Monthly Archives: February 2014

Freestyle Skiing, Olympics, Sochi 2014

Sochi 2014 – USA Gold Medal Winner #4 – Joss Christensen

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Well yesterday when Kaitlyn Farrington won gold I showed you a screenshot of her wikipedia page to show how unknown she was. I’m going to do something similar today. I’ll show you Joss Christensen’s wikipedia page a week ago.

Joss ChristensenIT DIDN’T EXIST. It was made three days ago. That’s how much of an after thought he was coming into these games. He was the 4th American nominated to the slopestyle team, named to the team less than three weeks before the start of the games when the US knew they’d have a quota spot in the event for him.

His profile on TeamUSA.org doesn’t have a win listed in his career highlights, the best stuff is a 3rd place finish in slopestyle at Mammoth Mountain in 2012 and six world cup starts and one podium.

The story of Joss Christensen is best told by others, but it’s a story of tragedy, perseverance, and finally triumph today in Sochi.

Joss Christensen came to Sochi an unknown, he leaves a gold medalist. He will always be known as Olympic gold medal winner Joss Christensen when it comes to his sporting achievements. Amazing what a difference a week can make.

Fed Cup, Tennis

USA Women to host France in Fed Cup World Group Play-off April 19th-20th

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We found out on Tuesday the opponent for the US in the world group play-off round and it is France.  France is up to 13th in the world rankings while the US has fallen to eighth. We know that the US will host the matchup but the location is still TBD. Personally I vote Omaha, Nebraska… ;).

Fed Cup World Group Play-off 2014

The USA has an 11-1 all-time record against France in Fed Cup play with the only loss a 4-1 defeat in the 2003 Final. The last matchup went 4-1 to the US in the World Group first round in February 2010 with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Melanie Oudin, Christina McHale, and Liezel Huber representing the US.

France advanced to the World Group Play-off after beating Switzerland 3-2 in Paris in the World Group II in February. Virginie Razzano, Alize Cornet and Kristina Mladenovic appeared for the French team. Their top singles players are Cornet (#25), Mladenovic (#71), Carolina Garcia (#76) and Razzano (#87). Mladenovic is currently the #17 doubles player with Garcia ranked #74.

The US will definitely be favorites in the tie. Home court advantage will help but the biggest question may be which women will agree to play. It is a much better travel situation for US players compared to the last round as the previous three biggest WTA tournaments are on US soil. There is a WTA Premier tournament (Porsche Tennis Grand Prix) in Germany the next week. The US has 11 players in the top 67 in the world so regardless of which four are on the team I expect the US to be favorites.

Recaps, Tennis, WTA Tour

Venus Williams and Bethanie Mattek-Sands Lose Tough Three Setters, All Four Americans Out in Qatar

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A day after upsetting #15 Eugenie Bouchard in the first round Bethanie Mattek-Sands faced Monica Niculescu as the higher seeded player in the second round but couldn’t deliver another top performance. Mattek-Sands struggled to get her serve in with a 51% first serve %. Of those that did get in on the first serve she won less than half (47%) and overall won just 39% of points on her serve. So it was no surprise that she was broke 10 times in 13 service games including on all five of her service games in the third set. She fought back hard on Niculescu’s serve breaking her seven times in 12 service games. Niculescu was also underwater winning just 45% of points on her serve. In the end the woes on her own serve were too much to overcome and Mattek-Sands lost 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

The other American in action was Venus Williams who was making an upset bid against #3 Petra Kvitova. After dropping set one 6-2 Williams fought back with a great 6-2 win in set two. The 3rd set was back and forth with Williams up a break at 4-1 before Kvitova broke her twice in a row making it 5-4 and giving her a chance to serve for the match. Williams was able to break Kvitova with the pressure on and the set went to a tiebreaker. The extremely tight tiebreaker went 16 points before Kvitova pulled off the 9-7 win to avoid the Williams upset bid. Both players struggled with their serve with each being broken six times on 14 service games. Kvitova won six more points, 114 to 108 as this one was extremely close. While it’s a disappointment that Williams couldn’t get the win here it is a good sign that she played toe-to-toe with one of the ten best in the world again. Hopefully this is a sign of how the rest of the year will be playing out.

