NASCAR Best Bets: Motorsports Picks, Odds to Consider on DraftKings Sportsbook for the Go Bowling at The Glen – DraftKings Nation

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Watkins Glen is the fifth road course race of the season. Once upon a time, it was the second and final road course race there are still two more road course races after this weekend. With NASCARs change in direction, new stars have emerged but has the betting market adjusted?

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The payout isnt great, but it pays better than zero which is the likely result of picking another driver to win. Watkins Glen was cancelled last season, but in the last race at The Glen, Elliott led 80 of the 90 laps on his way to victory. He ran a mistake free stage 3 and held off one of the best, if not the best road course driver, in Martin Truex, Jr. In 2018, Elliott led 52 of 80 laps and just like the 2019 race, he made Truex the runner-up.

This season, Elliott has proved that he is the best road course driver in NASCAR and Truex will play second fiddle at the crooked courses. Elliott should have won the Daytona Road Course race in February, but a controversial caution flag in stage 3 cost him the win. However, the breaks went his way at COTA. He avoided wrecking in the monsoon and was leading when NASCAR decided to end the race early. He then went on to finish second at Sonoma behind a red host Kyle Larson. Finally, he won the inaugural Cup race at Road America by leading the most laps (24) after starting in 34th place. And for good measure, he has two wins at the Roval in Charlotte (2019 and 2020) and he won the first ever NASCAR Cup race at the Daytona Road Course (2020).

In the last race at The Glen, no one could get by Chase Elliott. Truex was the only driver that could run with him, but not by him. In stage 1 of that race, Byron was keeping pace with Chase Elliott, but then things fell apart. Kyle Busch dumped William Byron as payback for an incident earlier in the race, and Byrons then crew chief Chad Knaus ordered Byron to retaliate during the stage break. Byron complied, but in doing so, he destroyed the front end of his own race car and ended any chance he had of running up front. At Sonoma in 2019, Byron was a contender, but Chad Knaus chose to stage point race and forfeited track position twice. Byron earned a lot of points, but his 19th place finishing position does not reflect the quality of car or the talent of the driver. When mistakes are not made, Byron is easily a top 10 road course driver. The Hendrick Chevys have been dominant at road courses over the last several years, and especially this season. Byron is one late race caution and one wild restart heading into turn one, away from winning at The Glen.

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Its true that Chris Buescher's finishes at road courses are inflated by strategy, mainly pitting before the end of stages, but thats only half of it. Buescher doesnt pass his way to the front, but he also does not get passed when up front. As long as he doesnt wreck or suffer a mechanical failure, then hes a very safe pick to finish inside the top 20. All Buescher has to do is out race a handful of average drivers that are in weak equipment. Hes just as safe as the big team drivers, but with a lot better pay out. In the last 15 road course races, hes earned 15 top 20 finishes. Back when he won the Xfinity championship in 2015, one of his two wins was at a road course.

This is simple the SHR Fords are struggling this season and the RCR Chevys are fast. SHR could be focused on the Next Gen Car and the 2022 season or it could be personnel changes the SHR stable of drivers has been in flux over the last couple seasons and shop members have moved on to other jobs outside of NASCAR. Meanwhile, RCR is working hand in hand with Hendrick, and their Chevys are top-10 cars at every track. Dillon is not known as a road racer, but neither is Cole Custer. Over the last three road course races, Dillons worst finish is 13th. Custer finished 17th, 20th and 36th over that same span. This is not so much a driver pick, but an organization pick. Dillon is competitive because hes in great equipment. Custer hasnt figured out Cup ovals, let alone Cup road courses, but more importantly, his team is not consistently building fast race cars.

Place your NASCAR bets on DraftKings Sportsbook and bet online by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app.

Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game.

For sports betting, head over to DraftKings Sportsbook or download the DraftKings Sportsbook app.

All betting odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL).

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA/MI), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (NH/CO), 1-800-BETS OFF(IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA) or call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN).

21+ (18+ NH). CO/IL/IN/IA/NH/NJ/PA/TN/VA/WV/MI only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for full terms and conditions.

I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is greenflagradio2) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.

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NASCAR Best Bets: Motorsports Picks, Odds to Consider on DraftKings Sportsbook for the Go Bowling at The Glen - DraftKings Nation

Gaming Company Earnings Shed Light on Future Sportsbook Plans – The Action Network

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Several top U.S. sportsbook operators announced plans this week that will help shape the next wave of legal sports betting markets. Here are some highlights from these companies second-quarter earnings report and what to expect next:

No company made a bigger splash this week than Penn National Gaming, which announced it had acquired Canadian sports and betting information giant theScore. The $2 billion deal follows Penns acquisition of Barstool Sports, bringing two major North American sports media companies under its corporate umbrella.

Penn National CEO Jay Snowden said this week theScore, which for years has been a leading sports content provider and had plans to launch of a sportsbook under its brand, would spearhead the companys efforts in Canada, much as Barstool has in the U.S. Snowden estimated theScore could capture a third of the Canadian market once single-game wagering goes live in late 2021 or early 2022.

Penn now becomes a major player in the 37-million-person Canadian market, but they will not be alone. DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said Friday they too expect to pursue Canada licensure and other top operators such as Caesars, which operates a casino in Windsor, will likely follow suit.

This weeks earnings calls reaffirmed significant interest in Arizona, which is on pace to launch its first mobile sportsbooks Sept. 9. The following sportsbooks had previously announced market access deals, and most if not all could launch by the go-live date:

Notably, MGM has not yet announced a market access deal for its BetMGM app and is not positioned to launch on the go-live date. BetMGM is live in 12 states plus Washington D.C. and expects to launch in seven additional states before the end of 2020.

Prospective Louisiana sportsbooks are lining up before a projected fall 2021 launch.

Caesars recently announced a multimillion-dollar branding deal for the Louisiana Super Dome and the renovation of its Harrahs New Orleans property into a new Caesars Palace. The company also recently formalized its integration of former William Hill sportsbooks under the Caesars Sportsbook name in more than a dozen existing markets nationwide.

The company expects to be among the most aggressive marketers in Louisiana once sports betting goes live. CEO Tom Reeg said Tuesday the company will spend more than $1 billion in nationwide customer acquisition over the next two years.

DraftKings and BetMGM also reaffirmed Louisiana market interest during this weeks earnings calls. Additional American market leaders including FanDuel, which is not publicly traded in the U.S., are also expected to apply for one of the 41 potential Louisiana sports betting licenses.

With the highest per capita income of any state, one of the nations highest education levels and multiple high-profile sports teams, Maryland is a major target for many U.S. sportsbooks. BetMGM and DraftKings, both of which already have market access deals, reiterated interest in the Old Line State this week.

They will be joined by FanDuel, PointsBet and a host of competitors that have likewise secured market access or intend to do so. Penn National, which operates a Maryland casino, will also launch its Barstool Sportsbook app in the state

Marylands 60 potential mobile licenses are the highest cap of any state in the country. This means other growing sportsbooks such as WynnBet, which said Monday it will amp up its investments around the upcoming football season and in markets with NFL teams, will likewise seek Maryland licensure.

DraftKings and FanDuel have already earned two of the three states mobile, retail and iGaming licenses. The third operator, which is expected to be announced later this month, will partner with the state lottery.

The lotterys partner can not be directly affiliated with an existing casino brand. That means it will not be BetMGM, WynnBet or Caesars.

The nations least-populated state could still have multiple legal sports betting options this fall. DraftKings and BetMGM both projected Wyoming sports betting launches, and several more companies have expressed interest in the market.

Wyoming follows Tennessee as the nations second mobile-only sports betting state. It has some of the most business and bettor-friendly regulations and is the first market to explicitly allow cryptocurrency payments.

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Gaming Company Earnings Shed Light on Future Sportsbook Plans - The Action Network

Gural gives his annual state-of-The-Meadowlands address – Harness Racing Update

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FanDuel Sportsbook at The Meadowlands has been a track saver.

by Dave Briggs

Meadowlands Racetrack owner and CEO Jeff Gural gave his annual state-of-the-track address Saturday (Aug. 7) in a televised interview with Dave Little.

Gural told Little that The Meadowlands FanDuel Sportsbook has been instrumental in the tracks recent success. The sportsbook is an industry leader.

I believe its the number one sportsbook in the world, Gural said what Little mentioned it was the top sportsbook in the entire United States. Its directly linked (to the tracks revival) because we share in the profits with the horsemen, so a piece of the profits goes to the purse account for the horsemen. I think we may be the only sportsbook that does that. It helps me repay all the losses Ive had for five or six years while we were trying to hang on. Its been amazing how successful its been.

The sportsbook has been so successful Gural said it has lessened the pressure to bring a full-fledged casino to The Meadowlands.

Its not as necessary as it once was, because of sports betting, Gural said. I believe that when the casinos open in New York City, which I believe will be soon, in another year or two, people living in New Jersey will say, Why am I driving over the George Washington Bridge and paying $20 and sitting in traffic, when I could just go to the Meadowlands. So, Im just waiting for those down-state casinos to open in New York and see what the reaction is to people living in northern New Jersey.

Gural said another key to The Big Ms success, of late, has been political cooperation from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.

Without Governor Murphy, wed be in big trouble. (Former) Governor (Chris) Christie made every effort to put us out of business and Governor Murphy has done the exact opposite. The legislature has joined with them Craig Coughlin has been great, the senate leaders are great, so its been a partnership that has made a huge difference. Our purses are good. We were getting crushed, we couldnt compete. We were racing mediocre horses for mediocre purses and we were hanging by a thread here without their help, said Gural, who added that Christie didnt support horse racing because he was, a friend of the casino industry and he believed that you shouldnt subsize a business that cant stand on its own two feet. He didnt buy into the argument that the casinos have made it more difficult for horse racing to survive because we cant compete. By the way, the casinos are subsidized they have a tax rate in New Jersey of eight per cent and in Pennsylvania the tax rate is 55 per cent. New York its 40 per cent. The biggest subsidy of all is to the casinos, but they create a lot of jobs also, so its the same argument.

