Olympic Fever

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, it's Mallory your host of The Staredown. I know it's been a little bit but I've got some good things coming your way today So I hope you're ready and if you're not it's okay because now you've got some time to sit back

[00:00:16] Relax grab a drink or two and listen to the staredown

[00:01:08] Okay, so before we jump into today's sports update I want to give a little bit of a life update If you follow the Alabama take or if you follow me on social media and by me

[00:01:21] I mean my personal accounts, then you will know that a few weeks ago. It was announced that I Was apparently nominated and then chosen to be the outstanding young alumni for Ole Miss for 2024 by the Alumni Association

[00:01:36] And to say that I am still in complete shock is an understatement. I Have not been able to put what it means into words fully every time I type something I'm like, yeah that sounds good and I'll hit send or post or whatever

[00:01:53] And it still feels so inadequate when I read back on it. Thankfully, I have a few more weeks before we go to the Award ceremony so I can write out my speech, but it's a truly incredible honor I am so touched that anyone would think of me to

[00:02:15] nominate and to be chosen as a representative of such an amazing University and I can't wait to continue to Carry that torch. So yeah, I hope that everyone gets to celebrate with me along with that

[00:02:32] The other thing and I apologize because I'm probably going to cry through this The same day I found out that I had been chosen For that insanely incredible honor. I found out that I have a genetic mutation called Braca2 It's BRCA2 and basically what it means is that

[00:02:54] My body has a mutation within it that will cause me to have a higher chance To develop breast cancer or ovarian cancer over my lifetime So when you take that into account to all the other things that I've endured all of the chemo everything else it's

[00:03:17] Not great and the way I found it was by total accident I agreed to Participate in a study for women who had never had breast or ovarian cancer And so I gave a DNA sample and it came back that I have one of the mutations um

[00:03:41] With that has come some insanely difficult choices One of which I will be taking care of this coming week and I will be having a prophylactic double mastectomy with reconstruction So all that to say I'm basically going to have a preventative double mastectomy and then we will

[00:04:06] Put expanders in so that I can have implants and I'm so sorry But I don't know how else to be except completely real and it's hard and it's frustrating And I am mad at my body and I am mad at the world

[00:04:34] Because this is not fair that I'm having to deal with this again and At the same time another thing that is true is that I am so glad

[00:04:48] That I was able to find this out before it did turn into breast cancer or ovarian cancer and I can do something about it So I say all of that to say I Hope you all understand why I've kind of taken a break from this

[00:05:08] Don't worry sports have still been there and sports have still been an incredible place for me to find strength and Humor and humility and Beauty and everything that is life

[00:05:28] But it is something that I'm dealing with and so I have like I said made the decision to have a prophylactic double mastectomy This coming week So I've been preparing for that both mentally and physically getting things ready at our house so that it's easiest on

[00:05:44] both me and also my caregivers because my caregivers include my husband Cody who is so insanely strong and an incredibly amazing partner My mom who has cried with me and Has said she plans to be here as much as I allow her to be my dad who I

[00:06:11] Know this can't be easy for him either Especially when he and my stepmom are going through life changes of their own Including my little brother starting Ole Miss in the fall as a junior, which is insane because we're not that old but I guess we are

[00:06:33] all of my friends all of Of my extended family. It's just it's been a thing. So I've taken a While off to get through that to process all of that and to come to this place where I am now, which is I

[00:06:48] Am strong and I am scared. I am taking control and I also understand I have no control And that's a very very vulnerable position to be in I Know now that I am more of a woman than I was six months ago

[00:07:10] Because I have been able to take this decision and make it my own and decide what's best for me physically Decide what's best for my future for my family And wrap that up into a decision And so I'm here. I'm being vulnerable

[00:07:27] and that's honestly the whole reason why I started this whole podcast because I've said it a million times and I'll probably say it a million more you never know what someone's going through and

[00:07:39] I'm sure there are a lot of you that are probably listening that have no idea but now, you know and so just use it as another example as to Why you should provide some grace To those around you Because you just don't know So

[00:07:57] You'll probably also have a little bit of a hiatus from me for the next I'd say probably two weeks as I recover I Believe I should be able to type so I've ordered an awesome keyboard

