Soccer, Sports and Politics - Part Deux

No need to wait....go Morocco!

 

3rd individual gold medal for Teddy Riner... the greatest of all time...

 

Greatest ever indeed. Phenomenal.

 

The North American team. . . {cringe}

 

Oh well....Way to go MAGAs....

French prosecutors open inquiry into death threats to opening ceremony artistic director

• Thomas Jolly filed complaint after social media threats
• Sizeable proportion of abuse appears to be from the US

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/a...ceremony-last-supper-controversy-thomas-jolly

 

Crazy...

 

The thing is, for non-scholarship level athletes, college in the US is expensive as hell, and out of reach for a lot of people who would be capable of getting a degree. Making community colleges free is a big step in that regard, at least people can get an associate degree and transfer to a 4-year college.

As for Europe not being big on college sports, yes, it's like a college that has Division 3 sports. They have teams that are competitive with similar schools, but the players are real students who have no illusions of being a top-level pro. They are in Uni to get a degree and a decent job in the real world in a few years. Anyone who potentially could make it big in Euro soccer or basketball would be in the youth system of a club.

What the NCAA needs to do is let the athletes play, but allow them carte blanche to go back to school later, if they don't make it as a pro, and are more mature and serious about getting a degree. Not all of them will, but for those who do, it's the least they can do for the people who were part of the machine that generated money for the school.

 

To quote the great philosopher Apu from the Simpsons, "I am totally opposed to all forms of violence, and I will thrash you within an inch of your life to prove my point."

 

A fair number of the athletes getting this training are not Americans anyway, once you remove gridiron (not an Oly sport) and basketball (whether the US wins is entirely up to them).

 

Again, the subject under discussion was college scholarships during the "amateur" era of the Olympics. An era when foreign atlhletes at US colleges was a lot more infrequent than it is now.

 

Well this was predictable one way or another:

"Hosts into semi-final before brawl at the final whistle".

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/a...argentina-olympic-games-football-match-report

 

Europe vs Africa in the semis

 

Or according to Argentina fans, the Congo 1- Argentina 0

*Sing that song again you ... * pic.twitter.com/WMUmnLGYLA

— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) August 2, 2024

 

BMX racing: Main announcer on the World Feed today kept saying the Swiss rider was representing Belgium. When she won a bronze and was standing there with the Swiss cross on her shirt, he said it again. Then reading the results he finally got it right.

 

Oh well. Who cares?

 

It looks like Australia is kinda kicking our ass in swimming.

I guess they are like how Jamaica competes with us on track and field

 

this is not just Russia btw, it's both transphobes and Russia using this story to push their agenda.
transphobes get mass exposure and the IBA gets some get back at the IOC for expelling them during the Olympics when all the world's eyes are on them

— Babble (@Babble____) August 2, 2024

 

Those two guys are phenomenal.

 

Lots of good stuff in the Olympics coming today, but I am perhaps most intrigued to watch kayak cross.

 

Wouldn't mind seeing disc golf and Ultimate added

 

Teddy Riner has just done it again, winning the gold in the mixed team judo event... He's the greatest French athlete ever, no doubt ! And he'll be in Los Angeles in 2028 !

 

Man, the Japanese must have been so upset tonight. They did their best. The score was 3-3 and a draw was needed to determine which category will go to a final single match….. 90 kg was the draw…. Can you imagine the Japanese feeling after drawing Teddy Riner's category out of the 6?

 

Yeah that's when you know, the Gods aren't in your favor.