Category: Sports

How did our Trump-hating Olympians do at the Olympics?

by philg

The Olympics are over. How did the American athletes who made the news for hating Donald Trump do in terms of medals? If we assume a just God who hates a malevolent dictator, the virtuous #Resistance should have dominated the games. Did the Trump-haters in fact do better than expected?

“Lindsey Vonn Is Clear As Ice About Her Thoughts On Donald Trump”:

Vonn, who was preparing to qualify for the 2018 Games in PyeongChang at the time, was approached by CNN to see if she would go if asked. Her response was as icy as the snowy mountains she conquers. “Absolutely not,” Vonn said. “I hope to represent the people of the United States, not the president. …I want to represent our country well. I don’t think that there are a lot of people currently in our government that do that.”

Fox News recently approached Vonn about the possibility she might get a second invite to the Trump White House. “First of all, I just want to say that every Olympic athlete from Team USA is normally invited… it has nothing to do with if you win a medal or not,” she began. “I’m not going to answer that question because — I’m just not going to answer it. I want to keep my passport.” It was a more diplomatic answer than the one she gave eight years earlier, but her meaning was clear. Donald Trump has a history of meltdowns when faced with dissent, and he tends to lash out at those who dare to oppose him. He disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles from a White House visit in 2018 because they wouldn’t promise all players would salute the flag. Who’s to say the president wouldn’t find a way to keep a star skier from getting to a major competition if she said something that wounded his pride?

As with my friend Mike Hawley, Trump turned out not to be Lindsey Vonn’s biggest enemy (Journal of Popular Studies regarding Vonn’s broken leg).

Amber Glenn was apparently a trailblazer in combining unusual sexual desires (behaviors?) with ice skating (unlike 100 percent conventional NBC host Johnny Weir):

Glenn, who is the first openly queer woman to represent the U.S. in Olympic figure skating, was asked directly about President Trump, his treatment of the LGBTQ community and how it affects her at a press conference on Feb. 4 for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. The athlete, 26, told reporters that while it’s been “a hard time” for the community, she hoped to use her platform and her voice “to try and encourage people to stay strong.”

This sculpture in Austin’s UMLAUF Sculpture Garden reminds me that Taylor Swift was at the Games and sagely pointed out that “skaters gonna skate”:

(My personal favorite skaters this year: Isabeau Levito, France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, and, of course, Alysa Liu.)

Then there’s Mikaela Shiffrin. “Alpine skiing-U.S. gold medal hope Shiffrin speaks up for diversity and inclusion” (Reuters):

“It’s always an honour and a privilege to represent Team USA and to represent your country,” she told a news conference when asked by a reporter how it felt to be representing the United States “given what’s happening there”.

The query chimed with more pointed questions faced by other U.S. athletes at the Games over President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration. Trump’s Vice President, JD Vance, drew a smattering of boos at Friday’s opening ceremony in Milan. The host city has also seen protests against Trump’s policies.

Shiffrin said that for her “as this relates to the Olympics, I’m really hoping to show up and represent my values. Values of inclusivity, values of diversity and kindness and sharing.”

I don’t think we have to look too far to find a hater who does not value inclusivity and diversity! Where does the diversity-loving Shiffrin live? In a mansion in Edwards, Colorado, right near the Beaver Creek ski resort and not far from Vail. Her address is supposedly 43 Hollis Lane Edwards, CO 81632. Zillow says it is worth $5.2 million. Here’s a nearby 2BR apartment that a diverse person could purchase for $2.8 million:

Then there’s Hunter Hess, the freestyle skier who says that he wants to #resist ICE, but somehow ended up in Italy rather than in Minneapolis. NBC:

“It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It’s a little hard,” he said. “There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of and I think a lot of people aren’t.”

He continued: “I think for me, it’s more I’m representing my, like, friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. I just think if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it.”

“Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.,” he said.

I hope that we can all agree on whose moral values are deficient/bankrupt and also that “a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of” means ICE detaining migrants and not Minnesota paper day care centers siphoning out all U.S. taxpayer cash.

They won Gold for virtue and Trump-hatred, but how did the above athletes actually do in competition?

He/she/ze/they is not exactly an athlete, but Justin Trudeau did taunt Donald Trump with a “you can’t take our game” message before the Canada v. USA hockey match.

