Mallory Pugh: I Believe I Can Fly | WNT Animated, Presented by Ritz
RIO DE JANEIRO Mallory Pugh from Highlands Ranch became the youngest American player to score a goal in the Olympics for the U.S. womens national soccer team at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday night.
Pugh, 18, scored in the 59th minute to break a 1-1 tie, taking a shot from inside the penalty box that was blocked by teammate Christen Press.
Pugh then got the ball, dribbled toward the middle of the box and unleashed a left-footed shot past the Colombian defense.
Colombia scored in the waning moments to force a 2-2 tie, but the Americans still won their group and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Pugh, the 2015 Gatorade national player of the year, became thesecond-youngest U.S. womens soccer player to compete in the Olympics at 18 years, 3 months and 5 days.
Pugh plays for Real Colorado andplans to attend UCLA in the fall. She replaced midfielder Megan Rapinoe midway through the first half.
The U.S., which won the World Cup last year, is seeking its fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal. The U.S. will play Sweden on Friday morning in the quarterfinals.
Judge Declines to Cut Rod Blagojevich"s 14-Year Prison Sentence
"My life is in ruins. ... I have nobody to blame but myself for my stupidity."
Rod Blagojevich, pleading for mercy at his sentencing, Dec. 7, 2011
"Every governor, even our worst, helps someone. ... Very few criminals are all bad. ... I am more concerned with the occasions when you wanted to use your powers to do things that were only good for yourself."
U.S. District Judge James Zagel, sentencing Blagojevich to 14 years in prison
They will meet again Tuesday, this time via videoconferencing the felonious and defrocked governor doing time below Colorado mountains, and the judge who decided there should be no more cushy gentlemen"s sentences for gentlemen guilty of blatant public corruption.
Four-plus years into that sentence, Rod Blagojevich will want to dwell Tuesday on letters that fellow inmates have written to Zagel, encouraging a sentence reduction for "the Gov," as they call him. The testimonials relate how U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate 40892-424 "was my teacher in the GED class." How he encouraged prisoners, telling them, "If I could be Governor, some of you guys could be President." How, at meetings of fellow Christians, "His talks are mostly about people in history that have fallen but went on to do good things. He would tell us to learn from those examples." How Blagojevich is so helpful and nice that "it"s hard to imagine him being on the wrong side of the law."
Blagojevich won"t want to dwell, though, on the Chicago appellate court ruling that, a year ago, sent his case back to Zagel for resentencing. The appellate judges did vacate Blagojevich"s conviction on five of his 18 felonies. But they also empowered Zagel to give him a shorter prison term or a longer one.
The convict"s apologists want the rest of us to focus on those five counts, as if tossing them sorta, kinda makes him less guilty. As if Blagojevich as Gerald Ford said of Richard Nixon in pardoning him has suffered enough. But Illinoisans who do their homework know better:
The appellate judges vacated the five counts over a technicality involving jury instructions, not because of innocence. In fact, they said that prosecutors could re-try Blagojevich on those counts. That the evidence against him at trial was sufficient to convict him. That although Zagel had sentenced Blagojevich to 14 years, his felonies qualified for a range of 30 years to life. That vacating five counts doesn"t reduce that range. That a 14-year sentence might just be too light: "Any error in the guidelines calculation," the judges said, "went in Blagojevich"s favor."
In other words, Blagojevich is entitled to a new sentence, not a lesser sentence. The last of the opinion"s 23 pages said that, "It is not possible to call 168 months unlawfully high for Blagojevich"s crimes, but the district judge should consider on remand whether it is the most appropriate sentence."
So Zagel can do as he wishes.
We won"t intrude on his reverie. We do hope he re-reads his own words of the day he first sentenced Blagojevich. We wrote at the time of how Zagel, speaking at high noon, focused on the much-abused people of Illinois, who have watched four of their last 10 governors frog-marched to federal prisons. By giving Blagojevich more than double the 61/2 years given the preceding corrupt governor, George Ryan, Zagel made corruption a more serious crime than it previously had been in Illinois. He essentially told every other judge who hears these cases that, to curb this crime, penalties need to rise. Giving Blagojevich 14 years was a rigorous precedent on which future judges could, and should, sentence the next crooked Illinois pols.