Thankfully I developed a friendship with (Christie) and he didnt have to allow me to buy the (Meadowlands from the state of New Jersey). He couldve said, Forget it, Jeff, were going to close it. So, I have a good relationship with him, but he just had a pragmatic view that if a business cant survive on its own then it shouldnt exist.

Gural also addressed his recent meeting with Meadowlands drivers where he asked them to stop giving holes. Little asked him if that meeting will result in something noticeable to the betting public.

It will definitely be noticeable, Gural said. The first day we tried it was a couple of weeks ago on a Friday and they closed the holes, with the exception of one or two.

(The drivers) made an argument to me, which I try to be reasonable, that 2-year-olds, you know, you dont want to cook them in their first one or two starts. So, I think thats a valid argument. They also made an argument that you shouldnt change the rules in the middle of the heart of our stakes season, so I said, Okay, Ill buy it, but I expect you guys to go along with the rule change when we open back up again in September. So, I would expect that people would see a different style. They are going to see the type of racing that I grew up with, because there were never any holes.

Somebody said, If courtesy is important to you, then you should become a matred and not be driving standardbreds at the Meadowlands and thats the view.

As for his own standardbred breeding operation, Gural said the horse breeding business is okay. Its not an easy business because things go wrong. Everybody thinks you breed a great mare to Muscle Hill or Walner and you get a beautiful horse, but, like I was telling you earlier, I had two mares that were in foal to Walner and when we rechecked them on July 1st, both of them had lost their babies.

So, now they are empty and I dont have two Walners to sell in two years. Obviously, its an advantage to have a farm in New York and Pennsylvania, but truthfully I use both of them as a place to go. New York is really where I spent almost the entire pandemic and then my kids came and its really a combination farm and second home. Pennsylvania is also a beautiful second home, but the casino is also up there, so I spend a lot of time when Im up there. Its worked out good from a quality of life standpoint Im not sure the economics (of breeding standardbreds is) that great.

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Gural gives his annual state-of-The-Meadowlands address - Harness Racing Update

NFL AFC North Division Odds and Lines: DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Preview – DraftKings Nation

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The AFC North was the best division in the NFL by record last season, collectively going 38-25-1, while three of its teams finished with at least 11 regular season wins. The Baltimore Ravens entered last season as the favorites, but lost both games against the rival Pittsburgh Steelers, one of which was a game that Lamar Jackson missed due to COVID-19. As a result, the Steelers got off to an 11-0 start, before ultimately just hanging on as the Ravens and the Browns surged in the later stages of the season. The Ravens won one playoff game but went on to lose to the Bills, while the Steelers and Browns matched up in the Wild Card round. The Steelers late-season struggles continued in that game, as the Browns advanced and nearly were able to knock off the Kansas City Chiefs in an effort to reach the Super Bowl.

Heading into the 2021 season, it seems as though the Browns momentum and the Ravens general prowess are factoring in heavily as far the betting odds are concerned, while the Steelers are a distant third in conference and divisional odds. The Bengals were a non-factor in 2020 with rookie quarterback Joe Burrow missing about half of the season due to a leg injury, and while they should be significantly better in 2021, its going to be a tough road for them with such a tough schedule of divisional opponents to go through.

See all NFL betting odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook NFL page or by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app.

Super Bowl Odds: +1400

AFC Conference Odds: +650

AFC North Division Odds: +115

Team Win Total: 11 (-120/+100)

To Make Playoffs: -300

Awards Contenders: Lamar Jackson (MVP +1600), Jayson Oweh (DROY +1600)

Week 1 Spread: -4.5 at Raiders

The Ravens had a disappointing season in 2020, and it was one that was impacted by injuries and COVID-19 to some extent, particularly in the second half of the season. Lamar Jackson missed arguably the most important game of the season for the Ravens, a road game in Pittsburgh that resulted in a 19-14 loss and cost them a shot at the AFC North. Nonetheless, the Ravens still won 11 games and got into the playoffs, and even won on the road in Tennessee in the Wild Card round. They went on to fall apart the next week in Buffalo, and while this would have been a successful season for most teams, the Ravens expectations were so high that this was clearly a let down.

Heading into 2021, the Ravens roster looks more or less the same, with a similarly prolific defense and an offense dependent on Jackson. The Ravens added two receivers, free agent Sammy Watkins and first-round pick Rashod Bateman, and this could go a long way in helping Jackson and the Ravens passing game reach the next level. The hype will be large once again, but it seems to be justified again too.

Super Bowl Odds: +1600

AFC Conference Odds: +800

AFC North Division Odds: +150

Team Win Total: 10.5 (-120/+100)

To Make Playoffs: -225

Awards Contenders: Baker Mayfield (MVP +3500), Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (DROY +1400)

Week 1 Spread: +6 at Chiefs

The Browns had moderate expectations to start the 2020 season, and were blown out in Week 1 in their first test against the Ravens. From that point forward, however, the Browns were one of the best teams in the NFL, winning 11 of their remaining 15 games to make the playoffs for the first time in nearly 20 years. The matchup in the Wild Card round seemed like a tough one, especially with all of the injuries and COVID-related problems that the Browns were dealing with, but they dominated the first half of the game and ultimately hung on to win 48-37. They lost to the Chiefs the next weekend despite a late-game injury to Patrick Mahomes, but it appears as though expectations are high heading into 2021.

The Browns roster is largely unchanged for the upcoming season much like the rest of the AFC North and the starting skill positions will look virtually the same as they did in 2020. The one possible exception here is Odell Beckham Jr., who only played in seven games last season after suffering an ACL tear. Beckham has a chance to be a factor in 2021, although it remains to be seen just how effective hell be coming off the injury. The Browns offense was quite good in 2020, especially on the ground with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, but the defensive liabilities may be enough to keep them a tier below the Ravens in 2021.

Super Bowl Odds: +4500

AFC Conference Odds: +2500

AFC North Division Odds: +500

Team Win Total: 8.5 (-135/+115)

To Make Playoffs: +140

Awards Contenders: Najee Harris (OROY +800)

Week 1 Spread: +6.5 at Bills

The Steelers started the 2020 season as well as anyone could have possibly expected, getting out to an 11-0 start while taking a commanding lead in the AFC North standings. They ultimately did wind up winning the division, but the second half of the season was amazingly unimpressive as they limped their way into the playoffs with one win in their last five games. The most embarrassing of these games was a loss on Monday Night Football against the Bengals in Week 15, a game in which the Steelers were favored by more than two touchdowns. Their poor play carried into the playoffs too, as they lost badly to the Browns in the Wild Card round.

Ben Roethlisbergers struggles were clearly among the most relevant problems towards the end of last season, but the Steelers are sticking with their aging quarterback heading into 2021. The Steelers have an elite defense and a good group of receivers, but one of the major offensive issues was that they got minimal production out of their running game. As a result, they spent their most recent first round pick on Alabamas star running back Najee Harris with the hopes of creating a more balanced attack to help out Roethlisberger. If the Steelers do manage to figure out how to create a strong rushing game, Roethlisberger might have just enough left in the tank to keep this team in the Super Bowl hunt, especially because the Steelers defense should be one of the best in the NFL once again. The odds arent as optimistic after the way this team fell apart in last seasons playoffs, but the possible path to success here isnt that tough to imagine.

Super Bowl Odds: +15000

AFC Conference Odds: +6500

AFC North Division Odds: +2500

Team Win Total: 6.5 (-130/+110)

To Make Playoffs: +500

Awards Contenders: JaMarr Chase (OROY +1000)

Week 1 Spread: +3.5 vs MIN

One of the youngest teams in the NFL, the Bengals were predictably inconsistent in 2020 with rookie quarterback Joe Burrow struggling at times but also flashing the upside that caused him to be the 1st overall pick in the 2020 draft. Unfortunately for him and the Bengals, Burrow suffered a torn ACL in Week 11 and missed the remainder of the season. He should be back at full strength in 2021, with many of the same skill players around him that will need to take some steps forward if theyre going to contend in the highly competitive AFC North.

The Bengals drafted wide receiver JaMarr Chase 5th overall in this years draft, and hell play alongside Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins, both of whom have shown decent potential early on in their respective careers. This could be a decent offense overall, but the Bengals are still most likely going to have a significant degree of problems on defense. This probably isnt their biggest concern for 2021, however, because the major issue is that theyll have to face one of the NFLs toughest schedules with six of their games coming against three divisional opponents that each won at least 11 games in 2020. The Bengals have a good chance to improve this season, but theyre probably another year away from really making an impact in the standings.

Place your NFL bets at DraftKings Sportsbook and bet online by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app.

Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game.

All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.

All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL).

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA/MI), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (NH/CO), 1-800-BETS OFF(IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA) or call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN).

21+ (18+ NH). CO/IL/IN/IA/NH/NJ/PA/TN/VA/WV/MI only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for full terms and conditions. Place your NFL bets at DraftKings Sportsbook and bet online by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app.

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NFL AFC North Division Odds and Lines: DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Preview - DraftKings Nation

NFL NFC South Division Odds and Lines: DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Preview – DraftKings Nation

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Football season is upon us, and that means its time to start previewing some NFL divisions from a DraftKings Sportsbook perspective. Below Ill break down all the odds in the futures market for the four teams in the NFC South.

Super Bowl Odds: +600

NFC Conference Odds: +275

NFC South Division Odds: -200

Team Win Total: 12

To Make Playoffs: -700

Award Contenders: MVP: Tom Brady (+1400), DPOY: Devin White (+1800)

Week 1 Spread: -6 (vs. DAL)

After an average 7-5 start to Tom Bradys career in Tampa Bay, he found a way to do it again ripping off eight straight wins to grab a Wild Card spot and win the Super Bowl. The 44-year-old quarterback battled through a torn MCL during the playoff run, and somehow seems poised for another big season.

