FREE WHITEWATER

Sports

Daily Bread for 9.8.24: Team USA Wheelchair Basketball Defeats Great Britain, 73-69

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 73. Sunrise is 6:28, and sunset is 7:15, for 12h 46m 45s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 24.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1760, during the French and Indian War, the French surrender Montreal to the British, completing the latter’s conquest of New France.


Led by Steve Serio’s near triple double in his final game, Team USA won their third straight men’s wheelchair basketball gold medal with a 73-69 victory over Great Britain.

It was a good day for America — and for UW-Whitewater — yesterday in Paris as the United States took its third consecutive gold medal in wheelchair basketball. Liam Griffin of the Wheelchair Sports Federation writes On Top Again: U.S. Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Tops Great Britain for Third Straight Paralympic Gold:

Paris, France (Sept. 8) — Winning two consecutive championships is widely considered one of the hardest things to do in sports. Three in a row? Even tougher.

Team USA men’s wheelchair basketball had none of that on Saturday at Bercy Arena.

Great Britain gave the U.S. all it could handle, but it wasn’t enough. Team USA pulled out a 73-69 victory to secure gold once again.

“This team has grown so much over the course of the last couple of years,” proclaimed Steve Serio, team captain. “We knew that Great Britain was going to be a great opponent, a really tough group of guys. Right now, we’re just excited that we won a basketball game and got to bring home another gold medal for our country.

“It feels awesome,” exclaimed Jake Williams [UW-Whitewater alumnus, profile @ Team USA], owner of a third gold medal. “Gold medals are never easy, and I think this was one of the hardest ones with only eight teams being in the tournament, they’re all really good, but we stayed together as a team and I’m definitely glad that we came out on top.”

….

The win is a bittersweet one for Team USA. Before the game, Serio made a major announcement. The opening ceremony flag-bearer revealed that the Paris Games would be his last.

“He definitely makes my job a lot easier,” said Williams. “Playing for Team USA has been so much fun, definitely the most fun I’ve had playing basketball.”


Boeing Starliner successfully returns to earth without crew:

Boeing’s Starliner capsule successfully returned from the International Space Station Friday evening with an empty cabin, leaving behind two test pilots who must now remain on the station for another five or six months.

Daily Bread for 8.17.24: Jai Alai, The Sport That America Forgot About

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 78. Sunrise is 6:04, and sunset is 7:52, for 13h 47m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 93.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1936, the state of Wisconsin issued the first Unemployment Compensation Check in the United States for the amount of $15. The recipient was Neils N. Ruud who then sold it to Paul Raushenbush for $25 for its historical value. The check is now at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Wisconsin was the first state to establish an Unemployment Compensation program.

On this day in 1978,  Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.


Jai Alai: The Sport That America Forgot About:

For much of the 20th century, jai alai dominated the Miami sports scene, attracting crowds as large as 15,000. Today, the sport is barely hanging on in America. So what happened? Well, it’s a wild story, one involving gangs, organized crime and murder. We caught up with decorated jai alai athletes Benny Bueno and Leon Shepard to get the scoop on the meteoric rise and subsequent fall of America’s forgotten sport.

Progress cargo spacecraft docks with space station in time-lapse:

Daily Bread for 4.6.24: Meet the Climbing Champion With One Hand

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 53. Sunrise is 6:25 and sunset 7:28 for 13h 02m 27s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 7.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1965,  Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit, is launched. 


Meet the Climbing Champion With One Hand | Super Power:


Meet the Mars Samples: Comet Geyser (Sample 24):

Happy Mother’s Day

?? Watch all five episodes: Run Mama Run. See also This Runner Went After Her Olympic Dream Just Four Months After Giving Birth. Elite runner Sarah Brown trains through an unexpected pregnancy to compete in the Olympic trials only 16 weeks after giving birth. Directed by Daniele Anastasion for espnW and ESPN Films.

Sunday Film: Aloha Nalu

ALOHA NALU from O’Neill on Vimeo. In this film, Steven Briand worked with Team O’Neill surfer and professional athlete Malia Manuel to capture a unique perspective on a single day’s surf session in Western Australia. Utilising drones for the majority of the videography, Steven plays with perspective, taking the viewer into, above, and beyond the…