The Sports Report

By Caela

The 2012 London Olympic Games

The Opening Ceremony: The opening ceremony was one to remember for years to come. London did a great job. The ceremony started with the history of England. Farming was first, the industrial revelation was second, and the technology/modern era was last. The modern era included music by British singers from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and music of today. Then the entrance of the Queen came. It started in Buckingham Palace with the current James Bond (Daniel Craig) escorting the Queen to a helicopter that is to take them to the Olympic Stadium. Once the helicopter was above the Stadium, the Queen and James Bond parachuted out of the helicopter. The real Queen didn’t actually jump; someone did it for her so no one freak out. The ceremony also included demonstrations of some of Britain’s best selling fairytales, nightmares and books such as Harry Potter, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, and many others. It started with the nightmares like demons, ghouls, Cruela De Vil, Captain Hook, and Voldermort from Harry Potter. Then Peter Pan and Mary Poppins came to the rescue to chase the nightmares away. After that the March of Nations started with Greece leading, then all the countries alphabetically; the last country was Great Britain because they were the hosting country. As each country came out, they each had one of their athletes carry their respected flag. Alongside each flag bearer were two girls, one with the name of the country and the other with a copper petal that has that country’s name engraved on it. Each of the 205 petals went on 205 steel poles that were lying down near the ground. The Olympic torch was delivered to the Olympic stadium by David Beckham. David handed it to British Olympic hero Steve Redgrave. He gave it to seven of Britain’s teenager Olympians, who got to ignite the copper petals. As each petal caught fire they started to lift together to make one big cauldron. When they came together the crowd went wild because the 2012 Olympic Games had officially started.

The Games: In first place was the United States with 104 metals overall. China was in second place with 88 metals overall. Russia was in third place with 82 metals overall. Great Britain was in fourth place with 65 metals overall. Germany was in fifth place with 44 metals overall. Japan was in sixth place with 38 metals overall. Australia was in seventh place with 35 metals overall. France was in eighth place with 34 metals overall. South Korea and Italy were in ninth place with 28 metals overall. The Netherlands and Ukraine were in 11th place with 20 metals overall. Canada was in 13th place with 18 metals overall. Hungary, Spain, and Brazil were in 14th place with 17 metals overall. Cuba was in 17th place with 14 metals overall. Kazakhstan and New Zealand were in 18th place with 13 metals overall. Islamic Republic of Iran, Jamaica, and Belarus were in 20th place with 12 metals overall. Kenya was in 21st place with 11 metals overall. Czech Republic, Poland, and Azerbaijan were 22nd place with 10 metals overall. Romania, and Denmark were 25th place with 9 metals overall. Sweden and Colombia were 27th place with 8 metals overall. Ethiopia, Georgia, and Mexico were in 29th place with 7 metals overall. North Korea, South Korea, Croatia, and India were in 32nd place with 6 metals overall. Turkey, Lithuania, Ireland, and Mongolia were in 36th place with 5 metals overall. Switzerland, Norway, Slovenia, Serbia, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, Uzbekistan, and Slovakia were in 40th place with 4 metals overall. Tunisia, Thailand, Armenia, Belgium, and Finland were in 48th place with 3 metals overall. Dominican Republic, Latvia, Egypt, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Estonia, Malaysia, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, Moldova, Qatar, Singapore, and Greece were in 53rd place with 2 metals overall. Algeria, Bahamas, Grenada, Uganda, Venezuela, Portugal, Montenegro, Botswana, Cyprus, Guatemala, Gabon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Hong Kong were in 66th place with 1 metal overall.

The Closing Ceremony: The Closing Ceremony started with what was called Rush Hour showing us a day in the life of London. Next the Street Party started and it featured the following: Madness performed “Our House,” Pet Shop Boys performed “West End Girls,” and One Direction performed “What Makes You Beautiful.” The next segment was called One Day Like This which is when all the athletes and flags come in as one big group, also known as the Parade of Athletes. Here Comes the Sun segment is where we recognize the Marathon winner. A Symphony of British Music segment was next. Queen sang “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Then a sculpture of John Lennon was made as the Choirs of Liverpool and “Imagine” sang. George Michael was next and he sang “Freedom 90” and “White Light.” For the fashion segment, nine trucks drove out with pictures of Britain’s best models. Then Annie Lennox came out on a wooden boat singing “Little Bird.” Ed Sheeran, Richard Jones, Nick Manson, and Mike Rutherford performed “Wish You Were Here.” Russell Brand came in on a bus singing “I Am the Walrus.” After that, Fatboy Slim played “Right Here Right Now” and “The Rockafeller Shank.” Then three Rolls-Royce cars entered the stadium. In the first car was Jessie J who sang “Price Tag,” the second car had Tinie Tempah who sang “Written in the Stars,” and in the third car was Tiao Cruz who sang “Dynamite.” Then all three singers came together to sing the Bee Gee’s “You Should Be Dancing.” After that the Spice Girls sang “Wannabe” and “Spice up Your Life.” Then Beady Eye performed “Wonderwall” and “Mr. Blue Sky.” Eric Idel came out next and sang “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” Then Brian May and Roger Taylor appeared and sang “We Will Rock You” joined by Jessie J. The Handover Segment is where London passes the torch to the next city that will host the next Olympics so in this case the torch was passed to Rio de Janerio. The Closing of the Games is where the President of the Olympics thanks London for a great games and said see you in 2016 at Rio de Janerio. Then the copper petals came apart as Robbie Williams sang “Rule the World;” once the song was over the flame extinguished. The last act of the night was the Who performing “Baba O’ Riley,” “See Me, Feel Me,” and “My Generation.” That ended the 2012 Summer Olympics.


