One of my favorite stories of the Olympics so far is German gymnast Andreas Toba, who tore his ACL in a floor routine, only to return for the pommel horse event to help Germany qualify for team competition. If you missed it, check it out...
Sunday, August 7, 2016
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Italy's Adrian Carambula has the BEST volleyball serve
Although Virginia Thrasher (shooting) has just taken the first gold medal for USA, the highlight of my morning so far is definitely the "skyball" serve of Italy's beach volleyballer Adrian Carambula. At first, it might look like a kid who has given up and said, "Forget it! I quit!" But no, it's an actual strategy that works! If you haven't seen it, check it out for yourself in this video...
Friday, August 5, 2016
Olympics Time!
There will be a lot to keep up with over the next two weeks, and I don't know much about a lot of the sports other than the fact that track cycling duels are the best thing ever. I'm also confident that I'll have the whole TV channel rotation figured out right around the time that it all wraps up. (It won't help that I'm trying to switch cable providers ASAP, possibly giving me a new set of channels to learn in the middle of the Olympics!)
For now, though, here are five interesting notes that I discovered this week... (I'm sure some of this is common knowledge for some readers, but I'm just a dumb American baseball fan!)
1. There is a Refugee Olympic Team. This is amazing, and I can't wait to see them in tonight's ceremonies and will hopefully catch some of them competing.
2. The U.S. has never medaled in several popular sports, including table tennis, handball, and badminton. Maybe this is our year! (Have I ever posted about my college intramural badminton experience?)
3. Apparently a guy on the sailing team has to regularly hold a section of rope in his mouth throughout the race. This year's water issues aside, imagine growing up wanting to be the mouth rope guy!
4. Apparently the crowd in Rio will boo an Olympic goalie who is currently shutting the other team out simply because she doesn't really want to catch the Zika virus.
5. Baseball is coming back!
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Lighting the Olympic Cauldron - What History Does Rio Have to Live Up To?
Two years ago, we went down a journey to walk through the history of one of our favorite sporting events in the Olympics, but alas it wasn't athletics themselves we walked through, so much as it was a moment to reflect on something that technically isn’t sports, but very much sports related. Its a tradition I'd love to continue.
The opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics is just over 24 hours away, and even though the ceremony is all about aesthetics, throwing a party, art, history and theater, and not specificaly sports which is what we generally write all about, it’s something that the large majority of sports fans have grown to love and anticipate.
However I’m not really going to be talking about the ceremony itself, but cover something much more specific, something that has always intrigued me specifically on “opening” night: The lighting of the Olympic Cauldron that signifies the beginning of the games.
I'm not talking about the relay of the torch for days and/or months but instead, the literal time from whence the torch enters the stadium to the cauldron being lit, its arguably one of the best moments that happens in the Olympics, It’s a monumental moment, and I really can’t wait to see what Rio has in store for us, can they truly raise the bar, can they do their own unique thing, what will it be memorable for?
In order to properly judge this, I feel like GBS should take you through the full and very interesting history of the Olympic Torch. Why do we have war and conflict to thank for much of its elements and what it has become, and the ceremony and now surprise of lighting of the cauldron. So join me on this trip through history will you?
The Ancient Games
As per Wikipedia:
The Modern Olympics Begin - No Flames, Just Games
In the early years there was only a "Summer" Olympics (first Winter games were 1924) and during these early years ther flame tradition had not yet been rekindled.
Summer Games in black, Winter Games in blue.
1896 – Athens, Greece
1900 – Paris, France
1904 - St. Louis, United States
1908 – London, England
1912 – Stockholm, Sweden
1916 - Not held - World War I – Scheduled for Berlin, Germany
1920 – Antwerp, Belgium
1924 - Chamonix, France
1924 – Paris, France
1928 - St. Moritz, Switzerland
Interesting to note that the first ever Winter Olympic Games went to France along with Summer Games in the same year. In fact, this dual hosting repeats itself in 1932 with the USA getting both and in 1936 with Germany; It was also scheduled to dual host again that way in 1940 for Japan, but those games were never held (see below).
A Flame is Simply Lit as Commemoration
1928 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
In 1928, for the first time they decided to have a continuous flame buring during the games in Amsterdam, but it wasn’t the ceremony it is now of deciding who got to light it and making it a big deal as evidenced by this historical footnote: “An employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam lit the first Olympic flame in the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.”
That’s right, the first modern Olympic flame was lit by... some guy... because it was his job…
It actually switched over to being famous people or famous athletes in time giving us the “who will light the cauldron?” suspense, but that’s what some of the lightings looked like through the early years of the tradition.
1932 - Lake Placid, N.Y., United States
1932 - Los Angeles, United States
1936 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
War Brings an Everlasting Tradition - The Torch Relay Begins From Olympia, Greece
In the previous 4 Olympics, the cauldron was simply lit up. Believe it or not, the tradition of lighting the torches from the lasting flame in Olympia, Greece and transporting it to the host site came from questionable intent. Why is that, who is to thank for the torch relay? The Nazis. In 1936 the Germans were hosting the Summer Games and hoped of showing their Aryan theory of superiority. Hitler specifically thought lighting the flame from Greece was a way to connect his Aryan Nation directly with the gods as that’s where the original flame came from, but the Nazis had and claimed a different agenda publicly, which though it may have been a facade of an intention, ended up sticking.
The Nazis knew they were getting closer to war, and in an attempt to sway public opinion, historians note they devised the relay as a way to make many countries feel included in their Olympic games by running the torch through their country on the way to Germany, increasing goodwill and gettingg a sense of togetherness. The Olympic flame was lit by a concave mirror in Olympia, Greece and transported over 3,187 kilometers by 3,331 runners in twelve days and eleven nights from Greece to Berlin, but not entirely as planned as there were protests in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia on the way.
So the Nazis gave us the torch relay, but when it comes to the actual lighting of the torch during the opening ceremony, its generally ho-hum, person runs up and lights that cauldron, cool mement but not quite the spectacle it has become.
1936 – Berlin, Germany
So while the new addition to the ceremony signifying the beginning of the games was nice, Jessie Owens kicked some ass, the Boys in the Boat kicked some ass and; Hitler then got mad and started a terrible war because Hilter was stupid, and thus...
1940 - Not held - World War II - Scheduled for Sapporo, Japan
1940 - Not held - World War II – Scheduled for Tokyo, Japan
1944 - Not held - World War II - Scheduled for Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1944 - Not held - World War II – Scheduled for London, United Kingdom
So while the Nazis may have had political/tactical charged intentions behind the torch relay, their “bringing everyone together” via the torch relay remained even after World War II, even if that’s not what they actually intended. Through this time after war, the lighting of the cauldron was still 100% of the time an athlete running into the stadium, sometimes doing a lap of the track and then running up the steps to the top of one end of the stadium or a grandstand and lighting a standard cauldron wherever it was, usually within basic reach of height.
1948 - St. Moritz, Switzerland
1948 – London, England
1952 - Oslo, Norway
1952 – Helsinki, Finland
1956 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1956 – Melbourne, Australia
Australia begins the "who will light the torch" build up, by not telling anyone who will light it, and surprising everyone with a 19-time World Record holder: ron clark.
1960 - Squaw Valley, California, United States
1960 – Rome, Italy
The First Winter Relay from Olympia, Greece
1964 - Innsbruck, Austria
While Innsbruck wasn't a change in the standard running up and lighting of a basic cauldron with a flame from Greece, it was just the first Winter Olympics to do so. Does that mean the previous Winter Olympics had no flame relay... why certainly not, the previous Winter Olympics had quite an interesting history:
1964 – Tokyo, Japan
1968 - Grenoble, France
Innovating Socially
1968 - Mexico City, Mexico
Leave it up to the Mexicans to break a huge barrier as Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron
1972 - Sapporo, Japan
1972 – Munich, West Germany
Most anything people remember from Munich is the tragedy during these Olympic Games, but as you can see they started moving that cauldron up higher, starting to pave the way for a trend in putting that cauldron in sight of everyone and making it bigger.
1976 - Innsbruck, Austria
1976 – Montreal, Canada
The Canadians then give us dual cauldron lighters for the first time.
War and Conflict Ups the Gamesmanship of the Cauldrons and Lightings
So after World War II, the lighting of the cauldron runs largely on tradition, a torch relay from Greece where a surprise athlete from the host country does the final leg into the stadium and lights the basic cauldron. but much like the relay itself coming from conflict/politics, Leave it to conflict/politics again and the threat of war to once again push the way into torch/cauldron innovation. Going into the late 70s and early 80s the Cold War came upon the world. With it brought a giant pissing contest between the Soviet Union and the United States in the forms of the Space Race, technology advancement, espionage, communications and encryption advancements, economic advancements and failures, nuclear advancements and lastly of course… Olympic Cauldron lighting advancements.
