Random News and Notes -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Happy Thursday, Cards fans! We've been switching writing assignments this week like musical chairs with Daryl and I taking some of the heavier labor with assistance from Case on Monday. Things still remain fairly quiet in terms of UofL news.

Many student-athletes have started making their way back to campus to begin training and conditioning. The commitment of being a DI student-athlete comes with much sacrifice including a condensed summer. I usually wake up at 6:40 to get ready for work and even many of these student-athletes have already been awake for quite some time for their morning workouts.

Katy and I had to plan out what was going to be on tv with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics having started. The lady of the house enjoys her time watching Big Brother and the Bachelor/Bachelorette (whichever is currently in season), but I gave her the talk that we'll be watching the Olympics on the big tv in the living room. Being the nice fiancé I am, I went out to buy an HDMI cable to hook up the second cable box to the tv in the bedroom so she could watch her show while I enjoy rooting for Team USA.

Courtesy of US Soccer

Speaking of the Olympics and Team USA, it was an ugly start for the Team USA women's soccer, who dropped their opening match in group play to Sweden 3-0. We do have to look at many of the members of the USWNT have been on the roster for the last two FIBA World Cups, if not longer, and may not have the same fresh legs as some of their opponents. Europe has really beefed up their women's soccer teams in recent years. But one loss doesn't knock them out.

Only 12 teams compete in the Olympics for women's soccer. There are three groups of four teams, labeled Group E, F, G. They received those three group names to avoid confusion with the men's Groups A-D. The top two finishes in each group advance to the next portion. The next top two finishers also advance, giving the next round a total of eight teams. Thankfully, Team USA still has Australia (ranked 9th in the FIBA rankings) and New Zealand (ranked 22nd). Sweden is currently ranked 6th with the Americans continuing to hold the top ranking.

Monica Abbott, courtesy of NCAA.com

Team USA softball also started the Olympics already. In fact, they're two games in already. In their opening game, Team USA (ranked 1st in the WBSC rankings) took down Italy (ranked 9th) 2-0. Then, at 8:00 p.m., ET, last night, the Americans went up against Canada (ranked 3rd). It was a close one as Team USA walked away with a 1-0 win.

Like the Team USA women's soccer, the softball squad features some veteran players. 38-year-old Cat Osterman and 35-year-old Monica Abbott are on the team this year. Both players pitched in the 2008 silver medal finish with Osterman also playing in the 2004 gold medal finish.

For softball, just six teams will compete in the Olympics this year: USA (ranked 1st), Japan (ranked 2nd), Canada (ranked 3rd), Mexico (ranked 5th), Australia (ranked 8th), and Italy (ranked 9th). The third and fourth place finishers in the round robin pool play compete in the bronze medal game will the top two finishers will battle it out for the gold.

I have no plans to stay up until 2:00 or 4:00 and I'm certainly not going to bed at 8:00 and trying to get up for some of the listed game times, but I will gladly watch games when and where I can.

Believe it or not, I have photographed MBB

On one last note and semi-tied to UofL, congratulations to former Card and current Bucks player Jordan Nwora on becoming a world champion as the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Finals Tuesday night.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared