SPORTS
First week of Olympics captured my attention
The first week of Olympics competition is mostly done as I write this on Friday morning.
I didn’t watch everything and was not particularly interested in doing homework heading into the games outside of a few storylines I just knew from past Olympics.
I only was able to catch a few sports live because of work, mostly relying on NBC’s three hour, USA centric, tightly edited wrap up show most nights. That means I did miss a lot, especially if it did not involve America.
Still, the first week had me turning on sports every night for the first time in more than month since the doldrums of July sports started up as it is filled with those I am usually not that invested in unless certain criteria are met.
The first week traditionally is filled with a lot of swimming. That’s because team USA seems to have an endless roster of people who at least have a medal’s chance in every race, if not being among the best to ever do it.
I will say, the amount of records not being set seems to be a bit of a downer as a viewer. Apparently, it is the pool’s fault. Shallower pools are slower according to people in the swim world, but science does not back that thinking up.
The only event I caught live, which meant I streamed it on my phone at work, was the men’s street skateboarding final.
While I have spent literally no time on a skateboard in my life, I have always been fascinated by watching X Game competitions growing up and later learning about the history of skateboarding.
It’s fascinating a fad activity from the 1970s fueled mostly by teens looking only to have fun would grow into such an interesting subculture. The fact the forbearers are still around, with the oldest in their 50s-60s, to see it turn into a sport respected enough for the Olympic stage blows all of them away if you ask them.
While a lot of people think skateboarding is people flying off of ramps and halfpipes like the most popular skateboarder Tony Hawk, the vast majority of regular skateboarders skate in the street style since its obstacles are almost everywhere.
These are the ones who grind rails, jump down stairs and get chased away by security guards who don’t want them skating on public property. Yes, the progenitor to these vandals are the ones who are now Olympic athletes.
I was rooting for USA’s Nyjah Huston, who is pretty much recognized as the most successful contest street skater in history. The only thing missing on his resume is an Olympic medal. He failed to medal in 2021, which were the first Olympics with skateboarding in it.
Him and fellow American skater Jagger Eaton were tearing it up, both scoring runs more than 90 points out of 100. The competition then turned into a best trick format, with skaters having five tries to land their two best tricks.
Both looked to have gold and silver locked down, landing two tricks more than 90 points again, which is a really high score.
Unfortunately, defending gold medal champion and teenager, Yuto Horigome from Japan, came out to snipe the gold medal with his final few best tricks.
Japan had two more at the top of the medal stand in the women’s street skate boarding as well, with all three medalists being teenagers as well. A sport of youth rebellion indeed.
Of course, the first week also is ruled by team gymnastics. While the women and Simone Biles were the biggest story, another story proved to be endearing.
The USA men’s team had last won a team medal in 2008. This year, the team was in the running for the bronze if they executed and got some help from some of their competition.
Made up of youthful looking, exuberantly buff men looking to make a mark, every clean routine stuck seemed to mark an explosion of joy from the USA competitors that it was endearing to watch.
It all culminated into the last person to go. All meet, Stephen Nedoroscik had sit calmly by, waiting in the wings to do his one routine on the pommel horse event. With big glasses on that seemed to overshadow his typical buff gymnast frame, he took them off right before he mounted the horse and seemed to turn into Super Man.
As he dismounted, he and his teammates knew he had secured a bronze medal, ending the medal drought.
The explosion of joy and the scenes of them lifting him up as he pumped his arms was one I couldn’t help but feel happy about.
I am not alone in preferring women’s gymnastics as opposed to men’s, but on this day their joy made me care and feel invested.
On a similar note, when I want to see someone get tackled, I would rather them be padded up with a helmet on playing American football instead of rugby. Unfortunately, one is an Olympic sport and the other is not.
I did not realize the women’s rugby competition was going on or that it was in the medal rounds already, but when I saw the highlight of the USA women’s team winning literally in the final seconds how could I not care.
Playing Australia, a country that has a big tradition and really gives a crap about rugby unlike here, USA had just fallen behind with less than two minutes left to play in a low-scoring game.
Backed up near their own goal line and with time running down, the ball found Alex Sedrick who ran through two defenders before breaking away, running the length of nearly the whole field and scoring a try (touchdown) to tie the game up.
The extra-point kick after gave USA the win 14-12 and its first medal in the program’s history.
Immediately, such a dramatic play, fans got to see in real time the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” as players on both sides were in tears for different reasons.
I know I missed other great moments from other sports and also from other countries.
What was your favorite thing to watch in the first week? Leave a comment or email sports@bowienewsonline.com.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
A solid day was had by Montague county high school tracksters at the State Track and Field Meet May 16 in Austin.
Bellevue’s Mattie Broussard had a pair of second place finishes in both the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.41 and the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:31.33. Broussard also was 4th in the 1,600-meters with a time of 5:22.18.
Her teammate Brylie Hager was 9th in the 110-meter hurdles in 19.93.
Forestburg’s Brenna Briles was 4th in the triple jump with a 35’9 1’2” leap. Her teammate Jocelyn Rich was 4th in the pole vault with a 9’ leap.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Bowie had a pair of top four finishes at the State Track and Field Meet May 14.