The athletes themselves are already competing, but why stop there? We need to prove who is better, at everything. So in comes the perfect storm in 1980 at the height of the Cold War, with the U.S. hosting the Winter Games and the Soviet Union was hosting the Summer Games later that year. The U.S. had the standard lighting of the Cauldron... or so everyone thought. Charles Morgan Kerr, A doctor from Arizona who had been elected from all 52 torch bearers to run the final leg, he wasn't even an athlete, barely even important in retrospect.
He was able to walk up steps to light the cauldron, but it was no ordinary Olympic Cauldron, it was the first ever movable Cauldron in Olympic history, so after it was lit it raised high, like really, very freaking high, above everyone, higher than any flame ever before as if the U.S. was saying we have the best cauldron that has ever been done, highest ever, no one else could do this.
1980 – Lake Placid, United States
Cauldron lighter: Charles Morgan Kerr
The Surprise: Whoa look how high that cauldron goes!!
The Cauldron: ditto to above
The Lasting Memory: Literally the cauldron itself amidst all the athletes rising up above everyone. The cauldron was amazing and having it go up too, but the person lighting it is somewhat forgettable. By the days standards though it was amazing on cauldron alone.
Sadly the only video I can find of this is in the first 5 seconds of the 1984 Olympic broadcast here.
Its On!!!
So that pretty much set the stage, how could everyone, namely the Soviets, one up the Americans, and the modern history of things has been entertaining to say the least since. The U.S. went on to boycott the Soviet Summer Games but it didn't stop people from watching and seeing how the Soviet Union would reply to that?
1980 – Moscow, Soviet Union
Cauldron lighter: Sergey Belov (4-time olympic medalist in basketball, including gold in 1972)
The Surprise: How in the world is anyone going to get up to that cauldron, its behind all the people in the stadium!? Whoa where in the hell did that floating pathway come from!?
The Cauldron: Very tall and very large above the stadium
The Lasting Memory: Watching Belov run atop the crowd as the colors change in his wake then the magic pathway disappeared after he was done running on it.
1984 – Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
Cauldron lighter: Sanda Dubravcic (Yugoslavia's champion figure skater)
The Surprise: The torch arrives via cross country skiers
The Cauldron: Like Moscow and many before it, its tall and atop the end of the stadium seemingly out of reach
The Lasting Memory: Dubravcic running through the performers and up an incredibly steep incline that is actually disappearing behind her
1984 – Los Angeles, United States
Cauldron lighter: Rafer Johnson (Winner of the 1960 decathalon) also the first black person to light the caldron
The Surprise: How in the hell is anyone getting up there to light that thing!?
The Cauldron: It was standard, but it was atop the arch of the rose bowl but seemingly, inaccessible to anyone
The Lasting Memory: It went a little like this, 1) we see the cauldron but no one can get up there.. 2) ok that's a staircase, that gets him higher but it is a stairway to nothing... 3) whoa the whole Olympic symbol is on fire!
Imagine if they did it at night. Imagine what they could do if L.A. wins the 2024 games they are bidding on.
1988 – Calgary, Canada
Cauldron lighter: Robyn Perry (12 year old figure skater)
The Surprise: Leave it to Canada to go "eh, just lighting this thing is still good enough for us" Ok but really watch this whole opening ceremony, it just has Canada written all over it from mountee riding on horses to the base stadium floor.
The Cauldron: Big copper/bronze color and it kept rising up after lit
The Lasting Memory: Seeing the lit cauldron between the giant intersecting spires
1988 – Seoul, South Korea
Cauldron lighters: Track and field and dancing athletes Chung Sun-Man, Sohn Mi-Chung, and Kim Won-Tak
The Surprise: There is no way in hell anyone can get to that cauldron!
The Cauldron: read above, it was this incredibly tall stem maybe 20+ stories high
The Lasting Memory: Seeing the torch bearers get on the platform and be elevated up the entire stem so they could light the torch. Also hoping the birds would get off the cauldron so they don't get fried. And if that wasn't enough a perfectly timed flyby just as it was lit.
1992 – Albertville, France
Cauldron lighter: Michel Platini and François-Cyrille Grange (a footballer and a 9 year old who remains the youngest cauldron lighter in history)
The Surprise: This was the first time we got to see a fireball (fire on a guide rope) that Grange lit and it then flew into the cauldron.
The Cauldron: like a giant musical instrument honestly
The Lasting Memory: It was the first night time ceremony which allowed them to do the fireball
1992 – Barcelona, Spain
Cauldron lighter: Antonio Rebollo (paralympic archer)
The Surprise: He shot a freaking flaming arrow into the cauldron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Cauldron: It was tall, and high above the stadium, overseeing it, and inaccessible to anyone but that did matter because...
The Lasting Memory: He just shot a flaming arrow into the cauldron to light it!!! I really like to think this will forever remain one of, if not the, coolest lighting ever. It took a massive amount of skill to pull this off and that's what made it so damn impressive. I really like to think this was the pivotal moment that took us from really cool, to holy shit no one could have dreamed thats how we were going to do it pushing the envelope. This will always be my favorite, mostly just from the level of difficulty and bad-assness of it.
1994 – Lillehammer, Norway
Cauldron lighter: Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
The Surprise: He just ski jumped in with the flame in hand!!!!
The Cauldron: It was just a white cylinder, not even that remarkable, it was all about the delivery on this one.
The Lasting Memory: Its silly to lay the importance to Prince of Norway who lit the cauldron because no one cares about that, you can barely even find that part on YouTube, the part people care about was Stein Gruben ski jumping with the flame in hand to deliver it to the games. The insane part is that he wasn't even supposed to do it, he was just the understudy that filled in due to injury.
1996 – Atlanta, United States
Cauldron lighter: Muhammad Ali
The Surprise: Muhammad Ali
The Cauldron: A Large french fries from McDonalds??? Seriously, that's what it looked like
The Lasting Memory: For many people it was obviously Ali holding the flame and then lighting a little fireball the shot up to the very odd, McDonalds french fry holder looking shape. The anticipation of "who will it be" was so great on this one, I remember people visibly trying to figre out who was last in the line.
1998 – Nagano, Japan
Cauldron lighter: Midori Ito (1992 silver medalist)
The Surprise: Chris Moon (a mine explosion survivor) delivers the torch into the stadium and eventually it goes up but then its Ito in gorgeous Japanese traditional outfit from under the stage who does the lighting, not the one who delivered it up there
The Cauldron: Actually very unique with the colors and the way it had a bunch of spurs of sorts
The Lasting Memory: A basic but perfect lighting, proving that you don't always have to be in a running suit, you can look elaborately elegant
2000 – Sydney, Australia
Cauldron lighter: Cathy Freeman (Winner of Olympic silver in 1996 and went o to win in Sydney too, the only person ever to light a cauldron and win a gold medal in the same games.)
The Surprise: the Australians built a freaking waterfall into their stadium but forgot to build a cauldron!!! Where is the flame going to go!!!?
The Cauldron: A hidden from view saucer under a waterfall that rose up and connected to its stem.
The Lasting Memory: My personal favorite cauldron to date, it was completely hidden, yet perfectly in view, the entire time hidden under the water so that final torchbearer Cathy Freeman literally set water on fire. Think about that for a second. She set water on fire, then the flame arose around her, made its way up to the top where it got attached to a stem and rose even higher, its just awesome.
2002 – Salt Lake City, United States
Cauldron lighter: The Whole 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team
The Surprise: Mike Eruzione recreates the famous 1980 medal ceremony with the entire 1980 hockey team
The Cauldron: A beautiful swirling spire very high above everything
The Lasting Memory: Many people remember the torch being skated around the rink, but it seemed silly when you noticed they were just doing circles. But then it got really cool, for Americans at least, when the final torch bearer was captain of the 1980 hockey team, Mike Eruzione. What made it awesome was that he recreated, to the detail, the exact scene of the 1980 medal ceremony, because back then only captains were awarded the medal but in 1980 he waved up the entire team, and did the same with the torch setting the record for the most ever cauldron lighters.
2004 – Athens, Greece
Cauldron lighter: Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (Sailing gold medalist, and won silver in these games)
The Surprise: the flying torch bearers
The Cauldron: I'm sure its not what they were going for but it looked like a giant joint until it was made vertical.
The Lasting Memory: not only did a bunch of torch bearers fly out from the crowd, but Kaklamanakis ran up a shaky staircase to what looked like the biggest joint ever and lit up. The torch then made a 120ish angle turn upward to soar over.
2006 – Torino, Italy
Cauldron lighter: Stefania Belmondo (cross country skier, one of Italy's most decorated olympians with 10 medals)
The Surprise: The whole freaking stadium lights up!?