Zagel"s most searing words attested to Blagojevich"s self-imposed, life-long penalty: If citizens have placed their public trust in you, then you can do to your life and your loved ones what this criminal freely chose to do to his. Corruption doesn"t just happen; people who may have fine attributes, impressive resumes and substantial accomplishments make it happen. Exemplary fathers and mothers, career professionals, officials who have done many good things for the people they serve (or serve time with) these otherwise upstanding folks, not just thieving mopes, drive the Illinois culture of political sleaze.
The harm Blagojevich caused, Zagel said, isn"t quantified in dollars. "The harm is the erosion of public trust in government." When a governor goes bad, he damages a system that relies on the willing participation of its citizens. "You," Zagel stated, "did that damage."
The prisoners" letters, by contrast, confer nobility. One recurring theme: Blagojevich, a humble man, "still believes in our American legal system." "He still expresses his belief in our legal system." "He maintains unwavering belief and honor in our judicial system." And generic advice from one inmate to the judge: "By the way, the sentences of most all of us serving time for nonviolent victimless crimes are way, way, overkill."
In letter after letter, inmates attest that although the Gov is wrongly incarcerated, he has faith that, on Tuesday, Judge Zagel will do the right thing.
"My life is in ruins. ... I have nobody to blame but myself for my stupidity."
Rod Blagojevich, pleading for mercy at his sentencing, Dec. 7, 2011
"Every governor, even our worst, helps someone. ... Very few criminals are all bad. ... I am more concerned with the occasions when you wanted to use your powers to do things that were only good for yourself."
U.S. District Judge James Zagel, sentencing Blagojevich to 14 years in prison
They will meet again Tuesday, this time via videoconferencing the felonious and defrocked governor doing time below Colorado mountains, and the judge who decided there should be no more cushy gentlemen"s sentences for gentlemen guilty of blatant public corruption.
Four-plus years into that sentence, Rod Blagojevich will want to dwell Tuesday on letters that fellow inmates have written to Zagel, encouraging a sentence reduction for "the Gov," as they call him. The testimonials relate how U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate 40892-424 "was my teacher in the GED class." How he encouraged prisoners, telling them, "If I could be Governor, some of you guys could be President." How, at meetings of fellow Christians, "His talks are mostly about people in history that have fallen but went on to do good things. He would tell us to learn from those examples." How Blagojevich is so helpful and nice that "it"s hard to imagine him being on the wrong side of the law."
Blagojevich won"t want to dwell, though, on the Chicago appellate court ruling that, a year ago, sent his case back to Zagel for resentencing. The appellate judges did vacate Blagojevich"s conviction on five of his 18 felonies. But they also empowered Zagel to give him a shorter prison term or a longer one.
The convict"s apologists want the rest of us to focus on those five counts, as if tossing them sorta, kinda makes him less guilty. As if Blagojevich as Gerald Ford said of Richard Nixon in pardoning him has suffered enough. But Illinoisans who do their homework know better:
The appellate judges vacated the five counts over a technicality involving jury instructions, not because of innocence. In fact, they said that prosecutors could re-try Blagojevich on those counts. That the evidence against him at trial was sufficient to convict him. That although Zagel had sentenced Blagojevich to 14 years, his felonies qualified for a range of 30 years to life. That vacating five counts doesn"t reduce that range. That a 14-year sentence might just be too light: "Any error in the guidelines calculation," the judges said, "went in Blagojevich"s favor."
In other words, Blagojevich is entitled to a new sentence, not a lesser sentence. The last of the opinion"s 23 pages said that, "It is not possible to call 168 months unlawfully high for Blagojevich"s crimes, but the district judge should consider on remand whether it is the most appropriate sentence."
So Zagel can do as he wishes.
We won"t intrude on his reverie. We do hope he re-reads his own words of the day he first sentenced Blagojevich. We wrote at the time of how Zagel, speaking at high noon, focused on the much-abused people of Illinois, who have watched four of their last 10 governors frog-marched to federal prisons. By giving Blagojevich more than double the 61/2 years given the preceding corrupt governor, George Ryan, Zagel made corruption a more serious crime than it previously had been in Illinois. He essentially told every other judge who hears these cases that, to curb this crime, penalties need to rise. Giving Blagojevich 14 years was a rigorous precedent on which future judges could, and should, sentence the next crooked Illinois pols.
