ODDS AND ENDS

Well, the Tokyo Olympics will end today (already Sunday Tokyo time).  The Final Ceremonies air at 7AM EDT (1AM Hawaii time tonight) tomorrow.  

Left are the men's marathon in Sapporo and Japan vs USA in women's basketball.  Sure we won in men's basketball, and women's golf and water polo, but we lost to Japan in both the softball and baseball championship games.  Japan was strong, winning thirteen gold medals in judo and wrestling, the women especially, for they dominated in four of the six wrestling events.  

So who won the most medals?  If it's only gold, then China.  Total?  USA.  On the other hand, using medals per million people, the leaders are:

• #1  San Marino:  88.4
• #2  Bermuda:  16
• #3  Grenada:  8.9

What about medals/million for the larger countries?

• New Zealand:  3.9
• Australia:  1.7
• Great Britain:  0.9
• USA:  0.3
• China:  0.06

Wasn't that surprising?

What was the most heartwarming moment?  Maybe Simone Biles winning a bronze medal.  Or perhaps Laura Kraut getting a silver for a team equestrian jumping event.  She won a gold for this event 13 years ago in Beijing.  At the age of 54 she is the oldest woman winning any Olympic medal since 1904 when 58-year old Emily Woodruff won gold in archery.  

My pick, though, is Molly Seidel's bronze medal in the marathon.  She first ran this race in London last year.  In her next attempt, she was second in the U.S. Olympic qualifying meet.  This Sapporo marathon was only her third.

"I wanted to go and be that person who, when you're racing, they're all saying, 'Who the hell is this girl?'" Seidel said after the race. "I just wanted to stick my nose in where it didn't belong and get after it. The Olympics only happens every four years, you might as well take your shot."

Changing subjects to my topic of the day, I went to the Post Office to purchase some first class stamps of the 442 I posted on earlier this month.  The last time I actually went to the Post Office, and bought stamps, I think the price was something like 25 cents/stamp.  It is today 55 cents.  55 cents/stamp!  But they ran out of the Go For Broke stamp.  I shouldn't complain about price, for the inflation adjusted price has not changed in 40 years:

You probably did not notice, but the NFL preseason started this week.  Likely, few bothered to watch.

• The teams had none of this last year because of the pandemic, but once had four of them each. 
• The latest negotiations reduced this number to three with 17 regular season games.
• A particularly interesting one will be Week 3 of the preseason on Sunday, August 29, 4PM EDT, when Miami (Tua Tagovailoa at QB) plays Cincinnati (Joe Burrow at QB).  Except for one problem.  This is for fun, and it's possible neither will even play to save them for Week 1 of the real season.

NCAA football begins later this month, and they call it Week Zero, on Saturday, August 28.  Hawaii plays UCLA at 3:30 EDT on ESPN.  The national championship game will be held on Monday, January 10, 2022 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.  It should be Alabama vs Clemson.

NCAA women's volleyball starts later this month.  A four-team tournament begins play for the Rainbow Wahine on August 27, involving Marquette, Fairfield and Texas A&M.  We have a few tall freshmen coming from Europe and Turkey.

Shifting to Major League Baseball, the pitcher in Major League baseball with the slowest average velocity.  I yesterday happened to be watching Washington playing Philadelphia, and noticed that the Nationals pitcher Ryne Harper was tossing pitches mostly at around 70 MPH.  He is 30 years old and pitches in the major leagues with no velocity.  Well, his one fast pitch reached 86 MPH..

So I wondered, were there ever successful slow-ball pitchers in the Major Leagues.  Absolutely yes!  In miles per hour:

• Jamie Moyer:  threw 81.4 MPH on 59% of his pitches, but his average velocity was 79 MPH.
• Bronson Arroyo:  23% of his pitches were sliders at 74 MPH.
• Livan Hernandes' curve ball came at 67 MPH.

• 
  The all-time slow baller was Tim Wakefield:
• average of 72 MPH
• knuckle ball at 65 MPH
• curveball at 59 MPH.
• pitched 17 years for the Boston Red Sox from 1995 to 2012 (when he was the oldest player in the Major Leagues)
• nominated 8 times for the Roberto Clemente Award, winning in 2010
• won 97 games at Fenway park, #2 to Roger Clemens with 100
• As far as I know, there is no knuckleballer in the Major Leagues today.