The Buccaneers are the first team in the history of the salary cap era to win the Super Bowl and bring all 22 starters back the following season. Yet, because Tampa didnt actually win the division, it also gets one of the softest schedules in football. Well address the rest of the field below, but injuries aside, its tough to imagine the Bucs dont take the division this season, positioning them for another postseason run.

Super Bowl Odds: +3000

NFC Conference Odds: +1600

NFC South Division Odds: +350

Team Win Total: 9

To Make Playoffs: +100

Award Contenders: OPOY: Alvin Kamara (+1600), CPOY: Michael Thomas (+1200) and Jameis Winston (+1600), COY: Sean Payton (+1800)

Week 1 Spread: +2.5 (vs. GB)

One of the reasons that Tampa Bay is so heavily favored within the division is the quarterback turnover in New Orleans. With Drew Brees retired, we have a QB battle for Week 1 between Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill. As of Aug. 3, Winston is the -140 favorite to get the first snap in Week 1 on DraftKings Sportsbook, but thats a much slimmer number than we saw when the line opened.

Quarterback aside, Im not too high on the Saints for 2021. Sean Payton is a good coach, but I think betting this team to miss the playoffs at a reasonable number is worth considering. Michael Thomas will once again be sidelined for an extended period of time, headlining a group of Saints battling issues entering the season. Brees seemed to master the swing pass to Alvin Kamara, so well have to see if the new QB is also capable of helping Kamara put up the same numbers which wasnt always the case last season.

Super Bowl Odds: +8000

NFC Conference Odds: +3000

NFC South Division Odds: +900

Team Win Total: 7.5

To Make Playoffs: +190

Award Contenders: MVP: Matt Ryan (+3500), OROY: Kyle Pitts (+750), COY: Arthur Smith (+1400)

Week 1 Spread: -3.5 (vs. ATL)

The Falcons have taken some sharp money on the over for their win total, which on Aug. 3 is juiced to -130. Its not a huge ask, at 7.5 you could cash the over and still have an 8-9 losing season. Even with the loss of Julio Jones, Atlanta plugs in an elite pass-catcher in TE Kyle Pitts, who was selected with the No. 4 overall pick in the draft and should make an immediate impact on offense.

Its the same old issues with the Falcons defense. However, the old coaching regime that gave us questionable decisions at best is out, and Arthur Smith is in (and one of the Coach of the Year favorites). I dont see much value on the betting board for Atlanta unless you believe they have enough on defense to be a .500-type team. Pitts for ROY would be the only other consideration to beat out, but he has a tough QB and RB class to outperform.

Super Bowl Odds: +9000

NFC Conference Odds: +4000

NFC South Division Odds: +1000

Team Win Total: 7.5

To Make Playoffs: +210

Award Contenders: DROY: Jaycee Horn (+1400), OPOY: Christian McCaffrey (+1000), CPOY: Christian McCaffrey (+800) and Sam Darnold (+1800), COY: Matt Rhule (+1600)

Week 1 Spread: -4.5 (vs. NYJ)

Despite finishing 5-11 in 2020, the Panthers managed to stay out of the basement in the division (thanks to the Falcons). Matt Rhule even had some buzz going for Coach of the Year, but the team just couldnt finish games. Theyll see what they have in Sam Darnold, and pray that a change of scenery unlocks his potential, but theres still a lot of concern with the rest of this roster.

The return of a healthy CMC will no doubt help on offense, but the defense was a major issue at times last season. Jaycee Horn is a legit ROY contender and will help there, but there are still a lot of unknowns with this Panthers team. If youre feeling risky, the upside is there for this team to compete, but they have the longest odds in the division for a reason.

Place your NFL bets at DraftKings Sportsbook and bet online by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app.

Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game.

All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.

All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL).

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA/MI), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (NH/CO), 1-800-BETS OFF(IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA) or call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN).

21+ (18+ NH). CO/IL/IN/IA/NH/NJ/PA/TN/VA/WV/MI only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for full terms and conditions.

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NFL NFC South Division Odds and Lines: DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Preview - DraftKings Nation

Bears QB Nick Foles the favorite to start for the Indianapolis Colts – Windy City Gridiron

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Obviously the news about Indianapolis Colts expected starting quarterback Carson Wentz getting hurt and needing foot surgery caused a bit of a stir earlier this week and immediately kicked off speculation about a trade for a veteran quarterback.

And because of his relationship with Colts head coach Frank Reich, current Bears thrid-string QB Nick Foles name came up.

Sportsbooks too have jumped in on this and starting setting odds for which quarterback will start week one for Indianapolis. Initially, rookie Jacob Eason was the favorite, but this morning Draftkings, one of the biggest mobile betting sportsbooks, announced that they shifted their odds:

Two things are interesting to me about this. The first is actually that Eason isnt listed on the odds, which is eye-brow raising when you consider that he was mentioned as the next man up by Reich himself and as recently this morning Tom Pelissero of NFL.com and NFLN says that Eason is indeed going to get the first shot and the main reason the Colts havent made a trade.

The second is what DK Sportsbook points out in their tweet: Nick Foles is on the Bears. Putting money on him (granted, its still at plus money, which says that its not the most likely outcome).

This whole prop smells to me, its a DraftsKing money grab essentially. If Eason goes out and stinks up the first couple preseason games, then the Colts will be picking up the phone and making a deal. If hes decent, they might stick to their guns and then DK can just cash all these tickets come 1:15 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 12.

Not listing Eason as an option is a disingenuous by DraftKings, they should have him at something like -150 or -200. That would say that you have to bet 150 or 200 units in order to win 100.

Unless you think DraftKings knows something the general public doesnt. What do you think? Will Foles be on the Bears or Colts sideline come week one?

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Bears QB Nick Foles the favorite to start for the Indianapolis Colts - Windy City Gridiron

Florida Sportsbooks Might Be Just Around The Corner – Legal Sports Betting

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WASHINGTON Florida sports betting could be a regulated industry on Thursday as that marks the last day of the 45-day long period within the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). There has been no word as to whether or not the DOI will be giving its approval or denial of the expanded Tribal Gaming Compacts for the Seminole Tribe of Florida to open sportsbooks in the Sunshine State. No action on their part would automatically mean an approval and the launch of sports betting in Florida could occur immediately as sports gaming would be official law.

Regulated sports wagering has been something that Florida has been trying to open for some time. Governor Ron DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe of Florida came to an agreement earlier this year. After that, the Florida Legislature passed the proposal to expand gaming compacts to include sports betting in May.

Florida sports betting would be purely run by the Seminole Tribe via land-based and mobile sportsbook platforms. The mobile sports betting aspect still doesnt sit well with lawmakers opposed to how the industry has come about. They believe a constitutional amendment is required to allow for gambling on sporting events, and not just through retail outlets but especially via online platforms.

The Interior Department is unlikely to affirmatively approve the compact because of the internet sports wagering provision that allows bettors to place bets outside of Indian lands, said George Skibine, an attorney in Washington.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is the entity that would be signing off on the compact expansions in the DOI. Many believe they are not on board with the mobile sports betting factor and will therefore take no action. However, that means the compact will pass and Florida will be home to an official sports wagering market.

Should this happen, lawsuits are already pending.

If BIA/Interior were to either affirmatively approve or by inaction, the compact is deemed approved, our case in federal court would be extremely strong, as is the state action we are preparing, said John Sowinski, president of No Casinos. My June 9 letter to Interior outlines the different ways the compact violates federal and state law.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida has previously stated they are ready for any legal action that comes their way. Sports betting in Florida could go live just in time for the NFL season if all goes according to plan.

News tags: Bureau of Indian Affairs | Department of the Interior | Florida | Florida Legislature | George Skibine | John Sowinski | NFL | No Casinos | Ron DeSantis | Seminole Tribe of Florida

Christina has been writing for as long as she can remember and does dedicated research on the newly regulated sports betting market. She comes from a family of sports lovers that engage in friendly bets from time to time. During the winter months, you can find Christina baking cookies and beating the entire staff at Mario Kartthe N64 version of course.

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Florida Sportsbooks Might Be Just Around The Corner - Legal Sports Betting

Can the Bolts three-peat? A Look into NHL futures in sportsbooks – Bolts by the Bay

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have already created a dynasty by winning back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships, but could they join the all-elite club in sports with a three-peat?

Winning a championship in professional sports is a difficult task. Creating a culture that can be world champions two times in a row is even more taxing. Only the most elite teams have joined the rare air of being three-peat champions. Can the Tampa Bay Lightning join the Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, and Toronto Maple Leafs and become the fourth team in NHL history to hoist Lord Stanleys Cup? It wont be easy, but the Lightning certainly does stand a fairly good chance to raise a third straight banner in the rafters of Amalie Arena.

Following the 2021 Entry Draft and the NHLs free-agency period, having completed the vast majority of significant signings of players will dramatically affect their respective teams; several of your favorite sportsbooks have updated their odds of winning the Stanley Cup. Whichever is your preferred destination is aligned fairly similarly across the boards.

But youre here to see the odds of a three-peat, so here is a breakdown of where the Lightning land in each of the top four:

DraftKings:The Bolts head into the 2021-2022 season as the second favorite to win the trophy at +700, just behind the Colorado Avalanche at +600. It doesnt affect the Lightning at all; however, BetMGM has the biggest gap between second and third in their odds, showing that the sportsbook feels strongly that as of now, we will see the Avalanche and Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final.

FOX Bet: Much like DraftKings, FOX Bet has the Avalanche (+500) and the Lightning (+600), which are better odds for each time. The standout in their ranking system is that the Vegas Golden Knights are tied with the Lightning as the second, most favored team. FOX Bet has the Boston Bruins in the sixth-ranked slot, which is lower than any other sportsbooks.

BetMGM:You guessed it! The Avalanche are favorites, with the Lightning following closely behind. BetMGM gives the Avalanche the second-lowest odds of the books we analyzed, making the race between the Avalanche and Bolts the second tightest to FanDuels (below).

