Daily Archives: September 13, 2023

After failing to medal during the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Team USA could bring a squad of superstars (including LeBron James) to the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

According to Shams Charania and Joe Vardon ofThe Athletic, despite a fourth-place finish in the Philipines, the future could be brighter for Team USA next year. The two insiders reported that LeBron James is ready to commit for next summer and is recruiting various other top players from around the league to join him.

Based on the reporting we have seen so far, these are the other stars who could potentially team up with James in Paris when the Olympics begin in July 2024.

Of course, lots can change between now and then. But in a perfect world, the 12-man roster would likely look a bit like this:

POSITION:Wing

AGE: 39.6

EXPERIENCE: 2012 (Olympics Gold), 2008 (Olympics Gold), 2007 (Americas Gold), 2006 (World Cup Bronze), 2004 (Olympics Bronze)

Despite not playing for Team USA in more than a decade, LeBron James reportedly has significant interest in playing in the Olympics next year. His interest was not related to whether Team USA won or lost at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

POSITION:Guard

AGE: 36.4

EXPERIENCE:2014 (World Cup Gold), 2010 (World Cup Gold), 2007 (U19 World Cup Silver)

Curry is reportedly viewing next summer as a last dance with UA Basketball, per The Athletic, and has spoken to James and Durant about teaming up in Paris. Curry has never played in the Olympics but has twice won the gold medal at the World Cup.

POSITION:Forward

AGE: 35.8

EXPERIENCE:2020 (Olympics Gold), 2016 (Olympics Gold), 2012 (Olympics Gold), 2010 (World Cup Gold)

Durant, who has reportedly had conversations with James and Curry about playing for Team USA at the Olympics, has a decorated background with the national team. He won FIBA World Cup MVP in 2010 and he is a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

POSITION:Big

AGE: 31.4

EXPERIENCE:2014 (World Cup Gold), 2012 (Olympics Gold)

Although he has not played for Team USA in nearly a decade, Davis won a gold medal with James at the Olympics in 2012 and gold alongside Curry at the World Cup in 2014. He would help provide the size in the frontcourt that Team USA needed at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. The big man led all players in the regular season and postseason for rebounds per game.

POSITION:Forward

AGE: 26.4

EXPERIENCE:2020 (Olympics Gold), 2019 (World Cup), 2015 (U19 World Cup Gold), 2014 (U17 World Cup Gold), 2013 (U16 Americas Gold)

Among all of the candidates for Team USA next summer, Tatum is one of the youngest and also one of the most decorated players mentioned. After he won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, he said he would like to play for Team USA again.

POSITION:Big

AGE: 34.4

EXPERIENCE:2020 (Olympics Gold), 2016 (Olympics Gold)

Green, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, would immediately help Team USA tremendously on the defensive end of the floor. He brings experience playing for head coach Steve Kerr, who could utilize him in his small-ball lineups that did not work as well during the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

POSITION:Wing

AGE: 27.7

EXPERIENCE: 2020 (Olympics Gold)

While he isnt mentioned as one of the players who has spoken directly to LeBron James about playing for Team USA, perThe Athletic, three-time All-Star Devin Booker reportedly has a serious interest in committing to play in the Olympics in Paris as well.

POSITION:Guard

AGE: 34.0

EXPERIENCE:2020 (Olympics Gold)

Lillard, like Booker, reportedlyhas a serious interest in committing to play in the Olympics in Paris as well. The seven-time All-Star is easily one of the best pure scorers in the world and so long as he is healthy, his offensive spark would help Team USA. Another name to consider in the backcourt is Tyrese Haliburton. He had the highest plus-minus of anyone on his team during the tournament.

POSITION:Big

AGE: 27.0

EXPERIENCE:2020 (Olympics Gold)

Team USA decided to switch everything when defending the pick and roll and there is perhaps no better player for that style of play than Bam Adebayo. He has experience playing for Team USA assistant coach Erik Spoelstra on the Miami Heat. Adebayo is widely considered a strong candidate to play in Paris.

POSITION:Wing

AGE: 22.9

EXPERIENCE:2023 (World Cup)

Team USAs leading scorer at the World Cup was Anthony Edwards, who is clearly an emerging superstar. He said he would love to join the team for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

POSITION:Big

AGE: 30.4

EXPERIENCE:N/A

If we are talking about the best-case scenario for next summer, there is no bigger swing factor in the 2024 Olympics than Joel Embiid. The NBAs reigning MVP is eligible to play for Team USA or Team France during the Olympics. Team USA managing director Grant Hill said Embiid knows our desire to have him on the team.