[00:08:11] For my iPad so while I watch the Olympics, which we're totally gonna get into here in a minute I'm going to be typing some columns for The alibi my take comm website to talk about the Olympics and sports from the female perspective

[00:08:29] Since I don't know how well I'll be able to talk or if I'll even be in a place to talk But the good thing about typing is you can edit so go there and look for a few takes over the next few weeks Okay on that note

[00:08:47] Let's take a little bit of a break and then we'll come back and jump into all the sports that I want to talk about All right, so welcome back if you're like me You went and probably got a beverage in my case

[00:09:26] I got some bubbly water because nothing makes me feel better than bubbly water and hydrating after I've cried so Now that I've hydrated. I feel like an Olympic athlete. I feel like I'm elite. I'm ready to go

[00:09:40] Y'all, I'm really not if you've watched any of the Olympics. It's been so insanely cool how Impressive and athletic they are I am here for it. I love it. So jumping right on into it

[00:09:54] Let's start with the opening ceremonies. So I know that there was a little bit of a controversy along with those but I Loved them from the Stevens-Bilberg opening Segway into it all y'all could they have picked anyone better? That was like the last person

[00:10:13] I ever would have thought of I truly would never have thought of him But one of the things that I just absolutely loved was the way that they pulled Steven into it because the

[00:10:25] Entire opening ceremonies ended up being an artistic almost movie-like journey and so they had the masked Horse rider that went through the entire thing who ended up being basically the goddess of the the sign river

[00:10:41] However, you say that I'm going with sign. I don't know. That's probably so wrong. I apologize That's one of the things I haven't looked up this weekend You have the masked rider

[00:10:51] She is supposed to be the goddess of the river which was so cool. You had the headless Marie Antoinette with the rock opera you had the feast of Bacchus The Bacchanal

[00:11:06] Feast if we should say and this is one of the things I did want to talk about today I know that there are people out there who say that it was a mockery of the Last Supper

[00:11:18] Into that I have to say first and foremost the Last Supper was a painting by Da Vinci It was an artistic take on an event that was written by second third-hand accounts It was also based upon the Bacchanal Lore

[00:11:42] Bacchus, you know if you think of Bacchus and this is where I think of Bacchus because growing up in the south Bacchus is a huge parade in New Orleans and Mardi Gras and so

[00:11:53] You know, it's about revelry. It's about fun. It's about wine and food and just a good celebration And so I even think you know, whatever your religion is if you look at the Last Supper

[00:12:05] You know Jesus throughout his entire history dined and hung out with those who were not Straight they were not the cleanest they were full of debauchery and sins And so even if it was to depict that I think if you take a look at true Christianity it's

[00:12:30] It's that it was a fun take on the fact that the Olympics are a place where you can come and be who you are and celebrate your accomplishments But it wasn't that it was the feast of Bacchus and

[00:12:48] Obviously the Olympics were founded in Greece and so he was a Greek god and here we go anyway phenomenal phenomenal phenomenal I loved Absolutely loved Lady Gaga. I love the whole like Mulan Rouge aspect of that the pink and the black and the just very sexy

[00:13:09] Ula-la of it. I love the library scene. I loved the city of love aspect being pulled in The bright colors the neon it was gorgeous But then you get to my Second favorite part. It was my favorite part for a very very long time

[00:13:27] But Beyonce my girl and she played my favorite song off of her entire album cowboy Carter Yeah, yeah, because we're snapping We're clapping It was beautiful y'all so cool. So so cool. You have to see all of the athletes you have 500 plus us athletes

[00:13:52] You couldn't have done a better job with that. So shout out to NBC for that great great great But then you had saline in my goodness The tears that flowed from that The woman has a disease that has Almost debilitated her and has in certain moments

[00:14:16] And for her to be so strong and to stand up on a world stage and deliver that performance just Chilling absolutely chilling um, and then from the American aspect of it in bc they hired kelly Clarkson and Peyton Manning to sit alongside Mike Tariqo

[00:14:36] And commentate and you guys they did such a great job. I feel like they I personally would have probably loved a little bit more commentary But they did a really good job of allowing the artistic elements to shine through Peyton with his wristband. Oh my gosh