The 94th PGA Championship

The fourth and final major of the year was the PGA Championship. Rory McIlroy won the PGA Championship by eight shots over David Lynn of England. For this tournament we will follow Rory McIlroy, Tiger Wood, David Lynn, and reigning champ Keegan Bradley. Here is some information on Rory McIlroy. Rory is 23 years old. He is an only child. His parent’s names are Gerry and Rosie. His dad introduced him to golf when he was just two years old and he fell in love with it and has not stopped since. He currently is dating tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. Rory has six professional wins including this one. His first win was the Dubai Desert Classic at age 19. His second win was the Quail Hollow Championship at age 20 two days before his 21st birthday. His third, fourth, and fifth wins were the 2011 US Open, 2011 UBS Hong Kong Open, and  the 2012 Honda Classic all at age 22. His sixth and most recent win was the 2012 PGA Championship at age 23. He is the fourth youngest golfer to win two majors at the age of 23 years, 3 months, and 8 days even beating Tiger Woods by four months.

First Round: Rory McIlroy shot a 67 -5 under par one off the lead. Tiger Woods shot a 69 -3 under par three off the lead. David Lynn shot a 73 +1 over par seven off the lead. Keegan Bradley shot 68 -4 under par two off the lead. The leader was Carl Patterson who shot a 66 -6 under par.

Second Round: Rory McIlroy shot a 75 +3 over par to go to 2 under par two off the lead. Tiger Woods shot a 71 -1 under par to go to -4 under par to be tied for the lead. David Lynn shot a 74 2 over par to go to 3 over par 7 off the lead. Keegan Bradley shot a 77 5 over par to go to 1 over par 5 shots of the lead. The leaders were Carl Patterson, Tiger Woods, and Vijay Singh at 4 under par.

Third Round: Rory McIlroy shot a 67 5 under par to go to 7 under par. Tiger Woods shot 74 2 over par to go to 2 under par five off the lead.  David Lynn shot 68 4 under par to go to 1 under par to go to 1 under par 6 off the lead. Keegan Bradley shot 71 1 under par to go to even par 7 off the lead. The leader after round three was Rory McIlroy.

Fourth Round: Rory McIlroy shot a 66 6 under par to go to 13 under par for the tournament. Tiger Woods shot a 72 even par to stay at 2 under par for the tournament, 11 off the lead. David Lynn shot a 68 4 under par to go to 5 under par for the tournament, 8 off the lead. Keegan Bradley shot a 68 4 under par to go to 4 under par for the tournament, 9 off the lead. Rory McIlroy won the PGA by eight shots which is the biggest margin of shots to win the PGA breaking the record previously owned by Jack Nicklaus. Rory also won both his majors, the US Open and the PGA, by eight shots for a total of 16 shots. With this win Rory became World Number One. Congratulations to Rory McIlroy on his second major and becoming world number one. Good Luck for the rest of the year and the Majors next year.


Sports Events in September

MLB: There will be 408 baseball games in the month of September.

NFL: There will be 63 football games in the month of September. In week 1 there will be 16 games between Sep 5 and Sep 10. In week 2 there will be 16 games between Sep 13 and Sep 17. In week 3 there will be 16 games between Sep 20 and Sep 24. In week 4 there will be 15 games between Sep 27 and Oct 1, the Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburg Steelers have a bye week.

Men’s Tennis: The US Open is from Aug 27 to Sep 9. The APT Tour Open de Moselle and the APT Tour St. Petersburg Open are from Sep 17 to Sep 23. The APT PTT Thailand Open and the APT Malaysian Open are from Sep 24 to Sep 30.

Women’s Tennis: The US Open is from Aug 27 to Sep 9. The WTA Bell Challenge is from Sep 10 to Sep 15. The WTA Tour Tashkent Open is from Sep 10 to Sep 16. The WTA Guangzhou International Women’s Open is from Sep 17 to Sep 22. The WTA Hasol Korea Open is from Sep 17 to Sep 23. The WTA Tour Toray Pan Pacific Open is from Sep 23 to Sep 29. The WTA Tour China Open is from Sep 29 to Oct 7.

PGA Golf Tour: The Deutsche Bank Championship is from Aug 31 to Sep 9. The BMW Championship is from Sep 6 to Sep 9. The Tour Championship by Coca-Cola is from Sep 20 to Sep 23. The Ryder Cup is from Sep 28 to Sep 30.

European Golf Tour: The Omega European Masters is From Aug 30 to Sep 2. The KLM Open is from Sep 6 to Sep 9. The BMW Italian Open presented by CartaSi Sep 13 to Sep 16. The 2012 Ryder Cup is from Sep 28 to Sep 30.

Ladies PGA Golf Tour: The Kingsmill Championship is from Sep 6 to Sep 9. The RICOH Women’s British Open is from Sep 13 to Sep 16. The Navistar LPGA Classic is from Sep 20 to Sep 23.

Caela’s byline: I am the oldest of six children. I am a Christian. I love watching movies, playing on my computer, and I love watching sports. I want to go to Syracuse University, and eventually become a sports journalist. My favorite sports are hockey, football (soccer), and golf.

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