Originally posted here:

USA Basketball: LeBron James leads projected roster for 2024 Olympics - For The Win

At least one sportsbook seems to think the rumors that LeBron James is recruiting NBA All-Stars to play for Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics are true.

BetOnline has odds for which players will don the stars & stripes next summer and try to help Team USA win its fifth consecutive gold medal at the Olympics. To no one's surprise, James and Steph Curry lead the way with -1500 odds, with Kevin Durant not far behind at -1000.

James has not played in the Olympics nor for Team USA since 2012. He turns 39 this December, meaning next summer's Games will likely be his last chance to play for his country. He's surely not going to waste that opportunity, hence why he's reportedly assembling a superteam.

Curry has never played in the Olympics and has limited time with Team USA in general. He emerged as a key player for America during the 2014 FIBA World Cup, which was the last time he represented the United States.

With the reports that Team USA will bring its very best to Paris next summer, sportsbooks quickly acted and established the United States as the clear frontrunner to win gold. Since NBA players were allowed to play in the Olympics in 1992, the United States has medaled every time and won gold in seven of the eight editions of the Games.

Other players favored to play for Team USA include Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Draymond Green and Anthony Davis. The Americans were favored to win the 2023 FIBA World Cup but were upset in the semifinals by the eventual champions Germany.

More here:

LeBron James, Stephen Curry favorites to play for Team USA in 2024 Olympics - ClutchPoints

The three Abrahamic religions share the story of Jacobs wonderful dream (Genesis 28). As Desmond Tutu tells it in his Children of God Storybook Bible, following a fight with his brother Esau, Jacob fled into the desert to hide. One night, as he slept, he dreamed of a ladder reaching to the sky with angels going up and down. Then God stood beside him and said, I will be with you and protect you and keep you safe. When Jacob woke up, he realized God is in this place, and I did not know it. So he took a stone and blessed it with oil and said, This is Beth El, the house of God and the gate to heaven.

My adult son David, who is intellectually disabled, has played Special Olympics sports for fifteen years. Basketball, softball, on occasion track and field or bocce ball, most recently volleyball. I have attended more practices, games and tournamentslocal, regional and state-widethan I can count.

Over the years I have experienced Special Olympics as Beth Elthe house of God. Like Jacob, I see God in this placewhich I did not initially expect.

Many people have heard of an incident that happened at a 1976 track-and-field event in Spokane, Washington. A Special Olympics contestant stumbled and fell during the 100-yard dash, and one or two other athletes turned back. They helped the runner to his feet and walked across the finish line together. I regularly see similar moments of grace at Special Olympics events.

The basketball game is nearly done. One player, severely autistic, runs up and down the court at random or stands alone stimming. All the other players are actively involved in shooting, passing and dribblingexcept one. Then his team gets the ball, and the woman holding it stops the game. Approaching the young man, she calls Michael, come and play. Taking him by the hand, she leads him to the basket, places the ball in his hands and urges him to shoot. He does. Both teams and the crowd of parents go wild with applause and cheersand tears. This is a holy momentBeth El, Gods Kingdom of inclusive love is in this place.

Its the opening ceremonies for the statewide Special Olympics basketball tournament. A disabled athlete enters the darkened arena carrying the torchshe is circled by five uniformed police officers who run with her. The torch is passed to other runners, but the officers stay close by, accompanying them around the perimeter to the lighting of the flame. I wipe away tears and contemplate the Special Olympics logo, depicting five figures in a unifying circle. I am seeing the reality of how the world is meant to be: the weakest and most vulnerable surrounded and assisted by the strongest and most powerful. Beth El on a Friday night in Bloomington, Illinois.

David is up to bat. Truth be told, hes one of the poorer players with an uneven batting record. Then Nate walks up to the chain-link fence behind home plate. Hes one of the best players, often delivering home runs. The contrast between Nate and David is striking, but there he is cheering David on. Hey man, you can do it! he shouts. The ball is low, but David swings and misses. Rats! Nate is undeterred: Watch for your pitch! he encourages. You can do it. This is, once again, Beth El.

The difference between proficiency and deficiency evaporatesthere are simply two team members, two equal persons, two fellow human beings, two friends. A snatch of scripture floats through my mind: there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

The next ball is in the strike zone: David hits it square, drops his bat and makes it to first. Yay!

Many Special Olympics events take place on Sunday mornings, making them for me a particularly poignant experience of koinoniacommunion, sharing, fellowship. At competitions there is very little us-versus-them animosity. Of course we hope our team wins, but each side cheers the successes of the rival team and laments with good try when things go wrong. Athletes, parents and family, coaches and refereeswere one community, all in this together.