[00:14:51] How funny was that? kelly tearing up and not being able to speak truly after saline's performance To me it was That was the most humanized Opening ceremonies. I've probably every I've ever seen and I will always always go back and watch aspects of it because of the

[00:15:14] Emotions that I devote during certain points I also love the fact that the athletes came in on boats and they weren't walking around a track It was it was just so so cool and it was in the rain

[00:15:24] And you guys that was so cool for me because I mean they're going to be out and competing in their sports in the rain and all of those things all the elements it just Oh, it couldn't have been better. It could have been better so

[00:15:38] Love the olympics love the opening ceremonies. So now let's get into some competition. So today on sunday The u.s. Women's national team just defeated germany and soccer four to one and what An incredible match that was the score may sound really close

[00:15:55] In four to one, but I can promise you it was not My girl mouse wanson she's out there killing it So for the second match in a row she scored Um trinity rodman is making a name for herself

[00:16:08] It was just a really really good solid performance today. They won their first match three nothing That was that was I feel like to be expected Um, it was zambia. It was over an opponent that wasn't you know

[00:16:20] Probably as strong as the germans were but to do four one over the germans was pretty impressive So i'm excited to watch these ladies. They seem to be doing really well under their new coach She is a force to be reckoned with um emma

[00:16:33] manual I really like her She She kind of reminds me a little bit of coach boon from remember the titans Like I have a feeling that her training camps are intense, but she would be so cool to play for so I really want to keep watching them

[00:16:49] Also, one of the things that happened today was the u.s. Women's gymnastics team went into the qualifying round Uh and simone hurt herself a little bit But she still qualified for both the all-around individual title the team qualified for the team event

[00:17:09] But i'm interested to see kind of what's happening with her ankle lower leg because that's something to watch And I think it ties back into one of the other things

[00:17:17] I wanted to talk about today, which was her series on netflix simone. Um, it's an kind of like an Autobiographical look into her life. Um, obviously they pull over her around and they do all that

[00:17:28] But one of the things they talked about was the carrie scrug's 1996 atlanta olympics performance where Carrie went and jumped and did her vault And probably shouldn't have if we're being completely honest She probably shouldn't have that probably injured her worse than if she had just left it

[00:17:45] But she did it. She won gold and she was a national hero, right? But what did that do to her mentally and I think as we Look at that and then we look at everything else at us gymnastics athletes have been through With that horrible horrible monster who

[00:18:01] posed as their team physician, you know a physician who takes The oath of basically doing no harm And he did all of the harm. Um, I just don't even feel like naming his name

[00:18:14] You all know who he is but when you look at what those athletes and those ladies went through To now be here and now to be kind of in a little bit of a similar position

[00:18:25] You know, Simone obviously had her issues in tokyo with mental health and she pulled out and there were so many people who came after her saying That's not the goat

[00:18:38] That's not the leader of your team. That's not who we should be idolizing and I'll actually argue the opposite Simone chose to put on her own oxygen mask before putting The oxygen mask of others on them

[00:18:52] She took care of herself first and that's what you have to do to be a leader If you don't take care of yourself, you can never take care of anybody else

[00:18:58] So I applaud her for that but I am interested to see kind of what this new ankle injury that happened today Turns out to be in how it how it dampens it. I mean she was able to finish the competition today. So we'll see

[00:19:09] Also, we've had a lot of drama in the pool Which I love I love the australian versus the americans narrative what I do not love And shout out to my cousin emily and her husband erin because erin nailed it Apparently as americans

[00:19:26] We take cowbells and we ring them and y'all that makes us the mississippi state of the olympics and no Just absolutely no No But beyond that obviously i'm here for america But I am loving all of the swimming I'm loving

[00:19:46] The handball I watched handball one of the cool things too. I watched was some kind of like Uh kayak slalom. I think is what it was called You guys they're in like these rapids going down the river and like this one man kayak or one person kayak

[00:20:00] And they're having to dodge all of these gates and things and like if their ponytail hits it It's a whole like it's a deduction. Which is basically time added on to their run. It is so cool Um, we also watched the women's judo finals today, which was

[00:20:14] Awesome and I was a little shocked because it felt a little anti climatic But basically like the lady who won she got the other lady down once And so she got a point and then they were able to basically just kind of grapple it out

