost in straight sets (i.e. not good) to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Williams is out of the Olympic competition.

Overtime

  • Former NFL (National Football League) quarterback and all-around great guy Tim Tebow announced that he is attempting to make a career in MLB (Major League Baseball). Tebow will be trying out for MLB teams later this month, convinced he can play at an elite level. Tebow is a talented athlete and was a great ballplayer in high school but that was 11 years ago. Stay tuned to see how this turns out.

Sideline stat

  • The Team U.S.A gymnastics leotards have a record breaking 5,000 Swarovski crystals each. If bought off the rack they would cost $1,200 a piece. Somewhere out there someone is thinking “buy a new leotard or a wedding dress?” Same price, far less material. 

Coaches’ Corner

  • The women’s gymnastics team has dubbed themselves the “Final Five.” Why? Well this team is the last team to work with legend Martha Karolyi. Karolyi is retiring after 15 years as the national-team coordinator where she has seen many of her gymnasts win gold. Martha and her husband, Bela, have been involved with Team U.S.A. gymnastics for 35 years.

Rio is also the last Olympics where we will see five-member gymnastics teams. In Tokyo each team will have only four members. Therefore, this will be the last five-member U.S.A. gymnastics team to win gold.

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?

The Rundown: 5 Things to Know About the Lovable Losers - Chicago Cubs

The Cubs and their laughable lack of championships is something every sports fan knows about. In fact, it’s so widely known that even former President Bill Clinton made a joke during his convention speech last night about Cubs fans having to teach him what it means to “wait for next year” - referring to the fact that the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 108 years.

We have more about the eternal underdogs, their curse of the billy goat and a smattering of other sports highlights for your reading pleasure.

We'll have a Chicago dog,

The Last Night’s Game Team  

Five things to know about the Chicago Cubs 

  1. The Cubs are known as the lovable losers because they haven’t been in a World Series since 1945 (71-year drought) and haven’t won a World Series since 1908 (108-year drought). In the beginning of the season the Cubs were picked by experts to be the team to beat.
  2. We’ll give you the abbreviated version but let’s talk about the scandalous Curse of the Billy Goat that has allegedly plagued the Cubs for decades. In 1945 Billy Goat Tavern owner, Billy Sianis, tried to get into game four of the World Series with his beloved billy goat, Murphy. The goat was not allowed in (maybe he didn’t have a ticket)? An outraged Sianis declared the Cubs would never win again and they haven’t been in a World Series since.  
  3. Currently the Cubs have the best record in baseball and must be feeling the pressure to win it all. This week, they traded for the New York Yankees stand out closer Aroldis Chapman, who threw the fastest pitch ever recoded in a game at 105 mph.
  4. The Cubs’ ballpark - Wrigley Field, wasn’t their first home; the team has had six different ballparks since they were founded in 1876. Wrigley is the second oldest ballpark in the league behind Boston Red Sox’s Fenway Park. While it was built in 1914, Wrigley didn’t have lights until 1988. The first Cubs night game was played 74 years after it was built. 
  5. Two of their current players have beaten cancer. Starting pitcher Jon Lester (non-Hodgkin lymphoma) and first baseman Anthony Rizzo (Hodgkin’s lymphoma) overcame the disease and still play.

F1 (Formula One Racing)

  • Taken - call Liam Neeson. The mother-in-law of F1 head man Bernie Ecclestone was abducted from her home in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The kidnappers are asking for $36 million from Ecclestone for her release. (Ecclestone is worth an estimated $3 billion). This is tragic news for the F1 family but also isn’t sitting well with athletes in Brazil for the upcoming Olympics.

PGA (Professional Golfers’ Association)

  • This one’s major. The PGA Championship begins this weekend; the last major on the golf schedule. The field is a who’s who of big name golfers, except for one. Tiger Woods announced he would not be playing in this major while recovering from injuries, marking the first time in his career he failed to participate in at least one major in a season.
  • The meat sweats. if you are tired of the typical clean cut golfer, check out Andrew "Beef" Johnson who rose to prominence during British Open not only with his play but his jovial attitude. With the nickname of Beef it only seemed natural that he signed a sponsorship deal with Arby’s. Beef will be covering the course this weekend with a newly added Arby’s logo on his shirt. Find out how he received that nickname.

Overtime

  • 14-year NBA league veteran Amare Stoudemire announced his retirement yesterday. Stoudemire was drafted straight out of high school and most notably played for Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks. Stoudemire grabbed headlines during his career for soaking in red wine to help his body recover. Wine not?

Sideline stat

  • You may recall the infamous ice bucket challenge. The one where the participant stated why finding a cure for ALS was important to them and then had a bunch of ice dumped on their head? Over 17 million people participated in the challenge with over 2.5 million people donating over $115 million for research. Using those funds, a scientist discovered a common gene in people who have ALS; a step toward finding a cure. Pete Frates, a baseball player at Boston College, was the original inspiration behind the challenge after being diagnosed with ALS. 

Coaches’ corner

  • Don’t put me in coach. The pride of Swiss tennis, Roger Federer, announced he will sit out not only the Olympics, but the rest of the tennis season to nurse a knee injury.

 

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