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123 Aug 6 '19
I watched the Rio Olympics with my two teenage daughters. Thorgan Hazard Jersey . It was the U.S. women athletes who would come to dominate the Games, winning 27 golds and 61 total medals -- six more than the mens overall tally. This was edifying, especially for my girls, who found themselves unexpectedly stirred and rooting for women whose excellence and achievement were not up for debate-women whose dedication, fortitude and will broke through the media clutter, leveled false gods and showed us all what greatness can and should look like.And then there was Simone Biles.Biles, 19, came into the Olympics not simply a favorite but a legend, her exceptionalism as rousing as a drum line, an athlete soaring so far above her peers she may as well have been eyeing them from space. The Nadia Comaneci narrative-that of the adorable imp who stunned the world with unprecedented perfection-wasnt for her.It was assumed that Biles would be perfect, her superiority a given. Her mind-bending world championship triumphs had already offered a preview of coming dominance: Biles the proverbial gun at the knife fight. And this, arguably, is a much harder burden to bear.There is the risk of potential humiliation, of letting people down, of not being the gilded, galloping unicorn youve been advertised to be. A favorite is not allowed to falter. A lock can never be a surprise. Worse, confidence can read as smugness, inviting schadenfreude. America is nothing if not invested in the narrative of the underdog.Biles has never been the underdog in the gym. She has had agonizing struggles over the years, notably entering foster care after her birth mother lost the ability to care for her and her sister because of drug addiction. Biles, whose grandparents became her parents when she was 6, took pains to busy herself with things she could control, like learning how to do back handsprings in her yard. When the role life handed her was too limiting, Biles rewrote the script and gave herself better lines.So it was with her gymnastic career, in which she quickly conquered every skill and maneuver on offer. And still she kept working, doing the hard math.She learned how a slight feint to the right midair would rotate her body like a pinwheel in the wind. She calculated how many steps it took to launch her body twice her height above the mat. She embraced dismounts no one else dared try. Then she added flair. Joyful punctuation-a shimmy, a leap, a swivel of the hip-showmanship married to excellence that delighted all fortunate enough to see her compete.There are others who have inhabited their significance thus, the rare few who possessed enough confidence to play, even as they fought to be the best in the world. Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Jim Thorpe. Muhammad Ali. Artists, like Biles, who left us gasping and misty-eyed at their performances even though we already knew the ending. Magicians who mastered every trick, then invented new ones.Such was the case with Biles in Rio, where she cemented her status in the athletic firmament with every stuck landing, a physical planting of the flag on a planet all her own. My girls watched her, applauding victory after victory, never tiring of her virtuosity, Biles pre-eminence a comfort of sorts, like that of a superhero coming to save the day. She bobbled once on the beam, a steadying hand that let us know she was, in fact, human, but that second no more defined her Olympic showing than a stray thread on a couture suit.Here was a woman who knew, to the millimeter, how far she had to run. Here was a woman who bent physics to her will. Here was a woman who found balance in the air. Here was a woman unafraid of a blind landing. Here was a woman who wouldnt choke, wouldnt let us down, a woman we could trust to take care of business.Here was a woman who also happened, just by her very existence, to be forcing every coming generation to do better. Because she did better. (A lot better.) And with that mandate came the comfort of knowing better could still be done, that our future could be as bright and certain as we dared allow. Adnan Januzaj Jersey . Schenn scored the game-winning goal and added two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday. Thomas Meunier Belgium Jersey . -- Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed a pair of Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover. http://www.belgiumsoccerpro.com/Jan-Vertonghen-Belgium-Jersey/ . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. Baylor interim coach Jim Grobe said Monday that not only does he not know if former Bears player Shawn Oakman was in the teams locker room at Rice last Friday, he does not even know who Oakman is.The 6-foot-9 Oakman, who became the schools all-time sacks leader in 2015, was indicted in July by a grand jury on charges of second-degree felony sexual assault.I dont know who Shawn Oakman is. So I wouldnt be able to recognize him if he walked in the door right now, Grobe said when asked during his weekly news conference about whether Oakman was in the locker room. There were a lot of people around at the end of the game. There are always a lot of people around. But I had no issues. I didnt know he was there, or know who he is.Earlier, ESPN.com quoted a Baylor spokesman as saying that Oakman remained in the hallway entrance outside the locker room, but never went into the locker room. The same spokesman later clarified to ESPN.com that Oakman did in fact enter the locker room.At that same time, Baylor also issued a statement:Baylor did not invite Shawn Oakman onto the field or into the locker room. He made his way there after the game but did not address the team. As indicated earlier today, Coach Grobe did not recognize that Oakman was in the locker room area as Coach gave his post-game address. Oakman spoke personally with a few former teammates and left the stadium. Oakman iis not permitted in Baylor-owned facilities nor in the locker room at future away games. Thibaut Courtois Belgium Jersey. Police in Waco arrested Oakman in April after a Baylor graduate student accused him of sexually assaulting her at his apartment on April 3. Under Texas law, second-degree felony sexual assault typically carries a sentence of two to 20 years in state prison and a fine up to $10,000.Hes a great guy, just in a bad situation, Baylor quarterback Seth Russell told the Dallas Morning News on Monday. Were not gonna hold anything against him. He was part of the team and hes still part of Baylor. Were going to love him as much as anybody else.Oakmans attorney has maintained that the sex in this case was consensual.Oakman, who was the preseason Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year last summer, went undrafted in the spring after his arrest.Later in his news conference, Grobe -- who was hired by Baylor on May 30 -- was pressed again about not knowing who Oakman is.Ive heard that Shawn Oakman was at the game, he replied. But I dont know who Shawn Oakman is. If he walked in today, I wouldnt know that was Shawn Oakman.Baylor, ranked 16th in the AP poll, opens Big 12 play this weekend at home against Oklahoma State.ESPNs Heather Dinich contributed to this report. ' ' ' 
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