The Cauldron: Uhh technically the whole stadium got lit up, the cauldron looked like it exploded, but if we're talking just the cauldron it was a cool set of spiraling pipes high above everything.
The Lasting Memory: The stadium blowing up into a giant fireball to light the torch was just awesome.
But lets take a second to awe at this opening ceremony, A Ferrari F1 car did a pit stop and donuts in the stadium... Pavarotti rocked everyone's socks off this was an awesome night. I man McCartney doing "Hey Jude" in 2012 was cool, but Pavarotti doing Nessum Dorma under the light cauldron... I have no words.
On second thought if it were China, the donuts would have made a perfect Olympic rings on the ground... speaking of...
2008 – Bejing, China
Cauldron lighter: Li Ning (China's most decorated athlete, gymnastics, with six medals)
The Surprise: What the hell is going on, are the chinese even human, this whole thing looks like a science fiction thriller, people are flying, the torch is gigantic but it was literally not there 2 seconds ago!!!
The Cauldron: an amazing paper spiral look, but crazier is that it literally wasn't there until it was time for the lighting.
The Lasting Memory: The memory everyone in the world had was spending the next 2 weeks trying to pick their jaw up off the floor from the opening ceremony, the dancing, the drumming, the blocks, the largest LED screens ever, the projected videos, the dancing calligraphy, and to top it off their torch lighter was suspended and ran the entire length of the stadium's rim sideways, and then lit a cauldron that appears out of freaking nowhere.
2010 – Vancouver, Canada
Cauldron lighter: Catriona Le May Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene and Wayne Gretzky...ish
The Surprise: Soo... I guess only 3 torch lighters needed?
The Cauldron: It was supposed to be, and eventually was, 4 leaning towers around a master cauldron, but one of them got stuck so eventually they gave in and just lit the 3 that were up. After wards they fixed the 4th and got it done.
The Lasting Memory: Sadly all video of this ceremony is being pulled off youTube, and the collage below doesn't fully show the awkward million hours everyone stood around waiting to see if the 4th tower would show up. It was awesome of Canada though to have the idea of having 4 towers leading up to a master cauldron.
2012 – London, England
Cauldron lighter: Seven unknown aspiring young athletes
The Surprise: After high stakes gambling, worldwide speculation, the Britians turn to 7 unknown young athletes to light the numerous cauldrons, rather than a single one.
The Cauldron: One mini cauldron for every country participating in the Olympics
The Lasting Memory: London did what they do, they saw what China did and knew they couldn't compete with the scale so they brought their ingenuity. Rather than a famous athlete they sent their youth to do the lighting, and rather than one big cauldron, the made a ring of small ones that each country was able to take home. Innovation in spades those Brits.
2014 – Sochi, Russia
Cauldron lighter: Irina Rodnina and Vladislav Tretiak (triple gold medalists for Russia in figure skating and hockey respectively)
The Surprise: None really outside of who would light it, everyone was convinced it would be Putin's girlfriend. But the cauldron was built in plain sight outside the stadium, and it lit up just about as expected. It was awesome to see the way the flamethrowers crossed patterns going up to the cauldron.
The Cauldron: A leaning spire in the center of all the indoor facilities of the Olympics.
The Lasting Memory: Everyone will always remember that 5th ring that never opened, and that Russia has inspired some great music... but in terms of the torch it was so very pulled back from expectations of recent ceremonies, and if anything the lasting memory was that they left the stadium and lit a torch no one there could see, literaly. Sure it could be seen during the day but not by anyone attending the ceremony; this is a video shot by someone in the ceremony, watch the runner disappear and then you have to watch the rest on a TV screen.
I also sadly can't embed anything because the IOC and Russia are deleting any video of this ever happening from the internet.Well sort-of, you can click this link of the complete opening ceremony,, then fast forward a few hours in and find the cauldron lighting.
...
So this all brings us to Rio, Brazil then doesn't it?
2014 – Rio, Brazil
Cauldron lighter: ???
The Surprise: ???
The Cauldron: ???
The Lasting Memory: ???
What do you have in store for us Rio...? We await in great anticipation for tomorrow night!!!
2018 - Pyeongchang, South Korea
2020 – Tokyo, Japan
2022 - Bejing, China
The opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics is just over 24 hours away, and even though the ceremony is all about aesthetics, throwing a party, art, history and theater, and not specificaly sports which is what we generally write all about, it’s something that the large majority of sports fans have grown to love and anticipate.
I'm not talking about the relay of the torch for days and/or months but instead, the literal time from whence the torch enters the stadium to the cauldron being lit, its arguably one of the best moments that happens in the Olympics, It’s a monumental moment, and I really can’t wait to see what Rio has in store for us, can they truly raise the bar, can they do their own unique thing, what will it be memorable for?
In order to properly judge this, I feel like GBS should take you through the full and very interesting history of the Olympic Torch. Why do we have war and conflict to thank for much of its elements and what it has become, and the ceremony and now surprise of lighting of the cauldron. So join me on this trip through history will you?
The Ancient Games
As per Wikipedia:
“In the time of the original games within the boundaries of Olympia, the altar of the sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Hera maintained a continuous flame. For the ancient Greeks, fire had divine connotations—it was thought to have been stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Therefore, fire was also present at many of the sanctuaries in Olympia, Greece.”
The Modern Olympics Begin - No Flames, Just Games
In the early years there was only a "Summer" Olympics (first Winter games were 1924) and during these early years ther flame tradition had not yet been rekindled.
Summer Games in black, Winter Games in blue.
1896 – Athens, Greece
1900 – Paris, France
1904 - St. Louis, United States
1908 – London, England
1912 – Stockholm, Sweden
1916 - Not held - World War I – Scheduled for Berlin, Germany
1920 – Antwerp, Belgium
1924 - Chamonix, France
1924 – Paris, France
1928 - St. Moritz, Switzerland
Interesting to note that the first ever Winter Olympic Games went to France along with Summer Games in the same year. In fact, this dual hosting repeats itself in 1932 with the USA getting both and in 1936 with Germany; It was also scheduled to dual host again that way in 1940 for Japan, but those games were never held (see below).
A Flame is Simply Lit as Commemoration
1928 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
In 1928, for the first time they decided to have a continuous flame buring during the games in Amsterdam, but it wasn’t the ceremony it is now of deciding who got to light it and making it a big deal as evidenced by this historical footnote: “An employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam lit the first Olympic flame in the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.”
That’s right, the first modern Olympic flame was lit by... some guy... because it was his job…
It actually switched over to being famous people or famous athletes in time giving us the “who will light the cauldron?” suspense, but that’s what some of the lightings looked like through the early years of the tradition.
1932 - Lake Placid, N.Y., United States
1932 - Los Angeles, United States
1936 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
War Brings an Everlasting Tradition - The Torch Relay Begins From Olympia, Greece
In the previous 4 Olympics, the cauldron was simply lit up. Believe it or not, the tradition of lighting the torches from the lasting flame in Olympia, Greece and transporting it to the host site came from questionable intent. Why is that, who is to thank for the torch relay? The Nazis. In 1936 the Germans were hosting the Summer Games and hoped of showing their Aryan theory of superiority. Hitler specifically thought lighting the flame from Greece was a way to connect his Aryan Nation directly with the gods as that’s where the original flame came from, but the Nazis had and claimed a different agenda publicly, which though it may have been a facade of an intention, ended up sticking.
The Nazis knew they were getting closer to war, and in an attempt to sway public opinion, historians note they devised the relay as a way to make many countries feel included in their Olympic games by running the torch through their country on the way to Germany, increasing goodwill and gettingg a sense of togetherness. The Olympic flame was lit by a concave mirror in Olympia, Greece and transported over 3,187 kilometers by 3,331 runners in twelve days and eleven nights from Greece to Berlin, but not entirely as planned as there were protests in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia on the way.
So the Nazis gave us the torch relay, but when it comes to the actual lighting of the torch during the opening ceremony, its generally ho-hum, person runs up and lights that cauldron, cool mement but not quite the spectacle it has become.
1936 – Berlin, Germany
So while the new addition to the ceremony signifying the beginning of the games was nice, Jessie Owens kicked some ass, the Boys in the Boat kicked some ass and; Hitler then got mad and started a terrible war because Hilter was stupid, and thus...
1940 - Not held - World War II - Scheduled for Sapporo, Japan
1940 - Not held - World War II – Scheduled for Tokyo, Japan
1944 - Not held - World War II - Scheduled for Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1944 - Not held - World War II – Scheduled for London, United Kingdom
So while the Nazis may have had political/tactical charged intentions behind the torch relay, their “bringing everyone together” via the torch relay remained even after World War II, even if that’s not what they actually intended. Through this time after war, the lighting of the cauldron was still 100% of the time an athlete running into the stadium, sometimes doing a lap of the track and then running up the steps to the top of one end of the stadium or a grandstand and lighting a standard cauldron wherever it was, usually within basic reach of height.