Continue reading Venus Williams and Bethanie Mattek-Sands Lose Tough Three Setters, All Four Americans Out in Qatar →

Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Daily Previews, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Luge, Olympics, Short Track Speed Skating, Skeleton, Sochi 2014, Speed Skating

February 13th – Sochi 2014 – Daily Preview

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What’s on tap today? Ten disciplines and competition in 13 events with six gold medals up for grabs. In today: Biathlon, cross country-skiing, freestyle skiing, short track, and skeleton for the first time. Out today: Alpine skiing, nordic combined, and snowboarding.

All times below are ET.

Biathlon

Events: Thursday is the men’s 20 km individual event at 9 AM. The 89-man field will start in 30-second intervals with missed targets resulting in a crucial one minute penalty added to your time. Three Americans will compete: Tim Burke, starts 29th at 9:14:30, Lowell Bailey starts 58th at 9:29, Leif Nordgren starts 62nd at 9:31, and finally Russell Currier starts 79th at 9:39.

When:

  • Men’s individual 20 km – 9 AM

Live Streaming: A live stream will be available on the NBC Olympics website and on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You will probably have to authenticate a cable subscription to watch the live streams of the Olympics.

TV Coverage: The biathlon will be included in NBC’s daytime coverage from 3-5 PM ET.

Continue reading February 13th – Sochi 2014 – Daily Preview →

Olympics, Snowboarding, Sochi 2014

Sochi 2014 – USA Gold Medal Winner #3 – Kaitlyn Farrington

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If you want to know just how much of an unknown and surprise Kaitlyn Farrington was as the gold medal winner today take a lot at what her wikipedia page looks like right now…

Kaitlyn Farrington WikipdiaYup. Almost nothing, a real unknown to most Americans. Her career highlights up until today included a gold in the 2010 X games and fourth place the world championship last year. She was the very last member named to the squad and knew she’d be in Sochi less than a month before the games.

Continue reading Sochi 2014 – USA Gold Medal Winner #3 – Kaitlyn Farrington →

Alpine Skiing, Curling, Daily Olympic Reviews, Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Olympics, Snowboarding, Sochi 2014, Speed Skating

February 12th – Sochi 2014 – Daily Review

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After a couple of gold-less days for the US they finally grabbed their third gold medal late on Wednesday. It was one of two medals for the US on the day, both in the same event.

Alpine Skiing

Events:

  • *Women’s Downhill

Four Americans were in the first 12 competitors in the downhill on Wednesday but none of them could move into first when they went down the hill. Jacqueline Wiles was second to go but had some crucial mistakes in her run and finished 26th in 1:44.35. Next up was Laurenne Ross. Ross was much cleaner but her time of 1:42.68 just wasn’t good enough to reach the top and she finished 11th in 1:42.68. Stacey Cook was the third to go and her run also lacked the sharpness necessary as she finished 17th in 1:43.05. The final hope was Julia Mancuso. Mancuso had a really good run but wasn’t quick enough in the middle of the course. She ended up eighth with a time of 1:42.56

Results Summarized:

  • Jacqueline Wiles – Finished 26th in a time of 1:44.35.
  • Stacey Cook – Finished 17th in a time of 1:43.05.
  • Laurenne Ross – Finished 11th in a time of 1:42.68.
  • Julia Mancuso – Finished 8th in a time of 1:42.56.

Tennis, WTA Tour

Bethanie Mattek-Sands Upsets #15 Eugenie Bouchard on Day 2 of Qatar Total Open

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Bethanie Mattek-Sands has become one of my favorite US players to watch over the last year. Her unique style is enjoyable and she has a lot of toughness. It seems like when she gets drawn against the top players she’s ready to battle them and despite adversity in most of those matchups she’ll battle back and not go down without throwing a few punches.

We saw that toughness on Tuesday when Mattek-Sands took on Eugenie Bouchard. Down a break late in set one with Bouchard serving for the set at 4-5 Mattek-Sands broke back and then after holding serve to 6-5 she broke Bouchard again to snatch the first set 7-5. She then continue the strong play in set two as she blazed to a 7-5, 6-1 win over the young Canadian. Mattek-Sands was great on her first serve winning 74% of the points and attacked Bouchard’s second serve. Bouchard was serving just 42% on her first serve so there were numerous opportunities as Mattek-Sands won 64% of Bouchard’s second serve points. Mattek-Sands now faces Monica Niculescu in round two and is the higher seeded player. 

Continue reading Bethanie Mattek-Sands Upsets #15 Eugenie Bouchard on Day 2 of Qatar Total Open →

Alpine Skiing, Curling, Daily Previews, Figure Skating, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Olympics, Snowboarding, Sochi 2014, Speed Skating

February 12th – Sochi 2014 – Daily Preview

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What’s on tap today? Things slow down a bit with just eight disciplines and competition in nine events with six gold medals up for grabs. In today: Alpine skiing, ice hockey, and nordic combined’s first event. Out today: Biathlon, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, and ski jumping.

