This Week in Olympic Sports: Exhibition Follies!

Ah, the great art of the exhibition. Whether it be an All-Star game or theatrical show, the goal of these cash grabs is to walk the fine line between entertaining the paying customers and preventing injury. In the world of All-Star games, there is a split between people who want the games to be competitive, and those who are just hoping their favorite player comes out unscathed. Major League Baseball shaded completely to one side of the argument, making the result of their All-Star Game decide home field for the World Series. Now, I've followed sports coherently for probably 15 of my 20 years on this planet, and I'm honestly not sure if a dumber rule has been created. Bud Selig (and his cronies?) has made it so a meaningless game decides a critical factor for the most important contests. Get out there Felix Hernandez, pitch well so that the Oakland A's can get home field in the World Series. Are you kidding me? It's even more important in baseball because there are different freaking rules depending on which team's home stadium the game is played in. Disgusting. The NBA does it right. Nobody cares, injuries are kept to a minimum and you get cool stuff like this. They keep it fun, and while All-Star Weekend has a lot of critics, I find that it's the best All-Star game format out there right now.

In the post-Olympic exhibition universe, only the concern about health comes into play. Fans will be satisfied simply by seeing the athletes do a few cool skills. They don't expect competition, so as long the show is more than Jordyn Wieber coming out and waving for three hours, they're going to go home happy. With that in mind, organizers should only have health on their minds when setting up their tours.  Whether they're one off events normally reserved for the 4:00pm Saturday time slot when a broadcast network is at a loss for programming, or 10 week nationwide tours, no one involved wants to see unnecessary injuries. That means you normally see watered down routines and "safe" skills at these events in an effort to lower the health risk. This would presumably mean that organizers would have excess padding and mats to enhance the safety of the athletes, seeing as that's the biggest priority. Right? Right!?!?

Wrong. Meet the organizers of the Tour of Gymnastics Champions!

Yeah, I don't have a picture of the organizers (it is sponsored by Kellogs!), but lets just assume they are mean-spirited people who yearn for McKayla Maroney to break her leg. Alright, let me calm down. That can't be right. They must be doing everything in their power to keep that from happening.

What the hell? McKayla's in a cast? How did this happen?

Yikes. She fell on a pretty easy move (layout flyaway dismount at 1:15), but it's pretty clear that her leg issues from London played a part in her injury. Should she have been performing? Maybe not, but it would have been nice for the organizers to put down an extra mat or something. Honestly, that mat is probably enhanced in some way, it's sort of hard to tell. Anyway, Maroney wasn't the only gymnast cut down by the dangers of exhibitions.  Water bottle endorser Aly Raisman was also injured, falling while trying to catch the bar on her Shaposhnikova (I can't claim to have identified that, thanks Blythe Lawrence). As you can see (at 1:54), she slapped her legs against a portion of the floor that did not have padding. Hey TOGC organizers, you couldn't have just splurged for one more mat? Or how about a couple more? There is a lot of exposed concrete on that floor. Do I even have to say how lame that set looks? It has nothing on this. With that said, those injuries are just a rough patch. The rest of the tour must be going swimmingly.

"[Gabby] Douglas said she will do about half of the 40 stops of the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions and then return to West Des Moines, Iowa to train" - USA Today

They can't even keep the biggest star on the road for the whole tour.  With Maroney hurt, Raisman banged up, and Kyla Ross only participating in the California shows, the Fierce Five is dropping like flies  I can see where Gabby is coming from. I would have looked at what happened to Raisman and been a little worried about suffering an unnecessary injury. Maroney's situation probably could have happened anywhere, but I don't think any of these girls have random pieces of exposed concrete sitting next to pieces of equipment in their gyms.

The lesson here? Exhibition tours are a good thing. They let fans, especially young fans, see their heroes in a decently intimate setting. It goes bad when organizers cut corners and don't look out for the safety of the athletes they are promoting. Come on, Kellogs. You are using Jordyn Wieber to sell cereal, how about you keep her safe too.

