2014 Winter Olympics Preview

Men's Ice Hockey

Semyon Varlamov
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There are three groups for men's ice hockey, Group A, Group B, and Group C. Group A features host country Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United States. Russia and the US are the two favorites of Group A. Russia's possible front line of Pavel Datsyuk, Evegni Malkin, and Alexander Ovechkin could be deadly for defenses. A big question for Russia is who will start in goal for them, Sergei Bobrovsky or Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov has been outstanding this year, while Bobrovsky has struggled after winning the Vezima Trophy. The right choice is to go with the hot glove of Varlamov. After winning silver in 2010, the US are looking to win their first gold medal since the Miracle on Ice in 1980. The Americans are strong in net with Jimmy Howard, Ryan Miller, and Jonathan Quick. Even though all three have struggled at one point this year, the expectations for all three are high. I think Miller and Quick will both play in the first few games and whoever plays the best will be the starter for the playoffs. Slovakia is no team to sleep on. Led by Zdeno Chara and Marian Hossa, they can be a surprise team. Slovenia, which only has one NHL player (Anze Kopitar) on it's team, will have a tough time against more talented teams. 

Austria, the defending gold medalist Canada, Finland, and Norway are the four teams in Group B. Canada has a high powered offense and defense. Their fourth line may feature Rick Nash and/or John Taveres, two former number one picks in the NHL Draft. The team has many pair of teammates who will most likely play on the same lines, which will help with chemistry. They should be favorites. Finland has outstanding net minders in Antti Nieni and Tuukka Rask. They will keep the opponents from scoring a lot of goals. The offense will need to score for them to succeed. 

Daniel Alfredsson
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The final group features the Czech Republic, Latvia, Switzerland, and Sweden, the number one ranked team in the world. Sweden are one of the favorites in the tournament. Their offense is led by Daniel Alfredsson, Daniel Sedin, Alexander Steen, and Henrik Zetterberg, while the defense is headlined by Erik Karlsson. With Henrik Lundqvist in net, they are strong in every phase of the game. The Czech Republic will also have a competitive team led by New Jersey Devil teammates, Patrik Elias and Jaromir Jagr. Latvia and Switzerland will have trouble against tough competition and will be lucky to make the quarterfinals. The four favorites to win gold are Canada, Russia, Sweden, and the United States, with the Czech Republic, Finland, and Slovakia being dark horses. 

Ski Jumping

There will be four ski jumping events in Sochi. They are men's individual normal hill, men's individual large hill, men's team large hill, and women's individual normal hill. The women's event is the first time women will be competing in ski jumping. The current World Champion is 19 year old American Sarah Hendrickson. Hendrickson is coming off a knee injury suffered in August and has only returned to skiing last month. If she can place, let alone win, she may become the star of the Olympics. The favorites for the men's events are Austrian's Thomas Morgenstern and Gregor Schlierenzauer, Slovenia's Robert Kranjec and Peter Prevc, and Poland's Kamil Stoch. The favorite for the team event is Austria. They won the last two gold medals at the Olympics and the last five gold medals at the World Championships.

Curling

Norway's Curling Team showing off their uniforms
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Sweden has won the last two gold medals in the women's event, but this year, they may be able to take home their first ever men's gold. The Swedish team is being skipped by Niklas Edin and includes Sebastian Kraupp, Fredrik Lindberg, Viktor Kjaell, and Oskar Eriksson. This group have curled together for years and are the current European and World Champs. The team from Norway will be vying for the gold medal as well after winning silver in 2010. Skipped by Thomas Ulsrud and vice-skipped by Torger Nergaard, four of the five curlers have Olympic and Olympic medal game experience. Nergaard is the only member of the 2002 gold medal winning team on this year's team. It would not be surprising if these teams meet in the gold medal match. Great Britian's women's team may be young, but they are favorites for the gold medals. All team members are less the 25 years old, yet they still won the World Championships last year. Skipper Eve Muirhead is a four time World Junior champion and is the youngest skipper ever to win a world championship. Now, she hopes to become the youngest skipper to win an Olympic gold medal. 

Bobsleigh

US Driver Steven Holcomb is looking to lead his two-man and four-man team to gold medals. In Vancouver, Holcomb and his team won the gold medal in the four-man, the first for the USA in the event since 1948. Now, he leads a four-man team of himself, Curt Tomasevicz, Steve Langton, and Chris Fogt to Sochi with hopes of winning the gold medal again. Some of the top competitors for the gold medal include a German team led by Maximilian Arndt, a team from Latvia piloted by Oskars Melbardis, a team led by Beat Hefti from Switzerland, and a Canadian team driven by Lyndon Rush. For the two-women's  Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse of Canada look to repeat as gold medal winners.

