I believe I watched this year’s Summer Olympics more than any other Games in the past. The Games are now over and these are the athletes that stood out to me in Paris.
There was Simone Biles making her successful Olympic return with three gold medals, Katie Ledecky is now up to a record nine gold medals after proving she’s still queen of the pool once again and a split second victory for Noah Lyles in the 100 meters in track & field. Cole Hocker captivated the nation with his thrilling win in the men’s 1500m race to capture gold.
The U.S. comfortably took home the most medals at the Paris Games with 126, but they needed the women’s basketball team’s gold-medal win on Sunday to tie China with the most golds at 40 apiece.
As the Games came to a close, I asked myself why I do not watch Olympic sports during a non-Olympic year? I guess it is the power of the Olympics that draws us in.
Judging Judge
It took me a while to join the Aaron Judge fan club. Initially, I did not think the New York Yankee outfielder would go down as one of the game’s all-time greats like many predicted. I saw the talent, but he was often injured.
The reputation of being injury prone is gone. Instead, his reputation is one of being the best power hitter in the game. Former Yankee power hitter Reggie Jackson recently said that Judge has put himself in the realm of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
In his last 84 games, Judge has posted remarkable numbers to the tune of batting 382 with 36 homers, 88 RBIs, a .513 on-base percentage, .826 slugging percentage and 1.339 OPS. He now leads MLB in all those categories but batting average, plus he also leads in walks, intentional walks, and total bases.
Judge is up to 299 homers for his career, and will become the fastest by games ever to hit No. 300. Ralph Kiner holds that record, getting to 300 in his 1,087th game. Judge is on the precipice after only 952.
Yes, I feel we are watching an all-time great.
