(PARALYMPICS)—Several Missourians have been competing for Olympic medals in the last few days in Paris—at the Paralympics.
Colleen Young, who was born with albinism and is legally blind, was in her fourth Paralympics as a swimmer, a silver and bronze medalist in the Tokyo games and a bronze medalist at Rio de Janeiro. She is part of the women’s 200 meter Individual Medley team. She was still several hours away from her first heat race as we prepared this report.
St. Louis University Occupational Therapy Professor Sarah Adam is the first woman to make the USA wheelchair rugby team, which knocked defending champion Great Britain of the tournament. Team leader Chuck Aoki, who passed to Adam for the backbreaking score in the game said, ““Sarah is a dynamic player offensively, and defensively too – she’s so fast and able to find gaps in the defense and attack, and that makes my job easier. Sarah is an absolute massive contributor.” Also on the team is Eric Newby, a graduate of Maryville University in St. Louis, who was the co-captain of the team after winning silver medals in the last two Paralympics. The USA team, however, lost in the gold medal game to Japan. Adam returns to her job at St. Louis U with a silver medal.
University of Missouri-Columbia sophomore Amaris Vazquez Collazo carried the Puerto Rican flag in the opening ceremonies as a competitor in the long jump, and as a blade runner in the 100 meter dash. Her parents moved to St. Louis when she was three years old, a year after she received her first prosthetic leg. She says she has told everybody since she was eight years old that she was going to compete in the 2024 Olympics. You can see her story at Bing Videos. She finished 12th in the long jump. The dash event is later this week.
Spencer Seggebruch of St. Louis is the pilot in paracycling, an event that matches a sighted “pilot” and a visually impaired stoker in the second seat of a two-person bike. He’s partnered with Branden Walton, a Windsor, California native who began losing his vision due to macular degeneration at age four. Their time of 4:10.29 in the 4000m qualifying race left them sixth and out of the running for the next round. They finished eighth in the trial for the 1000 meters.
Rachel Watts of St. Joseph nurse, who was diagnosed in 2018 with multiple sclerosis that fully affects her right side, finished her triathlon in 13th place in 1:42:15. She told KSHB-TV in Kansas City she would use the Paris experience to prepare for future competition, “I get to go learn how to race better at this level and really prepare for LA in 2028.”
(MIZ-NFL)—All NFL teams have finalized their 53-player rosters and a flock of former Missouri Tigers have made the big time or are sticking around to start another season. But some are not.
Cody Schrader impressed a lot of folks with the San Francisco 49ers but not enough to crack the backfield for the season. Almost immediately after he was waived, the Los Angeles Rams picked him up. He showed versatility for the 49ers with 48 yards rushing on 19 carries, four kick returns for 30 yards, and two pass receptions for eight yards. He’s likely to be a special teams guy with the Rams, a team that has three running backs on its roster already.
Darius Robinson, who went to the Arizona Cardinals in the first round of the draft, will miss the first four games of the season because he’s on the inured reserve list. He incurred a calf injury during training camp.
The Detroit Lions have kept cornerback Ennis Rakestraw and the Broncos start the year with cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine. Ty’Ron Hopper is on the Green Bay Packers roster. The Jacksonville Jaguars have kept tackle Javon Foster. The Indianapolis Colts have safety JC Carlies.
Where is Drew Lock now? New York Giants. But he got hurt in training camp.
Mekhi Wingo, who committed to Mizzou out of high school and spent one season in Columbia before transferring to LSU, made the Lions’ initial roster.
Some guys we remember didn’t make it on the opening game roster but will be on a practice squad. Tyler Badie is with the Broncos practice squad for a third year. The Dallas Cowboys cut Nathaniel Peat. We haven’t heard
Schrader was one of three recent Missouri running backs waived Tuesday. Tyler Badie was waived by the Denver Broncos, and former Rock Bridge standout and Missouri tailback Nathaniel Peat was waived by the Dallas Cowboys. No word on his possible landing place.