FanDuel: Provides the tightest window in terms of favoring the Avalanche at +650, with the Lightning coming in the right behind them at +700 in the second-place spot. The Hurricanes find themselves most favored by FanDuel as they are in the fourth-best position, with the Bruins and the Maple Leafs rounding out the top five. FanDuel also provides the largest discrepancy in odds between ranks three and four.

The most important news for the Lightning and their fans is that the closest Eastern Conference team projected to finish behind the defending champions is no closer than +1200 out of the four sportsbooks analyzed. The tougher news? Out of the top 12 teams with the most favorable odds, through all four of the sportsbooks, 10 are in the Eastern Conference.

The breakdown of these sportsbooks tells you that there is a certainty in the top three teams heading into the season. However, there is a fairly significant dropoff in confidence after the third spot; and no clearcut fourth-best team. Despite having key losses during the offseason Yanni Gourde to the Seattle Kraken via the NHL expansion draft, and Tyler Johnson being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, GM Julien BriseBois had a very successful offseason- in both the draft and free agency- to keep the Lightning at the top of the league.

Safe play? The Stanley Cup Final will match up the Avalance and the Lightning, but of course, anything can happen during the course of a season, which gets underway on Tuesday, October 12th, when the Pittsburgh Penguins come to town. Lightning has already struck twice, lets see if we can make it a trifecta.

Editors note: Our partners at WynnBet do not have their NHL futures odds currently available; however, we will update this upon release.

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Want to Build an Online Sports-Betting Empire? Start With a Gas Station Casino – The Wall Street Journal

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LOVELOCK, Nev.West Hollywood entrepreneur Mark Thomas walked into the Big Wheel Casino, tucked inside a Conoco gas station off Interstate 80, and surveyed his next big deal.

About 50 slot machines with names like Wheel of Fortune and Wild Wolf chimed and flashed in the race-car-themed gambling room. The casino, about 90 miles from Reno, mostly draws truckers and miners, and the room was fairly empty that day. A gambler or two occasionally strolled in and out.

Mr. Thomas is buying the truck-stop casino to be the centerpiece of the digital sports-betting company he co-founded, ZenSports. The companys app launched internationally in 2019, and now Mr. Thomas is looking to start taking bets in the U.S.

Its very far removed from this, Mr. Thomas said, amid the faint smell of smoke. Maybe the opposite.

The marriage of the two comes as a quirk of the U.S. sports-betting industrya fast-growing, chaotic business being built on a patchwork of new state laws and old gambling regulations.

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Want to Build an Online Sports-Betting Empire? Start With a Gas Station Casino - The Wall Street Journal

Dana White loves blackjack but hates sports betting as he recalls $1m boxing bet he lost that ruined his… – talkSPORT.com

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Dana White is known for his love of gambling, but is reluctant to bet on sports.

In fact, the UFC president hates it and it could be because one left a particularly bad taste in his mouth.

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In 2007, he was sure Jermain Taylor would defend his WBO and WBC middleweight titles against Kelly Pavlik.

This was the unbeaten Taylors fifth defence but instead he was surprisingly knocked out by The Ghost.

And White recalled the upset ruining his holiday that September in a conversation on the Full Send Podcast.

The biggest sports bet? $1million. I lost. I f***ing hate betting on sports. Hate it, hate it.

2020 Josh Hedges

Remember Jermain Taylor, the boxer? Good looking f***ing kid came up through the Olympics and married [basketball player Erica Taylor].

He fought that white kid from [Ohio] and I thought Jermain Taylor was going to kill him.

Jermain Taylor got destroyed. I was in Cabo, relaxing having fun. That ruined my fun. Ruined my whole trip.

Pavlik was actually dropped by the champion in the second round, but got off the canvas to fight back and take the belts.

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In round seven, he left Taylor slumped in the corner with a combination of hooks and uppercuts, with Taylor ahead on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

He then defended his crown in February 2008 in the rematch and reigned in the division until he lost his title in 2010.

White, meanwhile, much prefers cards and has been to known to win as much as $7m in one night in casinos and is so good at blackjack hes been banned from a number of them as a result.

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When the Palms decided theyd had enough of being cleaned out, they decided to give him a belt in the style of a UFC title with the words Undisputed Blackjack Champion inscribed on there.

Instead of just asking me to leave the way that they did, they gave me this [title], he said.

Undisputed Blackjack champion. 24-0. This is a cool way to say get the f*** out of our casino and dont come back.

White is said to have a net worth of $500m and a tidy bonus that keeps his back account looking healthy, yet in the same interview with Full Send, he revealed he was willing to give it all up during the pandemic to keep people in their jobs.

Instead, his insistence that the show must go on saw him organise what became known as Fight Island in Abu Dhabi in order to keep the ball rolling and ensuring the financial security of his employees and fighters.

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It's back and just in time for the new Premier League season, which begins on 13 August with Brentford hosting Arsenal on Friday night

He explained he couldnt make redundancies for staff who have remained loyal to the UFC for 10-20 years.

Well all go down together or none of us will go down, he added.

Like him or loathe him, he doesnt care. Without his foresight, the UFC may not be where it is today.

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Dana White loves blackjack but hates sports betting as he recalls $1m boxing bet he lost that ruined his... - talkSPORT.com

Deadwood Sports Betting In South Dakota On The Horizon – Legal Sports Report

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Sports betting in South Dakota is on track for an early September launch.

The LegislativeInterim Rules Review Committee unanimously approved rules for South Dakota sports betting this week. The rules regulate sports wagering in the city of Deadwood, a casino resort town in western South Dakota.

The South Dakota Commission on Gaming should approve sports wagering providers at a Sept. 8 meeting, according to Deadwood Gaming Association Executive Director Mike Rodman. That would tee up SD sportsbooks at the citys casinos to open in time for the Sept. 9 NFL kickoff.

Rodman expects 10Deadwood properties will be ready for the launch. The casinos are preparing Las Vegas-style sports betting areas.

While the South Dakota legislation allows for mobile betting on casino premises, Rodman is unsure that will be an immediate option.

The rules allow for [on-premise mobile], Ill be curious if any jump onto that, he told LSR last month. South Dakota is a pretty conservative state, so we have a go-slow approach. Maybe sometime in the future, well see statewide mobile. We have to prove ourselves in Deadwood and do agood job.

South Dakota voters approved Deadwood sports wagering at the polls in November 2020.

Legislators moved quickly to pass an enacting bill, withGov. Kristi Noem signing the bill into law in March.The law went into effect July 1 and the state began accepting license applications the same day.

The South Dakota Commission on Gaming approved the detailed set of Deadwood sports betting rules last month.

Also this week, the Wyoming Gaming Commission adopted a set of rules for sports betting in Wyoming. The Cowboy State is gearing up for a potential Sept. 1 launch of mobile-only sports betting.

Similar to Deadwood casinos, Arizona sportsbooks will prepare for a likely Sept. 9 launch. Legislators in Louisiana and Maryland also passed sports betting legislation this year with the hope of launching this fall.

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Deadwood Sports Betting In South Dakota On The Horizon - Legal Sports Report

Olympics End as They Began: Strangely – The New York Times

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TOKYO As the athletes finished marching into the stadium for the closing ceremony of the 32nd Summer Olympics on Sunday night, the announcer asked for a big round of applause. But there simply werent enough people in the stands to make much noise. And the flashiest component of the ceremony, a formation of the five Olympic rings by tiny points of light, was invisible live in the stadium. The magic of its special effects played only on large screens and to television audiences.

And so one of the strangest Olympics in recent memory ended much as they began, with reduced cohorts of athletes waving to cameras and volunteer dancers rather than spectators, and rows of empty seats serving as reminders of a pandemic that could not be brought to heel by messaging about the healing power of the Games.

Yet perhaps more than any recent Olympics, the tournament was an athletic reality show, inviting viewers to seek respite from the frustration and tragedy of the past 18 months. The drama of competition and bouts of rousing sportsmanship offered diversion from the daily counts of coronavirus cases the ones within the Olympic bubble and the vastly larger numbers outside of it.

There were upsets: The U.S. womens soccer team fell to Canada in a semifinal; Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito won Japans first gold medal in table tennis over the Chinese world champions. Naomi Osaka, after lighting the Olympic cauldron for Japan, was eliminated in the third round of her tennis tournament, denying the host country a potential gold medal moment it had dearly hoped for.

There were history-making triumphs: Allyson Felix surpassed Carl Lewis as the most decorated American Olympian in track and field, and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya defended his gold medal in the mens marathon.

And who could resist the British diver Tom Daley, who was constantly spotted knitting in the stands?

Outside the stadium before the ceremony on Sunday, Ryogo Saita, 45, who was walking with his 7-year-old son, said they had enjoyed watching on television as Yuto Horigome captured skateboardings first gold medal for Japan. Still, with daily coronavirus infections more than doubling in Tokyo since the Games started, Saita said he was concerned. But people also enjoy the sports, he said. I think its a good thing that they happened. Its like Im battling two emotions.

Although organizers argued that the Japanese public and international audiences had embraced the Olympics after months of controversy, the numbers from NBCUniversal in the United States, the largest broadcaster at the Games, showed steep drops from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. In Japan, a smaller proportion of viewers watched the Games than when Tokyo last hosted the event, in 1964.

Many of the performances in the closing ceremony elicited a lighthearted joy that the more somber opening ceremony did not. In one segment, actors and dancers dressed in street fashion frolicked around the center of the stadium, meant to evoke a park, with capoeira dancers, stunt bikers, jugglers and double Dutch jumpers, a poignant demonstration of a side of Tokyo that most Olympic visitors never got to see.

In his concluding remarks, Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, thanked the people of Japan and noted that no organizing committee had ever had to put on a postponed Games before. We did it together! he said, to lukewarm applause.