Loosely related…

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Add EBT card readers to televisions?

by philg

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, a day when tens of millions Americans with jobs will sit on their sofas instead of working and paying taxes associated with working, e.g., payroll and personal income tax.

We have been gifted by far-sighted and generous politicians whose dreams of an improved cradle-to-grave welfare state for roughly 50 percent of Americans have been spoiled by the laziness of Americans who have jobs but don’t work enough hours to fully fund progressive dreams.

Imagine the boost to tax revenue if working Americans worked all weekend instead of watching games on TV. What if we augmented televisions and streaming services with EBT card readers and only those with active SNAP/EBT/food stamps would be able to watch NFL, NBA, MLB, etc.? (It’s easier to get someone who works 50 hours per week to instead work 60 hours per week than it is to get someone who works 0 hours per week to toil for 10 tedious hours per week.)

I pointed this out yesterday, but it is worth pointing out again today: Santa Clara County just recently issued a mask order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 (below) and today they’re going to host a COVID-19 superspreader event. #Science!

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Get ready for the World Series with Queer Sports Romance?

by philg

Who’s watching the World Series? Maybe some of the baseball fans here can explain to the rest of us why we should pay attention.

Also, should one prepare by reading You Should Be So Lucky?

Around the same time as the above screen shot, I captured this one from the New York Times:

The #1 “best part” of any city is “a gay bar”.

Related:

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NFL teams are free to choose a social justice message for this season

by philg

ESPN:

The NFL is continuing its on-field social justice messaging for a sixth straight season.

All 32 teams will feature an end zone message of their choice at each home game throughout the season, selecting from four options: “End Racism,” “Stop Hate,” “Choose Love” or “Inspire Change.” Once again, “It Takes All of Us” will be stenciled in the opposite end zone for all games. The only change from 2024 is that “Inspire Change” replaces “Vote.”

It’s “an end zone message of their choice” but all possible messages that can be chosen have been preselected for the teams. A team that wished to say “End Poverty”, for example, would not be free to make that choice. (One great way to end poverty would be for everyone who currently spends money on NFL tickets to instead donate that money to the poor! Another great way would be for everyone who watches NFL games on TV to instead work a gig job for those hours and donate the earnings to the poor.)

Who will be watching tonight’s game, the first of the season, and can let us know what social justice messages were communicated?

Separately, if you’re watching an NFL game on CBS make sure to turn off the TV before the news comes on. Bari Weiss, a traitor to the social justice cause (former NYT journalist), is going to be corrupting what had been a socially just news organization (from the NY Post):

Apparently, journalists who aren’t progressive Democrats are so rare that it cost CBS $200 million to hire one. Just how Deplorable is Bari Weiss? Here’s a recent Free Press article that contradicts progressives’ most authoritative source for health-related information (i.e., the Gaza Health Ministry):

See, also, “Another Reason Not to Trust the ‘Experts’”:

The International Association of Genocide Scholars calls itself a body of experts, but joining requires only a form and a fee. Members include parody accounts like ‘Mo Cookie’ and ‘Emperor Palpatine.’

My comment on this august body of scholars:

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Why isn’t my basketball joke funny?

by philg

I posted the following on Facebook last night during Game 7 of the NBA Finals:

Watching a WNBA game right now. It’s awesome how these tall ladies hit almost every three-pointer. Huge crowd too. I don’t know why they say WNBA has trouble filling arenas.

I was hoping to conjure the image of a person who almost never watches basketball, flips on the TV, and finds the world’s best players (Indiana v. Oklahoma City) and then, due to all of the hype about the WNBA exhibiting the world’s most skilled players, imagining that it is a WNBA game. About six friends liked it and probably at least half of them are so disconnected from the world of pro sports that they imagined it to be in earnest.

Separately, who has something more interesting to say about the NBA final? Our kids were cruelly denied access to the final quarter due to it extending past their bedtime. I don’t think we missed anything, though, because the spread between the teams at the end of third quarter (the only one that we watched) seemed to be maintained.

