From left, Olympic wrestlers Army Sgt. 1st Class Dremiel Byers, Spc. Justin Lester and Sgt. Spenser Mango are days away from hitting the mats in London. (Staff photo by Jon Anderson)
A handful of quick military-sports hits for the middle of the week:
Olympic fever. Want the basics on the military men and women who’ll compete in London beginning later this week? Click here for our OFFduty preview, including capsule profiles on all 16 of them, plus the dates they’ll compete. For a more complete view of the games, head to USA Today’s site here (and a full Olympic schedule here). The 2012 Summer Olympics kicked off today with women’s soccer contests — a perfect reason to catch this video Q-and-A with Navy women’s soccer coach Carin Gabarra, a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team in 1996. Gabarra begins her 20th season at the helm when the Mids host Maryland on Aug. 17.
UFC 152 video. Catch the official highlights from Tuesday’s UFC 152 press conference in Toronto here. Former Marine Brian Stann steals the show with his poignant comments at the 2:20 mark. He’ll face Michael Bisping in Toronto on Sept. 22, and likely in the world of online trash talk/fight promotion in the weeks ahead. Check out Stann’s Twitter feed for some of that pre-fight back-and-forth and some pics from Tuesday in Toronto, including a stare-down atop the CN Tower.
Air Force media daze. A rush of Falcons-related news as the Mountain West Conference holds its football media days in Las Vegas — always a good way to get reporters to show up. Air Force was picked to finish sixth in the MWC in a media poll, with Boise State in the top spot. Frank Schwab at The (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Gazette has more on the Gazette’s Air Force sports blog and on Twitter, including projected depth charts, reports on a possible nine-game conference schedule (quite the squeeze for AFA schedule-makers) and a note about coach Troy Calhoun steering Air Force away from joining the Big East. That last one made an impression on the Navy folks.
And more … Navy hoops coach Ed DeChellis announces his recruiting class, which has a distinct Virginia flavor and could be called on very quickly to help a team with no returning seniors. … Army Lt. T.J. Watkins gets a taste of his pro baseball dream before beginning his post-West Point military career. … Air Force fans, bookmark this link for the team’s 2012 football media guide. … Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey got to fly with the Air Force Thunderbirds — think he has a connection?
