It’s Olympic time. The Golden rings of the Olympics are sought across the entire world. Some thoughts on the Olympics…current & past.
…Some of the symbolism of the Olympics—5 rings because 5 continents participated in the 1st modern Olympics. 6 colors are due to the fact that those 6 colors make up the colors of ALL the flags of nations across the world.
…These games started, stopped & restarted again! From 776 BC through 393 AD the ancient games were held in Olympia, Greece. The games were banned in 393AD when Roman Emperor, Theodosius I, banned the games. He viewed the games as equivalent to paganism & banned them since he wished to promote Christianity. In 1896 the games were restarted. Baron Pierre de Courbertin (Frenchman) proposed the games in 1894 for the year 1900. But, the people liked the idea so much that they had it moved up to 1896 @ Athens.
…one of the longest, most popular events in the Olympics is the Marathon. However, it was NOT a part of the ancient games! The race commemorates the run of Pheidippides, who carried the news of Persian landing @ Marathon in 490 BC, to Sparta (149m away) in seek help for the battle. According to tradition, He delivered the news the next day! The modern marathon was standardized in 1908 to be 26 m, 385 yd. It so happens that is the exact distance between Windsor Castle (start of race) to the finish line in White City Stadium!! Sooo…that’s how we got that nice round number 😊
…In the Olympic gold-ring mood, I’m looking @ 2022 Winter Olympics. I realize that organizers are attempting to expand the sports. I don’t care for many of them, especially those that use Judges to determine the winner…ugh!! I want races (even if they’re over the square shaped, man-made, mountains or ½ pipe shape) so I can see the winner w/o someone else telling me.
….Gold Rings of a different sort will be awarded to the winners of the Super Bowl. The Rams 23-20 win over the Bengals was exciting, with several different momentum swings, and came down to the last minute of the game. The Rams used an ol’ school approach this year. One that was used frequently by George Allen decades ago. Allen believed in winning NOW. He traded draft choices for known quality players. The Rams did that EXACT same thing. Their most important, to no one’s surprise, was at QB. Matthew Stafford, who had been chained to the lowly Lions for his entire career, was acquired. Head Coach McVay wanted him because he felt that the Lions losing wasn’t due to Stafford but the team around him. The Rams traded some key draft spots to acquire him. While the game was entertaining, watching Stan Kroneke celebrating the championship was a tough pill to swallow.
….Each player on the winning team receives a ring valued @ $35,000 in addition to the winning bonus of $150,000. The players on the losing team receive $75,000 for their efforts but no rings.
…The value of the Gold Rings varies depending upon which player had received the ring. For example, Tom Brady’s ring would be of more value than a lineman of some sort. In fact, it is said that his rings are 10x the usual value. He’s sold one ring, so the value of his other 7 rings is reported to be $2,414,489.
….Far from Golden play was the Blues play in their 1st game after the break. The team looked in slow-motion to the pedestrian NJ Devils. The win in the 2nd game looked more like our 21-22 Blues team. I’d prefer that Thomas & Kyrou be on different lines. Both seem to prefer passing over shooting (especially Thomas). To have them on 2 different lines not both of them on 1 line, would be an improvement. Their speed seems to make the other players play at a different speed.
….Not even close to golden….One wonders that some Blues players did over the break? In the 1st game back after break, several players looked very slow in speed & reactions. The Blues badly need another strong defenseman.
…The Blues have some team stats that aren’t so golden. While the Blues are 4th in penalty kill %, 3rd in power play goals & 8th in goals &8th in goals allowed for the season, the Blues are 11th in points with 59.
…In the game with the golden rings 10 ft high with nets, the Billikens had a tough game against St. Bonaventure on Friday. The Bonnies won it 68-61 as their match-up zone that featured 6-10 Osun Osunni 6-9, Justin Ndjock-Tadjore & 6-5 Jalen Adaway had plenty of height @ length that presented difficulties for the Bills. The Bonnies plan was to work hard on Yuri Collins (8 turnovers) & Gibson Jimerson. The Bonnies fell behind 25-15 but used a 16-0 run to take the half-time lead of 34-30. The Billikens adjusted and made a couple long “runs” towards the tail end of the game but couldn’t ever quite catch the Bonnies. The 2nd game of the back-back games saw the Bills fall again 83-79. Giving up 83 points won’t win many games. Further, the Bills played from behind all night. They were 16 pts down @ half; 15 pts with 7 minutes remaining and still looked at a 10 point deficit with 5 minutes. They continued cutting into the lead as they sliced the lead just a 1 possession game before falling short.
…Thanks for the read! I’m happy to say that we broke the 900 reader plateau last week. Thanks for spreading the word! Don’t forget to check out the thoughts of other readers on my Facebook page. Or, catch up on past blogs on http://www.bobryansportsblog.com….Have a great week! Bob