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.