Olympics Special Edition

 In 1978 the women’s world champion in gymnastics was Elena Mukhina of the Soviet Union.  The US had not boycotted the Moscow Olympics yet because Russia had not invaded Afghanistan, yet.  Russia wanted to put on a show for the rest of the world at the 1980 games.  Mukhina was world champion because she had a ridiculous array of moves on all four women’s apparatus.  She had mad skills that no woman in gymnastics was doing at that time.  She was challenged by her Soviet coaches to do more to crush the competition at the 1980 Olympics.  The Romanians led by Nadia Comaneci had destroyed the Russians at the 1976 games in Montreal.  That was not going to happen again. To please her coaches, she challenged herself and in 1979 she broke her leg while training.  With the Olympics fast approaching, she was pressed back into action, training with the required risk taking.  Two weeks before the opening of the Summer Olympics in Moscow, she broke her neck in two places in training.   She became a quadriplegic for the rest of her life which ended at age 46 in 2006.  Elena never had an option.

There has been a dumpster of negative criticism of Simone Biles decision to withdraw from the women’s team competition this past week.  Biles withdrew after the first rotation of the vault.  Biles is the most accomplished men’s or women’s gymnast in US history.  She is a warrior and a fierce competitor.  As she rotated through the air in a series of twists and turns, she came to the instance of landing and the look on her face was sheer terror.  The trolls on Facebook can say what they do but if you look at the last moments of that vault, Biles' eyes convey her mental state in that moment.  The negative outcry about Simone’s exit now is more than unfortunate, it is malicious. Biles was not coerced by her coaches to challenge herself beyond her safety zone.  She was there on her own.  But seeing the negative outcry on social media and other nudnik pundits, it is apparent the year of pressure incubation for the delayed Olympics was immense.

The female gymnast takes on a far more dangerous set of skills than the male to earn a medal.  The women compete on the vault, the uneven bars, and the balance beam besides the floor exercises which the genders share.  The men compete on the one bar, the pommel horse, and the two rings.  The vault is the riskiest of all apparatus.  The female gymnast launches herself from a spring to the vault to lightyears and beyond.  They spin, twist, and strive to negotiate a landing and a score.  It looks brilliant on my television but never thought about what might be playing in the mind of the contestant.  We learned about that on Tuesday night.  The “twistys” they are called.  The yips in golf are far less dangerous.  The larger narrative dragged in the horrors of Larry Naser which are not forgotten in her decision.  Biles was ready to play in 2020 as a 23-year-old.  With a year of pressure building, the US Gymnastics Olympic Committee’s sanguine response to Naser’s 150-year sentence, Biles was a seething quarantite.  None of us are quite right, right now.  Let us all give this national treasure the margins she deserves.  Hell, it is the Olympics, no one must die.

Which among us has never had moments of doubt and can speak ill of the anxious? And for those of us that stress from time to time, may we  pray that it is not in midair in a red unitard.

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The Olympic Edition

 The Olympics are always a source of national pride for most Americans.  Cynicism quadrennially permeates the edges of the games. There can be uplifting results shrouded in the World’s congoing calamities. Tunisian President Saied sacked the government and declared emergency powers.  That did not slow 18-year-old Ahmed Hafnaouif who just won the second swimming Gold Medal in Tunisia history.  He barely made the final and was relegated to the 8^th lane, swimming through his more heralded competitor’s wash.  They were all paying attention to each other, and no one saw the teenager streaking along the gutter to snatch the gold.  It was a dramatic victory and a short-term elixir for the Tunisians.  His countryman rejoiced his golden victory while the tenet of their fledgling democracy was put to the test. The Chinese and Russian, I mean  ROC athletes bring their grit and joy to their pursuits.  Far different than the stoic, hostile exchanges forged by our collective governments.  The competition is fierce but the camaraderie among the athletes at all levels is refreshing and the way it should be at all levels.

Small towns across American revel in the brilliance of their local Olympians.  The whole town has known about these athletes since they were progenies.  In the Olympics, the whole world gets to hear their stories as curated by NBC.  The stories are compelling and heartfelt.  Lee Kiefer is a four-time NCAA champion hailing from Lexington, KY.  Yard Staff had never heard of her, and we do not believe she had a Wikipedia page until last Sunday AM.  She pulled in the first medal in the foil in US history and it was gold.  The 5’4” warrior beat the defending gold medal champion from Russia.  Russia has been winning fencing medals since the Bolsheviks.  Lee Kiefer, you just won the gold medal. What are you going to do now?  Finishing medical school, she is a third-year student, and she will hopefully be back in Paris in 2024 for her 4^th Olympics.

