Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Thursday, August 8th.

OLYMPICS

I am officially out of intros for the Olympics... but that doesn’t mean the highlights are any less exciting:

Team USA:

• The women’s volleyball team won a tight match 3-2 against Brazil. Only one match remains to defend their gold medal from Tokyo.

• Tara Davis-Woodhall knew she won before she finished her competition. The American took home gold in the long jump, and rightfully celebrated with a sand angel. She also shared an embrace with her husband, who will be competing in the Paralympic games. American Jasmine Moore won bronze in the event.

• Grant Holloway broke away from the pack to win the 110 meter hurdles. It was an impressive and incredibly fast performance… check out the play of the day (below) for the other American gold-medalist in today’s track events.

Around the world:

• Noah Lyles was unable to pull of the rare 100-200 meter double. News broke after the race that Lyles had Covid a few days ago, so we’ll never know how that may or may not have affected the outcome. That shouldn’t take anything away from Letsile Tobogo of Botswana, who won the first ever gold medal in the event for the continent of Africa. You gotta love Tobogo pounding his chest before he crosses the finish line.

• The gold medal match in men’s field hockey between Germany and Netherlands came down to a crazy shootout. Each goalie made multiple saves, before the Netherlands eked out the victory.

• Speaking of shootouts, each othe women’s water polo semifinals were tied in regular time. Spain advanced over the Netherlands, while the US fell to Australia. Four very even teams playing one of the most underratedly difficult sports. Yes, I think I made up a new word– it’s distracting thinking about treading water for that long!

OLYMPIC BASKETBALL

Two great semifinal games took place yesterday in Paris. First, the home nation held off Germany. Victor Wembanyama did his thing and the French team closed strong. The second game, however, had a bit more drama…

• For three and half quarters, Serbia looked like they might pull off the biggest upset in basketball history. Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic led a well-oiled machine, as Serbia played tough defense and knocked down a ton of three pointers. They led by 13 going into the fourth quarter.

• Steph Curry had a seriously awesome day. His 17 points in the first quarter kept the US afloat, and his three-pointer with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter gave America the final lead. Curry finished the game with 36 points and nine threes. Not to mention that his new TV show “Mr. Throwback” came out on Peacock– I watched the first episode, and it’s not bad. Expect a full review next week.

• The closing lineup of Curry, Devin Booker, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Joel Embiid were unstoppable. 39-year old LeBron put up a triple double AND matched up against Jokic on defense for the entire fourth quarter. LeBron the greatest player of all-time, and I feel very confident saying that.

• Ultimately, the offensive firepower of this superstar group pulled ahead. A brief scare, but the US moves on to the gold medal match as expected…

MLB

Yesterday it was home runs– today we’re focusing on teams that are getting hot at the right time of the year:

• Behind two home runs from rookie Jackson Chourio, the Brewers beat the Braves 16-7. Milwaukee swept Atlanta, knocking them out of a wild card position. The Brewers, on the other hand, hold a seven game lead in the NL Central.

• After a comeback victory over the Pirates, the Padres have won five games in a row and 14 of their last 16. No team wants to face San Diego in the postseason.

• So maybe the Mariners aren’t winning as much as the previous two squads, but their victory last night is the sort of game that kickstarts a lengthy win streak. Veteran Mitch Haniger came up to bat with the bases loaded and two outs, down 3-1:

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Quarterback Nick Foles announced his retirement yesterday. A backup for most of his career, Foles led the Eagles to a Super Bowl win in 2017, defeating the Patriots.

The Chicago White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol, bench coach Charlie Montoya, third base coach Eddie Rodriguez, and assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar. New interim manager Grady Sizemore– yes, the same Grady Sizemore who was an oft-injured star outfielder in the 2000s– has the difficult task of not setting the record for most losses in a season, the goal being 15 wins in their final 46 games. America is watching.

PLAY OF THE DAY

Gold medal. World record. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone makes the 400 meter hurdles look easy:

A fascinating post-race interview with Mike Tirico, too.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

OLYMPICS: One last weekend of Olympics, so that’s all I’m putting on today’s schedule. Here are Friday’s must-see events:

• Women’s Basketball: USA vs Australia, semifinals at 11:30

• Men’s Soccer: France vs Spain, finals at Noon

• Track and Field: Medal events beginning at 1:30 PM

  • Eight gold medals on the line, including men’s and women’s 4×100 relays, women’s 400 meters, men’s 400 meter hurdles, and the conclusion of the women’s heptathlon.

• Breaking: Women’s final battle 2:00 PM

  • It’s the Olympic debut of breakdancing!

• Women’s Beach Volleyball: Brazil vs Canada, gold medal match at 4:30 PM

THIS WEEKEND’S BIG GAMES

MLB: Pirates @ Dodgers, 9:10 PM on Saturday

• So I may have spoke too soon, because there is one matchup that cuts through the packed schedule of Olympics closing weekend: Saturday night, we’ve got Paul Skenes vs Shohei Ohtani. That’s appointment television.

OLYMPICS: For one last time, catch all the action in Paris! Along with plenty of great track and field events and Olympic favorites like handball, four big USA teams go for gold this weekend:

• Women’s Soccer: USA vs Brazil, Saturday at 11 AM

• Men’s Basketball: USA vs France, Saturday at 3:30 PM

• Women’s Volleyball: USA vs Italy, Sunday at 7 AM

• Women’s Basketball: (most likely) USA vs France/Belgium, Sunday at 9:30 AM

CLOSING CEREMONY, Sunday at 3 PM, replay on NBC at 7 PM: The Paris games end, and the countdown to LA 2028 begins…

Hope you all enjoyed the past two weeks of Olympic coverage! Enjoy your weekend, and see you back on Monday for another week of The Remix.