U.S.A. Pulls Within One Medal in Sochi – NCAA-NBA-MLB Updates

Olympic Update

The United States fought for some more hardware at eh Sochi Winter Olympics on Wednesday.  Some of the winners include Kaitlyn Farrington.  She struck gold in the Women's Halfpipe, edging defending champion Torah Bright of Australia.  Bright got the silver.  American Kelly Clark captured bronze.  Julia Mancuso finished a frustrating eighth in the Women's Downhill.  Russia earned gold and silver and Germany garnered bronze in Mixed pairs Figure Skating.  The German pair picked up the gold medal in Men's Open Double Luge with America's tandem finishing 11th place.  Canada slipped past Team USA 3-2 in preliminary round Women's Hockey and the Netherlands won gold and bronze while Canada got the silver in Men's 1000m Speedskating as Americans Shani Davis and Brian Hansen finished 8th and 9th.

Current Standings (Subject to change Soon)

1. NOR with 13 Medals

2. USA with 12 Medals

3. CAN with 10 Medals

3. NED with 10 Medals

5. RUS with 9 medals

Most of us here in the United States are experiencing a blast of wintry weather, however, Sochi is warming up.  Temperatures in the mountains of Sochi, Russia neared 60 degrees Fahrenheit this week.  Olympic organizers have an emergency reserve of snow, but have not yet used it.  Athletes have been complaining about poor snow conditions in recent days and on Tuesday, a training run for the women's downhill course had to be canceled due to warm weather and soft snow.  Sochi is located in a subtropical corner of Russia where it never snows down on the coast and where the amount of snow on the mountains can vary dramatically from year to year.

NCAA Men's Basketball

The Syracuse Orange remain undefeated and go to 24-0 thanks to the dead eye long range shooting of freshman guard Tyler Ennis, he made a 35 footer at the buzzer to beat No. 25 Pittsburgh, final score 58-56.

Other Scores

No. 6 Villanova wins over DePaul 87-62

No. 14 Kentucky wins over Auburn 64-56

No. 20 Memphis wins over Central Florida 76-70

No. 24 Connecticut wins over South Florida 83-40

No. 8 Duke to be facing North Carolina, postponed due to severe weather.

NBA

Lebron James got busy Wednesday night and came through in the clutch.  The four time NBA MVP dropped a step back 3-pointer with two-tenths of a second remaining to finish off the Golden State Warriors   111-110.  James scored 36 points and pulled down 13 rebounds while dishing out 9 assists.

Other Scores

Mavericks over Pacers 81-74

Rockets over Wizards 113-112

Clippers over TrailBlazers 122-117

Kings over Knicks 106-101 OT

Spurs over Celtics 104-83

Nets over Bobcats 105-99

Cavaliers over Pistons 93-89

Timberwolves over Nuggets 117-90

Pelicans over Bucks 102-98

Jazz over 76ers 105-100

MLB News

Derek Jeter, following a frustrating injury in his 16th year, has announced this coming season will be his last.  In a post on his FaceBook page, the 39 year old face of the franchise, wrote: "So really it was months ago when i realized this season would likely be my last.  As I came to this conclusion and shared it with my friends and family, they all told me to hold off saying anything until I was absolutely 100% sure.  I will remember it all: the cheers, the boos, every win, all the plane trips, the bus rides, the clubhouses, the walks through the tunnel and every drive to and from the Bronx."