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Huskies leadoff man, David Amarai, beat out an infield single to third to ignite a rally in the 9-1 home finale victory. Photo credit: John Gilbert

Catcher Austin Bernard sized up a Rochester Honkers pitch and singled to center for a 2-0 lead in the 5-run Huskies first inning. Photo credit: John Gilbert

Magnificent performances by Michael Phelps in the pool and Simone Biles in the gym were heartening for American chauvinists everywhere, as we thrilled to their multiple gold medals – certainly among the highlights of the first week of the Summer Olympics televised to us from Rio de Janeiro.
The job done by NBC was impressive, even if I maintain my view that the games should prevail, over and above the marketing and cubic-dollar impact of advertising. NBC is farming out many Olympic events to NBC-sports, MSNBC, USA network, and others. Sometimes you realize that an event is on one of those stations, and you know it will be live, only to learn that the live event might be a field hockey game between Pakistan and Latvia, or some such.
My realization hit home when it came time to switch focus to track, where I got the chance to see some very good U.S. athletes, and also my personal favorite – Jamaica’s Usain Bolt. I’ve known that Bolt is known as the world’s fastest human, after winning the 100-meter sprints at both the 2012 and 2008 Olympics, but I wasn’t aware of what a neat personality he is until this time around.
With all the understandable seriousness of the athletes – think of Phelps glowering as he stared straight ahead from under his hoodie before competing – it was refreshing to see that Bolt is having fun while competing. He always seems to be happy, cordial, relaxed, laid back, and charismatic at the same time. And he won an unprecedented third consecutive 100-meter dash at Rio.
But what made me adopt Bolt as my favorite was a brief featurette done by NBC on the man who is, quite appropriately, nicknamed “Lightning.” It showed him winning an event at, I think, the World Championships, and as he started to jog in a traditional winding-down bit, a herd of camermen surrounded him and started running ahead to get the best vantage point. After about 10 steps, Bolt abruptly turned 180 degrees, as though he’d just decided to jog the other way. The photographers reversed themselves and started trampling each other to go the other way, then Bolt changed directions again. It was a wonderful bit of byplay, as he played the obtrusive camera guys like a fiddle.
Must be something about the Jamaica lifestyle, because Usain Bolt is as laidback as Bob Marley’s music. Maybe part of the reason he does so well is that he is so relaxed right up until the time he gets into the starting blocks.
When Bolt won his semifinal heat to qualify for the 100-meter final, they ran the other heats, too. Then they came right back with the final. I grumbled that it was ridiculous for NBC to play the tape-delayed semifinals right before the final, because no track meet would schedule the runners to go all out to qualify and then bring them right back for the final. But the next day I read quotes from Bolt and another runner. When asked why their times were not quite up to their records, both said that’s what happens, when you run the final about an hour and a half after the semifinals.
Only then did I realize they were actually scheduled that closely. And, of course, it makes a cynic wonder if NBC might have made a large cash payment to get the Olympic committee to run them together so NBC could show them both live, an hour apart.
We’ve still got more than a week to go in the Olympics, and you can pick your favorite event. After all the wonders of gymnastics, and the speed of the sprints, to me the most amazing athletic event is the high jump. I don’t care if you’re 6-foot-3, it is incomprehensible that a human can run up and jump over a bar that is suspended 7-foot-8 above the ground. Give those guys a medal, I don’t care where they’re from.

Baseball Winds Down

I caught part of the final home Huskies game, against the Rochester Honkers, and it was one of those games where you wonder how they could have such a poor record. In the last of the first inning, David Amarai of UCLA beat out a leadoff grounder to third with his excellent speed. The Huskies followed with a pair of singles to take a 1-0 lead. After a fly out, catcher Austin Bernard ripped a single up the middle, making it 2-0.
The Huskies went on to win 9-1, to send a nice crowd of about 2,500 home happy, already preparing for next season.
The Twins, meanwhile, had been playing so well I just wasn’t prepared for another collapse. But after passing three or four teams on their climb to respectability, the Twins lost 7-5 to Houston, then lost 15-7, 10-2, and 7-3 as Kansas City followed Houston to Target Field, before the Twins won 5-3. They followed that victory by losing 11-4.
That awful 1-5 stretch was underscored by the Twins being outscored 53-26 in those six games. And dropped back behind all but Atlanta for the battle for the worst record in all of the Major Leagues.
Look at the full season, and the two biggest surprises for the Twins have been Eduardo Nunez, who was promptly traded to San Francisco after being the only player in the lineup hitting over .300, and catcher Kurt Suzuki, who seemed as though he got weary of hearing critics say he couldn’t hit, and rose from the .200 level to lead the team at about .285. So the Twins, naturally, offered him up to everybody through the waiver process. If you can figure out what they’re doing, let me know.