1948 - St. Moritz, Switzerland
1948 – London, England
1952 - Oslo, Norway
1952 – Helsinki, Finland
1956 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1956 – Melbourne, Australia
Australia begins the "who will light the torch" build up, by not telling anyone who will light it, and surprising everyone with a 19-time World Record holder: ron clark.
1960 - Squaw Valley, California, United States
1960 – Rome, Italy
The First Winter Relay from Olympia, Greece
1964 - Innsbruck, Austria
While Innsbruck wasn't a change in the standard running up and lighting of a basic cauldron with a flame from Greece, it was just the first Winter Olympics to do so. Does that mean the previous Winter Olympics had no flame relay... why certainly not, the previous Winter Olympics had quite an interesting history:
“1952 and 1960 had torch relays starting in the fireplace of skiing pioneer Sondre Norheim, and one (1956) had a relay starting in Rome. The 1984 Winter Games were preceded by two torch relays, one from Norheim's fireplace, and the other from Olympia. The plan had been to mingle the two flames, lighting the cauldron with the combination, but this was disallowed; instead, only the Greek flame was used.”Yeah thats right, the flame came from some dude's fireplace!!! They put an end to that short lived tradition... Sadly the IOC had the video of this ceremony pulled from YouTube for some reason...
1964 – Tokyo, Japan
1968 - Grenoble, France
Innovating Socially
1968 - Mexico City, Mexico
Leave it up to the Mexicans to break a huge barrier as Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron
1972 - Sapporo, Japan
1972 – Munich, West Germany
Most anything people remember from Munich is the tragedy during these Olympic Games, but as you can see they started moving that cauldron up higher, starting to pave the way for a trend in putting that cauldron in sight of everyone and making it bigger.
1976 - Innsbruck, Austria
1976 – Montreal, Canada
The Canadians then give us dual cauldron lighters for the first time.
War and Conflict Ups the Gamesmanship of the Cauldrons and Lightings
So after World War II, the lighting of the cauldron runs largely on tradition, a torch relay from Greece where a surprise athlete from the host country does the final leg into the stadium and lights the basic cauldron. but much like the relay itself coming from conflict/politics, Leave it to conflict/politics again and the threat of war to once again push the way into torch/cauldron innovation. Going into the late 70s and early 80s the Cold War came upon the world. With it brought a giant pissing contest between the Soviet Union and the United States in the forms of the Space Race, technology advancement, espionage, communications and encryption advancements, economic advancements and failures, nuclear advancements and lastly of course… Olympic Cauldron lighting advancements.
The athletes themselves are already competing, but why stop there? We need to prove who is better, at everything. So in comes the perfect storm in 1980 at the height of the Cold War, with the U.S. hosting the Winter Games and the Soviet Union was hosting the Summer Games later that year. The U.S. had the standard lighting of the Cauldron... or so everyone thought. Charles Morgan Kerr, A doctor from Arizona who had been elected from all 52 torch bearers to run the final leg, he wasn't even an athlete, barely even important in retrospect.
He was able to walk up steps to light the cauldron, but it was no ordinary Olympic Cauldron, it was the first ever movable Cauldron in Olympic history, so after it was lit it raised high, like really, very freaking high, above everyone, higher than any flame ever before as if the U.S. was saying we have the best cauldron that has ever been done, highest ever, no one else could do this.
1980 – Lake Placid, United States
Cauldron lighter: Charles Morgan Kerr
The Surprise: Whoa look how high that cauldron goes!!
The Cauldron: ditto to above
The Lasting Memory: Literally the cauldron itself amidst all the athletes rising up above everyone. The cauldron was amazing and having it go up too, but the person lighting it is somewhat forgettable. By the days standards though it was amazing on cauldron alone.
Its On!!!
So that pretty much set the stage, how could everyone, namely the Soviets, one up the Americans, and the modern history of things has been entertaining to say the least since. The U.S. went on to boycott the Soviet Summer Games but it didn't stop people from watching and seeing how the Soviet Union would reply to that?
1980 – Moscow, Soviet Union
Cauldron lighter: Sergey Belov (4-time olympic medalist in basketball, including gold in 1972)
The Surprise: How in the world is anyone going to get up to that cauldron, its behind all the people in the stadium!? Whoa where in the hell did that floating pathway come from!?
The Cauldron: Very tall and very large above the stadium
The Lasting Memory: Watching Belov run atop the crowd as the colors change in his wake then the magic pathway disappeared after he was done running on it.
1984 – Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
Cauldron lighter: Sanda Dubravcic (Yugoslavia's champion figure skater)
The Surprise: The torch arrives via cross country skiers
The Cauldron: Like Moscow and many before it, its tall and atop the end of the stadium seemingly out of reach
The Lasting Memory: Dubravcic running through the performers and up an incredibly steep incline that is actually disappearing behind her
1984 – Los Angeles, United States
Cauldron lighter: Rafer Johnson (Winner of the 1960 decathalon) also the first black person to light the caldron
The Surprise: How in the hell is anyone getting up there to light that thing!?
The Cauldron: It was standard, but it was atop the arch of the rose bowl but seemingly, inaccessible to anyone
The Lasting Memory: It went a little like this, 1) we see the cauldron but no one can get up there.. 2) ok that's a staircase, that gets him higher but it is a stairway to nothing... 3) whoa the whole Olympic symbol is on fire!
Imagine if they did it at night. Imagine what they could do if L.A. wins the 2024 games they are bidding on.
1988 – Calgary, Canada
Cauldron lighter: Robyn Perry (12 year old figure skater)
The Surprise: Leave it to Canada to go "eh, just lighting this thing is still good enough for us" Ok but really watch this whole opening ceremony, it just has Canada written all over it from mountee riding on horses to the base stadium floor.
The Cauldron: Big copper/bronze color and it kept rising up after lit
The Lasting Memory: Seeing the lit cauldron between the giant intersecting spires
1988 – Seoul, South Korea
Cauldron lighters: Track and field and dancing athletes Chung Sun-Man, Sohn Mi-Chung, and Kim Won-Tak
The Surprise: There is no way in hell anyone can get to that cauldron!
The Cauldron: read above, it was this incredibly tall stem maybe 20+ stories high
The Lasting Memory: Seeing the torch bearers get on the platform and be elevated up the entire stem so they could light the torch. Also hoping the birds would get off the cauldron so they don't get fried. And if that wasn't enough a perfectly timed flyby just as it was lit.
1992 – Albertville, France
Cauldron lighter: Michel Platini and François-Cyrille Grange (a footballer and a 9 year old who remains the youngest cauldron lighter in history)
The Surprise: This was the first time we got to see a fireball (fire on a guide rope) that Grange lit and it then flew into the cauldron.
The Cauldron: like a giant musical instrument honestly
The Lasting Memory: It was the first night time ceremony which allowed them to do the fireball
1992 – Barcelona, Spain
Cauldron lighter: Antonio Rebollo (paralympic archer)
The Surprise: He shot a freaking flaming arrow into the cauldron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Cauldron: It was tall, and high above the stadium, overseeing it, and inaccessible to anyone but that did matter because...
The Lasting Memory: He just shot a flaming arrow into the cauldron to light it!!! I really like to think this will forever remain one of, if not the, coolest lighting ever. It took a massive amount of skill to pull this off and that's what made it so damn impressive. I really like to think this was the pivotal moment that took us from really cool, to holy shit no one could have dreamed thats how we were going to do it pushing the envelope. This will always be my favorite, mostly just from the level of difficulty and bad-assness of it.
1994 – Lillehammer, Norway
Cauldron lighter: Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
The Surprise: He just ski jumped in with the flame in hand!!!!
The Cauldron: It was just a white cylinder, not even that remarkable, it was all about the delivery on this one.
The Lasting Memory: Its silly to lay the importance to Prince of Norway who lit the cauldron because no one cares about that, you can barely even find that part on YouTube, the part people care about was Stein Gruben ski jumping with the flame in hand to deliver it to the games. The insane part is that he wasn't even supposed to do it, he was just the understudy that filled in due to injury.
1996 – Atlanta, United States
Cauldron lighter: Muhammad Ali
The Surprise: Muhammad Ali
The Cauldron: A Large french fries from McDonalds??? Seriously, that's what it looked like
The Lasting Memory: For many people it was obviously Ali holding the flame and then lighting a little fireball the shot up to the very odd, McDonalds french fry holder looking shape. The anticipation of "who will it be" was so great on this one, I remember people visibly trying to figre out who was last in the line.