[00:20:26] And so when time ran out she was it she was it she was the winner And then that was really cool. But to me the match that was the most Emotional and heartbreaking was for the bronze medal and it came down to the wire

[00:20:41] And the lady who won bronze cried and held the lady who Came in fourth and they just stood there and held each other and cried and I mean I can can you imagine You're there your fourth best in the world

[00:20:56] Which is nothing to sneeze at nothing at all to sneeze at But you're fourth in the world Maybe if you had done this one move differently Maybe if you had done this other thing differently, maybe if you would take an advantage of this like

[00:21:12] You can second guess all those things And it's just heartbreaking like it's just it's so heartbreaking. So Um, I say all of that to say I am here for the olympics. I'm actually Kind of one of the things I'm looking forward to if I've got to

[00:21:29] Find some positives in surgery is that I'm going to have a couple of weeks where I can't really do anything except kind of lays around and so It is all olympics all the time out of office means olympics only or outside

[00:21:47] Meaning outside my house because you can watch whatever you want outside your house Otherwise, it's all olympics all the time here. So I'm very very excited for that Um a couple of other things we'll jump into and then I will let you all get back to your

[00:22:02] Beautiful sunday afternoons if you're like me here in huntsville. It's nice and cloudy and rainy like it has been for the last few weeks But speaking of olympics, I have been watching all of the netflix things including sprint And noah liles you guys

[00:22:19] I loved watching him. He is so cool and I text my friend sierra today during the uh us men's basketball game of Against syria because they were losing at one point pretty early on and I was like

[00:22:34] They better step it up. Otherwise noah's little prediction is going to come true because You know, he was talking about last year how why are they called world champions when they win the in the nba Finals like

[00:22:46] They just played in the us if you can't go out and beat the world on a global stage Why are you called world champions like track and field athletes? No matter the match Or no matter the race not the match but no matter the race or event

[00:23:00] For the most part unless it's nationals or a us only event they're out here competing against the world every single meet so You know, thankfully the us men's basketball team turned it around they beat syria

[00:23:10] But i'm here to watch noah because if there's one thing I learned about watching him on the series It's that he can back it up and he may talk a lot and you may not like him, but he can back it up so

[00:23:23] Super excited to watch that chicari you guys chicari raven saunders I need those two to be like my besties like how Awesome are they raven could probably pick me up and chuck me A football field away

[00:23:40] She's so incredibly strong. She's also an Ole Miss girl. So obviously we're here for that But chicari richardson i'm loving the fact that she's God she's so herself. She is so herself Love her or hate her. She doesn't care. She should carry and so

[00:24:00] I'm also going to be honest a little bit of weed is what kept her out. Come on y'all There are people out here doing way worse things like oh, I don't know

[00:24:10] There's an athlete and I can't remember what country he's from but he's not even allowed to stay in the olympic village because he's been convicted of rape Of a 14 year old in his home country

[00:24:21] But he's allowed to come and compete but chicari had a little bit of weed in her system. So she couldn't compete like Y'all really and I understand it's it's a national level. It's from country to country They're governing bodies can make up the rules, but That's disgusting

[00:24:37] Absolutely freaking disgusting So I digress Some of the other things I've been doing this summer. Uh, I watched receiver It wasn't my favorite. I was really excited after the first episode and the opener where basically randy moss kicks paton off of the intro

[00:24:59] And then the story became a little dull I love george kiddle. I love actually I love everybody on the show all of the receivers are absolutely insanely good But I don't know it just felt a little Underwhelming compared to quarterback I don't know I don't know like

[00:25:16] Were they trying to be a little more politically correct? I don't I don't know but it just It fell flat for me personally just it just fell a little flat and I can't quite put my finger on why but it just did

[00:25:27] Um, obviously as I stated I've watched the Simone vials thing on netflix, which is So good y'all. She's so adorable. She's so stinking cute all the gymnasts are and Not only are they cute their powerhouses like I would never want any of them to kick me because

[00:25:48] They're so insanely powerful. It's it's just unbelievable. So Watch that and then the current thing I'm watching Oh, and I hate to admit it. It's the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders I I just I don't even know I'm watching it as more of like a train wreck thing