The closing festivities, based on the theme Moving Forward: Worlds We Share, was the last chance for the organizers to stage a spectacle intended to keep everyone on message about an event and an entire movement that had started to show cracks before the Games even began.

Aug. 8, 2021, 12:43 p.m. ET

Politics, which the I.O.C. assiduously insists have nothing to do with the Games, intruded in Tokyo. Kristina Timanovskaya, a Belarusian sprinter who sought protection as her country tried to force her home after she criticized her coaches, was granted asylum in Poland. The I.O.C. took five days to strip the Olympic credentials of the coaches involved in the attempt to send her back to Belarus.

More broadly, the committees decision making came under close scrutiny in Tokyo. Even before the pandemic, organizers pushed to stage the Tokyo Games during its most brutally hot weeks in order to maximize broadcasting revenues. That decision had clear repercussions, with a tennis player leaving the court in a wheelchair and events in soccer and athletics being rescheduled at the last minute. The fact that the Games went ahead during the pandemic despite strong public opposition in Japan showed the undemocratic principles that underpin the organization.

There is no question that the Tokyo Olympics stripped the lacquer off the wider Olympic project for everyday people to see, said Jules Boykoff, a former Olympic soccer player and an expert in sports politics at Pacific University. Ive heard some people talk about how the Olympics are this huge political economic force with sports attached to the side of it.

Indeed, athletes advocates have accused the I.O.C. of shortchanging the talent that make the Games possible, given that such a small sliver of the organizations revenues are allocated directly to the competitors. Most of the funds are funneled through national Olympic committees and sporting federations, according to an analysis of I.O.C. funding by Global Athlete, an athletes group, and the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto.

The I.O.C. is supporting an industry and administrators, said Rob Koehler, the director general of Global Athlete. But are they supporting athletes? The proof is in the pudding: no.

At the Tokyo Games, critics questioned the I.O.C.s commitment to enforcing disciplinary actions. Athletes from Russia, a country officially banned from the Olympics, competed under the banner of R.O.C., the acronym for the Russian Olympic Committee. But it was difficult for a casual observer to see how Russia was bearing any real consequences of an enormous state-orchestrated doping campaign as its leaders gloated over its athletes many medals.

On Sunday, even as Tokyo organizers officially passed the Olympic flag to Paris for the next Summer Games, the real specter lurking behind the feel-good moments was the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which are scheduled to open in February.

With the postponement of the Tokyo Games by a year, organizers will have just six months to prepare for the next Olympics.

Here again, the actions or inaction of the I.O.C. came under sharp examination. Officials, including Bach, avoided answering questions about how the committee planned to address the fact that the Games are to be held in a country that has been condemned for committing genocide and crimes against humanity for its repression of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities.

Large countries most prominently the United States will have to decide in the coming months how they might respond to the Games in Beijing.

At the same time, the pandemic is still likely to be a factor. Just as Japan is dealing with a new wave of infections, China, too, is battling new outbreaks of the Delta variant in several provinces and has already imposed de facto lockdowns.

The countrys use of sports to promote nationalism was on display at the Tokyo Games, where critics pounced on Japanese athletes in particular if they prevailed over Chinese competitors.

But the Olympics pose risks to the ruling Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping.

The Olympics is either an opportunity to look great, or it could introduce a whole lot of instability, said Stephen R. Nagy, a professor in politics and international relations at International Christian University in Tokyo. He cited the re-emergence of the coronavirus and possible protests by athletes in Beijing.

But as the cauldron was extinguished and the athletes filed out of the stadium, perhaps the biggest legacy of the Tokyo Games was how it underscored the costs of hosting an Olympics.

For future hosts, said Shihoko Goto, a senior associate for northeast Asia at the Wilson Center, a research institute in Washington, the question is whether the people of those governments are behind the government effort and the sacrifices that have to be made to put on these big events.

Hikari Hida contributed reporting.

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Olympics End as They Began: Strangely - The New York Times

2021 Olympics — In baseball, Japan got the gold it has wanted forever – ESPN

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You can only imagine the joy and jubilation if cheering, flag-waving spectators had filled Yokohama Baseball Stadium rather than empty seats. Instead of chants, we heard the echo of the foul-ball buzzer.

Baseball is like a national religion in Japan, where the annual high school tournament known as Koshien can draw more than 50% of television viewers and the star players earn instant fame. While the Olympic baseball tournament is mostly an afterthought in the United States, where the focus is on the gymnasts, swimmers and track and field stars, fans in Japan expected the home country to win the gold medal. There would be no celebration for silver.

The home team delivered. Staring down that enormous pressure, a team of Japanese All-Stars -- the Central and Pacific leagues paused their schedules to allow the best players to play -- beat a ragtag U.S. roster of baseball lifers and minor leaguers 2-0 in the gold-medal game to win its first Olympic gold medal. Five Japanese pitchers delivered a master class in pitching, holding the U.S. team to six hits. The U.S. had just one extra-base hit and only one runner reached third base.

The biggest hero of the day for Japan was 23-year-old starter Masato Morishita, a rising star for the Hiroshima Carp. The Central League's rookie of the year in 2020, Morishita shut down the U.S. lineup with five scoreless innings, keeping it off balance with a big, old-school, slow curveball, a moving fastball that darted in on the right-handed batters, and a hesitation in his delivery, where he would pause with his front knee frozen in midair. Pressure? Morishita wore a gold-colored glove.

I suspect that glove color will suddenly become very popular with kids across Japan.

Indeed, it was a big day for Japan's youngest stars.

All the news from the Summer Games in Tokyo on ESPN: Read more

Medal Tracker | Results | Schedule

U.S. starter Nick Martinez, who has pitched in Japan since 2018 after spending four years with the Texas Rangers, locked up with Morishita in a great pitcher's duel. He escaped a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning with a force at home and three-pitch strikeout, screaming and pumping his fist after the whiff. He struck out the side in the fifth.

He left after six innings trailing 1-0, however, as 21-year-old Munetaka Murakami hit an opposite-field home run in the third inning that just cleared the fence in left-center. Despite his youth, Murakami is already in his fourth season with the Yakult Swallows. He hit 36 home runs in 2019, .307 with 28 home runs in 2020, and already has 26 in 83 games this season. It was quiet in the stadium, but a roar certainly serenaded across Japan as he rounded the bases. He's a player U.S. scouts will be watching closely.

After Morishita exited, Japan emptied its bullpen. The second reliever was Hiromi Itoh, a 23-year-old rookie for the Nippon Ham Fighters, a starter in the regular season, but getting the seventh inning in this game. On a humid evening in Yokohama, he applied a liberal dosage of rosin to his fingers and with every pitch a puff of dust flew off the ball.

Itoh got one of the biggest outs of the game. With A's prospect Nick Allen on third with two outs, Itoh faced leadoff hitter Eddy Alvarez. The 31-year-old Alvarez, who carried the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies with basketball star Sue Bird, won a silver medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, as part of the U.S. speedskating relay team. When the U.S. beat South Korea to reach the gold-medal game -- guaranteeing Alvarez a medal -- he broke down in tears, overjoyed at becoming the sixth athlete to win medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics. Alvarez bounced out to first to end the threat.

Indeed, compared to the star-studded Japanese roster or the U.S. basketball men's and women's rosters, the U.S. Olympic baseball roster was mostly players like Alvarez, the Bad News Bears only without Kelly Leak and Amanda Wurlitzer.

Oh, the U.S. team had its own All-Stars -- former All-Stars that is, like Todd Frazier, the 35-year-old veteran who was released earlier this season after hitting .086 for the Pirates. Or Scott Kazmir, the 37-year-old lefty who made his first All-Star Game way back in 2006. After not pitching in the majors since 2016, Kazmir made it back to the big leagues this year, starting two games for the Giants. Edwin Jackson is the ultimate lifer. He played for 14 teams in his major league career, a couple of them more than once. He last pitched in the majors in 2019. It's not easy to give up the sport you've played your entire life.

The tension mounted in the late innings. After Tyler Austin's leadoff single in the eighth, Japan brought in lefty reliever Suguru Iwazaki to face Red Sox prospect Triston Casas. Casas and Allen were the two legitimate position player prospects on the team and he had been the team's best hitter in the tournament. Iwazaki threw him a 3-2 slider, probably off the plate, and Casas tried to check his swing, but couldn't. Frazier popped up, yelling in frustration. It might have been his final at-bat as a professional baseball player. Eric Filia grounded out.

Japan added a run in the bottom of the eighth and then turned to another rookie, Ryoji Kuribayashi, to close it out. Kuribayashi has an 0.53 ERA for the Hiroshima Carp, with 18 saves and 54 strikeouts in 33 innings. Like many of the Japanese pitchers who have come over to the U.S. major leagues, he has a nasty split-fingered pitch. He got a strikeout and fly ball before Allen singled with two outs.

It was up to Jack Lopez, the No. 9 hitter in the U.S. lineup. He has been in the minor leagues since 2012, playing for the Royals, Braves and now Red Sox organizations. Born in Puerto Rico, he has played seven seasons of winter ball there. He has played for Idaho Falls and Wilmington and Northwest Arkansas and Omaha and Gwinnett and Worcester. He has seen America. He has never played a major league game.

Kuribayashi was too good. Lopez grounded out to shortstop, the Japanese players rushed the mound and the coaching staff hugged, history secured. As Eduardo Perez said on the broadcast, this was the gold medal Japan wanted above all others.

Then the Japanese team lined up along the third-base line, turned toward the U.S. dugout and bowed.

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2021 Olympics -- In baseball, Japan got the gold it has wanted forever - ESPN

Is It Time to End the Olympics? – The Atlantic

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When Tokyo bids farewell to the Olympics this weekend, few people there will be sad to see it go. The Japanese public overwhelmingly opposed hosting the postponed Summer Games, fearing that it could exacerbate the countrys COVID-19 outbreak. In the final week of the competition, Japan broke a record no one wanted, reporting more than 14,000 cases a dayits highest since the pandemic began.