Lydia Jacoby is going to start her senior at Seward high school in the fall.  Seward Alaska has a population of 2236 nestled in the inlet of Prince William Sound.  Seward HS does not have an Olympic regulation pool and there isn’t one in Alaska. She was taking on the brash Lilly King who has won one every 100 meters breaststroke race since winning gold in Rio in 2016.  King stares down here competition on the starting blocks and backs it up.  Jacoby, who has been driving 130 miles each way to train in Anchorage in subpar facilities, was not intimidated or denied.  She came to swim and was not in the pre race conversation.  The conversation is all about Jacoby now.  If you have not viewed the celebration at the Seward High School cruise ship terminal watch party, look it up on YouTube. The joy and elation that Lydia delivered to her classmates is something they will vicariously remember forever.

Then we turned our attention to US women’s volleyball and there stalking the sidelines, the legendary Karch Kiraly.  His name sounds like the one called legend! Kiraly will always be a Bruin first and foremost to the Yard.  Karch grew up on the mean streets of Santa Barbara dominating the beach volleyball scene as a teenager before enrolling at UCLA to play for another legend Al Scates. The Yard and Karch shared some years in common at UCLA.  We did not get to share a beer, but I am sure he had a few as a member of Lambda Chi.  During the hall of fame outside hitter’s tenure, the Bruins compiled a record of 129-5, recorded the first undefeated season 30-0 in NCAA history, and won three NCAA Titles. Kiraly was not done with volleyball when he graduated with his biochemistry degree.  He would lead the US Olympic Men’s team to their first gold at the LA games in 1984.  Since volleyball was introduced in 1964 at the first Tokyo Olympics, Russian was the dominant volleyball program winning three of the first five gold medals. The Russians boycotted the 1984 games as payback for Jimmy C holding the US team from going to Moscow when Russia invaded Afghanistan, go figure.  Nonplussed, Karch came back to lead the US to the 1988 Olympics and soundly thrash the Russians in the gold medal match.  Kiraly had already transitioned to beach volleyball before those Olympics and in the aftermath, he gave up the hard wood for the sand.  He would win the 1996 Beach Volleyball gold becoming the first and only player to win gold in both formats.  He was voted the greatest volleyball player of the 20^th century.  There are not many hall of famers coaching but Kiraly has quietly coached the US Women’s team for nearly a decade. He is not doing it for the Benjamins.  He has been coaching the team since 2013 with a record of 238-48 and a bronze in Rio.  They want more in Tokyo and started  their march towards the title by taking down the mighty Chinese in pool play.  The teams are fierce and resilient like their coach.  We are cheering for a golden finish.

The Olympics is working furiously to cultivate a younger audience.  Younger audiences propagate the legacy and the games. The addition of skateboarding, rock climbing and surfing brings in younger competitors and audience demographics.  13-year-old Momiji Nishiya of Japan became the youngest gold medal winner in Olympic history.  She won one of the skateboard competitions beating out her 15- & 16-year-old competitors.  Not only is the Olympics getting younger, they are getting more entertaining.  The women’s 3X3 basketball has been very fun for Yard staff.  The game is played with the willful aggressiveness we played on the half courts of our youth.  Fouls are rarely called unless belligerent.  Steals are borderline muggings, and you must clear the ball to the top of the key.  The US team lead by Kelsey Plum has raced to the semifinals.  Plum is a Yard favorite with her perpetual scowl, quick smile, and frenetic energy on the court.  She plays for the LV Aces and is a team leader.  She is an assassin from beyond the arc nailing a crucial 3 pointer to close out China.  It is fun game where two pointers are one point, three pointers are two and the first to 21 or whoever is leading after 20 minutes of play wins.  Plum is a natural for this street fight with referees.  She is the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women’s history.  She only trails Pistol Pete for leader in both genders.  She is not as famous as Sue Bird and the rest of the UCONN ladies.  She is just 27 and at the top of her game.  We will be rooting for Kelsey and all the US hoopsters to win gold.  The US Men’s 3x3?  Did not qualify.  US Women hoopsters are dominant.  KD and company, not so much.