Sophomore Brayden Willett made it onto the medal stand, finishing 3rd in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:17.89. Bowie junior Tyler Richey finished 4th in the pole vault after a 14’6” effort.
The top two finishers from Holliday, also in Bowie’s district, celebrated with him after he crossed the finish line.
“It was kind of surprising,” Willett said about Ryder and Noah Stroman embracing him in a celebratory hug. “They’re good guys, so it was kind of cool.”
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
This past week found your outdoor scribe doing some rather mundane things such as yard work, vegetable gardening and repairs around the old cabin. Oh, I also wrapped up a couple of magazine articles. I always enjoy sharing my adventures with all of you in this column but to be perfectly honest, not nearly as much as my ‘field work’ hunting and fishing which is an iatrical part of any good outdoor column. If you’re like me, you much prefer reading about an adventure that you can also partake.
I am far more comfortable telling you about an outdoor experience I had firsthand knowledge of rather than the reporting part of my job as an outdoor communicator. So, this week, I’d do a bit of ‘reporting’ and share some planned adventures I have scheduled for the next couple weeks. By the time you’re reading this, I will have already been in the woods in quest of a fat ‘eater’ hog and probably have some freshly caught blue catfish fillets in the freezer, details will follow in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll kick things off early in the week heading down to my friend Jeff Rice’s Buck and Bass Ranch located on the upper end of Lake Fork. Jeff produces our weekly TV show “A Sportsman’s Life” which airs on Carbon TV and YouTube. Our plan is to film a segment of our show on stalking wild hogs. It will be a challenge to capture the shot with all the thick grown spring vegetation. It could happen fast and require a fast shot. We will be breaking in my CVA Cascade scout rifle in 308 caliber. This short barrel little rifle is light and easy to handle in thick cover, ideal for this type of hunting. Our plan is to hit the woods during the last couple hours of daylight and ease along the trails, watching and especially listening for hogs. Wild porkers are vocal critters and it’s common to hear them before seeing them. We will play the wind and attempt to get downwind and then close the distance for a shot but you can never guess how a hog hunt will unfold. Wild pork or not, Jeff and I always have a great time together and I plan to bring a side of wild pork ribs already slow smoked and covered in brown sugar and BBQ sauce with a side of camp baked beans!
After a tasty dinner we plan to get a good night’s sleep and head out the next morning for a planned fishing trip with guide David Hanson at Lake Tawakoni. Both channel and blue catfish are on a very good bite right but it’s hard to pass up those snow white blue catfish fillets when the bite is good. David is, to my knowledge, the most veteran catfish guide on the lake and became friends close to a quarter-century ago when we first began fishing
together. The plan is to use freshy cut shad in shallow water and target eater size blues weighing between 2 and about 10 pounds but as every catfish angler knows, it’s always possible to connect with a big trophy size blue when fishing Tawakoni.
Next week, I plan to join my long-time friend J.C. McCollough on the Red River below the Texoma dam. I’ve been fishing and hunting with J.C. for many years and look forward to getting with him again. I would describe this to catching big catfish in a barrel but in this case the deep holes in the river are comprised of several acres. The water level in the river below Texoma are dictated by the water release at the dam by the Corp of Engineers. When there is a current in the river, fish move upstream to feed on baitfish coming through the dam. When the water recedes, they fish move into the deeper holes where baitfish also seek refuge from the falling water. Catching will be fast paced with the chance to connect with some big fish as well as limits of “eater” size fish. We’ll be rigging with big live gizzard shad fished weightless on a free line, using medium spinning gear. The bigger fish will often nail the frisky live shad and the fresh cut bait is a sure way to connect with lots of smaller fish. There is something very exciting about fishing big live baits on a slack line. One minute your bait will be darting around and you will occasionally feel it taking up slack and the next when a big blue catfish grabs the bait, the rod will bow and the fight will be on. There is usually no ‘setting the hook’, by the time you feel the fish, it will already be hooked and making a strong run to the nearest submerged brush. Your job will be to keep the drag set just enough to keep pressure on the fish but not so much as to cause the line to break.
J.C. uses his airboat to access these deeper holes because of the very shallow water. While it’s not impossible to portage a kayak or small boat in the river, it often requires a few miles travel to get to these deep holes, this is best accomplished by experienced kayakers with plenty of endurance. There was a time when I was game for this type fishing but I much prefer to do my river fishing these days from a boat designed to negotiate the shallow waters.
Squirrel season is underway in many of the east Texas counties and there’s some pretty good fox squirrel hunting here close to home in Kaufman county and I’ve been thinking about how tasty a big skillet of smothered squirrel with rice, gravy and biscuits would be. Bream are on the beds now and my friend Edgar Cotton invited me to come do some ‘perch jerking’ with him and his son David-it’s in the plans! Well, hopefully next week I will have a ‘sure nuff’ adventure of two to relate you you-I’m ready to get some relief from all this work around the homeplace! LC
You can contact Tawakoni/Fork catfish guide David Hanson at 902-268-7391. Contact J.C. McCollough at 580-372-0320.
Listen to Luke’s podcast, “Catfish Radio” just about everywhere podcast are found.
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