1998 – Nagano, Japan
Cauldron lighter: Midori Ito (1992 silver medalist)
The Surprise: Chris Moon (a mine explosion survivor) delivers the torch into the stadium and eventually it goes up but then its Ito in gorgeous Japanese traditional outfit from under the stage who does the lighting, not the one who delivered it up there
The Cauldron: Actually very unique with the colors and the way it had a bunch of spurs of sorts
The Lasting Memory: A basic but perfect lighting, proving that you don't always have to be in a running suit, you can look elaborately elegant
2000 – Sydney, Australia
Cauldron lighter: Cathy Freeman (Winner of Olympic silver in 1996 and went o to win in Sydney too, the only person ever to light a cauldron and win a gold medal in the same games.)
The Surprise: the Australians built a freaking waterfall into their stadium but forgot to build a cauldron!!! Where is the flame going to go!!!?
The Cauldron: A hidden from view saucer under a waterfall that rose up and connected to its stem.
The Lasting Memory: My personal favorite cauldron to date, it was completely hidden, yet perfectly in view, the entire time hidden under the water so that final torchbearer Cathy Freeman literally set water on fire. Think about that for a second. She set water on fire, then the flame arose around her, made its way up to the top where it got attached to a stem and rose even higher, its just awesome.
2002 – Salt Lake City, United States
Cauldron lighter: The Whole 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team
The Surprise: Mike Eruzione recreates the famous 1980 medal ceremony with the entire 1980 hockey team
The Cauldron: A beautiful swirling spire very high above everything
The Lasting Memory: Many people remember the torch being skated around the rink, but it seemed silly when you noticed they were just doing circles. But then it got really cool, for Americans at least, when the final torch bearer was captain of the 1980 hockey team, Mike Eruzione. What made it awesome was that he recreated, to the detail, the exact scene of the 1980 medal ceremony, because back then only captains were awarded the medal but in 1980 he waved up the entire team, and did the same with the torch setting the record for the most ever cauldron lighters.
2004 – Athens, Greece
Cauldron lighter: Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (Sailing gold medalist, and won silver in these games)
The Surprise: the flying torch bearers
The Cauldron: I'm sure its not what they were going for but it looked like a giant joint until it was made vertical.
The Lasting Memory: not only did a bunch of torch bearers fly out from the crowd, but Kaklamanakis ran up a shaky staircase to what looked like the biggest joint ever and lit up. The torch then made a 120ish angle turn upward to soar over.
2006 – Torino, Italy
Cauldron lighter: Stefania Belmondo (cross country skier, one of Italy's most decorated olympians with 10 medals)
The Surprise: The whole freaking stadium lights up!?
The Cauldron: Uhh technically the whole stadium got lit up, the cauldron looked like it exploded, but if we're talking just the cauldron it was a cool set of spiraling pipes high above everything.
The Lasting Memory: The stadium blowing up into a giant fireball to light the torch was just awesome.
But lets take a second to awe at this opening ceremony, A Ferrari F1 car did a pit stop and donuts in the stadium... Pavarotti rocked everyone's socks off this was an awesome night. I man McCartney doing "Hey Jude" in 2012 was cool, but Pavarotti doing Nessum Dorma under the light cauldron... I have no words.
On second thought if it were China, the donuts would have made a perfect Olympic rings on the ground... speaking of...
2008 – Bejing, China
Cauldron lighter: Li Ning (China's most decorated athlete, gymnastics, with six medals)
The Surprise: What the hell is going on, are the chinese even human, this whole thing looks like a science fiction thriller, people are flying, the torch is gigantic but it was literally not there 2 seconds ago!!!
The Cauldron: an amazing paper spiral look, but crazier is that it literally wasn't there until it was time for the lighting.
The Lasting Memory: The memory everyone in the world had was spending the next 2 weeks trying to pick their jaw up off the floor from the opening ceremony, the dancing, the drumming, the blocks, the largest LED screens ever, the projected videos, the dancing calligraphy, and to top it off their torch lighter was suspended and ran the entire length of the stadium's rim sideways, and then lit a cauldron that appears out of freaking nowhere.
2010 – Vancouver, Canada
Cauldron lighter: Catriona Le May Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene and Wayne Gretzky...ish
The Surprise: Soo... I guess only 3 torch lighters needed?
The Cauldron: It was supposed to be, and eventually was, 4 leaning towers around a master cauldron, but one of them got stuck so eventually they gave in and just lit the 3 that were up. After wards they fixed the 4th and got it done.
The Lasting Memory: Sadly all video of this ceremony is being pulled off youTube, and the collage below doesn't fully show the awkward million hours everyone stood around waiting to see if the 4th tower would show up. It was awesome of Canada though to have the idea of having 4 towers leading up to a master cauldron.
2012 – London, England
Cauldron lighter: Seven unknown aspiring young athletes
The Surprise: After high stakes gambling, worldwide speculation, the Britians turn to 7 unknown young athletes to light the numerous cauldrons, rather than a single one.
The Cauldron: One mini cauldron for every country participating in the Olympics
The Lasting Memory: London did what they do, they saw what China did and knew they couldn't compete with the scale so they brought their ingenuity. Rather than a famous athlete they sent their youth to do the lighting, and rather than one big cauldron, the made a ring of small ones that each country was able to take home. Innovation in spades those Brits.
2014 – Sochi, Russia
Cauldron lighter: Irina Rodnina and Vladislav Tretiak (triple gold medalists for Russia in figure skating and hockey respectively)
The Surprise: None really outside of who would light it, everyone was convinced it would be Putin's girlfriend. But the cauldron was built in plain sight outside the stadium, and it lit up just about as expected. It was awesome to see the way the flamethrowers crossed patterns going up to the cauldron.
The Cauldron: A leaning spire in the center of all the indoor facilities of the Olympics.
The Lasting Memory: Everyone will always remember that 5th ring that never opened, and that Russia has inspired some great music... but in terms of the torch it was so very pulled back from expectations of recent ceremonies, and if anything the lasting memory was that they left the stadium and lit a torch no one there could see, literaly. Sure it could be seen during the day but not by anyone attending the ceremony; this is a video shot by someone in the ceremony, watch the runner disappear and then you have to watch the rest on a TV screen.
I also sadly can't embed anything because the IOC and Russia are deleting any video of this ever happening from the internet.Well sort-of, you can click this link of the complete opening ceremony,, then fast forward a few hours in and find the cauldron lighting.
...
So this all brings us to Rio, Brazil then doesn't it?
2014 – Rio, Brazil
Cauldron lighter: ???
The Surprise: ???
The Cauldron: ???
The Lasting Memory: ???
What do you have in store for us Rio...? We await in great anticipation for tomorrow night!!!
2018 - Pyeongchang, South Korea
2020 – Tokyo, Japan
2022 - Bejing, China
Thursday, July 28, 2016
New music: Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympics are set to kickoff next week, and we'll be covering some of the events here and on twitter. For now, here are a couple of songs we recently recorded to celebrate the summer games...
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
GBS Road Trip: Tennessee Smokies
Although the AA Tennessee Smokies (Chicago Cubs) play just a few hours away from where I am in Nashville, I never got a chance to see recent prospects like Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber. Their time at that level was so brief, and it just never fit into my schedule. So when I learned that Ian Happ was promoted to Tennessee last week, I checked the schedule and determined that this past weekend was my only good chance to get over there.
So Sunday morning we drove east and checked out the game at Smokies Stadium that night, as Tennessee beat the Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3-0.
Happ had three hits the night before, including his first AA home run. He picked right up in Sunday's game, and I got to see him get three more hits. Happ clearly is a player on the rise, much like the top prospects before him, who are doing so well in Chicago and Iowa now. He honestly already seemed kind of out of place on the field, even though he'd just arrived.
Of course, he followed this up with another three hits last night (and another home run). So he's 11-for-15 through five games, and his AVG/OBP/OPS are a ridiculous .733/.706/1.973. Maybe Pensacola is just terrible? I know the Cubs want these guys to experience struggles at each level, but so far that isn't happening for Happ at AA.
Overall it was a great experience. For a family of five, we got the tickets, meal vouchers, and three Kid Zone passes for about $4 more than it cost us to see Finding Dory the weekend before. I've been to hundreds of games, including MLB, college, and high school, but living in New Orleans and Nashville my whole life, I've only been to AAA minor league games. I now have to say that AA is a much better value. While I usually go for the "cheap" seats in the outfield (which is like $10-12 for a AAA Nashville Sounds game), at Smokies Stadium we sat five rows directly behind home plate and paid less to do so.
