LONDON OLYMPICS, 2012 // ALL SPORTS, “A Take On Today’s Big Questions”

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of every week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.  

LONDON OLYMPICS:   IT was 2004 when I stood at the exact spot where more than 1,000 years before a soldier called Phidippedes was ordered by superiors to bring a message to Athens, Greece, to proclaim the end of a brutal war, the then intrepid Athenians having beaten the formidable Persians. Phidippedes ran the 26 miles that is today’s runners’ marathon and the marathon that would be held during recurring Olympiads for around 1,000 years, starting 776 BC.

Not being a serious long distance runner (5K’s were my effort at the time), I followed the Phidippedes route mostly by vehicle, but during the following five mornings I ran laps around a track inside the same ancient mostly-marble stadium at Athens, where Phidippedes delivered that end-of-war communication, my noting that moving swiftly around the ancient track in the cool morning air were runners from several far apart locations, obvious from the languages that I heard spoken by them in pairs and in larger formations, corroborated after my asking “Hey, guys, where you from?”

Afield in that old Athens stadium were Greeks, Americans, Koreans, Japanese, Germans, French, Italians, Brits, and runners from several African countries, reminding what an amazing leveler the modern Olympics have been since planned for in 1894 and reactivated at Athens, Greece, in 1896, when 14 nations and their 241 athletes competed, with a message sent to all nations no different from that message given to the 14 nations comprising the first Olympics, that there be “an Olympic Truce,” that any nations at war agree to a cease fire during the Olympic games.

Probably intentioned, during the Olympics many military arts have been shown to be actualized and perfected as “peaceful endeavors,” among them, archery, fencing, shooting from horseback, plus the Olympic martial arts being held: taekwondo, boxing, judo and wrestling.

Though to be unheeded, the cease fire/make peace message will be communicated again worldwide prior to July 27, when the 2012 London-held Olympics will begin and will include 204 countries and approximately 11,000 athletes participating in 29 sports breaking out into 36 event categories and 302 events at 31 venues.

Right now, the famous Olympic torch is completing travel through numerous countries for what will be a 70 day trip to a giant cauldron at the main London Olympics field, where at the completion of the 17-day games on August 12 more than 2,000 gold, silver and bronze medals will have been awarded.

Of the 29 sports to be observed, U.S. Olympic teams have won medals in 26 of them over the years, none for badminton, handball or table tennis. During the last summer Olympiad, at Beijing, 2008, Team USA accrued 110 medals, 36 of them gold. As for the U.S. winning gold this year in team sports to be held at the London games, there are the following: basketball, soccer, tennis (doubles), hockey, beach volleyball, relays in track & field + swimming.

The most gold medals to be awarded during the Olympic games will be in track & field---47, the least being for each team sport, “two.”

Of the 10 American athletes that U.S. Olympic officials underscore as having better chances for gold than others, only three have national prominence and could set records---Tyson Gay, with statistics listing him as the second fastest sprinter in the world, and already winner of six Olympic gold medals, Ryan Lochte, and, of course, multiple medals winner, Michael Phelps.

ALL SPORTS:  There is an annual framing of time in American team sports when the inquisitiveness among fans doubles and triples, and it’s around now, as midsummer approaches. Of the questions dominating fandom today, here’s a few that Sports Notebook has been thinking about, knowing that they are not necessarily the most important among questions within the realms of world and national sports, also aware that only one or two can be answered definitively.

            Question: Which teams will be MLB’s division and league winners, and which will be playing in the World Series?

            Response: In the National League, only the Washington Nationals appear as a very likely division winner (NL-East), being four games ahead of second place team, the Atlanta Braves, and 4.5 ahead of third place team, the New York Mets, though there are enough games left in the 2012 season for the Nationals to fall behind and for the Braves and the Mets to catch up in the win column.

Regarding NL-Central, the Pittsburgh Pirates are only ahead today by one game over second place team, the Cincinnati Reds, and two above the St. Louis Cardinals.

In the NL-West, it’s a close battle now between first place team, the L.A. Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants, L.A. ahead by only one game.

In the American League’s East Division, the N.Y. Yankees are ahead by seven games, above the Baltimore Orioles, and 7.5 ahead of third place team, the Tampa Bay Rays.

In the AL-Central, it’s the Chicago White Sox atop the Cleveland Indians by three games and 3.5 above the Detroit Tigers.

In the AL-West, the Texas Rangers are leading by four games over the L.A. Angels, the Rangers being nine above third place club, the Oakland Athletics.

Given that in the major leagues, rankings do not shift starkly very often after the All Star break, a safe guess is that the currently 49/34 .590 Nationals will win the National League after defeating either the Dodgers or the Pirates, and that the Nationals will play either the AL’s NYY or the Rangers for the 2012 World Series championship.     

            Q:  Can USA basketball win gold at the London Olympics without Dywane Wade, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, and having to face a series of  “take LeBron James down” strategies?

            Response:  If LeBron James plays less for the “me” and more for the “we,” as he did throughout most of the 2011/12 post-season, the world will see that James can be the expert all-around basketball athlete, assisting, passing, rebounding, yet always available for the shot when able to evade double teaming—it is this that will enhance the U.S. chances for basketball gold. 

            Q:  Will Phil Jackson dump retirement (again) and decide to coach the New York Knicks?

Response: It won’t be personal ambition pulling Jackson back into the NBA, nor any allegiance that he may feel toward the Knicks, his team as a player many years back, nor will it be money, nor even pure love of the game. Any decision made by Jackson to coach the Knicks will likely be from something quite specific, the challenge of molding a team including Jeremy Lynn, Carmelo Anthony, of late Jason Kidd and J.R. Smith, and having that bunch defeat the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics.

Q:  The Brooklyn Nets, how will they fare as the first major professional sports team to grace Brooklyn since 1958, when the Dodgers departed for Los Angeles?

Response: If you are from Brooklyn, something like redemption is in the wind, and last place in 2013 will give Brooklyn’s sports fans the chance to scream, “Dem Bums!” which the old Dodgers listened to regularly.

Q:  Will the 2012 U.S. Open (tennis) prove (again) that America has lost an ability to field a Grand Slam winner in the men’s category?

Response: The answer here needs scientists from MIT, Harvard, NASA, plus Bill Gates, to deliver on, but until solutions are offered it’s good to remember Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, those whom the Europeans still idolize.       

            Q:  Can Tiger Woods move upward this year from position four among the world’s best professional golfers?

Response:  There’s not been any evidence yet of the consistency that delivered Tiger Woods' past achievements, and he’s up against better competition than in years past when under similar conditions.

            Q:  Will NFL Denver Broncos pass protection, running backs and receivers deliver the speed, synchronicity and skills needed to match quarterback Peyton Manning’s genius. And, should Manning begin to show some mileage due to his many years in the NFL, will they be able to offset such with their supportiveness?

            Response: The talent is there, depending greatly on the synchronicity built up during training, depending equally upon the season playbook-understandings + priortized preferences being generated “together” by Broncos head coach John Fox and Manning. 

            Q:  Will there really be a Manny Pacquiao/Bradley boxing re-match, and will Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. ever meet in the ring?

            Response:  It’s about the money, more money and lots, lots more money!!!      

              NOTE:   If there’s a question you’d like to have a response to, send it to MLResources1@aol.com.

END/ml