[00:26:13] Good for them. All I can say is is what they do is also very Incredibly athletic. It's very taxing mentally They are some intelligent women. I mean you have an orthodontist You have nurses you have women who are so smart and they're going and they're kicking

[00:26:34] So high that like my glutes and hammies are screaming as they watch it But it's just a little weird because well her makeup doesn't look right. Well, we need to change her hair color and I'm like really

[00:26:50] I don't know. I think maybe that's the aspect of it. I don't I don't truly agree with but If you're looking at it from a business perspective, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders have been the thing that have maintained Dallas continuing to be America's team quote unquote. They're America's girls

[00:27:06] And so they've bought into that that aspect and so from a business perspective good on them Good on them. Charlotte Jones, Jerry's daughter. Good for you girl. You You go do your thing. Um, but it's it it's definitely a very interesting show

[00:27:22] It's a little cringe worthy at times um, especially when they start talking about like real life things like one of their fathers Unfortunately lost his battle to mental illness while she was on her way to a game And she kept going and I just Wow y'all like that's

[00:27:46] That's some strength right there like that's a mental fortitude that I I don't know that I have But she did and that was her reason why she needed to keep going and so yeah, it's just a very interesting look on all of that. Um

[00:28:02] So I don't know if you've got some thoughts on it, you know hit me up. Let me know The biggest news too though is we're within five weeks of football being back and when I say football being back I mean sec college football and of course ea sports

[00:28:18] 2024 college football is out now. I do not have it That is a travesty. I know but don't worry. I will get it I will be playing and as soon as I do I'll drop my username so everyone can play with me

[00:28:30] I plan on whoopin some ass with jackson dart And uh all my rebels I'll even throw it back to you know, maybe some early 2000s with some deuce and row

[00:28:40] Once I get into it, but yeah, I'm here for college football. I think it's going to be so fun I cannot wait. I am so pumped. I Oh, but I'm also cautiously optimistic. I am an Ole Miss fan guys like

[00:28:58] I remember I remember us being on the cover of sports illustrated And we were ranked fourth in the nation and we went into South Carolina on a thursday and just got Spanked jevons need so bad. It was so bad

[00:29:15] So, yeah, we're gonna take it one game at a time um Yeah, I Am going to be honest. I'm a little emotionally spent at this point I have probably started and stopped recording this episode about eight times total over this weekend And

[00:29:37] Obviously, I hope you guys understand why from the very beginning and from my kind of opening statement But i'm here to say this Sports are a unifier Sports are a safe space Sports are a happy place

[00:29:58] There is sad place. There are places where you can come and forget all of your ails and your worries There are places where you can be reminded of all of your ails and your worries But at the end of the day Sports are the great unifier

[00:30:14] And so as we go through these next few weeks with the most global of unifiers in the olympics Just remember no matter what's happening in your little corner of the world

[00:30:25] Whether your favorite person is running for president or not whether your favorite candidate has dropped out and someone else is running Whether your neighbor has had a bad day Whether work isn't going well or someone got a promotion that you felt like should have been yours

[00:30:44] It doesn't matter Because all that matters is is we're here and we're alive And we're allowed to feel those the emotions And you have spaces to fill those And so Grant yourself some grace Grant the world around you some grace And cheer for the usa because

[00:31:09] Damn it. We're the best when it comes to the sports. Y'all were the best Also throwing this out there even though it's four years ahead

[00:31:17] If anybody's got a hook up on the flag football for la 28, let me know because I want to go the olympics are a bucket list item for me um seriously though like

[00:31:29] Truly give yourself some grace give yourself some time to breathe give yourself some space to breathe and I promise you It's all going to be okay And at the end of the day we can all sit back relax Grab a drink or two Talk about sports

[00:31:44] talk about life laugh cry And know that the beauty of it all is the fact that we get to live As always go check out the alivierma take dot com You can find us on instagram at the sterile pod. I believe you can email us at no

[00:32:03] That's our that's our twitter account is at the stare down pod our instagram is at the stare down underscore podcast Our email is the stare down pod at gmail.com our facebook is the As one word stare down as its own word

[00:32:25] Leave us some feedback share it with your friends Give your friends a hug give your family a hug And know that my rebels are out for blood and so are my usa athletes Have a wonderful week And i'll see you back at some point Hotty-totty gary usa Bye