There will be more Olympic stories from the Yard, it is in our charter. These first days have been the tonic our staff needed.  Watching sports with a passion that is only found when they are in the Olympics.  We were at the 1984 Olympics in LA and Vancouver in 2010. There are no fans this time and without fans in the venues, we are the fans from our sofas.  NBC had made it intimate with remotes with family, friends, and dogs.  The exclusivity is inclusive. Winners have been able to FaceTime cry with their parents and the world.  It is a weird one but who thought the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be held in 2021 if at all. USA, USA!

Not so fun Fact:  Tokyo Japan was vying to host the 1940 Olympics and was awarded the bid.  Hitler’s Nazi Germany had introduced the torch relay when the Fuhrer hosted Jesse Owens and the 1936 Olympics.  The Nazi’s offered to assist Japan’s efforts with their expertise in torching.  When WWII broke out in earnest, the 1940 Games were scrapped.  Tokyo was later awarded the 1964 summer Olympics and technological enhancements to timing and scoring were introduced.  Germany was awarded the 1972 Olympics.  The US lost in basketball, Olga Korbut made her Olympic debut, Mark Spitz won seven golds and Palestinian terrorists killed eleven Israelis athletes and the games marched on. 

The Subjects of Summer

 London was having some party this past weekend.  The British footballers navigated their way to the European Cup finals vs. Italy at historic Wembley Stadium.  Alas, the Brits lost 4 of 5 times in the Euro Cup Finals.   Novak Djokovic was across town winning Wimbledon on his third stop towards Grand Slam history.    The Brits love Wimbledon but there are very few British Champions to root for these past decades. The British are passionate about their soccer.  It has been decades of malaise at key moments since their last championship in 1966.  European soccer’s hooligan underbelly exploded like the first Alien movie before and after the championship match. People crashed the gate to gain access to the event.  After the devastating loss,  the three black athletes whose efforts earned their way to the finals, had their social media accounts blown up with racist abuse.  They all missed their penalty kicks as many had before wearing the  Union Jack in defeat.  Their crimes were missing an important shot while being black.   

The carriage of justice is meted out daily with minimal fanfare.  The miscarriages get all the attention.  One such example would be the Pennsylvania Supreme Court releasing Bill Cosby from prison prematurely.  Dr. Huxtable had a deal with the PA DA that provided him immunity during a deposition in a civil proceeding. Coz revealed that he laced cocktails with Quaaludes and took advantage of compromised females.  He did purchase the woman’s silence following his disclosures.  The DA felt there was not enough to indict the famous man who was willing to pay $3.5 million to bury Cosby’s deed. #Metoo years later the details of Cosby’s testimony were publicly released.  The onslaught of victims morphed into an army of the outraged and deservedly so.  All their stories had eerily similar narratives with Cosby always finishing on top. In court, Cosby contended that he had a deal in place that was violated.  He did not mention his repeated violations of his other accusers just of his original golden ticket deal.  His spokesperson contended that the PA Supreme Court had corrected another instance of black injustice.  That was a bold stroke with 60 women of all colors calling out the former Jell-O spokesman.  Yard sources have heard Cosby is not going back on tour but may join the celebrity bartender circuit. #NodrinksfromCosby

Yard summer interns have calculated that Tommy John has never received a dime for his world-famous surgery.  Granted Dr. Frank Jobe introduced, engineered, and performed the surgery in 1974 on Mr. John.  Tommy won more games after the surgery(164) than he did before the surgery (124).  In his second season after surgery, he won 20 games for the first time in his career.  He pitched in three World Series after the knife.  He pitched for the Dodgers while losing to the Yankees in 1977 & 1978.  He signed as a free agent with the Yankees just in time to lose to the Dodgers in 1981. WS setbacks aside,  his bionic arm allowed John to pitch until he was 46. His ubiquitous surgery lives on at all levels of baseball.  Pitchers are now strategizing when to have Tommy John surgery not if.  It is thought better to get it earlier in your career rather than wait until it is needed.  The Yard takes exception that Tommy John never got his due from his willingness to try this revolutionary procedure.  He became living proof that the surgery was effective.  Kerlan-Jobe made a fortune administering and billing for thousands of surgeries.  John did not even get the back end on the T Shirt concession.  John Smoltz, Jacob DeGrom, Stephen Strasburg, and Adam Wainwright are all pitching at Cy Young levels after TJ surgery.  John has never sniffed the HOF.  He won 288 games over his 26-year career and never got more than 32% of the required vote. He deserves to be there for the sacrifice he made that forever changed the game I love.  #TommyJohnHOF.