This is Gods Dream, Desmond Tutu says: God dreams about people sharing. God dreams about people caring. God dreams that we reach out and hold one anothers hands and play one anothers games and laugh with one anothers hearts. God dreams that everyone of us will see that we are all brothers and sisters. We are family because we are all Gods children.

This is the Beth El blessing I receive so often at Special Olympics. Its also the Beth El challengeto show Gods faithful love to everyone, without exception.

We are made for the togetherness which Special Olympics exemplifies. Its Beth El, a parable of ubi caritaswhere true love is, God is there.

Read the original here:

Special Olympics as Beth-el - The Reformed Journal Blog - Reformed Journal

Armed with a glass of red wine and a giant baguette, Peyton Manning is ready for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The 47-year-old former NFL star and his selection of famous French treats teamed up with NBC Universal to promote the network's coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games, which begin July 26 in Paris, France.

As Manning rides into view on a giant baguette to open the spot, he welcomes viewers to Paris, "home to French bread, wine, and now, the Olympics," he announces.

The spot then takes Manning into a conference room, where the beloved athlete tries to sell a table of marketing executives on his carb-filled idea of riding a flying baguette to promote the games.

The big flying baguette blimp doesn't go over well with the fictional marketing team, though, and Manning's appearance in the spot ends with him saying, "Remind me never to pitch bread stuff again," on a phone call after the meeting.

Manning tells PEOPLE that he's "excited" for the Paris Olympics.

I have always been a big fan of the Olympics andwe root hard for Team USA competing against the best in the world.

The 2024 Games will be the third time Paris has hosted the Olympics, along with the 1900 and 1924 editions. That ties the city with London for the most as a Summer Games host.

Since he retired from the NFL, Manning has enjoyed exploring opportunities in the entertainment industry.

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Manning's NBC promo comes during the same week as another hilarious campaign starring the former football player.

To promote the third season of ManningCast, co-hosted with his brother Eli, the Mannings held auditions for a third host slot on their popular series, meeting with celebrities likeDJ KhaledandLil Wayneand star athletes likeMike TysonandLSU's Olivia Dunne.

When the fictionalized auditions go poorly, Tom Brady (who will experience his first NFL season post-retirement this year) is shown seated in the audition waiting room with an adorable golden retriever.

"No, I didn't get theManningCastjob," Brady, 45, says on a phone call before ominous music begins. "I guess I'll just come back and play football again."

Originally posted here:

Watch Peyton Manning Prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics with a ... - PEOPLE

In a sport where athletes hang by boulders at impossible inclines and scale 15-metre walls in less than five seconds, every kilo matters.

Or so it seems, at least, to sport climbers who are looking for quick gains.

Less labour intensive or time consuming than training, cutting down on meals is often hailed as the ultimate shortcut to get faster on a climbing wall. Entering a gym with rail-thin climbers, where a starved frame leads to compliments rather than concern, endorses that attitude.

It is an environment that Garnbret, who got started in the sport at age seven, knows all too well.

Five days before the start of the 2023 IFSC Sport Climbing World Championships with all eyes on the then six-time world champion Garnbret made an Instagram post that sent ripples across the sports community.

A black and white photograph of the Olympic champion, it featured this raw caption: Do we want to raise the next generation of skeletons? Lets not look away.

In the text that accompanied the post, Garnbret detailed the problem of eating disorders in sport climbing and called for more awareness and action.

"This was a very, very sensitive topic, so it was very important to choose the right words," she told Olympics.com. "I didn't want to call out any names or [be] offensive. I just wanted to share my thoughts on it, so not being disrespectful in any way.

"I also have friends who were in this kind of position and I saw what was happening to them, and I just don't want any other person to go through something like that."

Eating disorders are common among elite as well as amateur sport climbers, and more and more of them are now starting to share their stories.

One athlete recalled the pride he mistakenly felt when his extreme weight loss earned him the monicker "Auschwitz Boy", while other climbers have opened up about their self-destructive patterns of starving, bingeing and then punishing themselves with excessive exercise.

"It starts off with how we talk about food. We have to talk about food as fuel and not a bad thing," Garnbret said. "We cannot close our eyes that climbing is a sport related to weight, so we have to fight gravity. And of course you want to be light, but not too light, and there's a thin line between being too light.

"We as a society, first, we need to openly talk about it. We need to talk about how we define what fit means, does it mean this or that. And we have to openly talk about it. Also coaches have to be really educated on that because you have coaches that are actually saying to their athletes that they need to be skinnier, but this is not sustainable and this is not the way to go. So first, we need to create a healthy environment that you can thrive in and that's the most important thing."

See more here:

Exclusive - Olympic champion Janja Garnbret speaks out on eating ... - Olympics