All times below are ET.

Alpine Skiing

Events: Alpine skiing returns with the women’s downhill competition on Wednesday at 2 AM. This is a single run event with the best time winning. There are four Americans in the 42-woman field. The first American down the mountain will be Jacqueline Wiles, second overall. Then we’ll see Laurenne Ross seventh, Stacey Cook goes 10th, and then Julia Mancuso 12th. Then there will be a lot waiting and hoping the times hold up!

When:

  • *Women’s Downhill – 2 AM

Live Streaming: A live stream will be available on the NBC Olympics website and on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You will probably have to authenticate a cable subscription to watch the live streams of the Olympics.

TV Coverage: The alpine skiing will be included in NBC’s evening coverage from 8-11:30 PM ET.

Continue reading February 12th – Sochi 2014 – Daily Preview →

Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Daily Olympic Reviews, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Luge, Olympics, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding, Sochi 2014, Speed Skating

February 11th – Sochi 2014 – Daily Review

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The US did take home a couple more medals on Tuesday but it’s hard to call the day a total success when you consider all the chances missed by the US.  There were still a lot of great performances and awesome results, but a lot of disappointment for the US as well.

Biathlon

Events:

  • Women’s 10 km pursuit

After disappointment in the sprint event on Sunday, American Susan Dunklee was hoping to rebound in a major way on Tuesday. That was all looking pretty good as she battled her way back from a 16th place start to fifth heading towards the final round of shooting. That’s where she missed three targets (four in the whole race) and the penalty laps that she had to take after that meant she finished 18th. It was another big disappointment for Dunklee.

Two other Americans were in the field but were not a major part of the race. Sara Studebaker was 44th at the start and fell to 51st after missing five targets. Annelies Cook started 53rd and slipped a spot to 54th after missing five targets as well.

Results Summarized:

  • Annelies Cook – Started 53rd, 2:17 behind the leader, missed four targets, and finished in 54th with a time of 36:20.9
  • Sara Studebaker – Started 44th, 1:53 behind the leader, missed five targets, and finished in 51st with a time of 35:00
  • Susan Dunklee – Started 16th, 42 seconds behind the leader, missed five targets, and finished in 18th with a time of 31:11.6

Continue reading February 11th – Sochi 2014 – Daily Review →

Tennis, WTA Tour

#14 Sloane Stephens Upset in First Round of Qatar Total Open

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On Monday in Doha Sloane Stephens took to the court a heavy favorite over Petra Cetkovska, the 133rd ranked player in the world. The first set was a tight affair, some major struggles followed by a last ditch comeback. Nothing new for Sloane, and Stephens lost 7-5. The bottom fell out though in set two as she dropped it 6-1. Now the question will be asked: was this Sloane’s wrist just not healthy enough yet and her hoping she could play well and it just not happening, or is this just another disappointment of a young Stephens overlooking an opponent, not showing up focused, and losing it mentally when the going got tough?

Sloane does have a wrist injury, that happened back in Australia at the beginning of the year and no one is denying that. She even used it as an excuse to not play in the Fed Cup for the US this weekend. But then why was she in the draw at Doha? According to Sports Illustrated, that fact that Stephens was in the draw was a surprise to American Fed Cup captain Mary Jo Hernandez who was surprised it when told about it by a reporter (View that here). Maybe she stayed in the draw just to see what would happen in it, there’s certainly no penalty for going and trying, and the wrist still is really bothering her. She did have 70 points to try and defend and as a seeded player had a favorable draw.

But it would seem there is more at play here and her continued poor attitude at times on the court continues to weigh on peoples’ minds. Sloane is still just 20 years old, but she’ll be 21 in a month and the tennis world isn’t like the real world. She can’t bloom in her 30’s like the average 20-something who doesn’t get it together in their younger years. If she wants to be a top player in the world that development has to come soon. She’s been a star at the Grand Slams when all the attention is on with five straight appearances in the round of 16. Yet in lesser tournaments last year she often got knocked out early and went 24-19 (compared to 15-4 at Grand Slams). Becoming a real professional that shows up seriously each week and plays consistently is desperately needed for her.

Continue reading #14 Sloane Stephens Upset in First Round of Qatar Total Open →