Allyson Felix is the most decorated female Olympian in US track and field history.  She is tied for the most ever in the universe with nine Olympic medals.  She is heading to Tokyo to hopefully break the tie with Merlene Ottey of Jamaica.  Felix is an exceptionally fast woman, devoted mother, and fierce advocate.  Nike had supported Felix for many years and featured her prominently while checking their diversity boxes.  Felix expected Nike to support her when she let them know she was pregnant.  Nike responded by telling the expectant mother that her new agreement would pay her 70% of normal.  So, while Felix was anything but normal with her first child coming, Nike wants to pay her less.  In the middle of this negotiation, Nike asked Felix to participate in a female empowerment campaign.  She was repulsed by Nike’s duplicity and deservedly so.  They asked athlete Allyson to endorse their support of females while asking Mother Allyson to take a discount because she got pregnant and could not run the 400 meters for a year.  Nike has never asked a male athlete to take the same discount.  Nike showed the level of their swope with their treatment of Felix.  Allyson Felix is the bomb, an icon, and a hero.  We will be rooting her to medals and the introduction of her new competitive shoe line. #FU-Nike.

The Yard has never followed Women’s basketball that closely except for the Olympics or when the UCLA women are relevant.  The Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA have attained our attention with their run to the WNBA finals in last year’s bubble.  They are even better this year with 6’8” Liz Cambage back from COVID Opt-out and Kelsey Plum from injury.  They have been fun to watch and lead the league in scoring.  The best thing about the Aces is their head coach Bill Laimbeer.  As a Laker Fan, Laimbeer’s Bad Boys of Detroit Piston fame were the Laker nemesis at the end of the Show Time era.  The Lake show held them off the young Pistons in 1988 but the wolves were circling the campfire.  The Pistons swept the Lakers in 1989.  Laimbeer was the scowling leader of this band of chips on their shoulders.  He seemed to have a perpetual black eye and elbows that would level MJ in his prime.  The Last Dance was a fun documentary of Michael Jordan hero worship.  Laimbeer was the one person that would not blow sunshine up Jordan’s sphincter.  He called him a whiner because the Pistons bludgeoned MJ’s Bulls and they did.  The team is fun to watch, and Aces Chelsea Gray and Aja Wilson will be representing the US in the traditional Olympic basketball.  Kelsey Plum will be representing the US in the first ever 3x3 in the Olympics.  Liz Cambage will be playing for her native Australia. Ji-Su Park will be representing South Korean.  It will be a fun summer of Women’s hoops. We look forward to watching 6’11” Bill Laimbeer coach the Aces to the first professional title in NV history. He is the scowl and the force. #GoAces.

Men’s basketball is grinding to a close.  The NBA playoffs have been a battle of attrition.  The Bucks and Suns are the two best and deserve to be in the finals.  It is sort of an is that all there is moment.  The US Men’s Gold Medal aspirations are looking shaky at best.  The players were summoned to Las Vegas to become a team.   Losing their first two games to the likes of Nigeria and Australia was startling.  Phlegmatic Kevin Durrant is the reputed team leader with his legend and gold medals from Rio and London.  The US Women look unbeatable and the US Men vulnerable.   Oh, the times are a changin.

RIP: Terry Donahue died last week after a two-year battle with cancer.  Donahue was the greatest coach in UCLA football history and the winningest coach in Pac-12 conference history.  Donahue was the original gutty little Bruin playing in the Rose Bowl as a 195-pound defensive tackle in UCLA’s first Rose Bowl victory.  They beat #1 ranked and undefeated Michigan State that beautiful January afternoon in Pasadena in 1966.  Terry would succeed Dick Vermeil in 1976 and coach UCLA for 20 years.  After losing to the hated Trojans in his first four attempts, the Bruins came through on the 5^th try.  Donahue would coach the Bruins to a record of 10-5-1 over SC for the next 16 years, including the last five straight.  Donahue coached the Bruins to seven straight bowl victories including three Rose Bowl victories.  UCLA has had five head coaches in the 26 years and has won just five bowl games in the 26 years since he retired. Those were the days for Bruin fans.  How the times have changed. 

Billionaires and UFO's

 t has been a record setting week for temperatures around the US, especially in the Pacific Northwest.  Seattle hitting 107 is a ridiculous number for a city where the majority do not have AC.  They sound a lot like the Southern California Beach cities whose disdain for air conditioning has abated over the past decade.  At the Yard World Headquarters in Las Vegas, we have been dealing with global warming since the oceans receded over 200 million years ago.  We have been ready for it for at least a half century.  It is hot but our AC is awesome and with Bosch dropping on Amazon, we will survive with persistence and Pinot Noir.