Luge

Felix Loch
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German Felix Loch is the favorite for the gold medal in men's singles event. Loch won the gold medal in Vancouver with a time of 3:13.085. He also won the men's singles gold medals in 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2013. His gold medal win in 2008 at the age of 18 made him the youngest winner in history. He also won the gold in the team relay in 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2013. If Loch does not win the men's singles, it would be one of the biggest shocks of the Olympics. The defending gold medalist in women's singles is Tatjana Hufner. The German won gold in Vancouver and bronze in Torino. She won gold at the 2012 World Championships and silver in 2013. The current World Champ is fellow German Natalie Geisenberger. The two countrywomen should be the two main competitors for gold. 

There is a new event in luge this year, the Team Relay and an updated event, the doubles. The doubles is now only a men's event. It was a mixed event from 1964 to 2010. The Team Relay involves a men's luger, a women's luger, and a doubles team. All the sleds start at the beginning of the course. When one luger finishes, he or she will hit a touch pad that will inform the next luger to go. It is a relay race. In both events, Germany are the favorites and it will be shocking if they don't win.

Countries with One Athlete

Hubbertus von Hohenlohe
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There are seventeen countries that will be sending one athlete to compete in Sochi. They are Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tongo, Venezuela, US Virgin Islands, and Zimbabwe. Malta, Paraguay, Timor-Leste, Tongo, and Zimbabwe will be competing at their first Winter Olympics. The one Mexican athlete is alpine skier Hubbertus von Hohenlohe, the second oldest Olympian ever at 55. Hohenlohe is competing in his sixth Winter Olympics, his first being the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo. He is not only a skier, he is also a descendant of German royalty and a singer. He has never won a medal at a Winter Olympics and finished 78th in the men's giant slalom and 46th in the men's slalom in Vancouver. Tonga's only Winter Olympian this year is Bruno Banani. Banani's born name is Fuahea Semi, but he changed his name in 2008. He originally did not give a reason why he changed his name, which happens to be the same name as a German underwear company. However, it was later revealed to be a marketing ploy. Banani took up luge in 2008 when he was asked by the government to start competing in an attempt to send an Olympian to the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Independent Olympic Athletes

The three Indian athletes who qualified for the Winter Olympics will not compete under India's flag. Instead, they compete under the Olympic flag and be Independent Olympic Participants. The Indian Olympic Association is currently suspended by the International Olympic Committee due to hiring tainted officials. The suspension is to be lifted when new elections are held on February 9th. Since the Olympics start on the 7th, India will still be suspended when the Games begin meaning they will be ineligible when the Olympics start. The athletes who qualified are still allowed to participate. The athletes are Luger Shiva Keshavan, Alpine Skier Himanshu Thakur, and Cross Country Skier Nadeem Iqbal.

Mascots

The 2014 Winter Olympics Mascots
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There are three mascots for the 2014 Winter Olympics. They are the Hare, the Leopard, and the Polar Bear. The Ray of Light and the Snowflake are the Paralympic Mascots. With all the controversy surrounding the games, it is not surprising that there is controversy with the mascots as well. When the mascots were first announced, there were charges of vote-rigging. The Leopard, a favorite of then Russian Prime Minister (now President) Vladimir Putin, was said to have gotten more votes because of Putin's approval. Also, the Polar Bear was accused of being the same as the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics mascot. The mascots should not have a big part of the Olympics, so there should be no more controversy surrounding them. 

The Chicago Cubs New Mascot

Clark
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The Chicago Cubs were one of the four teams in Major League Baseball without a mascot. Now, there are only three. The Chicago Cubs introduced a new mascot Monday. His name is Clark. He is a cub who wears a backwards hat and a Chicago Cubs home jersey. While his name seems to be random, there is actually a reason for it. Clark is named after the intersection where Wrigley Field is located. The intersection is at Clark Street and Addison Street. 

When the gates open on April 4th at Wrigley Field for the Cubs season opener, there will be a new part of the stadium. Clark will have his own clubhouse, fittingly named Clark's Clubhouse, where he will be during a lot of the game. Also, Clark will not be a distraction to the game, which means no dancing or going on to the field. 