Whether staging the Games was worth the public-health risk or the staggering price tag that came with it will ultimately be for Japan to decide. But as the world looks ahead to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and debates participating in them despite Chinas well-documented human-rights abuses in Xinjiang and elsewhere, perhaps the question isnt when and where the Games should be held, but whether the modern Olympicsan international spectacle that has become increasingly synonymous with overspending, corruption, and autocratic regimesare worth having at all.

Fans of the competition argue that the Olympics are at least as important today as they were when they made their modern debut in the late 19th century. At the time, Pierre de Coubertin, the French historian and founder of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Olympics governing body, billed the competition as a peace movement that would bring the world together through sport. In the run-up to Tokyo, Olympic organizers stressed that these Games would be a beacon of hope and unity during a time of unprecedented suffering and isolation.

And, in some ways, they have been. Despite their somber opening ceremony and the absence of spectators, this years Olympics delivered on the pomp, pageantry, and athleticism that weve come to expect from the worlds largest sporting festival, including such notable moments as Italy and Qatars shared gold-medal finish in the mens high-jump competition and the American gymnast Simone Biless decision to withdraw from the competition, highlighting the importance of athletes mental well-being. But behind the veneer of pageantry and nationalism lie more troubling trendsones that close observers of the Olympics describe as endemic issues the IOC has so far proved unable, or unwilling, to address.

The first problem is the sheer cost of the Games. While hosting an Olympics is regarded by many cities as one of the worlds greatest honors, its also one of the most expensive. With few exceptions, the Olympics have been a money-losing endeavor for their hostsone that starts with cities paying tens of millions of dollars just to submit a bid and ends with them spending several times more than their budget. (Tokyos Games, for example, were initially expected to cost $7.3 billion; theyre now projected to total closer to $28 billion). As a result, many host cities are saddled with years of debt, not to mention the burden of maintaining abandoned stadiums and other white-elephant facilities that quickly fall into disrepair.

Hosting the Olympics is an incredible boondoggle, Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, a historian and the author of Dropping the Torch, a book about the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics, told me. Its a great way to lose money. (An IOC spokesperson disputed this characterization, citing a study which concluded that the cost of the Olympic Games from 2000 to 2018 were covered by revenue. This report, however, focuses on the profitability of Games from the perspective of the Olympic Committees rather than the host cities. It also excludes capital costs such as transportation upgrades on the grounds that they are not needed to stage the Games.)

Read: 3 reasons why hosting the Olympics is a losers game

The bleak economic prospects explain why interest in hosting the Games has waned in recent years. Numerous referenda have shown that when populations are given a say in whether their city should take on an Olympics, the answer is almost always an emphatic no. But the economic challenge of hosting the games also explains another recurring issue: the weaponization of the Olympics by repressive states. After all, unlike democracies, authoritarian regimes dont need to worry about referenda. And although the cost of running an Olympics is high, the Games grant their host country the ability to showcase its might and launder its reputation on the world stage.

Although the IOC has attracted criticism for its record of partnering with authoritarian regimes, that hasnt been enough to compel the governing body to change tack. Part of the reason is that, in some instances, authoritarian states have been the only bidders left standing. Such was the case in the bid for the 2022 Winter Games, after Oslo, the favorite, withdrew over cost issues, leaving just two contenders: Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Summer Games, and Almaty, in Kazakhstan. Beijing won.

But perhaps the primary reason the IOC hasnt excluded autocracies from the Games is because its simply not in the committees interest to do so. According to a 2017 report by Thomas Knecke and Michiel de Nooij, keeping good working relations with authoritarian governments helps the IOC to secure the future of its main revenue driver, the Olympic Games, thus providing for its own future. Put simply, partnering with autocracies pays. Given the diverse participation in the Olympic Games, the IOC must remain neutral on all global political issues, an IOC spokesperson told The Atlantic, adding that the choice of host does not mean that the IOC takes a position with regard to the political structure, social circumstances, or human rights standard in [the] country.

Critics of the Olympics have put forth a number of recommendations for reform, including giving the Games a permanent home in Greece, thereby honoring their ancient roots while also bringing an end to the bidding wars and overspending that have overshadowed their purpose of bringing the world together. But such reforms have largely been ignored by the IOC, which opted instead to put forward its own set of recommendations, including encouraging host cities to rely on existing or temporary sporting facilities and launching an Olympic TV channel.

Read: What if the Olympics were always held in the same city?

To say they are not willing to make significant changes to their business model is to make one of the most egregious understatements that I can conjure on this topic, Jules Boykoff, an international expert in sports politics and the author of multiple books on the Olympics, told me. Having spent time in London, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo in the run-up to the 2012, 2016, and 2020 Games, respectively, Boykoff noted that many of the issues seen in the Olympicsincluding internal displacement, corruption, and greenwashingtravel with the Games. Theyre not Tokyo problems; theyre not Rio problems; theyre not London problems, he said. They are problems that are essentially imported into each Olympic host city when the political and economic elites of that city decide to put forth a bid.

They are an Olympics problem, but they are also, fundamentally, an IOC problem. After all, the governing body consists of 102 members, comprising former Olympians, presidents of international sporting federations, and even royalty. It selects its own members, and makes no requirement that every country be represented. Indeed, most arent. Despite claiming supreme authority over the worlds largest sporting festival, it lacks external accountability.

The IOC is completely undemocratic; its completely nontransparent, David Goldblatt, the author of The Games: A Global History of the Olympics, told me. It doesnt appoint critics; it doesnt listen to its critics; it doesnt engage with its critics. And yet, it has a privileged position in the global governance of sport.

Although the IOC is unlikely to heed its critics calls to reform the Olympics, or to cancel them altogether, it has proved its ability to change coursewhen its left with no other choice. The shortage of willing host cities has already prompted the IOC to overhaul its bidding process, swapping its costly bidding wars for an internal (and arguably less transparent) selection process instead. Climate change, and the impact it could have on the viability of future host cities, could also escalate the pressure to alter the way the Olympics are conducted. After Beijing (which is already ill-suited to host a Winter Games, relying entirely on artificial snow), the Olympics will then head to Paris, to Milan and Cortina dAmpezzo in Italy, to Los Angeles, and to Brisbane, all of which are grappling with rising temperatures and extreme weather events including drought, wildfires, and flooding.

But the Olympics might be running out of time for reform. After Tokyo, the varnish [of the Games] has been stripped off, Boykoff said. If you cant do something now, especially with another very controversial Olympic Games coming up, in Beijing, well sheesh, when are you going to be able to do it?

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Is It Time to End the Olympics? - The Atlantic

How the Olympics Hurt Tokyo’s Economy – The New York Times

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Toshiko Ishii, 64, who runs a traditional hotel in the citys Taito Ward, spent over $180,000 converting the buildings first floor into an eatery in anticipation of a flood of tourists.

It was already a bit of a risk, and when the pandemic hit, Ms. Ishii became worried that she might have to shut down. Even with the Olympics, she has had no guests for weeks.

Theres nothing you can really do about the Olympics or the coronavirus, but Im worried, she said. We dont know when this will end, and I have a lot of doubts about how long we can keep the business going.

Pandemic or no, reality was bound to fall short of the grand expectations set by Japanese leaders.

They pitched Tokyo 2020 as an opportunity to show the world a Japan that had shaken off decades of economic stagnation and the devastation of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that touched off the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Appealing to nostalgia for the 1964 Olympics, when Japan wowed the world with its advanced technology and economic strength, Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister, framed the 2020 Olympics as an ad campaign for a cool, confident country that was the equal of a rising China.

After decades of perceived decline, more and more Japanese, the elder generation, senior people, wanted to remember, wanted to repeat that successful experience again in 21st-century Japan, said Shunya Yoshimi, a professor of sociology at Tokyo University who has written several books about Japans relationship to the events.

Instead, the pandemic brought a sense of fear and uncertainty that were worsened by the decisions of Japans leaders.

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How the Olympics Hurt Tokyo's Economy - The New York Times

The Tokyo Olympics Indelible Moments of Loss and Solidarity – The New Yorker

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It seems fitting that the first defining moment of the 2020 Tokyo Olympicsheld not in 2020 but in 2021, in a bubble meant to separate it from Tokyowas also its most disconcerting: Simone Biles, high in the air, looking lost. Having performed one and a half of the planned two and a half twists of her vault, she suddenly flung her arms open to stop her spinning. Her body torqued, her head going one way while her legs went another, and then pitched forward, stumbling and lunging into a landing. It would have felt strange to watch any gymnast vault so awkwardly, but it was especially shocking to see it from Biles, who, normally, has unparalleled body control, and an unerring sense of herself in the air.

It also seems fitting that the second defining moment of the Games came when Biles recovered in an unexpected way, moments later, by telling her coaches and teammates that she was pulling out of the team competition. A woman whose name has become synonymous with pushing the limits of the body and mind had hit hers, and she had the strength to say so.

Initially, she said later, she was worried about her body as much as her mind. Given her loss of air senseher case of the twisties, as gymnasts evocatively call itshe knew that continuing in the competition could be dangerous. At the end of the day, its, like, we want to walk out of here, not be dragged out here on a stretcher, she told reporters. I just dont trust myself as much as I used to. And I dont know if its ageIm a little bit more nervous when I do gymnastics. I feel like Im also not having as much fun, and I know that.

The connection between the body and mind can be mysterious. Biles has won national and world championships with kidney stones and broken toes. She has, as the sportswriting clich has it, overcome every kind of adversity: the long odds of a difficult childhood; overt racism from envious competitors and their coaches; and, horrifically, sexual abuse at the hands of Larry Nassar, a team doctor whose predatory behavior was enabled by the very organizations that she continued, painfully, to representin part, she said, to hold it to account.