The world’s attention was captured by a 300-mile elephant walk in China.  The elephants made an exit from a wildlife preserve in Yunnan to the outskirts of Kunming.  There is no understanding of their ultimate destination, but they have stormed through towns like the Rolling Stones on tour.  Albeit back in the day for Mick and Keith.  These beasts are on a mission and apparently not on drugs. The three male Pachyderms will not ask for directions and there is dissention among the females on the journey.  This is not going to end well, and no one is getting a happy ending.

Not to be outdone, billionaires everywhere are racing to space.  Big swinging dicks Jefferey Bezos and Richard Branson are racing to beat each other into space.  Bezos may not be as big according to Pecker at the Nat Enquirer. Bezos announced he was going up into the clouds just like AWS.  Branson, fresh off his launch of Virgin Hotel in LV announced he would beat Bezos by two weeks. Bezos and Branson were both beat into space by Charles Simonyi.  Simonyi was employee #40 at Microsoft.  He has traveled further than either of these two nudnicks, going all the way to the International Space Station twice.  We are not sure how many loyalty miles he earned, but Simonyi dropped a cool $60 million for those two nonstops.

The federal government announced this past week that a report will be issued addressing unexplained flying objects.  These UFOs have been cited all over the world by different military and government sources.  Former US Senator Harry Reid has been calling for such disclosure for years.  With his Ross Perot-like cranium and shrill delivery, he was considered a little loony at the time.  The Yard still considers him as such, but he may have been on to something.  In a related story, Intergalactic aliens are demanding an explanation why they are always depicted as some sort of lizard in Hollywood.  These are smart and powerful reptiles with dreadlocks, but still not leading man good looking types.  The Earth always gets Harrison Ford, Arnold, Dennis Quaid or one of Bill’s and earth is like 27-0 in these contests.  The aliens get Jabba the Hutt and that critter Will Smith punched in the nose.  They feel it is an unfair characterization.  And they want more representation with the Academy.

The Lake show’s quick exit from the NBA Playoffs was anticipated from the moment they won their bubble title last year.  The season was truncated already for 2021 with the late 2020 finish.  Lebron did not want to play games until February and the NBA was having none of those sensibilities.  The Warriors did not last long either and they had not played a game in nearly a year.  The 2020 Season ended with a championship on October 11, 2020.  The 2020-21 Season returned on December 22, 2020.  A full slate of Christmas Day games went off.  Lebron and company had 71 days between their Championship and first tip of the new season.  No fans were allowed but the NBA dragged Lebron and Company back to the hardwood against the wishes of his 36-year-old body.  AD and the King had already grinded out their first title together. They played like they did not need another in 2021. Lebron said the right things, but he played like it was 2019. They will be back with championship focus for 2021-22.  Lebron was right in his assertions as players are starting to fall apart in the playoffs.  It is a battle of attrition.

The San Francisco Giants have been the story of the 2021 season.  Picked by the Las Vegas Sports books to win just 79 games, the Giants have already won 48 games.  It is remarkable given their anemic performances that last several years.  As the season commenced, the team seemed aged and without depth.  That is probably the same assessment currently.  34-year-old Buster Posey opted out of the 2020 season and is having a resurgent year and playing solid defense.  Brandon Crawford is having a career year at age 34.  Brandon Belt and Eva Longoria are having their typical middling efforts at 33 and 35.  Johnny Cueto is still top shelf at 35. Kevin Gausman is having a great year at age 30.  The Giants have momentum and maybe the threads to keep it all stitched together. They seem that they are an oblique tear away from a seven-game losing streak but that is just Yard hope and speculation.

The NL West has three of the best teams in all of MLB.  The Giants are the story of the year, but the historically, moribund San Diego Padres are barnstorming like rock stars.  The Tatis and Manny show are launching moonshots.  They are young and have the pitching.  The Dodgers have been pelted with injuries but have been resilient which comes with youth.  They are getting healthy with big opportunities and paydays ahead for their young talent.  The next representative in the WS from the National League will probably come out of the West.  Our hopes are for a Dodger repeat but there are many games to be played and hamstrings to pull.

It seems like we have reached the other side of the COVID wormhole.  The confident vaccinated navigated the honor system of the vax conspirator theorists. We are looking forward to visiting the hallowed Chavez Ravine in the next week for the first time from this other side.  Nadia of the Yard and his Yardness will be at the Dodger vs. Giants June 29 with 55,000 strong.  

Be safe and Go Blue!