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Does every NFL team support Pride Month?

by philg

Miami:

Tampa Bay:

Houston:

Green Bay:

The NFL overall:

Is there any team in the NFL that rejects the U.S. official state religion? What would happen to a team that said they were going to celebrate African American Music Appreciation Month, created by Jimmy Carter, instead of Pride? (And maybe played “Gold Digger” by Kanye West during halftime while a huge fabric disk was paraded around the stadium with the image below, the way that European soccer fans will support an Walmart-sized pro-Palestinian flag or banner.)

For reference, 50x20m according to Al Jazeera:

Speaking of the noble entirely peaceful Palestinians, has anyone claimed the $1 million in funding for a Pride parade in Gaza or the West Bank?

Finally, here’s the archetypical Black rapper according to the Smithsonian’s PhD curators:

(Educated-in-Florida Ray Charles is not sufficiently notable to have made the museum experts’ cut.)

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Harvard has the Queers for Palestine; University of Florida the NCAA basketball title

by philg

From state-sponsored NPR:

I wouldn’t normally watch a basketball game, but the public school here texted out a message advising us that school uniforms wouldn’t be required today if students wanted to wear Gators or Cougars outfits instead (I would love to see the kid brave enough to wear a Houston shirt!).

Xfinity managed to stage a TV outage in our neighborhood (first time I’d tried to use cable since the Super Bowl), promising to have service restored by tomorrow evening, but I was able to see the end of the game via streaming.

How much did this victory cost Florida taxpayers, I wondered? Politico says that the answer is $0, unlike in most states. “‘It’s an arms race’: Florida weighs how to compete in new expensive era of college sports” (November 2024):

Florida universities are searching for ways to pump more money into sports ahead of a proposed landmark NCAA settlement that would open the door for schools to directly pay athletes — and using state dollars could be on the table.

Florida has long held a bright line against putting tax dollars into college athletics. But that could change soon, as schools here and across the country grapple with revolutionary changes coming to the NCAA.

Athletic programs at Florida universities are by rule meant to be self-funded, paid for by student fees, ticket sales to events, NCAA distributions, sponsorships and donation dollars, among other sources.

Related:

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An old guy is #4 in the Iditarod right now

by philg

The Iditarod leaders should cross the finish line within the next 24 hours. The leader, from Alabama(!), has just 73 miles to go.

As with aerobatics and endurance flying (see Department of Old Guys can Fly: nonstop cross-country at 1,100 lbs gross weight: “EAA keeps saying that their mission is to inspire young people, but if you look at the ages of the airshow performers, the round-the-world and over-the-poles pilots, and achievers such as Ebneter, maybe what EAA is actually doing is inspiring the elderly!”), it seems that the most inspiring story from the Iditarod is likely to be Mitch Seavey’s finish. The current #4 musher’s bio says “At 65 years of age, I’m running the Iditarod because it’s hard.” He won the race, which requires a lot of physical effort by both mushers and dogs, in 2004, 2013, and 2017.

It’s too bad that Donald Trump has gutted NIH funding, at least to the Queers for Palestine League. I would love to see a Columbia University study on the heritability of dog mushing prowess. (Mitch Seavey’s son Dallas Seavey has won the Iditarod six times.)

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Iditarod Update

by philg

The mushers and their beasts (14-16 per sled at this point) have all made it to the mighty Yukon River at or past Tanana.

This is an all-gender race, just as I think all sports should be, and a woman is in the lead: Maggie Hamilton. She’s got a “T” bib for “Teacher on the Trail” and, I think, is traveling by air taxi. Three out of the five dog-pulled leaders are women:

The musher currently in 2nd place is Mille Porsild, listed as from Denmark but the bio later says “Mille lives in Alaska with her sled dogs” so I guess the dogs didn’t have to endure air freight before their big race. She’s dealing with a broken sled, according to Facebook, and meeting up soon with a new one that has been airlifted in. Bad news for our trade war: Michelle Phillips, the leader, is from Canada and lives halfway between Skagway and Whitehorse. Hope for the U.S. comes from Alabama in the form of Jessie Holmes, currently in third place.

Following the Iditarod via the site/video isn’t as much fun as I had hoped. It’s tough to get power and connectivity so the only video comes from checkpoints and we don’t get to experience a musher’s-eye view from the trail. It’s too bad that there aren’t any drones with Starlink and 100-mile range.

In this image from Dave Poyzer, the terrain isn’t the snow-blanketed landscape that you might expect (everything in Fairbanks was covered in snow last week!).

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