Athletes have always had bouts of the yips. Athletes have always been prone to alcoholism, anorexia, and other manifestations of mental illness. They have not always had the support, publicly or privately, to address these problems. But the climate has been shifting, and the connotations of terms that we associate with great athletes have been changing. Perseverance without considering the conditions that one is enduring can be arrogance, or recklessness. Toughness can lead to lasting damage. Fearlessness doesnt necessarily mean a free mind. In fact, we now know that some of those who were most often called fearlessyoung female gymnasts, flying and tumbling in astonishing ways under extreme pressurewere trapped in a system that cultivated fear. People can do a lot of things if they think they dont have a choice.

I didnt quit, Biles wrote, on Instagram, as she documented her difficulties performing skills that had been, to her, second nature. My mind & body are simply not in sync. The twisties had struck her before, she explained, though this was the first time she had lost her ability to twist on every apparatus. Could be triggered by stress I hear but Im also not sure how true that is, she added. Other gymnasts have said that the twisties can be exacerbated by stress or difficulties out of the gym but that they can also strike for seemingly no reason at all. Its the craziest feeling ever, not having an inch of control over your body, Biles went on. Whats even scarier is since I have no idea where I am in the air I also have NO idea how Im going to land.

Its impossible to say what part, if any, the bizarre circumstances of the Olympics played in her loss of air sense: the empty stands, the yearlong delay, the mounting pressure to be a redemptive force, the relentlessness of the pandemics progress. Regardless, Biles has been open about what a difficult year, and Olympics, it has been. The last thing Biles normally does before she competes is look in the stands to find her family. In Tokyo, for the first time in her career, her parents werent there to watch her perform.

When these Olympics began, Tokyo was in a state of emergency, and, throughout the Olympics, day after day, the city set new national highs for cases of the coronavirus. The news about the virus is worsening again almost everywhere. As Americans were tallying medals in the pool and on the track, U.S. officials back home were scrambling to cope with the Delta variant. What was supposed to be a summer of celebration, a chance to appreciate the power of community and the human spiritthe ideals of the Olympics, more or lesswas turning into a time of confusion and uncertainty.

It has been hard to know how to feel about these Olympic Games in such a climate. The Olympics are always riven by the tension between elation and despairand joy has been as visible as ever in Tokyo. It was on the shocked face of the Norwegian Karsten Warholm as he clutched his head and screamed in disbelief at the time on the clock45.94 secondsafter he beat the American Rai Benjamin in the mens four-hundred-metre hurdles. They had pushed each other, and the sport, to a place that didnt seem possible, at least not yet: both men shattered the world record. The joy was in a crowded room in Minnesota where the gymnast Sunisa Lees family and friends watched her win the all-around gold. It was visible in the exhausted smile of Sydney McLaughlin after she caught Dalilah Muhummad in the final stretch of the womens four-hundred-metre hurdles. (She set a world record, too.) I felt it watching Chinas Quan Hongchan in the womens ten-metre platform dive, as she spun through the air, toes pointed, a pike like a clamp, and slipped into the water almost without a splash.

The familiar pain was also present. I felt it watching Carli Lloyd sitting on a ball and clutching her head after the U.S. womens national soccer team lost in the semifinals to Canada, and learning that Japans Kenichiro Fumita had sobbed as he spoke to the press after winning the silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling, apologizing for this shameful result.

But there was also, among some of the athletes, a new, or newly prominent, way of speaking about loss and disappointment and pressure. After the American Noah Lyles took the bronze in the mens two-hundred-metre dash, a race hed expected to win, he spoke about his mental-health struggles and the difficulties of the past year. He talked about his brother Josephus, who had also been training for the Olympics, but who battled injuries and did not make the team. Sometimes I think to myself, This should be him, Lyles said, in tears. Lyles said that, in the past, antidepressants and therapy had helped him, and that he wanted people who were watching to be aware of that. (He said he had gone off the medication before the Olympics, because he thought that might help his performance.) I knew there was a lot of people out there like me whos scared to say something or to even start that journey, he said. I want you to know that its O.K. to not feel good, and you can go out and talk to somebody professionally, or even get on medication, because this is a serious issue and you dont want to wake up one day and just think, You know, I dont want to be here anymore. He spoke, too, about everything track has given him, the way it has been a refuge, and the doors it has opened for other interests in his life, such as fashion and art. Shoot, he said, Im going to the Met Gala.

Lyles was not the only American track star to talk about mental health. After winning silver in shot put, Raven Saunders held her arms over her head in an X once the winners national anthem was over, in defiance of the I.O.C.s ban on protesting on the podium. The X was for oppressed people, she said, explaining that the planning for the protest took place over group text with American athletes from several sports. Im a Black female, Im queer, and I talk about mental-health awareness, she told NBC. I deal with depression, anxiety, and P.T.S.D., a lot. I represent being at that intersection. Late in the week, the sprinter Allyson Felix, on the verge of surpassing Carl Lewiss American record for Olympic medals in track and field, wrote, on Instagram, about fear. Im afraid of letting people down, she wrote. Of letting myself down. I hold myself to such high standards and Im realizing as Im sitting here the night before my final individual Olympic final that in a lot of ways Ive let my performances define my worth. Ive been afraid that my worth is tied to whether or not I win or lose. But right now Ive decided to leave that fear behind. To understand that I am enough. She added, Im not sharing this note for me. Im sharing it for any other athletes who are defining themselves by their medal count. Im writing this for any woman who defines her worth based on whether or not shes married or has kids. Im writing it for anyone who thinks that the people you look up to on TV are any different than you. I get afraid just like you, but you are so much more than enough.

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The Tokyo Olympics Indelible Moments of Loss and Solidarity - The New Yorker

Mixed bag: Erratic Pandemic Olympics wind to a nuanced end – Associated Press

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TOKYO (AP) It began with a virus and a yearlong pause. It ended with a typhoon blowing through and, still, a virus. In between: just about everything.

The Tokyo Olympics, christened with 2020 but held in mid-2021 after being interrupted for a year by the coronavirus, glided to their conclusion in a COVID-emptied stadium Sunday night as an often surreal mixed bag for Japan and for the world.

A rollicking closing ceremony with the theme Worlds We Share an optimistic but ironic notion at this human moment featured everything from stunt bikes to intricate light shows as it tried to convey a celebratory and liberating atmosphere for athletes after a tense two weeks. It pivoted to a live feed from Paris, host of the 2024 Summer Games. And with that, the strangest Olympic Games on record closed their books for good.

Held in the middle of a resurging pandemic, rejected by many Japanese and plagued by months of administrative problems, these Games presented logistical and medical obstacles like no other, offered up serious conversations about mental health and, when it came to sport, delivered both triumphs and a few surprising shortfalls.

From the outset, expectations were middling at best, apocalyptic at worst. Even Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, said hed worried that these could become the Olympic Games without a soul. But, he said, what we have seen here is totally different.

You were faster, you went higher, you were stronger because we all stood together in solidarity, Bach told gathered Olympians as he closed the Games. This was even more remarkable given the many challenges you had to face because of the pandemic. In these difficult times, you give the world the most precious of gifts: hope.

For the first time since the pandemic began, he said, the entire world came together.

He overstated it a bit. At these Games, even the word together was fraught. Spectators were kept at bay. A patchwork of rules kept athletes masked and apart for much of medal ceremonies, yet saw them swapping bodily fluids in some venues. That was less about being remiss than about being real: Risks that could be mitigated were, but at the same time events had to go on.

Athletes perseverance became a central story. Mental health claimed bandwidth as never before, and athletes revealed their stories and struggles in vulnerable, sometimes excruciating fashion.

Japans fourth Olympics, held 57 years after the 1964 Games reintroduced the country after its World War II defeat, represented a planet trying to come together at a moment in history when disease and circumstance and politics had splintered it apart.

The closing ceremony Sunday reflected that and, at times, nudged the proceedings toward a sci-fi flavor. As athletes stood in the arena for the final pomp, digital scoreboards at either end of the stadium featured what organizers called a fan video matrix, a Zoom call-like screen of videos uploaded by spectators showing themselves cheering at home.

Even the parade of athletes carrying national flags thousands of Olympians, masked and unmasked, clustering together before fanning out into the world again was affected. Volunteers carried some flags into the stadium, presumably because of rules requiring athletes to leave the country shortly after their events concluded.

In front of such formidable backdrops, athletic excellence burst through, from the Games first gold medal (Chinas Yang Qian in the 10-meter air rifle on July 24) to their last (Serbia defeating Greece in mens water polo on Sunday afternoon).

Among the highlights: Allyson Felix taking a U.S.-record 11th medal in track, then stepping away from the Olympic stage. American quintuple gold medalist Caeleb Dressels astounding performance in the pool. The emergence of surfing,skateboarding and sport climbing as popular, and viable, Olympic sports. Host country Japans medal haul 58, its most ever.

Any Olympics is a microcosm of the world it reflects. These Games runup, and the two weeks of the Games themselves, featured tens of thousands of spit-in-a-vial COVID tests for athletes, staff, journalists and visitors. That produced barely more than 400 positives, a far cry from the rest of non-Olympic bubble Japan, where surges in positive cases provoked the government to declare increasingly widespread states of emergency.

And, of course, there was that other microcosm of human life that the Games revealed the reckoning with mental and emotional health, and the pressure put on top-tier athletes to compete hard and succeed at almost any cost. The interruption of that pressurized narrative, led by the struggles of gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka in particular, permeated these Games and ignited the spark of an athlete-driven conversation about stress, tolerance and inclusivity that everyone expects to continue.

While Tokyo is handing off the Summer Games baton to Paris for 2024, the delay has effectively crammed two Olympics together. The next Winter Games convenes in just six months in another major Asian metropolis Beijing, Japans rival in East Asia and home to a much more authoritarian government that is expected to administer its Games in a more draconian and restrictive way, virus or no virus.

Beyond that, Paris organizers promised Sunday to take sport out of its traditional spaces and connect with new audiences in new ways in 2024 presuming, of course, the absence of a protracted pandemic. They went live from the closing to excited groups of fans clustered near the Eiffel Tower, a crowded public scene that Tokyo didnt allow.

