By Adam Roberts – 8/3/2021

On top of Jrue, Khris, and the rest of Team USA men’s basketball earning a quarterfinal win over Spain, there’s been plenty of other Olympic news made today. Here’s your daily check on the latest from Tokyo:

• After pulling out of all her other events while focusing on her mental health, Simone Biles returned to Olympic competition by earning the bronze medal in the women’s balance beam final. Biles finished with a score of 14.000 while fellow American Suni Lee finished in fifth place with a score of 13.866. China earned the gold and silver medals after Chenchen Guan and Xijing Tang finished atop the rankings with scores of 14.633 and 14.233. Her seventh medal ties her with Shannon Miller for the most ever by a U.S. gymnast.
• Keyshawn Davis of Virginia advanced past the quarterfinals of the men’s lightweight boxing division after topping Gabil Mamedov of the Russian Olympic Committee 4-1 on points. Up next for Davis is a semifinal bout against Armenia’s Hovhannes Bachkov scheduled for Thursday night. Davis finished in second place of the men’s lightweight division during the 2019 World Championships in Russia. Meanwhile Duke Ragan of Ohio continued his charge towards Olympic gold after taking down Ghana’s Samuel Takyi in the semifinal of the men’s featherweight boxing division. Ragan cruised to a 4-1 win on points and will take on Albert Batyrgaziev of the Russian Olympic Committee in the final tomorrow night.
• The team of April Ross and Alix Klineman cruised past Germany in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of the women’s beach volleyball tournament. The Americans improved their record at this year’s Summer Games to 5-0. Up next for the duo of Ross and Klineman is a match against Switzerland’s Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich with a chance to play for the gold medal on the line.
• The U.S. Track and Field team is adding six more medals in Tokyo including a gold for Athing Mu in the women’s 800-meters. Fellow American Raevyn Rogers grabbed the bronze. Gabrielle Thomas also won bronze in the women’s 200-meters, Christopher Nilsen earned silver in the men’s pole vault, Rai Benjamin picked up the silver in men’s 400-meter hurdles, and Brittney Reese won silver in the women’s long jump. The U.S. now has 11 total medals in athletics with five more medal events on tap Wednesday.

In the medal race, Team USA is maintaining its overall medal lead. Americans have won a total of 73 medals, now four ahead of China. The Chinese continue to lead all nations with 32 gold while the U.S. has 24 gold. Keep checking espnlacrosse.com for daily updates from the 2020-21 Olympics!

By Adam Roberts – 8/3/2021

Mike Zimmer is not happy with how some players on the Minnesota Vikings are approaching COVID-19.

Rookie quarterback Kellen Mond tested positive for COVID, forcing unvaccinated Kirk Cousins and Nate Stanley to be placed on the COVID-19 Reserve list. That left the group with Jake Browning being the only QB available at one point. On Monday, Zimmer said to media members after practice “I just don’t understand. I think we could put this thing to bed if we all do this. But it is what it is.”

Zimmer also said that some of the things his players have read online about COVID are “out there” and expressed concern about Minnesota possibly losing games due to players being out with COVID. This year the NFL has imposed quite strict penalties if a COVID outbreak among unvaccinated players causes a team to forfeit a game. The Vikings have the lowest rate of vaccinations among NFL teams at less than 65% fully vaccinated.

The overall NFL vaccination rate is much better; today it was reported that around 90% of the league have had at least one shot.

By Adam Roberts – 8/2/2021

There very well could be more chants of “Bobby, Bobby, Bobby” at Fiserv Forum next season coming from Milwaukee Bucks fans. Meanwhile, one of the team’s biggest defensive pieces during their postseason run is off to Miami.

As part of the whirlwind of deals this afternoon and evening around the beginning of NBA free agency, Bobby Portis has agreed to a 2-year, 9 million dollar deal with a second year player option to stay in Milwaukee. Conversely, P.J. Tucker agreed to a 2-year, 15 million dollar deal to join Jimmy Butler and the buildup of free agents the Heat are putting together.

Portis and Tucker were the two biggest question marks for the Bucks this offseason, and on day one of free agency their fates have been sealed.

By Adam Roberts – 8/2/2021

After pulling out of every team event and three of the individual event finals, Simone Biles is set to return to competition this week. The oft-described GOAT of US gymnastics had been focusing on her mental health while also managing what those in the gymnastics world call “the twisties”; this phenomenon makes it hard for them to judge where they are while flipping through the air. Here’s a check on the rest of what’s new from Tokyo:

• Four U.S. relievers combined to give up five runs as the United States blew a three-run lead in a 7-6 baseball loss to Japan on Monday night that pushed the Americans within a loss of Olympic elimination. The U.S. at 2-1 fell into the losers bracket of the double-elimination second round. To reach this weekend’s final, it will need to win Wednesday when it plays the winner of tomorrow’s elimination game between the Dominican Republic (1-2) and Israel (1-3), and then again Thursday against the Japan-South Korea loser.
• The duo of April Ross and Alix Klineman topped Cuba’s Lidianny Echevarria Benitez and Leila Consuelo Martinez Ortega in the round of 16 of the women’s beach volleyball tournament. Ross and Klineman won the match in straight sets with a total score of 42-32. The pairing will look to keep their undefeated record going later tonight when they take on Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch in the quarterfinals.
• Valarie Allman won the gold medal in the women’s discus in her Olympic debut at the 2020 Summer Games after making a throw of 68.98 meters on her first attempt. It’s the first gold medal for the U.S. in track and field at this year’s Olympics. Kristin Pudenz of Germany finished in second place to win the silver medal with a personal best throw of 66.86 meters. Cuba’s Yaime Perez took home the bronze medal after making a throw of 65.72 meters.
• And finally, Jessica Springsteen is getting ready for her Olympic equestrian debut. The daughter of Bruce Springsteen will take part in the individual jumping round at the Tokyo Olympics. She and her horse will take on a course of 12-to-14 obstacles that are four-feet-seven-inches to five-feet-four-inches tall. Springsteen was named to the U.S. jumping team after strong results during competition recently in Florida.

Keep checking espnlacrosse.com for daily updates from the 2020-21 Olympics!

By Adam Roberts – 7/30/2021

I’m about to head out the door for the weekend, but wanted to get in one more notable story that dropped late this afternoon.

The Associated Press is reporting that the NCAA Board of Governors is calling for a constitutional convention in November, during which major reform in governance practices will be discussed. The meeting is held with the hope of reforming how college athletics are managed in the era of Name, Image, and Likeness rights for athletes.

According to the AP: A 22-person Constitution Review Committee with university presidents, conference commissioners, athletics directors and students from Divisions I, II and III will be created to redraft the NCAA’s constitutional articles. For comparison, it feels a lot like Vatican II was for the Catholic Church back in the 1960s.

NCAA President Mark Emmert has said in recent weeks that a decentralized version of college sports could be the future. Those words come after all the news surrounding Texas and Oklahoma announcing plans to bolt from the Big 12 for the SEC. Is the era of superconferences closer than we already thought? This development would appear to indicate that it is.