Author: Thomas Conroy (Page 25 of 28)

      Clay molds a decathlon victory

      August 22, 2008 /

      After twelve long years, an American has finally won the Olympic decathlon. Bryan Clay won the ten-event competition in Beijing going away, outdistancing his closest opponent (Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus) by 240 points. He finished with 8,791 points and secured the victory by finishing the 1500-meters race.

      Dan O’ Brien was the last U.S. athlete to win the Olympic decathlon, in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

      Clay led the competition wire to wire, as he placed first or second in five of the ten events and third in two others.

      The Olympics

      Couch Potato Alert: 8/22

      August 22, 2008 /

      – With all due respect to NBA officials, amateur boxing is the undisputed winner as being the world’s most corrupt sport. But it is still great to see an unknown boxer like Oscar De La Hoya or Floyd Mayweather Jr. receiving international exposure for the first time. The boxing finals will be televised on Saturday evening, 8/23, on NBC. Tune in to find out who will be the next great fighter.

      – Will this year be a triumphant return to glory for USA Basketball? In 2004, the men’s team convinced many of us to root against them in Athens. This Olympics, we have brought our A-Team to Beijing, as Kobe, LeBron, and D. Wade command the court. Tune into NBC on Saturday, 8/23, to watch the gold medal finals.

      – As summer winds down, the baseball pennant races are heating up. And another possible playoff preview will take place this weekend, as the Tampa Bay Rays visit Chicago to face the A.L. Central’s leading White Sox. Sunday’s contest will be televised nationally on TBS Sunday, 8/24, at 2 p.m. EST.

      – The Little League World Series takes place in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. ABC will televise the championship game on Sunday afternoon, 8/24, beginning at 3:30 p.m. EST.

      Boxing, Couch Potato Alert, General Sports, NBA, Television, The Olympics

      NHL brass concerned about growth of sport

      August 22, 2008 /

      It seems like yesterday that the city of Detroit was hoisting the Stanley Cup in celebration, but training camp will begin less than two weeks from today for most NHL franchises. And with the coming season, there’s a concern within the league to grow fan support nationally and overseas. Many insiders in the NHL feel the league will need to expand into European cities within five to ten years.

      Hockey is best positioned to expand into the European market, as they have the largest percentage of players from Europe and Russia of any of the major sports. The league is attempting to identify two to five cities that could support a franchise and ultimately is working towards a European-based division in the NHL.

      Another concern for the league is its television exposure in the United States. VERSUS has been disappointing in gaining subscribers in homes, hotels, and sports bars for NHL programming. Players have complained about the lack of coverage at the national level, and want to have a block of nationally televised games back on ESPN in the near future. The league will have an internal discussion on this subject in the coming months.

      General Sports, NHL, Television

      The Phelps Dynasty overtakes China

      August 17, 2008 /

      Cheering fellow American Jason Lezak anchor the U.S. individual relay team to a world record victory in the 400-meter medley, Michael Phelps captured his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics. He surpassed Mark Spitz’s mark of seven golds at the 1972 Munich Games.

      This latest gold medal victory almost sunk before their eyes, as the Americans were in third place behind Japan and Australia going into Phelps’ leg of the race. He dove into the water, and powered the U.S. back in front with his butterfly stroke. Lezak held off Australia’s Eamon Sullivan to secure a world record time of 3:29.34 (Phelps’ seventh world record in Beijing).

      Once the official results were posted on the board, it was celebration time for Phelps. And he could not contain himself, as Phelps slapped low-fives with his teammates and threw his arms in the air. He praised the support received from the U.S. swimming team because without them, none of his accomplishments would have been possible.

      The final numbers for Phelps are five individual and three relay gold medals in Beijing. Thus far in his career, he has captured a total of 16 medals (14 gold). Phelps has become the all-time winningest Olympian, and the scary thing is, he has at least one more Olympics in him.

      General Sports, Swimming, The Olympics

      Phelps has the golden touch

      August 16, 2008 /

      Michael Phelps’ final stroke got his hands on the wall one-hundredth of a second ahead of Serbian Milorad Cavic to secure his seventh gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly. He swam into history by matching Mark Spitz’s record of winning seven gold medals in the 1972 Munich Games.

      But it did not come without some controversy, as the Serbians filed a protest following the outcome of the race. After careful review of the race tape provided by FINA (swimming’s governing body), the Serbian delegation conceded victory to Phelps. The tape was slowed to one frame for every 10-thousandth of a second to show the American actually touching the wall first at the end of the race.

      He was sluggish at the start, as Phelps was seventh (out of eight) at the turn. Then he put it into high gear, as his long arms began windmilling through the water. Phelps was able to close the gap on Cavic in no time.

      Tomorrow evening, Phelps will return to swim his final event of the games, as he takes the butterfly leg of the U.S. medley relay team. The Americans are favored, so Phelps should win his record-breaking eighth gold medal. Australia has a great relay team, so it should be quite a race.

      General Sports, Swimming, The Olympics

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