Clark is a true Cubs fan. His favorite vacation spot is Mesa, Arizona, the location of the Cubs spring training facility. His number will be 1. One has not be worn by many stars in the Cubs history. Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx and Richie Ashburn wore the number at the end of their careers. The last person to where the number was Cody Ransom, who wore the number in 2013.

From the June 20th, 1916 edition of Chicago Daily Tribune 

The Cubs last had a mascot in 1916. The mascot that year was a live bear named Joa. The man who presented the Cubs with Joa, J. Ogden Armour, is who he was named after. After the season, Joa was sent to the Lincoln Park Zoo, the local zoo. The Cubs say that Joa is Clark's great-grandfather. There has been a unofficial mascot, Billy Cub, since 2007. Billy Cub was started by a Cubs fan and has never been a affiliated with the franchise. He has been filled with controversy as he is not wanted by the Cubs and many fans. However, Billy Cub still plans to attend the games at Wrigley this year.

I was surprised that the Cubs decided they needed a mascot because I did not think that there was a need for a mascot. However, I understand their reasoning. It makes Wrigley Field more kid/family-friendly. They also hope that it will end of getting rid of Billy Cub, who they openly dislike. When first hearing about it, I was indifferent to the decision. While I am a fan of mascot, there was no need for a mascot. As time goes on, I fill become a fan of Clark, even if I will never like his name.

Some final tidbits about Clark:

• His birthday is in August
• His favorite color is Cubbie Blue
• He throws and hits righty

2012 Summer Olympics in London Preview

2012 London Summer Olympic Logos
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The 2012 Summer Olympics are being held in London. This is going to be London's 3rd ever Olympics. The 1st was held in 1908 and the 2nd in 1948. The 1908 Olympics were supposed to be held in Rome, but due to a volcano eruption, London got to host the Olympics. The 1948 Olympics were the 1st held after World War II and the 1st in 12 years since the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. 

The selection process for the 2012 Olympics started in 2003 when London announced they were bidding for the 2012 Olympics. In 2005, they won the vote to become the host of the Olympics. Then, in 2008, the Olympic Flag went to London from Beijing. Then, from 2011 to a few months ago, test events called London Prepares were held to prepare London for the Games. 

Now, it is time for London to be on the Worlds Biggest Stage. It has been 9 years in the making  with ups and downs, highs and lows. London will shine with the light on them. Here is the Olympics Preview of sports and a look at some of Olympics uniqueness.

Basketball

The United States basketball team, for both men and women, are the favorites for both tournaments. The women's team hasn't loss an Olympic game since 1992, making them the large favorite to win. The men's team has some challengers that believe they can beat them. These teams include 2008 runner-ups Spain, Brazil, Argentina, and France. Russia also has a chance, led by former NBA Forward Andrei Kirilenko, but I don't believe they will be much of a threat to the US team. 

The US will most likely face Spain in the final. Spain has what the US doesn't, big men. They have the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc, and Serge Ibaka coming off the bench. Their backcourt features Raptors' Jose Calderon and former NBA player and currently on Barcelona's basketball team Juan Carlos Navarro. Also in the backcourt is former NBA player Sergio Rodriguez. Rudy Fernandez, who just left the Denver Nuggets to play for Real Madrid, is also on the team. Ricky Rubio, who is out with a torn ACL, is going to missed a point guard to be a back-up or even a starter. 

Brazil also has good big men. The Wizards' Nene, Cavilers' Anderson Varejao, and Spurs' Tiago Splitter. Leandro Barbosa of the Pacers is going to be a key player in the backcourt for them. Argentina is going to be led by the Spurs' Manu Ginobili, Bucks' Carlos Delfino, and Suns' Luis Scola. Guard Pablo Prigioni, who recently signed with the Knicks, will be a key to success for the team. France is not just Tony Parker. They have Nicolas Batum at small forward, Boris Diaw, Kevin Seraphin, and Ronny Turiaf as the big men. These teams look to be very good.

The US Team Pumped Up
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I predict that the US will win. They have the best all-around roster, even with 1 true center (Tyson Chandler) and 1 power forward who has played in NBA (Kevin Love, the other PF, Anthony Davis, was drafted 1st overall in the 2012 Draft). All 3 of the big men need to be strong off the glass and be a force in the post on defense. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are the leader for this team and are going to perform very well. Those 2, and Kevin Durant, need to be consistent scorers. Carmelo Anthony needs to bring scoring as the 6th man off the bench. Andre Iguadala is going to be a big help to the team. He is probably the 2nd most veristale player on defense in the NBA, 1st is LeBron. He going to be a big help on the team. Chris Paul is going to be a great distributor. Deron Williams will do a good job also at the point. 