Also homeless are former Tigers Xavier Delgado, let go in the last round by the Buccaneers. Likewise for placekicker Harrison Mevis, waived by the Carolina Panthers.
Former Tiger DE Shane Ray appears to have called it a career. He’s been dogged by injuries throughout his career but has been healthy enough to pick up a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos in 2016 and a Grey Cup Canadian Football League championship with the Toronto Argonauts last year. (NFL-ZOU)
(TIGERS)—The Buffalo Bulls are the next warm-up team for the Missouri Tigers. It’s a mid-day Saturday game.
In search of something to talk about with the Bulls, we looked into why their team colors are blue and white. That does back 137 years when the medical school at the University of Buffalo began using blue ribbons to tie its diplomas. A little later, the pharmacy school started using white ribbons on its diplomas so people would know the difference between the two schools. Officially the colors are “UB Blue” and “Hayes Hall White.”
The Bulls won their first game of the season last Thursday, beating the Lafayette Leopards 30-13. They have a new coach this year, Pete Lembo, and hope to bounce back from last year’s 3-9 season. Look for C. J. Ogbonna at quarterback, a senior who transferred from Southeast Missouri State before last year’s season.
(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs start the NFL season Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens, having gone through the three-game exhibition season tuning up the veterans, filling some vacancies of backups with new talent from the draft or trades.
Running back Clyde Edwards Hillaire has been put on the non-football injury list, meaning he’s going to miss the fist four games. They’ve cut loose a couple of practice squad players and added a couple to the squad. On the squad is running back Emani Bailey, who was waived on the final cutdown, and 6-2, 307-pound tackle Marlon Tuiulotu who has played 28 games for the Eagles in three seasons. To make room for them, the Chiefs have released defensive tackles Matt Dickerson and Neil Farrel. Dickerson played in 12 games last year and Farrel played in three.
(BASEBALL)—Not a great week but an interesting one for our baseball teams.
(ROYALS)—The Royals couldn’t stand prosperity after pulling into a tie with the Cleveland Guardians. Their 4-2 Labor Day loss was their sixth loss in a row after taking three of four in Cleveland’s ballpark. . The Guardians, winners of four of their last five games to move 4½ games ahead of Kansas City. The Royals have dropped to third, a game behind Minnesota.
The Royals had a busy holiday weekend by picking up some veterans they hope will strengthen them in the last few games. They picked up Tommy Pham, who had been picked up by the Cardinals earlier in the month and had had a strong re-entrance to St. Louis and then an abrupt cool-down, and Robbie Grossman who had been bouncing around among teams for the last three years and had hit .238 for the Rangers in 46 games this year.
They made a cash deal for first baseman Yuli Gurriel, now 40 and three years beyond his AL batting championship. Yesterday he was 1 for 2 with a walk before leaving with a hamstring problem. Gurriel became attractive when the Royals’ leading RBI man, first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, went out with a broken right thumb that required surgery and is likely to end his season.
The Royals are hoping the new additions strengthen the top of their batting order. The team entered the weekend with the fifth worst team batting average in MLB (.231) and rank 30th in OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage).
(CARDINALS)—St. Louis continues to muddle along, struggling to get to or get above .500. they clawed their way back to it Sunday for the first time since August 12 only to lose yesterday to the Brewers 9-3. The Brewers got a major league record-tying day from Willy Adames, whose 13th three-run homer of the year helped them win for the sixth time in their last seven games. His home run tied a team record of homers in five consecutive games. Lem Griffey Jr., shares the three-homer/13 games record with Adames. The Brewers also got a grand slam from rookie Jackson Churio and a solo homer from Rhys Hoskins. Andre Pallante had a quadruple of fives—five innings, five runs, five hits, five walks.
Today, the Cardinals have scheduled Steven Matz to make his first appearance since April 30, who has been sidelined with a back injury. Before he went on the IL, he was 1-2 with a 6.18 ERA.
