Favorite sports thing of the week: TCU beach volleyball, because riff ram always.
Other favorite thing: the US men's foilists had a *great* weekend at the fencing world cup in Vancouver. Alex Massialas (just off of his first year as Stanford's fencing coach) took individual gold, and three others placed in the top 8. Then they won gold in the team competition, too.
Sam Watson was the athlete commentator for the lead climbing semifinals in Bali this weekend, and he talked about how his past experience with lead was good training for speed, just for (paraphrasing from memory a bit here) "the time on the wall, especially outdoors. When you're scared, pumped, and tired, it teaches you to compete." I feel like "scared, pumped, and tired" really encompasses the general vibe of lead.
Rugby Sevens happened last weekend in LA! USA was in the relegation/promotion round robin and avoided relegation into the lower division. Historical powerhouse Ireland got relegated! South Africa won it all by taking down top ranked Argentina in pool play, then France and Spain in the tournament!
It's the first time I watched but it was exhilarating, 7 on 7 on a full rugby pitch (usually 15 players a side) with only 7 minute halves (usually 40). Very fast paced and scores can still get into the 30s (or stay under 10).
It was the last tour of the season so we'll have to wait until November for the next one.
Seems like a lot of guys play Rugby Union too (and probably get paid more there). This year might have been the "least important" of the cycle since the top 4 teams in the year before the Olympics clinch bids. But you probably don't want to get relegated a la Ireland.
One of the craziest things about the IIHF men's world championship is that the US has only won it twice out of 87 editions and hasn't even finished in the top 2 since 1960! The scheduling is obviously not ideal, but we usually still have a fair amount of NHL players on the team, and Canada has still had plenty of success. We just can't seem to figure out this tournament.
I personally am blaming the entire trend on a structure which structurally disadvantages the United States. Its a nice change of pace tbh most international sports things are very structurally advantageous for the USA
The beach volleyball was SO GOOD. It's a great sport that I highly encourage yall to watch in person if you can. This is especially true because the crowds don't tend to be that large and admission is free.
Favorite sports thing of the week: TCU beach volleyball, because riff ram always.
Other favorite thing: the US men's foilists had a *great* weekend at the fencing world cup in Vancouver. Alex Massialas (just off of his first year as Stanford's fencing coach) took individual gold, and three others placed in the top 8. Then they won gold in the team competition, too.
Sam Watson was the athlete commentator for the lead climbing semifinals in Bali this weekend, and he talked about how his past experience with lead was good training for speed, just for (paraphrasing from memory a bit here) "the time on the wall, especially outdoors. When you're scared, pumped, and tired, it teaches you to compete." I feel like "scared, pumped, and tired" really encompasses the general vibe of lead.
Rugby Sevens happened last weekend in LA! USA was in the relegation/promotion round robin and avoided relegation into the lower division. Historical powerhouse Ireland got relegated! South Africa won it all by taking down top ranked Argentina in pool play, then France and Spain in the tournament!
It's the first time I watched but it was exhilarating, 7 on 7 on a full rugby pitch (usually 15 players a side) with only 7 minute halves (usually 40). Very fast paced and scores can still get into the 30s (or stay under 10).
It was the last tour of the season so we'll have to wait until November for the next one.
I watched a bit! (And was like “wait why are the rosters so different from the Olympics?”)
Didn’t realize it was happening bc I assumed it would be on Peacock and not “rugby pass dot tv”
Seems like a lot of guys play Rugby Union too (and probably get paid more there). This year might have been the "least important" of the cycle since the top 4 teams in the year before the Olympics clinch bids. But you probably don't want to get relegated a la Ireland.
One of the craziest things about the IIHF men's world championship is that the US has only won it twice out of 87 editions and hasn't even finished in the top 2 since 1960! The scheduling is obviously not ideal, but we usually still have a fair amount of NHL players on the team, and Canada has still had plenty of success. We just can't seem to figure out this tournament.
I personally am blaming the entire trend on a structure which structurally disadvantages the United States. Its a nice change of pace tbh most international sports things are very structurally advantageous for the USA
The beach volleyball was SO GOOD. It's a great sport that I highly encourage yall to watch in person if you can. This is especially true because the crowds don't tend to be that large and admission is free.