Well, ‘tis hot as hades here in the Natural State with copious amounts of dust and leaves all around – welcome to the dog daze of summer. From where I sit, it’s been an awfully peculiar year, weather-wise. Basically, autumn cannot arrive soon enough.
Meanwhile, across the pond in France, the Olympics are in full swing, and the U.S. is reeling in precious metals by the boatload, comfortably leading the total medal count over the host country, China, and Great Britain in these Summer Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.
Razorback volunteer assistant track and field coach, Ryan Crouser, a-beast-and-a-half-of-a-man, made Olympic history on Saturday when he secured his third consecutive gold medal in the shot put, after launching the 16 lb. metal orb 75 feet, 1 and 3/4 inches and eclipsing his nearest competitor by six whole inches (might as well have been a mile in Olympic field events).
Crouser, who hails from Portland, Ore., owns the world record toss of 77 ft., 3 and ¼ in. and 11 of the 20 longest throws in the history of the sport. He won three gold medals at the World Championships and dominated the college scene as well, winning four NCAA titles while competing for the University of Texas. This guy is undoubtedly the GOAT of his sport, and Arkansas is lucky to have him coaching up its Razorback athletes, in exchange for the opportunity to train with the most elite NCAA program in the history of track and field. All thanks to the late and great John McDonnell, the legendary, soft spoken coach from Ireland who put Arkansas on the map in a huge way by flat-out dominating the sport for 36 years and racking up 40 Nattys along the way. Did someone say dynasty?
All in all, the Arkansas track and field teams are most well repped in Paris this summer. Razorback athletes can be found here, there, and everywhere in Stade de France as they put away their cardinal and white unis and don the colors of their respective countries of origin and compete for Olympic glory.
One not-so-little piggy went to Paris and won his third gold medal in a row; while, another piggy, Kaylyn Brown, anchored the 1600-meter mixed relay, set a world record, earned silver, and they screamed Woo Pig Sooie all the way home.
Coach Sam Pittman and his mighty Razorbacks kick off their season in less than a month against the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Sure, it’s gonna be a rout, bigtime, and as much as I hate pre-conference pasties, I am happy to see the Hogs pay and play an in-state team versus some cupcake from south Texas, or wherever.
Back in the day, Frank Broyles would never schedule any other Arkansas colleges, as he was a greedy sorta fella with a hint of paranoia who had zero interest in sharing the stage, or the coin, with any other local teams. Here’s to hoping that Arkansas St. and others will soon follow suit and show up on the schedule, and we can keep some of that buy-a-win money closer to home.
On Sunday the political scribe, John Brummett of Arkansas Demozette fame, chimed in on the state of Razorback football and Coach Pittman – “Fall practice has opened and there is hope and optimism, which is always a bad sign.”
GoHogs!