In addition to being able to see Happ play, I was looking forward to watching a few other players as well. I think we'll be seeing the following players at the major league level eventually:
Billy McKinney - I've been keeping an eye on McKnney's progress since the Cubs acquired him in the Samardzija/Russell deal and have written about him here before. He had two hits, a walk, and a run, and he looked great. He's only hitting .264 at Tennessee this year, but the average is improving. His OBP is .365 (up from .346 at AA last season), and his strike out to walk ratio is 35:50.
Victor Caratini - He was 0-for-3 in the game we saw, but he looked good behind the plate in a Tennessee shut out. He's hitting .295 for the season, with an OBP of .386. He has also started 13 games at first base and has not made an error there this season. Originally a third baseman, Caratini could make the catching situation in Chicago even more interesting within the next year or so. If David Ross is truly done and Miguel Montero keeps playing the way he currently is, I think we'll be looking at Contreras and Schwarber as the two main catchers for 2017. Adding Caratini to the mix would give the team a third catcher who also plays other positions.
Paul Blackburn - A 2012 1st round pick out of high school, Blackburn has lowered his ERA each year so far. His career ERA is 3.02, and it is currently at 2.35 following Sunday's six scoreless innings. He's 5-2 for the year with a career record of 25-14. His 84 innings and 53 strike outs lead the Smokies.
Jacob Hannemann - While he hasn't hit for a high average in the minors, Hannemann is exciting on the bases. He stole a base and was caught once on Sunday, bringing his totals in those categories to 25 and 7. He led off the game with a nice slap hit to the opposite field, bouncing it over the third baseman's head. He has only 25 walks and an OBP of .323, but if he gets those numbers up, he'll be fun to watch.
What we missed:
Joe Nathan - Nathan is currently at Tennessee, trying to get back to the majors. It would've been fun to see him pitch, and a healthy Nathan will look nice in Chicago's bullpen.
Brad Markey - Markey started Monday night, so we missed him by a day. He's a 2014 19th round pick out of Virginia Tech who has a 2.13 ERA in the minors so far. He's been at Tennessee all season, and his 6 wins lead the team. His 2.34 is right under Blackburn's and leads Tennessee starters.
Jen-Ho Tseng - Tseng has been a top prospect for a few years now and is currently ranked #24 on the MLB's Cubs list. Through nine starts, he's 3-3 with a 2.98 ERA.
We definitely had a lot of fun. I'm hoping we can make it back there later this season, especially if something like a Gleyber Torres promotion happens at some point.
Friday, June 24, 2016
The Cubs are losing, but the young players are getting experience
The current four-game losing streak that the Cubs are experiencing is not a reason for fans to panic. Not yet, anyway. Yes, it's never fun to be swept by the Cardinals. And you hope to (A) score more than two runs in Miami and/or (B) not see your 8th inning reliever give up those runs in a 4-2 loss. But there is much more going on here.
The Cubs will now try to bounce back from their longest losing streak of the season, yet they enter the weekend with a firm nine-game lead. What's more important, though, is the fact that more young players are getting work at this level here in June.
Remember last year in the postseason when Javy Baez hit the huge home run against St. Louis? Fans love it when Chicago puts these guys in big spots and they come through like that. But it isn't magic. Baez had to get enough time in the league to get to that point. And this is exactly what we're seeing right now with Contreras and Almora (and possibly a couple of relievers as well).
I believe that the front office and coaching staff see Almora and Contreras as key players down the stretch and into the postseason. If this is true, it has to start now. These innings and at-bats might not seem very important here in June. But in September (and hopefully October), every bit of experience could pay off.
This really shouldn't even be a surprise to Cubs fans, as the team is sort of making this a routine now. The only difference now, of course, is the huge division lead. Yes, the lead has dipped to single digits. But give it just give it a minute for things to start to click again.
Furthermore, for a guy like Contreras to get the promotion and to have immediate success seems about right when looking at the team's track record.
For example, take a look at Kris Bryant's and Kyle Schwarber's AVG/OBP/OPS stats from their time at AAA. Bryant's stats were .298/.412/1.037, while Schwarber's were .333/.403/1.036. Those numbers were similar enough that it wasn't a total shock to see Schwarber follow up Bryant's MLB success. Well, Contreras also had very comparable numbers of .350/.439/1.030.
Taking this a step further, I am personally interested in another guy currently at AAA Iowa: Dan Vogelbach. Through 228 AAA at-bats, he's posted a similar .298/.419/.941 at Iowa this season. The average matches Bryant's, while the OBP is better than both Bryant and Schwarber. I know, I know. There's nowhere to play him in Chicago. Of course, we never expected to see Willson Contreras playing first base last night either, did we? All I know is that these other players were obviously ready to come up within 200 at-bats or fewer, and Vogelbach's time could be coming soon.
I assume the Cubs front office is watching all of these stats and more, considering possibly finding a spot for Vogelbach in Chicago or (more likely) making other teams aware of the numbers as the trade deadline approaches. Either way, the success of Bryant, Schwarber, and Contreras could lead to a call-up or a significant trade when it comes to Vogelbach.
The system is working, and we cannot get caught up in a four-game losing streak and begin to think otherwise. Hopefully in the fall, we'll look back at this time as the week where we saw what Contreras was really capable of: owning the catcher position, filling in at first base, and driving in some of the team's only runs in the midst of its worst losing streak.
Finally, just for fun, I'll point out that Ian Happ is now at AA Tennessee. His numbers at A+ of .296/.410/.885 do compare OK to Bryant's (.333/.387/1.106) and Schwarber's (.302/.393/.952) at that level. As expected, he showed less power but got on base at a better pace than both of them. But he's clearly on the same path!
The Cubs will now try to bounce back from their longest losing streak of the season, yet they enter the weekend with a firm nine-game lead. What's more important, though, is the fact that more young players are getting work at this level here in June.
Remember last year in the postseason when Javy Baez hit the huge home run against St. Louis? Fans love it when Chicago puts these guys in big spots and they come through like that. But it isn't magic. Baez had to get enough time in the league to get to that point. And this is exactly what we're seeing right now with Contreras and Almora (and possibly a couple of relievers as well).
I believe that the front office and coaching staff see Almora and Contreras as key players down the stretch and into the postseason. If this is true, it has to start now. These innings and at-bats might not seem very important here in June. But in September (and hopefully October), every bit of experience could pay off.
This really shouldn't even be a surprise to Cubs fans, as the team is sort of making this a routine now. The only difference now, of course, is the huge division lead. Yes, the lead has dipped to single digits. But give it just give it a minute for things to start to click again.
Furthermore, for a guy like Contreras to get the promotion and to have immediate success seems about right when looking at the team's track record.
For example, take a look at Kris Bryant's and Kyle Schwarber's AVG/OBP/OPS stats from their time at AAA. Bryant's stats were .298/.412/1.037, while Schwarber's were .333/.403/1.036. Those numbers were similar enough that it wasn't a total shock to see Schwarber follow up Bryant's MLB success. Well, Contreras also had very comparable numbers of .350/.439/1.030.
Taking this a step further, I am personally interested in another guy currently at AAA Iowa: Dan Vogelbach. Through 228 AAA at-bats, he's posted a similar .298/.419/.941 at Iowa this season. The average matches Bryant's, while the OBP is better than both Bryant and Schwarber. I know, I know. There's nowhere to play him in Chicago. Of course, we never expected to see Willson Contreras playing first base last night either, did we? All I know is that these other players were obviously ready to come up within 200 at-bats or fewer, and Vogelbach's time could be coming soon.
I assume the Cubs front office is watching all of these stats and more, considering possibly finding a spot for Vogelbach in Chicago or (more likely) making other teams aware of the numbers as the trade deadline approaches. Either way, the success of Bryant, Schwarber, and Contreras could lead to a call-up or a significant trade when it comes to Vogelbach.
The system is working, and we cannot get caught up in a four-game losing streak and begin to think otherwise. Hopefully in the fall, we'll look back at this time as the week where we saw what Contreras was really capable of: owning the catcher position, filling in at first base, and driving in some of the team's only runs in the midst of its worst losing streak.
Finally, just for fun, I'll point out that Ian Happ is now at AA Tennessee. His numbers at A+ of .296/.410/.885 do compare OK to Bryant's (.333/.387/1.106) and Schwarber's (.302/.393/.952) at that level. As expected, he showed less power but got on base at a better pace than both of them. But he's clearly on the same path!
Sunday, June 5, 2016
More songs about baseball!
Here is another set of baseball songs from Vista Blue! Check out a great review from Faster and Louder, and look for a CD coming soon featuring all 20 of the band's baseball songs recorded so far.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
We're ready for the Olympics. Is Brazil?
We're getting excited about the upcoming Summer Olympics, but obviously there are currently some issues in Brazil that will need to be addressed over the next couple of months.
In case you missed it, check out SNL veteran Maya Rudolph spoofing impeached Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff from the recent season finale. In this clip, Rousseff assures us that there are only a couple of things left to do: "Get one million poo-poos out of the river, and build all the buildings!"