Football (Soccer)

The Olympic Football Tournaments for the men and women are different, but somewhat the same. For the men's tournament, each team has a minimum of 15 players that must be born before January 1st, 1989 and can have 3 overaged players play on the team. For the women's team, they can send the national team. The US women look to their 3rd consecutive Gold Medal and 4th in the last 5 Olympics (This is the 5th Women's Soccer Tournament in the Olympics history). Japan is looking to win the Olympics after winning the Women's World Cup. The Men's tournament has many good team's looking to win, like Brazil, Spain, and Great Britain.

Alexandre Pato (Wearing 17, not 9, for the Olympics) and Neymar
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Brazil is my pick to win the Men's Olympics Football Tournament. They have won 5 FIFA World Cups, but never an Olympic Gold Medal. Brazil has some of the best forwards in the world. AC Milan's Alexandre Pato, Santos' Neymar, 1 of the 3 overaged players Porto's Hulk, and Internacional's Leandro Damiao. The other 2 overaged players are Defenders Real Madrid's Marcelo and Thiago Silva, who just moved from AC Milan to Paris Saint-Germain. The front line are going to score a lot of goals and all have experience on the Brazil national team. 

Spain has won the last 2 European Championships and the last FIFA World Cup. Adding an Olympic Gold Medal would be very. 2 goal-scorers in the 2012 Euro Final are on the team, defender Jordi Alba, who recently was moved to Barcelona, and striker Juan Mata of Chelsea. In net, for the team is Manchester United's David De Gea. The 21 year old started 29 games in the English Premier League and 39 games in all of the competitions Man U competed.

Great Britain is uniting to compete in the Olympics for the 1st time since 1960. However, no players from Scotland and Northern Ireland made the sqaud. There are 13 players from England and 5 players from Wales on the team. Manchester United and Wales' Midfielder Ryan Giggs is playing in his 1st major tournament. Giggs is a Man U legend (He's 38 years old and 1st played for Manchester United in 1991 and hasn't ever left) and is well deserving of being a member of the team. Other notables on the include Man U and England's Tom Cleverly, Man City and England's Micah Richards, another overaged players, Liverpool and Wales' Craig Bellamy, the other overaged player, and Chelsea and England Ryan Bertland

Athletics

Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt
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The big debate going into the athletics portion of the Olympics is the growing rivalry between Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. Usain Bolt won the gold medal for the 100 meters, 200 meters, and was a member of the gold medal winning 4x100 relay at the 2008 Olympics. He currently has the 100 meter Olympic Record (9.69 seconds) and World Record (9.58 seconds) and the 200 meter Olympic Record (19.30 seconds) and World Record (19.19 seconds). Bolt is trying to become the 1st sprinter ever to win two Gold Medals in both the 100 meters and 200 meters in back-to-back Olympics. Yohan Blake beat Bolt at the Jamaican trials in both events. These 2 are the favorites for the the 100 and 200 meters. They will also be on the Jamaican team competing in the 4x100 meters, also making Jamaica the favorites in that event. 

Going from the shorter track events to the longer events, Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele has 1 the last 2 Gold Medal in the 10,000 meters and won Gold in Beijing and Silver in Athens in the 5,000 meters. He has the World Record (26:17.53) and Olympic Record (27:01.17) for the 10,000 meters and the World Record (12:37.35) and Olympic Record (12:57.82) for the 5,000 meters. Bekele is looking to become the 1st person ever to win 3 straight Gold Medal in the 10,000 meters

The Men's Decathlon has 10 events that are going to be held over 2 days. On the 1st day, 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400 meters. On day 2, 110 meters hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1,500 meters. Ashton Eaton is the current World Record holder, breaking the previous record this year with 9039 points. In the Women's Heptathlon,  the 7 events will be also be held over 2 days. The events include 100 meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and the 200 meters, which will be held on day 1. The long jump, javelin throw, and 800 meters will be held on day 2. Jackie Joyner-Kersee has both the Olympic and World Record  with 7291 points from the 1988 Olympics. Defending gold medalist, Natalyia Dobrynska of Ukraine, is back to defend her title. 