In recent weeks, lots of people officials, athletes, journalists have been chewing over how these Tokyo Games will be remembered. Thats up to history, of course, but there are hints.

The runup was messy and disputed. The days of competition were fraught but, in general, without incident other than sporting milestones. Even a moderate earthquake rumbled through and was quickly forgotten. Scattered protests of the Games including one outside the stadium Sunday night reflected a portion of Japans sentiment, though certainly not all. The expenses upwards of $15 billion were colossal and will echo in Tokyo long after athletes are gone.

What are the Olympic Games supposed to be? A politics-free sporting event, as the IOC insists? A bonanza for sponsors and broadcasters? One small step toward world peace? Despite all the yarn-spinning, their identity remains up in the air and that fundamental question remains.

But as the cauldron was snuffed out Sunday night after the Pandemic Olympics concluded, its easy to argue that Tokyo can take its place as a Games that didnt fail as one that overcame a lot to even happen at all. And as vaccines roll out, variants emerge and lockdowns re-emerge, another city and government Beijing, the Chinese capital must grapple with the very same question.

In the meantime, the program for Tokyos closing ceremony, outlining its Worlds We Share theme, captured the effect of the pandemic and the virtual worlds and separation anxiety to which it has given birth.

We are in a new normal, and this edition of the Games were a different affair, it said. Even if we cannot be together, we can share the same moment. And that is something that we will never forget.

___

Ted Anthony, director of new storytelling and newsroom innovation for The Associated Press, was APs director of Asia-Pacific news from 2014 to 2018. This is his sixth Olympics. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/anthonyted

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Mixed bag: Erratic Pandemic Olympics wind to a nuanced end - Associated Press

Why Host The Olympics? : The Indicator from Planet Money – NPR

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Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

The Tokyo Olympics have met numerous challenges, from postponing the event in 2020 to near-empty stadiums in 2021 due to the pandemic. However, a historical challenge when it comes to the games is the massive cost. The current Olympics have already cost Japan over 15 billion dollars, much more than the original seven billion dollar proposal. So why do cities bid for the Olympics, when it is very likely that they will lose money?

Professor Kenneth Shropshire says the Olympics introduce your city to the rest of the world. For example, in 1968 he says, Mexico City wanted to show that Latin America was a place to visit and, in 1984, Los Angeles wanted to illustrate that it wasn't just Hollywood. It was also part of the Pacific Rim. Professor Victor Matheson notes the positive impact on infrastructure that the Olympic games can bring to a city plus the potential boost to local tourism.

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Why Host The Olympics? : The Indicator from Planet Money - NPR

The Olympics Are All Fun, No Games on TikTok – The New York Times

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Olympians are the worlds most impressive athletes. Watching them show off their superhuman strength, endurance and form, its easy to forget that many of them are not just mortals but teens and 20-somethings, effectively living in dorms, their emotions and hormones swiveling and swerving as they vie for the ultimate honors in sports.

When theyre not competing, the athletes at the Olympic Games in Tokyo have been quite candid on social media. Posts from the last two weeks, many of them on TikTok, show this years Olympians flirting, knitting, dancing, answering personal questions and, of course, making sex jokes.

Heres just a sampling of whats been happening in their downtime, as seen on the smallest of screens.

Athletes across the board the Israeli baseball team, an Irish gymnast, American rugby players have posted videos of themselves and teammates attempting to corrupt the cardboard beds in the Olympic Village. Many of these test the bed videos were a humorous response to the rumor that the recycled beds were provided as a way to dissuade athletes from having sex. (That is not the case, according to the company that made them.)

In another jokey take on the Olympic Villages reputation as a hookup zone, Noah Williams, a British diver, posted a TikTok video of himself and his teammate Tom Daley unboxing hundreds of free condoms. (The contraceptives have been provided by the organizers of the Olympics for more than 30 years to encourage sexual health.)

Other Olympians have been using social media to flirt with or at least openly admire their fellow competitors from afar.

Tyler Downs, an Olympic diver, posted a video on TikTok directed at Simone Biles, asking the decorated gymnast to talk 2 me. A Japanese fencer named Kaito Streets took the same approach with Naomi Osaka, the tennis player. Though the videos are flirty, it is unlikely that the young men have more in mind than attracting attention from their sports idols and their fans.

Gus Kenworthy, a commentator, posted a compilation of male athletes some shirtless while Charli XCXs Boys played in the background. The lyrics are anything but subtle: I was busy thinking bout boys/ Boys, boys/ I was busy dreaming bout boys.

Ilona Maher, a member of the U.S. womens rugby team, made no secret of her search for an Olympic bae in Tokyo, posting several videos about spotting Olympic demigods and making prolonged eye contact.

One user asked why the Olympians wont just talk to each other in person. Its not that easy to go up to a pack of six, seven Romanian volleyball players and shoot my shot, Ms. Maher said in one video. Im working on it, but I dont know if thats in the cards for me.

In addition to the sillier posts, many athletes have pulled back the curtain on life in the Olympic Village, sharing footage of the nail salon, the souvenir shop, the self-driving vans, the massage center and the florist.

Kelsey Marie Robinson, a volleyball player for the United States, has been reviewing the food in the villages cafeteria. In one video, she pans over a spread of salmon, steak, peaches, melons, fried calamari, seaweed rice balls, vegetable tempura and a chocolate mousse. The mousse really got her attention (10/10, Ms. Robinson wrote.)

Erica Ogwumike, a basketball player for the Nigerian team and a student in medical school, gave a short overview of the polyclinic, where athletes can receive acupuncture, dermatology treatments, physiotherapy and more.

Various athletes have answered frequently asked questions about their sport, themselves and being in the Olympics. (For volleyball players, how tall are you? is a common one.)

Cody Melphy, an American rugby player, has used his TikTok page to answer more niche questions, like whether athletes are allowed to keep the comforters that come with their cardboard beds (they are) and what happens if an athletes laundry is lost (Mr. Melphy washed his used clothes in a bathtub).

Mr. Daley, a diver and gold medalist who appeared in the condom unboxing video, has also been sharing his progress on knitting projects. On an Instagram page devoted to his knitted and crocheted creations, he said that the hobby has kept him sane.

Some competitors brought their fans into the experience even before reaching Tokyo. Liza Pletneva, a rhythmic gymnast from the United States, documented her teams journey from home, which included a six-hour layover in Amsterdam, an 11-hour flight to Tokyo and five hours of processing upon arrival.

In comments on these videos, TikTok users are expressing their appreciation for how much inside scoop the Olympians have been posting. Noah Schnapp, an actor best known for his role on Stranger Things, published a video on TikTok saying he didnt know Olympic athletes were so funny and normal and that seeing their routines on TikTok has changed the entire experience of spectating.

So the ratings are in. Season 1 of Olympics TikTok is a success.

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The Olympics Are All Fun, No Games on TikTok - The New York Times

Tokyo Olympics: golds for Kenny and Archibald, silver for Muir and more as it happened – The Guardian

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The key events for tomorrow, via our daily briefing.

All events are listed here in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Sydney, subtract eight hours for Bristol, 13 hours for New York and 16 hours for San Francisco.

Athletics (7.35pm-9.50pm) Theres only one session in the stadium on Saturday and it is final after final. We get the womens high jump and the mens javelin. The womens 10,000m final is at 7.45pm. The mens 1500m final is 8.40pm. Then we finish the track events in the stadium with the explosive double whammy of the womens and mens 4x400m relay finals.

Womens marathon (6am) Held in Sapporo to try and avoid the Tokyo heat, the women will start at around 10pm UK time so you can settle in with your Ovaltine for a late night watching someone else run 26.2 miles to gold.

Golf (6.30am) It should be the fourth and final round of the womens golf weather permitting.

Canoe sprint (9.30am-12.47pm)There are four finals on Saturday, in the womens canoe double 500m, mens canoe single 1000m, and the kayak four 500m in both flavours.

Beach volleyball (10am-12.20pm)The mens bronze match features pairs from Latvia and Qatar, followed by Norway and Not Russia serving for gold.

Diving (10am and 3pm)The mens 10m platform semi-final and then the final.

Rhythmic gymnastics (10am, 11.30am and 3.20pm)The morning sessions are qualifications for the group all-around. The afternoon is the individual all-around final.

Basketball (11.30am, 4pm and 8pm)The programme is all topsy-turvy possibly for the benefit of US TV audiences but the morning starts with the mens gold medal game between the USA and France. At 4pm, its the womens bronze final (France v Serbia) with the mens bronze medal match between Australia and Slovenia at 8pm.

Baseball (12pm and 7pm ) First the bronze medal match between the Dominican Republic and South Korea, and then the final in the evening between Japan and the USA.

Boxing (2pm-3.15pm)Four final bouts today in mens fly, womens fly, mens middle and womens welter weights. Britains Galal Yafai faces Cubas Carlo Paalam at 2pm.

Karate (2pm-8.45pm)Featuring the mens Kumite +75kg and womens Kumite +61kg. The bronze medal bouts and the finals get going around 7.20pm.

Modern pentathlon (2.30pm-7.30pm) The mens competition features swimming, fencing, show jumping and then the combined cross-country run interrupted by having to shoot at things. It is so great to watch.

Track cycling (3.30pm-6.25pm) Races all day, but one final to look out for: the mens madison final at 4.55pm.

Handball (5pm and 9pm)It is Egypt v Spain for bronze first, then France v Denmark for the gold in the mens competition.

Equestrian (7pm)Its the final day with the horses today, and it is the jumping team final.

Artistic swimming (7.30pm)The team free routine final lights up Saturday on the final day of events.

Football (8.30pm)Its the mens final in Yokohama, featuring Brazil v Spain.

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Tokyo Olympics: golds for Kenny and Archibald, silver for Muir and more as it happened - The Guardian