Isn’t it Nice When They Tie?

Sean-lympics Day 6

Basketball first, then the Feature Story.

Basketball

Croatia:80 def. Brazil:76

This was an important game for Brazil, as the tie breaker seems to be point differential and all of Spain’s losses have been very tight. They now need to either hope for Spain to lose to both Lithuania and Argentina or smash Nigeria, probably both. Bogdanovic was the star in this game, it looked like he wanted to give Patty Mills a run for his money at the scoring title. He was sensational. Saric had a decent game but was way too turnover prone, finishing with 6 of those. And Hezonja couldn’t get himself going today. If all three of those guys play well they can challenge anyone but they haven’t been able to produce that performance yet. Croatia will be able to clinch a knockout round berth on Saturday with a win against Nigeria, while Brazil will face Argentina in what will be one of the most exciting games of the tournament.

Highlight of the Game: Saric with another block, this time followed by a full court outlet to Bogdanovic for the dunk. Saric is just so much fun, I hope that translates to the NBA.

Spain:96 def. Nigeria:87

I feel like a genius for picking Uzoh as a player to watch, and an idiot for the guys on Spain I picked. Spain has been downright depressing in this tournament. They have a lot of really good talent but are performing terribly. This was also the game for Abrines and Hernangomez to get a run out but because the starters couldn’t ever pull away

Highlight of the Game: When Reyes subbed out so we didn’t have to hear the commentator continually call him “raise” or “race”. I know I am not the only one really getting annoyed at the Olympic basketball commentary. And he is still better than the BBC guy… Please hire me.

Lithuania:81 def. Argentina:73

This was the performance I wanted to see out of the Lithuanian prospects. Sabonis was excellent on the defensive end, both protecting the rim but also defending in space, and forcing turnovers. On the offensive end he had a few really nice moves, he still favors his left heavily and is turnover prone but huge potential there. Kuzminskas was even bigger, his size and athleticism at the wing was overpowering for Argentina. He shot the ball well and when his deep shot is falling his confidence sky rockets. Grigonis got the start, a guy I didn’t know much about, but he looked good. Provided good effort on Ginobili and was a decent offensive option as well. Between Lithuania and Australia having good tournaments, this couldn’t be going any better for me.

Highlight of the Game: Any of the times that Sabonis was matched up with Ginobili on the perimeter. I am a basketball nerd I know, but it bodes very well for OKC how proficient he was in those situations. The Kuzminskas dunk was nice too.

Isn’t it Nice When They Tie?

Feature Story

I think if Disney had written a script for what happened it would have been deemed too cheesy for even children. There had been many tie’s this Olympics, but none for first, in a final. And then came the women’s 100m Freestyle, and two mega-narratives clashed. The youngest Canadian medalist ever and the first African-American Female medalist ever. So what happens when two narratives like that collide? Well, you already know, they tie.

Simone Manuel popped up on the broadcast having broken the Olympic Record, the only thing that was confusing about that was that the other swimmer had the number “1”. Was this another one of NBC’s screwups? No, it was the universe giving us exactly what we needed.

The Olympics are insane, they are a month long marathon where winning is the only thing. Where we all either become incredibly (and annoyingly) patriotic or we fall hard to the other side because the people around us are annoying. Sure there are some great human interests stories throughout, and some great feats of human achievement that transcend but much of our time is spent on who is going it win. And how we hope it is “our” guy/girl. And then a tie happens.

I have often wondered about the different kind of motivators. The different personalities that reach the Olympic games. Many if not all will cite their pride to represent their nation. Some seem completely empowered by coaches, teammates, family or coach-family. And then there are the ones who are there to prove themselves. It isn’t possible to look at a person’s character in its entirety. But in the moments where emotion is beyond restraint, you can get a quick glimpse at it.

After tieing, after Olesiak ignoring the board for half a minute, after both becoming multiple record setters the two swimmers found each other. And they embraced. Swimming is an individual sport, titles are not supposed to be shared. They rarely ever are. But I think there is something comforting about knowing that you did it with someone else. I wonder if you took those two girls, each on their own, and you asked them, “Would you want it any other way?” They’d both say, “No.”

Because somethings are better worth shared, sometimes we both deserve to win, sometimes its just nice, when they tie.