This Week in Olympic Sports: Lull in the Action

Laurent Dubrule/Reuters

Has it really been three and half weeks since the Olympics ended? With football season beginning and the Orioles in the midst of a unfathomable playoff run, I haven't really been able focus on my post-Olympics depression. The first few months after an Olympics are sort of weird. Sports like tennis and basketball transition seamlessly into the next stages of their respective season. The basketball world focuses on the start of the NBA season (!!!) and the tennis tour going straight into the pre-US Open hardcourt season. For the four year sports (track, gymnastics, equestrian etc), the situation is quite different. Many athletes take advantage of their new found relevance by going on long exhibition tours, venturing into the world of reality TV, or just finishing up their seasons. Did you know that Usain Bolt has run in meets since the Olympics? Bolt has competed at three IAAF Diamond League events since his gold medal runs in London. While the Jamaican's performances did get a smattering of US media coverage, it's obviously nothing like the treatment he received during the Olympics. Well, except for NBC, who showed his last race on tape delay this past weekend. When was the last time NBC didn't show a Usain Bolt race on tape delay? Am I right?? Anyway, Olympic things have been happening and (some of) you want to know about them! In that spirit, here's the first installment of, "THE WEEK IN OLYMPIC SPORTS." Cue some sort of music. How bout this, this or this

Gymnastics:

• The "Fierce Five" have been everywhere since the Olympics, appearing on the Today Show, multiple late night TV shows and the MTV Video Music Awards. They have even become the targets of paparazzi, with McKayla Maroney going so far as to hire a bodyguard to deter potential stalkers. The the Olympic team champs will soon be embarking on a ten week cross country tour called, "The Kellogs Tour of Gymnastics Champions." The tour will feature members of the USA men's and women's teams and other recognizable gymnastics faces such as Nastia Liukin. Now, it's confession time. I attended 2008's "World Tour of Gymnastics Superstars with noted gymnastics fan Pat Fong. We were sort of there to see gymnastics, but really there to see Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin in the flesh. We even had really good seats on the floor and even sang happy birthday to Nastia.  The exhibition was fairly impressive, with the gymnasts all performing their signature moves and routines. The tour stops in Washington DC on November 15th and I haven't ruled out going. The problem is, I don't see any music acts listed. Last time I was able to see noted MLS player-dater Jordan Pruitt and failed girl group KSM. Pruitt was good (she has talent and will apparently will be on this season of The Voice) and KSM was well, yikes. 

Track and Field:

• Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake continued their sprint dominance, both winning their last two post Olympic events. Bolt won the 200m in Lausanne, Switzerland in 19.58 and the same race in Zurich in 19.66. Blake ran a 100 meter personal best of 9.69 in Lausanne and won in Zurich in a time of 9.76. Needless to say, both guys are going to be tough to beat if they keep their current form. It will be very interesting to see if any US sprinter steps up to challenge them. All I'm gonna say is; watch out for Ryan Bailey.
• David Rudisha finally looked mortal in the 800 meters, losing to Eithiopian teen, Muhammed Aman in Zurich. Aman, who finished sixth in Beijing, ran a personal best to defeat Rudisha. The Kenyan should have just ended his season after his incredible run in London. I'm still excited about that race and it was like two and a half weeks ago.
• Dawn Harper, Carmelita Jeter and Sanya Richards-Ross have all picked up Diamond League wins since the Olympics. On the flip side, Allyson Felix and LoLo Jones have not competed since London.
• Aries Merritt destroyed Dayron Robles' 110-meter hurdles world record, running 12.80 at the Van Damme Memorial. 12.80 is a ridiculous time, and although Merritt claimed that many of sub-13 second times had multiple mistakes, I don't think even he thought the time would be that low when he finally put it all together. Lowering a world record by .07 seconds is a significant achievement, so congrats to Merritt, who is having arguably the greatest hurdle season ever. Watch the race here

Swimming: 

• Ryan Lochte's life since the Olympics has been pretty incredible to observe. Let's go through it.
• He partied in Vegas, including a race with royalty in a hotel pool.
• Signed on to make a cameo appearence on 90210.
• Was apparently considered for a spot on the next season of "The Bachelor" along with "Dancing with the Stars"
• Watched his sister apologize for an apparent racist rant, because that's what every Olympian has to deal with. 
• Said the word "Jeah" a lot.
• Other than Lochte's impromptu race with Prince Harry, there have been no important meets since the Olympics. So just enjoy Lochte's antics. Who knows what he'll do next

