Pirate Galaxy » Lumberjacks punter Dylan Kegans d

Katie Ledeckys Olympic Games are off to a flying start: The 19-year-old swimmer took gold in her first individual event Sunday night. And she didnt just win -- she blew her competition out of the water, finishing with a nearly 5-second lead and breaking her own world record in the 400-meter freestyle.By holding world records in the 400, 800 and 1500 freestyle, Ledeckys dominance continues to be astounding. During Sunday nights broadcast, as Ledecky quickly pulled ahead of the pack, NBCs Rowdy Gaines proclaimed: A lot of people say she swims like a man. She doesnt swim like a man -- she swims like Katie Ledecky.Indeed, the tendency to compare women athletes to men seems to arise no matter what, in an attempt to contextualize female athletic achievement in the male terms we understand as default.This girl is doing respectable times for guys, 11-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte told USA Today. Olympic silver medalist Connor Jaeger took the comparison beyond her impressive times. Her stroke is like a mans stroke, he told the Washington Post. I mean that in a positive way. She swims like a man.Lochte, Jaeger and most people comparing Ledecky to male swimmers are trying to be nothing but praiseworthy. And the idea that she has a mans stroke isnt entirely hyperbolic. As espnWs?Philip Hersh explains, her coach tweaked her mechanics to employ techniques rarely used by female swimmers:And yet, its easy to see why many on social media reacted strongly to the idea of comparing Ledecky to a man in the first place. Ledecky uses a stroke traditionally ascribed to men, but theres nothing about the skills required to employ that stroke that are uniquely male. Strength and timing can be acquired, and history has shown us that both improved training and increased access to sports helps close the gap between men and women athletes.This is demonstrably true in swimming. In 2012, the Atlantics Robinson Meyer found that womens world-record times in the 100 free have improved at a greater pace than the mens times since 1905. Interestingly, he also compared mens and womens world records across events and found that women come closest to men in longer races, particularly the 1500.Thats noteworthy with regard to Ledecky because, while she holds the world record in the 1500 free, she wont have the chance to swim the event in Rio. The womens mile is glaringly absent from the Olympic program, which has featured the mens 1500 since 1908.The reasons are vague and unconvincing -- everything from a lack of global reach to a dearth of public interest. But while the 1500 requires more patience from viewers than shorter races with more immediate excitement, theres no explanation for why that same reasoning isnt applied to the men -- nor why it also doesnt hold true for the 10K open-water swim, which was introduced to the Olympics for both men and women in 2008. As for the global nature of the womens mile, since the 1500 was added to the FINA world championship program in 2001, the event has hailed medalists from 11 different countries.The International Olympic Committee has thus far rejected FINAs attempts to push for the womens 1500 in the Olympics, citing too many events on the schedule. Thats a very real concern, and has led the IOC to foolishly eliminate other essential events in the past. (Welcome back, baseball and softball.)Having men swim a 1500 while the women swim an 800 harkens back to a time of immense resistance to all womens events, particularly those endurance sports thought to be too physically strenuous for delicate female bodies. And while that might not be the intention, its not happening in a vacuum. Its happening in a sports climate that tells women tennis players they cant play five sets, that belittles womens basketball and soccer players for hypothetically not being able to compete with the men, that delegitimizes womens sports entirely when athletes like Serena Williams or the UConn basketball team are deemed too dominant -- dominance for which Ledecky receives praise when its framed in mens terms.Its a vestige of still seeing sports as inherently male space, and of mostly male fans and commentators unable or unwilling to consider female athletes by their merits alone. Forgetting that half of sports fans are women, the narrative takes shape around terms to which the prototypical mens fan can relate. But when women are derided when theyre not as strong or fast as the men, yet simultaneously scorned when they dominate other women, we miss the point of womens sports entirely. We miss the fact that playing like a girl means something entirely different today than it meant 50 years ago.Its important to remember that Ledecky, who is going for a medal Tuesday night in the 200 freestyle, doesnt swim like a man -- she swims like Katie Ledecky. Mone Davis indeed does throw my curveball like Clayton Kershaw and my fastball like Mone Davis. There isnt a ceiling on womens athletic achievement, and strong female athletes will continue to innovate and evolve their events in terms of womens sports, not mens, even if and when that means competing on the same level.Regardless of comparison, womens sports need to be celebrated and enjoyed on their own merits -- by men and women alike. Whether you watched Michael Jordan as a Knicks fan, Mariano Rivera as a Red Sox fan or Nadia Comaneci as an American, you were still watching greatness, even if you were on the other team.So savor the moments you get to watch Ledecky and Williams and Simone Biles. Theyre not redirecting female athletes into a supposedly superior, male space. Theyre reframing womens sports in terms of potential. Donne|Uomo Nike Air Max Plus TN Ultra Nere/Sette Colori 898015-002 . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. The 10th-ranked German improved her record in finals to 3-5. Nike Air Max 270 Flyknit Scontate .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. http://www.airmaxshopitalia.it/air-max-97-prezzi-bassi/air-max-97-uomo.html . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Air Max 2019 Uomo . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. Air Max 2019 Donne . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State and its new quarterback turned an uncomfortably close game into a fourth-quarter blowout.Manny Wilkins passed for 180 yards, ran for 89 and a touchdown and even hurdled a would-be tackler in his first college start and the Sun Devils pulled away for a 44-13 victory over FCS foe Northern Arizona on Saturday night.Arizona State led just 10-6 before scoring on its final seven possessions.The second half was about more what I expected, Sun Devils coach Todd Graham said, and the first half was nerve-wracking. We expected to score a lot more points in the first half than we did.They scored 24 points in the fourth quarter.Well be fine, Wilkins said. I take complete accountability for that (the slow start) and next week well get rolling faster.Freshman NKeal Harry took a lateral from Wilkins and raced 34 yards for a touchdown and Kalen Ballage ran 30 yards for a score in the outburst.Northern Arizonas Case Cookus completed 23 of 33 passes for 369 yards, including an 87-yard touchdown to Elijah Marks. Marks had eight catches for 174 yards.Wilkins, a redshirt sophomore who was named the starter by coach Todd Graham on Friday, completed 20 of 27 passes with one interception.He had some things you see a first-time starter do, Graham said, and then he did some great things.Zane Gonzalez kicked three field goals, including a career-long 53-yarder, for the Sun Devils, who havent lost to the Lumberjacks since 1938.At times, we showed ourselves to be very capable; a team that can play at a high tempo, NAU coach Jerome Souers said. But what Im concerned about mostly is our ability to deal with adversity that came in the second half.The game looked like an Arizona State romp at the start.Ballage returned the opening kickoff 27 yards and the Sun Devils went 44 yards on seven consecutive running plays with Wilkins running 13 for the touchdown.The Lumberjacks took the second-half kickoff, with Cookus completing passes of 39, 14 and 12 yards, and advanced to the Sun Devils 1-inch line. But a false start penalty and delay of game pushed them back and Haacks 23-yard field goal cut Arizona Staates lead to 10-6.ddddddddddddGonzalezs 53-yarder boosted the ASU advantage to 13-6 with 7:35 left in the third quarter.Arizona State linebacker Marcus Ball was tossed from the game after he was called for targeting in a helmet-to-helmet hit with NAU receiver Jabril Taylor. Ball must sit out the first half of the Sun Devils game against Texas Tech next Saturday. Graham said linebacker Salamo Fiso and defensive lineman Ami Latu didnt play because of disciplinary reasons.STRANGE PLAYSWhen Wilkins took off up the middle in the second quarter he literally hurdled North Arizonas Keith Graham. The run helped set up Gonzalezs 33-yard field goal.And as the first half ended, Cookus let it fly in a `Hail Mary under extreme pressure. The Sun Devils Kareem Orr tried to catch it, but it bounced off his chest and into the hands of Butler at about the 10-yard line and he took off toward the end zone. But his toe barely went out of bounds at the Sun Devils 2-yard line and the half ended.Northern Arizona had the ball at the end only because of another bizarre occurrence. Lumberjacks punter Dylan Kegans dropped the snap and then kicked the ball 13 yards downfield, where it bounced off the helmet of a Sun Devil and into the arms of Northern Arizonas Corbin Jountti for a first down.THE TAKEAWAYNorthern Arizona: The Lumberjacks are picked to win the Big Sky and they stayed with the Sun Devils most of the night. Cookus, a sophomore, looks to put up big numbers when Northern Arizona drops to competition its level.Arizona State: The Sun Devils and their young quarterback finally found their rhythm late in the third quarter to give them a boost of confidence with the Red Raiders coming to town next week.UP NEXTNorthern Arizona drops down considerably in the level of competition when the Lumberjacks travel to Western Illinois next Saturday.Arizona State needed their late surge to gain some confidence because the Sun Devils face a much sterner test when they are host to Texas Tech next Saturday. ' ' '