ofan

Why would Saint Lucia be historic? They qualified for this event in Rio.

Hosszu in a class of her own. Poor turn there by Pickrem into the freestyle leg.

What a second half off the race for Macneil! Defeats Sjostrom!!

Welcome to the forum from a fellow Canadian! I just read your bio on your site, and it's very cool to see that you represented Canada in 1976 in Montreal. It's awesome to have an Olympian in our midst posting on the forum!

Its 11:00am

Looks like Kierra Smith will not make the final this time around

No, it was played indoors

Yes I know that, I just wish it weren't the case. The league has become far too diluted and dominated by superteams. With the exception of this upcoming season, for the past 10 or so years, there have always been at most only 3-4 teams that could win the championship. Since this is a thread about hockey after all, Seattle was the first American city to win the Stanley Cup - so yes, they are an important historical member of one of the big leagues. It is great to finally see the sport return.

@vinipereira do you know what the "branding" of these test events will be. For example, London Prepares or Acquece Rio...

Yeah, there should only be about 20 teams in the NBA at the most, and Seattle should be one of the cities. It's a shame what happened, but I'm hopeful we'll see a team there in the future - most likely as a result of relocation, because I can't see the league expanding any time soon.

Not to mention the awarding of an NHL team to Seattle was contingent on a new/renovated arena - Key Arena was not suitable to host hockey.

That's because they found an ownership group willing to do it. Howard Schultz is a jackass

What if you compared it to tennis? A country that does not care about tennis would no doubt prefer a grand slam win over an Olympic championship, assuming they win medals in other sports like Slovakia does

To continue the announcements, I myself will NOT be attending the Pan American Games to repeat my appearance at the 2015 Games.

In all fairness, wouldn't Slovakia benefit more from if he wins a major championship? No one really cares about the Olympic golf tournament as it currently stands.

Yeah, that seems to be their intention. However, they'll never be able to replicate the FIFA qualification system effectively, like they tried to do for this World Cup. The qualification games are played during the NBA season, and the NBA will never give a "break" for NBA players to play in these games due to a lack of interest. So we often end up seeing "C" squads qualifying the American team, but not actually getting to play in the tournament itself. It's a flawed system.

Yes, Sun Yang has always been a piece of trash. Hopefully he gets taken down in this doping investigation

"Our men's team is so weak" could be said about practically every Olympic sport for Canada

Nice to see MacNeil in 3rd, and both Canadians into the semis of the women's 200 butterfly

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the quota from this event will likely be the third place finisher, correct? Brazil and the United States will end up maxing out their two quotas in each event from the World Surf League standings in all likelihood.

Do you know if the entry lists are in order of World Ranking?

I don't think this is the best the Canadian team can be - Murray and Barrett in their prime should be quite a team. But yes, if Wiggins does not improve, his chances of making the team grow slimmer. Thompson benefits from the fact that we have fewer centers. They'll probably want to play next year if Canada makes the Olympics, because the reality is that not a single NBA player from Canada or the US give a shit about the World Cup. An Olympic medal is a different story.

Does this have anything to do with the current occupant of the White House?

Damn, that is a big blow. However, I am kind of excited to see if Brandon Clarke can now make the team, coming off of his NBA Summer League MVP performance.

I doubt it. He's cited personal reasons and it not being "his time" to compete on the international stage. Probably for the best, as he should focus this summer on bettering himself for the next NBA season. Does that mean we won't seem in a potential Olympics appearance next year? Not sure. It will all depend on if his game improves. While it's disappointing that we won't have him, since we are kind of weak at the swing position, I'm confident RJ Barrett can fill the gap. Every other position we're as deep as any other team outside of the US. The truth is, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think his absence will mean too much.