In case you missed it, check out SNL veteran Maya Rudolph spoofing impeached Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff from the recent season finale. In this clip, Rousseff assures us that there are only a couple of things left to do: "Get one million poo-poos out of the river, and build all the buildings!"
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Baseball Cards: The strange case of Ed Romero
Am I the only one who finds it odd that "Ed Romero" seemed like such a concerned young man in 1988, only to resurface as "Mike Schooler" in 1991, flashing a smile and not having a single care in the world?
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Baseball Cards: Hello?
When your mom decides to call you just as they're taking your picture for your rookie card...
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Cubs Dominate Angels to Begin the Season
Yes, it's only been one game so far, but on Opening Night, the Chicago Cubs illustrated exactly why fans are so excited for this season, firing on all cylinders and defeating the Angels 9-0.
First, consider the fact that Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, and Addison Russell combined to go 0-for-10 with five stikeouts, and the offense still posted NINE runs. In fact, even without a hit, Bryant walked twice, scored twice, and drove in a run.
More importantly, this lineup is so strong, particularly when using the DH in an American League park, that Miguel Montero hits EIGHTH. It's not a surprise that he was the offensive hero in the opener, hitting a home run and driving in three runs. Montero is more of a cleanup hitter than anything else, with more than 1,000 career at-bats hitting fourth in the lineup, more than any other lineup position. Having him at the bottom of the order is just another strength of this Cubs team.
And just yesterday I mentioned that I hoped Matt Szczur would get a chance to contribute before Javier Baez returns from the DL, and of course Szczur knocked in three runs on his only at-bat in the opener.
The Cubs scored nine runs against a good team on a night when one run would've been enough, thanks to Jake Arrieta's dominance. This lineup is intimidating, to say the least. Obviously, teams will beat the Cubs this year. But it won't be easy.
First, consider the fact that Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, and Addison Russell combined to go 0-for-10 with five stikeouts, and the offense still posted NINE runs. In fact, even without a hit, Bryant walked twice, scored twice, and drove in a run.
More importantly, this lineup is so strong, particularly when using the DH in an American League park, that Miguel Montero hits EIGHTH. It's not a surprise that he was the offensive hero in the opener, hitting a home run and driving in three runs. Montero is more of a cleanup hitter than anything else, with more than 1,000 career at-bats hitting fourth in the lineup, more than any other lineup position. Having him at the bottom of the order is just another strength of this Cubs team.
And just yesterday I mentioned that I hoped Matt Szczur would get a chance to contribute before Javier Baez returns from the DL, and of course Szczur knocked in three runs on his only at-bat in the opener.
The Cubs scored nine runs against a good team on a night when one run would've been enough, thanks to Jake Arrieta's dominance. This lineup is intimidating, to say the least. Obviously, teams will beat the Cubs this year. But it won't be easy.
Monday, April 4, 2016
A Look at the 2016 Chicago Cubs Opening Day Roster
There are no real surprises on the 2016 Chicago Cubs Opening Day roster. The team breaks camp with one of the best 25-man rosters in the league, if not the best. After a surprising 2015 season that saw many of the organization's top prospects called up and placed into significant roles, and ended with an NLCS appearance, the Cubs front office made it clear this offseason that the team is being built to win now.
Adding star players Jason Heyward and John Lackey not only improves the Cubs, but it immediately weakens division rivals (and 2015 NL Central champs), the St. Louis Cardinals. Throw in newcomers Ben Zobrist and Adam Warren, and we can see clear upgrades to a roster that won 97 games last year. That's kind of amazing.
Manager Joe Maddon now has all kinds of flexibility, just as he likes it. Zobrist can play anywhere, and although Javy Baez will be on the DL for the first week or so, he is being groomed to be another Zobrist. Heyward and Dexter Fowler can play anywhere in the outfield, while Kyle Schwarber is actually going to do some catching in addition to playing left field. And of course, Kris Bryant has proven he can do pretty much anything better than pretty much anyone.
On the pitching side, having Lackey jump into the rotation's number three slot behind Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester suddenly has people saying this might be the league's best staff. Jason Hammel struggled a little in the second half last year, but his 3.74 ERA looks terrific for a 4th starter. Furthermore, with 15 wins and a 3.49 ERA over his first 1.5 seasons, Kyle Hendricks could be the best 5th starter out there.
And then there's the flexibility in the bullpen, where the Cubs have somehow piled up effective starters who are now serving as relievers. Warren, Trevor Cahill, Clayton Richard, and Travis Wood could all stretch out as starters if needed, and the Cubs have the kind of offense that could keep the team in contention even if some of these bullpen arms had to become starters.
I should definitely mention Matt Szczur, who I had fun with in a recent post, following all of the outfield moves the Cubs made. In the end, with Baez on the DL, it's Szczur who grabbed the last roster spot for now. What makes it more impressive is that Baez could've easily been replaced by infielder Munenori Kawasaki, who hit an impressive .367 this spring, with an OBP of .446 through 49 at bats. But Szczur, who is out of options, hit .375 to secure the spot and stick with the team, at least for a little while. I'm hoping he gets the chance to make the most of it.
The flexibility doesn't stop with the major league roster, as the Cubs have talented players like Kawasaki and Shane Victorino signed to minor league deals. In addition, the next group of prosepcts could be ready soon as well, and players like Jeimer Candelario, Wilson Contreras, Albert Almora, and others could make things very interesting at some point soon (or could be used as trade chips to upgrade the major league team if/when needed).
As a Cubs fan, this is probably the best team I've ever been able to watch. I'm ready for the season to kick off tonight, and I'm hoping it ends with a World Series win in the fall.
Adding star players Jason Heyward and John Lackey not only improves the Cubs, but it immediately weakens division rivals (and 2015 NL Central champs), the St. Louis Cardinals. Throw in newcomers Ben Zobrist and Adam Warren, and we can see clear upgrades to a roster that won 97 games last year. That's kind of amazing.
Manager Joe Maddon now has all kinds of flexibility, just as he likes it. Zobrist can play anywhere, and although Javy Baez will be on the DL for the first week or so, he is being groomed to be another Zobrist. Heyward and Dexter Fowler can play anywhere in the outfield, while Kyle Schwarber is actually going to do some catching in addition to playing left field. And of course, Kris Bryant has proven he can do pretty much anything better than pretty much anyone.
On the pitching side, having Lackey jump into the rotation's number three slot behind Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester suddenly has people saying this might be the league's best staff. Jason Hammel struggled a little in the second half last year, but his 3.74 ERA looks terrific for a 4th starter. Furthermore, with 15 wins and a 3.49 ERA over his first 1.5 seasons, Kyle Hendricks could be the best 5th starter out there.
And then there's the flexibility in the bullpen, where the Cubs have somehow piled up effective starters who are now serving as relievers. Warren, Trevor Cahill, Clayton Richard, and Travis Wood could all stretch out as starters if needed, and the Cubs have the kind of offense that could keep the team in contention even if some of these bullpen arms had to become starters.
I should definitely mention Matt Szczur, who I had fun with in a recent post, following all of the outfield moves the Cubs made. In the end, with Baez on the DL, it's Szczur who grabbed the last roster spot for now. What makes it more impressive is that Baez could've easily been replaced by infielder Munenori Kawasaki, who hit an impressive .367 this spring, with an OBP of .446 through 49 at bats. But Szczur, who is out of options, hit .375 to secure the spot and stick with the team, at least for a little while. I'm hoping he gets the chance to make the most of it.
The flexibility doesn't stop with the major league roster, as the Cubs have talented players like Kawasaki and Shane Victorino signed to minor league deals. In addition, the next group of prosepcts could be ready soon as well, and players like Jeimer Candelario, Wilson Contreras, Albert Almora, and others could make things very interesting at some point soon (or could be used as trade chips to upgrade the major league team if/when needed).
As a Cubs fan, this is probably the best team I've ever been able to watch. I'm ready for the season to kick off tonight, and I'm hoping it ends with a World Series win in the fall.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
MLB 2016 Predictions
NL East
|
Mets
|
NL Central
|
Cubs
|
NL West
|
Giants
|
NL Wild Card
|
Cardinals
|
NL Wild Card
|
Nationals
|
AL East
|
Yankees
|
AL Central
|
Royals
|
AL West
|
Angels
|
AL Wild Card
|
Rangers
|
AL Wild Card
|
White Sox
|
World Series
|
Cubs over Yankees
|
Monday, March 28, 2016
Beers and Baseball Cards 06
Mike and Brett preview the 2016 MLB season as they open packs of 1992 Fleer and random grab bags of cards. Music by The Ueckers. Thanks for listening!
Jerry Browne's reaction when he learned he was being traded to Oakland...