Swimming 

Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte
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Swimming is going to be about Michael Phelps vs. fellow American Ryan Lochte. Phelps won Gold Medal in all of his 8 events at the 2008 Olympics, and is 3 medals away from having the most medals in Olympics history. However, Lochte has beaten Phelps many times and could be in his way of more Gold Medals to add to his collection. Michael Phelps is swimming the 200 meter IM (individual medley), 400 meter IM, 100 meter butterfly, 200 meter butterfly, 4x100 meter freestyle relay, 4x100 meter medley relay, and the 4x200 freestyle. Ryan Lochte is in the 200 meter IM, 400 meter IM, 200 meter freestyle, 200 meter backstroke, 4x100 meter freestyle relay, 4x100 meter medley relay, and the 4x200 meter freestyle relay. That means there are 2 events where they go head-to-head and 3 where they team up. That means that every race is going to count to see who is the best. 

The US women are going to be led by 17 year old Missy Franklin. Franklin is going to be swimming in 7 events, 100 meter freestyle, 200 meter freestyle, 100 meter backstroke, 200 meter backstroke, 4x100 meter medley relay, 4x100 meter freestyle relay, and 4x200 meter freestyle relay. Franklin has never been in an Olympics, but she is expected to do really well. If the women want to do really well in swimming, they need to follow the lead of Franklin. 

The longest swimming competition is the marathon, which is 10km and is held in open water. There are no heats, just a finals in which 25 competitors compete. This is only the 2nd time the marathon is going to be held at an Olympics. It was 1st held in Beijing, where Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands won with a time of 1:51:51.6. He has retired from swimming. For the women, Russia's Lara Ilchenko won with a time of 1:59:27.7 at the '08 Olympics. She is not going to defend her title. 

Gymnastics 

At the 2008 Olympics, China was the top team in gymnastics. The men's team dominated by winning 7 of the 8 artistic gymnastics gold medals . The women's team won 2 of the 6 gold medals for artistic gymnastics. For the trampoline events, China won the gold for both men and women. The US has a chance to do some damage this year in London. 

The US Women's Gymnastics Team
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The US women's team is being called the best gymnastics team that the United States has ever sent to the Olympics. The team is lead by Jordyn Wieber and Gabby Douglass. Both are expect to perform very well and battle each other for the gold medals. Wieber won 2 gold medals at the 2011 World Championships. Douglass defeated Weiber at the Olympic Trials. For the US to do well, these 2 need to be leaders and win.

The Men's gymnastics team will be led by Danell Leyva and John Orozco. Leyva is a world champ on the parallel bars, making him the favorite for that event. Orozco won gold in the All-Around at the US National Championships. The US team won the bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships, as they will try to improve on that in London. The 2011 World Champion on the All-Around portion was Japan's Kohei Uchimura, who is gold medal threat in that event and a few others. 

Water Polo

Water Polo for both men and women started at the beginning of a century. Men's water polo began in 1900 in Paris, women water polo was fist held at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The United States were the runner-up in both the men and the women's competition. The United States have never won a Gold Medal in Water Polo.

Hungary in 2008 Receiving Their Gold Medals
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The US men's team is looking to win it's 1st gold medal after coming so close in 2008. It was the 1st time they medaled since 1988. The men's team have to watch out for Hungary. Hungary is the returning Gold Medalist, having won the last 3 gold medals. Hungary has 9 Gold Medals in total and 15 medals overall. Since 2008, however, they haven't finished higher then 3rd in major tournaments. In the European Championships, they finished 4th in 2010 and 3rd in 2012. In the World Championships, they finished 5th in 2009 and 4th in 2011. Peter Biros, Zoltan Szecsi, Gergely Kiss, and Tamas Kasas are looking to win their 4th gold medal, which would make them have the most gold medals in water polo history. All 4 are going to have to be very good to win the 4th gold medal. 

The women are the favorites to win the women's tournament. They have medaled in every Olympics, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. They came in 1st in 2009 and 6th in 2011 in the World Championships. They won the World Cup in 2010. At the 2011 Pan American Game, they came in 1st place. In the FINA World League, they came in 1st place in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. They are looking for the lead. Heather Petri and Brenda Villa are looking to win their 1st gold medal and 4th medal overall.

