He will stay on until they choose a replacement. President Barker hopes to have that replacement by June 2013.
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Category: Sports
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Alex Morgan’s Emergence
> And Alex Morgan is on her way, the next generation of soccer superstar, vastly different than Mia, but part of the lineage and development of a sport, a national team and machinery of modern superstardom.
The only time I come close to caring about soccer is a title / medal match for the US Women’s team. I hope Alex Morgan and the rest of the team bring home the gold.
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Allyson Felix Breaks Through
*SPOILERS AHEAD FOR TONIGHT’S 200M FINAL*
> The longtime star of American sprinting had been denied twice in the 200 meters, finishing second in 2004 and ’08. But Wednesday night in London she overpowered a stacked field and won by .21 seconds.
She gets out of the blocks so amazingly fast. I love watching her run.
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Joe Posnanski on Derek Redmond
> You certainly know his story — you’ve at least seen the Visa commercial narrated by Morgan Freeman. Redmond was a 400-meter runner for Great Britain. He was good, too, especially when he was young and healthy. He was fast enough to set the British record, fast enough to be on the British team that shocked the United States in the 4×400 relay at the World Championships in Tokyo.
> …
> While at first the pain had shocked him into a kind of obliviousness, when trainers surrounded him, Redmond remembered again where he was. These were the semifinals of the Olympics. And, as if driven by instinct, he got up and started hobbling toward the finish line. He would say then that in his mind, he was racing again. He still thought he might be able to pass some runners. He did not seem to understand that the race was long over, that everyone else had finished.
It is getting dusty in here.
Maybe some countries will try this before 2016. It might be the only way to get good enough to keep up with Missy Franklin.
From Shaking the Southland:
> Larry Williams publicly confirmed what we’ve been hearing for some time now, which is that Terry Don Phillips is expected to announce his retirement relatively soon and that he will stay on until his contract expires in June 2013. Associate AD and CFO Katie Hill is expected to retire and possibly return to Arkansas, but in any event she will not stay on when TDP leaves.
> …
> Obviously we support the Board on this one, and specifically the ones who pushed the hardest for this change in leadership.
I do too.
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Everyone Should Have Drafted Mike Trout
> If you’re an area scout in the Northeast, you may see hundreds of games without ever seeing what you’ve been searching for. In five years as an area scout for the Angels covering the Northeast, Greg Morhardt—known to his friends in the industry simply as Mo—spent a lot of time looking and not much time finding. He crisscrossed plenty of highways and dodged the raindrops that ruin a scout’s day. For five years, he hadn’t turned in a position player from his area that he projected to be a major league regular.
> And then it happened.
The story of Mike Trout, who is poised to be the MVP of the AL this year. Not bad for someone who [just turned 21](http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/mike-trout-finally-hits-something-hasn-t-season-220737103–mlb.html).
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Football’s Growing Killer Problem
George Will on the dangers of football, especially in the NFL:
> Decades ago, this column lightheartedly called football a mistake because it combines two of the worst features of American life — violence, punctuated by committee meetings, which football calls huddles. Now accumulating evidence about new understandings of the human body — the brain, especially, but not exclusively — compel the conclusion that football is a mistake because the body isn’t built to absorb, and can’t be adequately modified by training or protected by equipment to absorb, the game’s kinetic energies.
My fiancé has already said that that our children will not be allowed to play football. At this point, it is tough to argue against that declaration.
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How Bad is the Red Sox Medical Staff
> Of course, it’s unfair to pin all of this on just the medical staff. It seems obvious that there was pressure from the front office to bring these players back earlier than expected, but even so, the last few years have to call some of the practices of both the front office and the medical staff into serious question.
> Obviously, all the blame for the mess this organization has become can’t be placed on just one group or branch of the staff. Yet, with this year’s team breaking the record for most games missed via the disabled list, the Medical Staff has to raise a few eyebrows.
I have been asking this question for some time. It will be interesting to see if this season results in ownership cleaning house with the medical staff this offseason.
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A Follow Up to Firing Bobby V
More coverage from [Over the Monster](http://www.overthemonster.com/), this time in reference to a [Pete Abraham column](http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2012/08/firing_bobby_va.html) saying firing Bobby V will not fix anything.
