Hello, and welcome to the latest version of the Daily Olympic blog!!! Those that know me, know that the Olympics are the best part of the sporting calendar to me, and as such, I am going to try to keep up the ambitious schedule of one recap post for each day, focusing on the most important story of the previous day, along with any other interesting or unusual stories. "So, what are you doing posting about the Olympics already, Pepster?" Well, they started. Technically two days ago, given the time zone differential between Japan and me, here in good old Eastern Daylight Time. "But, but, I thought the Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow night?" Well, they are, sort of. They are being broadcast in Eastern Daylight Time Prime Time, but they will actually occur here in about 16 hours, but some team events, specifically softball and soccer have already started, due to the length of time necessary to complete these tournaments. So, we have Olympics!!!
I will also have a guest poster during these Olympics on a few occasions. A persion that is just as big a fan of the Olympics as I am - maybe even more. I will introduce her in time.
Back in Rio of 2016, I made a joke about Ryan Lochte not being selected as the flag-bearer. At that point I decided to make a Ryan Lochte joke every day. That was pretty easy at the beginning, but then became easier with his antics at the Rio gas station/convenience store, you know the one, where they may have taken gas and/or money, pissed on the outside wall and apparently tried to bribe the cops? Boy did I have jokes. I couldn't do that in Pyeongyang 2018, as Ryan Lochte wasn't involved in those Olympics. But, the day 1 story gave me an idea. At the team captains' meeting to decide the US flag-bearer for the Opening Ceremonies, apparently Erin Hamlin, the first American luger to medal in the Olympics and competing in her fourth Olympics tied Shanni Davis, the very talented, multi-medal winning speed-skater. The teams then flipped a coin, which Hamlin won. Davis was insulted and complained about the entire process. So, that gave me the idea to do an "American Disappointment of the Day" segment. Well, given that our politics the last few years has been the big disappointment, I want something a little more uplifting. I don't yet know what that is, but I better figure it out soon.
Speaking of flag-bearing, we have great stories with the selection of flag-bearers. That is right, I said "flag-bearerS", plural. (Cue How I Met Your Mother last season running joke). The first selection, and rightfully so, is women's basketball player Sue Bird. Sue Bird is competing in her fifth Olympics, and aiming - along with teammate Diana Taurasi - to become the only 5-time gold medalists in basketball history.
The second is USA Baseball team member, Eddie Alvarez (currently of the Miami Marlins organization, playing with the Triple AAA Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp). Now, with no major league baseball players allowed to leave their teams to play in the Olympics, what is Alvarez doing as a flag-bearer? Well, Alvarez, from Miami of all places, has won an Olympic medal previously - a silver medal in Sochi in 2014 in SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING!!!! Athletes have competed in both winter and summer Olympics before, especially with USA Bobsled's recruitment of athletes to be pushers for the sled team. See Jones, Lolo. And, we have seen several long trace speed skaters compete as cyclists (which makes sense given that both sports use most of the same muscle sets and body movements.) But baseball has such a unique skill set compared to just pure speed and/or strength. Congratulations to Eddy Alvarez, and I hope he brings home a medal in baseball.
The big story of the day is the US women's soccer team being defeated 3-0 by Sweden. USA, on a 44 game unbeaten streak comes to an end. But, let's not get too carried away. First, Sweden is ranked number 5 in the world, and, in the last year is the only team to not be defeated by the US Women's team (they tied in their last match). Also, Sweden knocked the US out of the quarterfinals in Rio in 2016. They are a legitimate team. And, this is simply pool play. Eight of the twelve teams in the Olympics make it to the knockout quarterfinals. Team USA will be there.
The story with the women's Olympic team is just the ruthless and scathing social media response they are receiving for taking a knee - which any soccer fan knows that every team around the world with the exception of some Eastern European countries - have been taking a knee at the start of the game for a couple of years now. But, some people feel that just because someone is an athlete that disallows them from taking stances - stances which the International Olympic Committee now allows to take place during the Olympics. Grow up, and let grown ups do whatever they want.
The other big story from the first day (well, day and a half) of the Olympics is the U.S. Softball team. The US bats have been relatively quiet, but a 2-0 win against Italy in the opening match, followed up by an incredibly important 1-0 win over Canada are a great start. Why was the win against Canada so huge? Well, by all accounts there are only really 3 legitimatily competitive teams out of the six in the tournament - Canada, host Japan, and the U.S. Each of hte six teams play a round robin against the other 5, with the top 2 teams in round-robin play matched-up in the gold medal game and the third and fourth place teams meeting for the bronze medal. This means that whichever of the 3 competitive teams can beat at least one of the other teams is most likely guaranteed a spot in the gold-medal game. So, barring something incredibly extreme, the U.S. basically guaranteed themselves a gold-medal appearance with the win over Canada.
The U.S. team is all about pitching, with Cat Osterman pitching 6 innings of one-hit ball in the opener, and Monica Abbot pitching a perfect seventh in the opener, and a one-hitter against Canada. If the US is going to win the gold, it will be because of Osterman and Abbott. Of note, this is Osterman's third Olympics (softball is returning after a hiatus since 2008), and Abbott's second, so both are international mainstays. Both are also hoping for revenge after a silver medal in Beijing in 2008.
Athlete of the Day - Marta, Brazil, Soccer
Marta, one of the top handful of women's soccer players EVER, scored two goals in Brazil's 5-0 blanking of China, making her the first person in history to ever score a goal in FIVE separate Olympics. If soccer wasn't already in action, she would be a perfect selection to carry Brazil's flag in the opening ceremonies.
Olympic Term of the Day: Riseball - A softball pitch that is thrown with upward trajectory AND backspin.
Olympic Events Watched: Women's Soccer; Softball
USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer: Cat Osterman
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