Badminton 

Badminton has 5 events, men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. Badminton was 1st held in Barcelona at the 1992 Summer Olympics. All of the events, except for mixed doubles, were 1st played in 1992, mixed doubles were 1st held in 1996. This year looks to be a very good year for badminton. 

Wang Yihan
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The men's singles number 1 seed is Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. The Beijing sliver medalist is trying to get his 1st gold medal and Malaysia's 1st gold medal in badminton. His silver medal in 2008 was Malaysia's 1st since medal 1996. Lin Dan is the 2 seed and reigning Gold Medalist. "Super Dan" has won 4 World Championships, including the most recent championship in 2011, won Gold at the Asian Championships in 2010, and won 2 Asian Championships. Lin Dan is married to 2008 Olympics Women's Singles Silver Medlaist Xie Xingfang. These 2 players are my picks to be in the final. 

For women singles, the top 3 seeds are from China. They are Wang Yihan, Wang Xin, and Li Xuerui. Wang Yihan won the 2011 World Championship in London. Wang Xin has won a silver and bronze medal at the World Championship. The 4th seed is India's Saina Nehwal, winner of the 2010 Commonwealth Games women's singles. She went to the Quarterfinals in the 2008 Summer Olympics and in the last 3 World Championships. She has a good chance of making a run to the finals. 

For men's doubles, China's Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng are the number 1 seed. They were the runner-up's in the 2008 Olympics. They have 4 Gold Medals from the World Championships for doubles. The women's doubles favorite are Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang from China. Yang won a Gold Medal in Beijing with Du Jing for doubles. The Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang won the 2011 World Championship. Mixed Doubles 1 seed and 2011 World Champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei are looking to win their 1st Gold Medal. 

Olympic Stadium
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Olympic Stadium 

The Olympic Stadium is a new stadium made for the Olympics. It is in Olympic Park in Stratford, London.  It has an 80,000 seat capacity, but only 25,000 of the capacity is permanent. A temporary upper tier hold 55,000 people. The permanent lower tier hold the other 25,000 spectators. The temporary and permanent mix of a stadium has never been attempted before for an Olympic Stadium. It is going to the host Athletics, the Opening Ceremony, and the Closing Ceremony. The Stadium is surrounded by water on 3 of it's side. 

Wenlock and Mandeville
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Mascot

The mascot for the 2012 Olympics is Wenlock. His partner and 2012 Paralympics mascot is Mandeville. Wenlock is named after the town of Much Wenlock which held and still holds the Wenlock Olympian Society, a forebear of the modern Olympics. Mandeville is named after the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, which was where the Paralympics were created. The two are drops of steel from mills in Britain. To tribute London taxi's, each has a taxi light on their forehead and have their initial in it. The mascots also have their own Facebook and Twitter accounts.  

Mascot Put On The DL

The Potomac Nationals are currently 8-8 in the 2nd half standings and 39-47 overall. That has them 2nd in the Carolina League's (An Advanced-A League) Northern Division. However, a major injury has happened to the Franchise. Not to the team's leading power hitter Justin Bloxon, speedster Blake Kelso, or the team's leader in wins, Trevor Holder. No, it is the team's mascot, Uncle Slam.

Uncle Slam
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Uncle Slam is the only mascot of the P-Nats. He has been with the ball club since it became the Potomac Nationals in 2005. He is the team's Director of Fun and, their #1 fan. He was born on July 4th. Uncle Slam is a switch-hitter and throws righty. He likes to watch Potomac's games, help with contests with at Pfitzner Stadium (Home of the Potomac Nationals), meeting fans, participating in local events, signing autographs for fans, and playing baseball. He even has a facebook and a myspace page. 


Uncle Slam was injured in a fire at Pfitzner Stadium that happened on June 29th. The Nationals have put him on the 60 Day DL, retroactive to July 4th. He is going to return at the start of the 2013 season.


Not only is this a big loss for the team, but it also puts them under the minimum for mascots per team in the Carolina League. They need to have at least 1 mascot according to league rules. They are looking to sign a mascot to fill the void. The deal would be for two months and they would receive baseball bucks, Chili's lemonade, Chick-fil-a sandwiches, and the opportunity to see fireworks every Saturday night. 


This is a very unique situation. I have never heard of a mascot going on the DL. I've never heard of signing a mascot to a baseball franchise for two months. However, it would be a good opportunity for an experienced mascot in the area who is available for the next two months. I do wonder what it will be like when Uncle Slam comes back next year.