> That doesn’t take away from the overall value of Abraham’s points here. Valentine wanted Franklin Morales to start. He didn’t injure all of these players, and the training staff is in charge of deciding who rests and who plays when it comes to injuries. He’s been a huge proponent of Will Middlebrooks from the start, and is currently trying to keep Ryan Lavarnway in the majors.
Actually, that is what I want too. So maybe I was (https://johnkiv.us/2012/08/06/over-the-monster-on-whether-bobby-valentine-should-be-fired/) to say he should be fired? If anything, this proves the Red Sox have a difficult decision to make.
[Over the Monster](http://overthemonster.com) analyzes [John Tomase](http://bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view.bg?&articleid=1061151173&format=&page=1&listingType=sox#articleFull)’s piece that calls for Bobby Valentine to be fired now:
> This late into the season, with the Red Sox no longer in the hole that surrounded them in the campaign’s early going, things should have turned around in terms of the team respecting Valentine. If that hasn’t happened, fair or not to Bobby V, then something should be done. As said before, though, that’s if this is all true, and I’m not sure anyone knows what is besides those involved in the situation itsel
I am in the “fire Valentine now” camp. Get an interim manager to finish out the season, but get rid of Valentine now. I really wanted him to work out, however, the Red Sox are just not playing well with him at the helm. Make the change, hand the team over to the young guys, and get ready for 2013. At least that would keep some fans, myself included, interested this season.
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Posnanski on Usain Bolt
> And that’s when everybody in the stadium knows, when everyone watching on television knows … Bolt will win. The mystery is solved. No sprinter on Earth, no sprinter who has ever lived, can run the last 50 meters like Usain Bolt. And so he begins to pull away. The sound in the stadium is now one huge scream of anticipation. The announcer had said before the start that there were more than two million ticket requests for this night and this event. These are the 80,000 who made it into the stadium, and they are determined to see history. They are seeing it.
Great column on a great race.
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The End of this Year’s Red Sox
Yesterday’s game felt like the end of this year’s Red Sox. Time to blow things up. Let the young guys play. Get ready for next year, when hopefully they won’t get hit with so many injuries,
*See, e.g.,* [Providence Journal on how losses against bad teams are killing the Sox season](http://blogs.providencejournal.com/sports/red-sox/2012/08/losses-to-lousy-teams-killing-red-sox-chances.html), and [Over the Monster’s recap](http://www.overthemonster.com/2012/8/4/3220808/red-sox-4-twins-6-im-going-to-laugh-and-laugh-when-they-fire-bobby).
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Fastest Woman Alive
The 100m races are still some of the most exciting moments in sports.
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Reddick with the Artful use of the Pie
I miss him Reddick on the Red Sox.
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Watkins Suspended for the First 2 Games
Dabo had to do this. Still, I hope it doesn’t send the season into an early tailspin.
Dabo gets another one.
Two excellent pieces up on Yahoo Sports:
[Pat Forde with more of a recap](http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/rss/Dan+Wetzel/SIG=144t0e8kk/*http%3A//sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics–usa-s-gabby-douglas-crowned-olympic-champion-in-dramatic-gymnastics-all-around-final.html):
> Douglas, however, is now the unquestioned champion of women’s gymnastics.
and [Dan Wetzel with more of a profile](http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/rss/Dan+Wetzel/SIG=142q3g9oj/*http%3A//sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics–gabby-douglas–gold-medal-smile-belies-her-fierce–cold-blooded-competitive-desire.html)
> It’s the smile that will forever be one of the signature images of these Olympics, the smile that will sell a million boxes of cereal or sneakers, the smile that will beam off countless magazine covers to come.
>And it is the smile that will haunt every other competitor she left in a heap behind her – the sweet, wonderful smile of one of the most cold-blooded sporting assassins you’ll ever find.
Both excellent and both worth a read.
The story of Daniel Rodriguez:
> Rodriguez served as an Army infantryman in both Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006-10. In October 2009, Rodriguez was wounded in the battle of Kamdesh after more than 400 Taliban insurgents stormed a small American base. Rodriguez took shrapnel in his legs and neck and a bullet fragment in his shoulder, but was awarded a Bronze Star of Valor and Purple Heart for his bravery in the fight.
I would say “well done Dabo,” but I bet this kid earned his spot. So, instead, well done Mr. Rodriguez. Well done.
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Clemson No. 14 in Preseason Rankings
That’s a good place I think. Not too much pressure early.