Of course, there is the eephus pitch at around 55 MPH.  However, just this year, position player Willians Astudillo took the mound for the Minnesota Twins while trailing 15-4, tossed La Tortuga, the famous matzo ball at 47 MPH, which was hit for a homer by Vermin Mercedes, who is now out of the Major Leagues.

Then, of course there are the fast-ballers.  Seems like every team has a few who can hit 100 MPH.

• From the hitter's standpoint, if two balls come to you at 92 MPH and 100 MPH, when the 100 reaches home plate, the 92 is still 4.5 feet away.  The batter has 0.4 seconds to decide what to do, which is longer than a blink.
• It is estimated that Bob Feller's fastest went 107.6 MPH.
• 
  The radar gun came in 1974 and measured Nolan Ryan (right) at 108.5 MPH on 8August1974.
• Jacob deGrom
• 4-seamer:  99.2
• curve ball:  83 
• Arnoldis Chapman, the Cuban flamethrower (he was born in Cuba), has the Guinness World Record of 105 MPH.
• However,  Statcast recorded Aaron Hicks pitching a ball at 105.5 MPH.
• Statcast recorded Giancarlo Stanton hitting a ground ball at 123.9 MPH
• Officially, John Isner's serve at 157.2 MPH is the fastest hit tennis ball, although unofficially, Sam Groth served at 163.4 MPH.

• 

  Conner Powers in the 2014 World Long Drive Championship recorded a golf ball speed of 226 MPH.
• The muzzle velocity of a .338 Lapua Magnum is 2115 MPH, but a .38 SPL is only 750 MPH.
• The crew of Apollo10 travelled at 24,816 MPH.

• 
  NASA's Parker Solar Probe hit a velocity of 244,255 MPH.  
• If this speed could be maintained, it would take 275 million years to travel from one end of our Milky Way Galaxy to other end.  
• Going back in time 250 million years, Planet Earth faced something called the Permian Extinction, where life almost ended by an asteroid impact.  
• Almost another couple hundred million million years later, around 66 million years ago, another asteroid killed off our dinosaurs.
• 
  Thinking about Star Trek and traveling to the closest galaxy, which is Andromeda, is a whole lot more challenging.  What abut 17 quadrillion years to get there with the fastest space craft NASA has ever sent out, which is 17,000 trillion years, or 17,000,000 billion years?  Our Universe is not quite 14 billion years old.

The older I get the more I'm beginning to realize that I'm like other people around me.  I actually thought I was different growing up through my professional career into my retirement years.  Four years ago I made a monumental shift in my lifestyle.  To my shock, it turns out that virtually everyone my age does pretty much what I did, for the following was sent to me this morning: 

1. After loving my parents, my siblings, my spouse, my children and my friends, I have now started loving myself.

 

2. I have realized that I am not “Atlas”. The world does not rest on my shoulders.

 

3. I have stopped bargaining with vegetable & fruit vendors. A few pennies more is not going to break me, but it might help the poor fellow save for his daughter’s school fees.

 

4. I leave my waitress a big tip. The extra money might bring a smile to her face. She is toiling much harder for a living than I am.

 

5. I stopped telling the elderly that they've already narrated that story many times. The story makes them walk down memory lane & relive their past.

 

6. I have learned not to correct people even when I know they are wrong. The onus of making everyone perfect is not on me. Peace is more precious than perfection.

 

7. I give compliments freely & generously. Compliments are a mood enhancer not only for the recipient, but also for me. And a small tip for the recipient of a compliment, never, NEVER turn it down, just say "Thank You.”

 

8. I have learned not to bother about a crease or a spot on my shirt. Personality speaks louder than appearances.

 

9. I walk away from people who don't value me. They might not know my worth, but I do.

 

10. I remain cool when someone plays dirty to outrun me in the rat race. I am not a rat & neither am I in any race. 

11. I am learning not to be embarrassed by my emotions. It’s my emotions that make me human.

 

12. I have learned that it's better to drop the ego than to break a relationship. My ego will keep me aloof, whereas with relationships, I will never be alone.

 

13. I have learned to live each day as if it's the last. After all, it might be the last. 

14. I am doing what makes me happy. I am responsible for my happiness, and I owe it to myself. Happiness is a choice. You can be happy at any time, just choose to be!

 

The moral of this tale is...why can't we practice this at any stage and age?

 

One final story of another old man, Tony Bennett, who just turned 96 and is suffering from Alzheimer's.  Click on THIS to watch the making of his final album--Love for Sale--with Stefani Germanotta, also known as Lady Gaga.

-