Crim: The Olympics can still tug at the heart

Random observations now that the Cardinals have clinched the season series against the Cubs:

I didn’t realize it was a problem in need of a solution, but a change in the Illinois High School Association’s all-star game participation by-law went Into effect July 1.

The new rule prohibits high school students at IHSA schools from participating in all-star games until their high school eligibility in that sport is exhausted. While the original rule affected only football, basketball, soccer and volleyball, it now encompasses all IHSA sports, both for the high school and travel seasons.

Moreover, an athlete can play in no more than three all-star contests in a sport. It appears to pose no problems for the all-star contests sponsored in this area, including the Muddy River Showcase held each June, which are all played after their respective senior seasons. Rather, it seems the tweak is aimed more at athletes sho also play on travel or club teams.

Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky have been two of the biggest stars of the Paris Olympic Games so far.

Biles, already a winner in the individual all-around and team all-around, won a record-extending seventh gold medal in the women’s vault. She won the vault, floor and all-around titles in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and is now two-thirds of the way to doing the same in Paris, where she also has an opportunity to add a
balance beam title to her haul.

Meanwhile, Ledecky won the women’s 800-meter freestyle to capture her ninth gold medal, more than any American woman in history, and 14th Olympic medal overall. In winning that event for a fourth consecutive Olympics, she joins Michael Phelps as the only swimmer (man or woman) to accomplish that.

More on the Olympics from Golf Digest:

If you didn’t get a little choked up as an American while watching Scottie Scheffler wipe away tears on the podium during the playing of the national anthem after receiving his gold medal in men’s golf, check your pulse.

Another touching moment over the weekend was the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement of former Bears defensive tackle Steve McMichael, who was told by doctors he could expect to live two years after being diagnosed with ALS in 2020.

Unable to attend the ceremony, McMichael instead was surrounded by his wife Misty, daughter Macy and several former teammates, including Hall of Famers Jim Covert, Richard Dent and Mike Singletary, at his suburban Chicago home.

McMichael wore the gold jacket he had been presented with and his Hall of Fame bust was flown in from Canton and placed by his bedside. He then watched Jarrett Payton’s presentation speech playing on a monitor in front of him.

Could the World Series end before November?

The Fall Classic is currently scheduled to begin Oct. 25 and run through Nov. 2, if it goes seven games. However, if the American League and National League championship series end by Oct. 19 – meaning both wrap up in five games or less – Major League Baseball will bump up Game 1 to Oct. 22.

Such a scenario would mean players and fans would not have to endure a nearly week-long break between the LCS and World Series, a postseason buzzkill. Before you get your hopes up, though, both the ALCS and NLCS have ended in five games or less just five times since the current format began in 1985.

Remember when Mike Trout was considered the best player in baseball?

The Angels outfielder signed a 12-year, $426.5 million extension in March 2019 and went on to earn his third MVP award that season. However, his sure-fire Hall of Fame trajectory has since taken a dramatic turn. Trout missed 126 games in 2021 with a season-ending calf strain suffered in mid- May. He spent five weeks on the injured list with a back ailment the following season. He broke his hamate bone in early July in 2023 and returned for only one game in August.

Now he will undergo a second surgery for a meniscus tear in his left knee and miss the remainder of this season. Trout, who turns 33 on Aug. 7, has played only 266 games since the start of the 2021 season, including just 41 after the All-Star break.

With Sunday’s loss to the Twins, the White Sox became the seventh team in modern baseball history (since 1901) to have a losing streak of 20 games.

For now, the Orioles hold the American League record by beginning the 1988 season on a 21-game losing streak, while the 1961 Phillies own the modern record of 23 straight defeats.