Jerry Browne's reaction when he learned he was being traded to Oakland...
Monday, March 21, 2016
Baseball Cards: Dad Goes to Fantasy Camp
When your dad went to fantasy camp that time and thought he was a real player....
Jerry Reuss, Geoff Zahn, Tom Hume, Joe Cowley, Bill Scherrer, Ron Kittle, Donnie Hill
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Beers and Baseball Cards 05
Mike and Brett welcome the 2016 MLB Spring Training season with a new
episode, experimenting with football cards this time. They also
discussed LSU basketball, Ben Simmons, fantasy baseball, Cubs/White Sox,
Saints, and other random sports topics. Music by The Ueckers. Thanks for listening!
Just some social media posts about Adam LaRoche
Wedge and I already chimed in on this subject. But I thought that might be a little unfair and maybe we should give the other side a voice as well.
Here are just a few of the first random public posts that popped up in a Facebook search for LaRoche.
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Thursday, March 17, 2016
More Data Points of the LaRoche Story
Don't miss Mike's good op-ed below on Adam LaRoche's retirement. Mike gets right to the point that many people don't even understand A) what its like to have kids, but also B) what its like to have options in life. Many people are stuck in job or feel lacking of freedom but lets put a few facts out there to put more of LaRoche's decision into perspective.
#1 - He's been bringing his son to team functions for some time and people haven't noticed because he's been playing great. Being a DC resident I witnessed his 2011-2014 seasons. .341 OBP in those 4 years, 6th in MVP voting and Golden Glove winner in 2012, a core piece of the lineup. So that's why this has never even come up before.
Look at any major sport, when a guy is producing for a team they let them do whatever, like guys getting arrested, or in this case, bringing their kid to the day job.
#2 - Ken Williams is allowed to ban any kids from team events. People forget that baseball is a job for MLB players. Williams said "name one job in the country were you can bring your child to work everyday." and he's right. If ownership or management thinks you are doing anything that might be hurting your performance they can request you change it so long as its nothing illegal.
I happen to be allowed to work remotely for my job, but that's with the expectation that I perform my job. IF I under-perform my employer has every right to tell my I can't telework anymore and have to come into the office.
#3 - bosses can suffer consequences, I've had former bosses force entire staffs out with dumb decision making; its quite possible LaRoche is "taking one for the team" cause other players are mad about the "no kids" decision.
#4 - He's NOT foregoing $13,000,000
One of the worst thing that happens in sports is the advertisement of player contracts because its so disorting of facts. People, and by that I mean everyday fans, seem to think that being a professional athlete is the same as being a waiter, mechanic, accountant, chef etc. Its not for many reasons
A) bonuses, performance targets and incentives vs. guaranteed money. Often when sports contracts are announced for some idiotic reason media always announce a contracts potential maximum, a figure athletes rarely reach because many of the targets are impossible or not entirely within their control like "make the playoffs" etc.
B) TAXES!!! People seem to forget that athletes pay taxes too, and in fact they pay more because the salary is higher. general consensus is that you take 20% off your salary to estimate your take home, for athletes its a hell of a lot more than that.
C) FEES / AGENTS / ETC. LaRoche has an agent, he has trainers, he has supplements/vitamins and more that come out of his own pocket.
If you put all that together his $13 million might be more like $6-7 million. Not saying thats something to sneeze at, but also saying don't kid yourself on the $13 million part.
#5 - He likely doesn't need the money. LaRoche, if he has been smart with money should have plenty of it, turning down $"$13 million" might be something he's willing to forego because he frankly doesn't need it. He plays in America's most absurdly salaried sport and has had a good career. Baseball pays its players more than any other sport, and the players can play for longer than most any other sport aside from maybe golf. Laroche has been playing since 2004, here's his salary according to contracts thus far.
So, taking into account points 4A, 4B, and 4C above to be conservative lets say he only gets 50% of whats advertised, he'd still have amassed $36+ million so far by the age of 35. Most of us won't amass $36 million in our lifetime. This ignores any money he has made from investments, endorsements, if his wife has a job etc.:
So is a $13 million contract something to sneeze at... well no. But is it going to put Adam LaRoche's family in dire straights... not likely so long as he has been smart with what he's made so far. Once you are paid enough money to own a house and car outright and pay utilities, the honest truth is that more money is just to spend on more things you want to try, but not things you need.
#6 - He can just as easily unretire and play for another team that allows him to bring his kid.
#1 - He's been bringing his son to team functions for some time and people haven't noticed because he's been playing great. Being a DC resident I witnessed his 2011-2014 seasons. .341 OBP in those 4 years, 6th in MVP voting and Golden Glove winner in 2012, a core piece of the lineup. So that's why this has never even come up before.
Look at any major sport, when a guy is producing for a team they let them do whatever, like guys getting arrested, or in this case, bringing their kid to the day job.
#2 - Ken Williams is allowed to ban any kids from team events. People forget that baseball is a job for MLB players. Williams said "name one job in the country were you can bring your child to work everyday." and he's right. If ownership or management thinks you are doing anything that might be hurting your performance they can request you change it so long as its nothing illegal.
I happen to be allowed to work remotely for my job, but that's with the expectation that I perform my job. IF I under-perform my employer has every right to tell my I can't telework anymore and have to come into the office.
#3 - bosses can suffer consequences, I've had former bosses force entire staffs out with dumb decision making; its quite possible LaRoche is "taking one for the team" cause other players are mad about the "no kids" decision.
#4 - He's NOT foregoing $13,000,000
One of the worst thing that happens in sports is the advertisement of player contracts because its so disorting of facts. People, and by that I mean everyday fans, seem to think that being a professional athlete is the same as being a waiter, mechanic, accountant, chef etc. Its not for many reasons
A) bonuses, performance targets and incentives vs. guaranteed money. Often when sports contracts are announced for some idiotic reason media always announce a contracts potential maximum, a figure athletes rarely reach because many of the targets are impossible or not entirely within their control like "make the playoffs" etc.
B) TAXES!!! People seem to forget that athletes pay taxes too, and in fact they pay more because the salary is higher. general consensus is that you take 20% off your salary to estimate your take home, for athletes its a hell of a lot more than that.
C) FEES / AGENTS / ETC. LaRoche has an agent, he has trainers, he has supplements/vitamins and more that come out of his own pocket.
If you put all that together his $13 million might be more like $6-7 million. Not saying thats something to sneeze at, but also saying don't kid yourself on the $13 million part.
#5 - He likely doesn't need the money. LaRoche, if he has been smart with money should have plenty of it, turning down $"$13 million" might be something he's willing to forego because he frankly doesn't need it. He plays in America's most absurdly salaried sport and has had a good career. Baseball pays its players more than any other sport, and the players can play for longer than most any other sport aside from maybe golf. Laroche has been playing since 2004, here's his salary according to contracts thus far.
| Year | Age | Team | Salary | Sources |
| 2004 | 24 | Atlanta Braves | $300,000 | 4/7/04 AP |
| 2005 | 25 | Atlanta Braves | $337,500 | |
| 2006 | 26 | Atlanta Braves | $420,000 | |
| 2007 | 27 | Pittsburgh Pirates | $3,200,000 | |
| 2008 | 28 | Pittsburgh Pirates | $5,000,000 | |
| 2009 | 29 | Pittsburgh Pirates | $7,050,000 | |
| 2010 | 30 | Arizona Diamondbacks | $4,500,000 | |
| 2011 | 31 | Washington Nationals | $7,000,000 | |
| 2012 | 32 | Washington Nationals | $8,000,000 | |
| 2013 | 33 | Washington Nationals | $10,000,000 | |
| 2014 | 34 | Washington Nationals | $12,000,000 | |
| 2015 | 35 | Chicago White Sox | $12,000,000 | |
| 2015 | 35 | Washington Nationals | $2,000,000 | Buyout of contract option |
| $71,807,500 |
So, taking into account points 4A, 4B, and 4C above to be conservative lets say he only gets 50% of whats advertised, he'd still have amassed $36+ million so far by the age of 35. Most of us won't amass $36 million in our lifetime. This ignores any money he has made from investments, endorsements, if his wife has a job etc.:
"LaRoche is one of the co-owners of Outdoor Networks hunting show Buck Commander with friends and pro athletes Chipper Jones, Ryan Langerhans, Tom Martin, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and Willie Robertson who is from the Duck Commander series."
So is a $13 million contract something to sneeze at... well no. But is it going to put Adam LaRoche's family in dire straights... not likely so long as he has been smart with what he's made so far. Once you are paid enough money to own a house and car outright and pay utilities, the honest truth is that more money is just to spend on more things you want to try, but not things you need.
#6 - He can just as easily unretire and play for another team that allows him to bring his kid.
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