Soccer:

• The Olympics turned out to be the end of an era for the US Women's National Team. Pia Sundhage stepped down as head coach and signed a four-year deal to manage the Swedish national team. Sundhage ends here tenure with the USWNT a winning percentage of .890 and two Olympic titles. From all accounts, Sundhage was a classic players coach, hanging out with her players as if she was a teammate. It will be interesting to see who the US brings in to replace her. On Grantland's Men in Blazers podcast, co-host Roger Bennett said that US Soccer is trying to bring in an American woman to manage the team. Only one woman (April Heinrichs) has coached the national team in its 27 year history. 

That's pretty much it. Except for track and field and tennis, most Olympic sports end their seasons after the Olympics. This will force me to go into Winter Olympics mode pretty soon. I'm excited, aren't you?

516 days until Sochi

Top 16 Olympic Moments: Part Four

AFP Photo - Oliver Morin

#13. USA > Jamaica (This Time):

During the Olympics, the excitement I felt when I saw the Jamaican green, yellow and black turned to dismay. Keep in mind, my favorite movie is Cool Runnings. No seriously, I've watched that movie at least 30 times. Not that a movie about a bobsled team tells you everything about a country and it's culture, but it's always made me root for the Jamaican athletes. How could I, of all people, start hating on Jamaica?

Well, when the country that you care deeply about (USA! USA! USA!) loses constantly to an island nation consisting of 2.9 million people, that has somehow produced six of the ten fastest men (I'm counting Donovan Bailey) and four of the ten fastest women on the planet, you start to get a little salty. Honestly, I really have nothing to complain about. The USA consistently peforms well in the sprints (which I'm defining as the 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m relay), and even though we have fallen on some hard times, many countries would kill for America's sprinting history. However, being the mega patriot that I am, it hurt my ego that we were unable to find anyone to beat this inexplicable Jamaican juggernaut. Jamaica has a very nice history in the sprints, but they have started to turn up the heat in the last four Olympic Games. Beginning in Sydney, the Jamaicans have won 24 of a possible 72 sprint medals.  They won 16 medals, no shame there, in the Olympics preceding Sydney. That's a pretty incredible improvement. Now while this may just be a "golden generation" of Jamaican sprinters, something has clearly changed in the training structure down there. Normally this would be the point where I rant about how some of these international athletes are improving at American colleges and training centers, but in regards to the Jamaicans, it's not a strong argument. While Veronica Campbell-Brown attended an American university, other Jamaican stars like Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce never competed at the NCAA level. I'm also not going to accuse the Jamaicans of doping.  Every country has athletes that are doping and until I get some solid evidence, as naive as it might be, I'm gonna give these guys and gals the benefit of the doubt. Apparently, the Jamaicans have finally figured out how to develop their immense sprinting talent, which has to be a pretty scary proposition for the rest of the world.

With all of this Jamaican dominance, Carmelita Jeter might as well have been pointing at me when she crossed the finish line in the women's 4 x 100m relay, because the US team stomped my doubts and the Jamaicans. It was such a far cry from the rest of the sprints, where after Jamaican victories in the men's and women's 100m and a sweep of the medals in the men's 200, I was starting to get a little upset. Thank God for Allyson Felix and her beautiful stride because I might have started going crazy if the Jamaicans had won all of the individual sprint golds. While the US looked to have the better team on paper going into the final, they were not heavy favorites by any means.  My celebration after that relay ranked somewhere between LeBron's three vs Spain and David Boudia's final dive in my top ten "chest beating" moments of the Games. The whole team put on great performances, including three very solid baton exchanges, an area that had plagued US teams in the past.

Jeter's, and to a lesser extent, my reaction to the victory confirmed one thing, this rivalry the USA has with Jamaica means something. It's great for USA Track and Field to have a rival like Jamaica. It will push both nations to produce great sprinters, which will in turn create great races, like the men's 100m final. This may fuel more interest in track and field, a sport trying to rise above the stigma of doping scandals. Hopefully it does, because trying to overcome the Jamaican sprint machine over the next few years is going to be really fun. Come on, who doesn't like a good rival?