Jordan Walker is back in The Show for the Redbirds and they hope his game against the Yankees Sunday is an indication that the hitting faults that caused him to be sent down twice this year have been cured. He went 5 for 5, including his first major league home run of the season. He’s bene told he’s not going down a third time. He’s been told he’s going to be an everyday player.
Now, sports that are played on asphalt and concrete:
(NASCAR)—Chase Briscoe wrote a bit of a Cinderella ending to the regular NASCAR season by winning the last race that could give him a place in the championship runoffs. But his win meant curtains for the hopes of a couple of other drivers who were scrambling to get in.
Only sixteen drivers are eligible for the first three playoff races, after which the field is cut to twelve. Drivers who win one of the first 26 races are guaranteed a spot among the sixteen regardless of how many points they accumulate.
Briscoe’s win left only two spots open for winless drivers to get in on points—Martin Truex Jr., and Ty Gibbs. Gibbs and Truex ranked 9-10 in the regular points standings. It also meant that a fight between Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, and Ross Chastain for one of those spots became moot. Briscoe was 17th in the regular season points but his win put hm in the top sixteen. Buescher had the 11th best regular season points total but he’s out, as is Wallace, who was 12th in regular season points. Kyle Busch, whose mid-season poor finishes ruined his playoff chances, finished 16th in regular season points, but Briscoe leapfrogged him with the win.
Also in the playoffs is Harrison Burton, who finished 34th in the regular points standings. But he won a race, which guaranteed him a spot. One other winner was left out—Austin Dillon, 28th in overall points. But NASCAR ruled that his win would not count because he wrecked two competitors intentionally to finish first.
Tyler Reddick, who battled a severe stomach ailment throughout the race, finished tenth, confessing afterward that, “At one point, I was just waiting to puke all over myself. Thankfully they kept that from happening. A whole lot of other gross stuff.” He appreciated his crew that was “feeding me the right stuff in the car to help me manage it best as I could. Just smart people. Able to put the right stuff in my drink to help calm my stomach down.” His persistence earned for him the regular season championship by one point over Kyle Larson.
Briscoe’s win is only his second career Cup victory and it comes at a bittersweet moment. He drives for Stewart-Haas Racing, a team that will not exist next year because co-owner Tony Stewart is withdrawing from NASCAR. He’s moving to Joe Gibbs Racing next year and will replace Truex, who is retiring from fulltime Cup racing at the end of this year.
The first playoff race will be on the high banks of the Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend.
(INDYCAR)—Will Power has won 65 poles and 42 races including the 2018 Indianapolis 500 but is still looking for his first IndyCar championship. He’s 43 now, looking at a career twilight.
Last weekend he had a chance to take the IndyCar championship points lead headed into the last race of the season. But it slipped away and he goes to Nashville trailing leader Alex Palou by 33 points. IndyCar ran two races on the historic Milwaukee Mile last weekend—the oldest race track in continuous operation in the world—with Power finishing second to Pato O’Ward on Saturday, trimming eleven points off of Palou’s lead.
Then on Sunday, Palou’s entire season appeared in peril when his car would not start because of an electrical problem and he re-entered the race many laps down while Power was leading or running with the leaders and the Palou points lead was rapidly disappearing. But Palou soldiered on, gaining points as other drivers dropped out. Then things went sideways for Power who spun out while running in the top five. Power wound up the last car on the lead lap, in tenth place, while Palou, still 29 laps behind, had run enough laps to finish 19th.
(Powers teammate Scott McLaughlin won Sunday’s race, by the way)
IndyCar heads to Nashville in two weeks for its last race of the season with Palou up by 33 points, and headed to his third IndyCar championship in four years.
(FORMULA 1)—Charles LeClerc posted an emotional win for Ferrari in the Grand Prix of Italy at Monza. LeClerc said he had not seen himself as a potential challenger to McLaren this year but he sees his cars as being on par with McLaren “if we do everything perfect” on some of the remaining tracks but still a little behind McLaren and Red Bull.