Zagel"s most searing words attested to Blagojevich"s self-imposed, life-long penalty: If citizens have placed their public trust in you, then you can do to your life and your loved ones what this criminal freely chose to do to his. Corruption doesn"t just happen; people who may have fine attributes, impressive resumes and substantial accomplishments make it happen. Exemplary fathers and mothers, career professionals, officials who have done many good things for the people they serve (or serve time with) these otherwise upstanding folks, not just thieving mopes, drive the Illinois culture of political sleaze.
The harm Blagojevich caused, Zagel said, isn"t quantified in dollars. "The harm is the erosion of public trust in government." When a governor goes bad, he damages a system that relies on the willing participation of its citizens. "You," Zagel stated, "did that damage."
The prisoners" letters, by contrast, confer nobility. One recurring theme: Blagojevich, a humble man, "still believes in our American legal system." "He still expresses his belief in our legal system." "He maintains unwavering belief and honor in our judicial system." And generic advice from one inmate to the judge: "By the way, the sentences of most all of us serving time for nonviolent victimless crimes are way, way, overkill."
In letter after letter, inmates attest that although the Gov is wrongly incarcerated, he has faith that, on Tuesday, Judge Zagel will do the right thing.
Tim Tebow is pursuing a pro baseball career after achieving dream of being a NFL QB - "The Herd"
The next time the Mets face fourth-and-short, general manager Sandy Alderson may have a different outlook.
Alderson admitted he was being a bit cavalier on the matter, but he certainly sounded as if he thinks one tour of duty with a New York sports team is enough for Tim Tebow, who announced plans for a baseball showcase to revitalize his pro career. But Tebow hasnt played baseball in more than a decade.
Are you insinuating we need a Hail Mary at this point? Alderson said when asked if he would check out the former Jets quarterback. Thats not something weve given a lot of thought to. Id say its probably unlikely, but thats without any real information on his baseball background. Well keep an open mind.
Open enough to go to the showcase?
Was he born in Cuba? OK, then our interest is probably not as high as it would be. Well make a decision on that, Alderson said. I dont want to be too cavalier about that, but probably not going to have an impact on us.
Mallory Pugh: Gatorade 2014-2015 Girls Spring Soccer Player of the Year
MANAUS, BRAZIL Everything is larger than life in the Amazon. The humidity is like living in the shower. The moths can be as huge as your fist; the snakes are bigger than your worst nightmare. And the adventure? Its the stuff even Indiana Jones would write home about.
Although Mallory Pugh is only 18 years old, almost nothing about soccer can rattle the teenage phenom from Colorado. But as Pugh walked down to the mighty river from the team hotel to watch the sun set in the jungle, the sight took her breath away.
Just seeing how huge the Amazon River is for the first time, its so big its crazy, Pugh told me. Ive got to admit. I never thought I would be playing soccer in the jungle.
Lindsey Horan, a 22-year-old forward from Golden, added: Nothing prepares you for this. Its amazing.
Welcome to Mal and Lindseys excellent soccer adventure. These are two Colorado kids, all grown up and 4,000 miles from the Rocky Mountains, playing a little footy in the jungle.
After sitting out Saturday during Team USAs 1-0 victory against France in Belo Horizonte to rest a minor ankle sprain, Pugh said she is fit and again ready to play. So the first goal of her Olympic career now feels as close as one shot struck into the upper 90.
Regularly coming off the bench in the second half when the U.S. squad gets more defensive as it protects a lead, Horan is growing with a young group attempting to win gold while transitioning from the Abby Wambach era. Whether were up 2-0 early in the second half, or were up 1-0 with 10 minutes left in the game, my mind-set is the same when I come in the game. Its to help keep that lead, whatever way I can, Horan said.
As the members of the USWNT walked from the locker room to the field of Arena da Amazonia on the eve of their match against Colombia, there were shrieks of delight. They were greeted by butterflies that flutter in the sunshine at every turn.
Who could envision this? exclaimed Allie Long, a 28-year-old who has found a role as a holding midfielder for Team USA. But Ive always loved the jungle. When I was younger, I loved toucans, so I did school reports about the jungle. I would have never envisioned myself playing here, but
The beauty of any long, strange trip is the ride. Theres more to the joy of sports than the winning. Its how a game can open the worlds arms to you.
To get to Manaus, you take a left turn at Rio de Janeiro and fly 1,770 miles. Manaus is where the waters of the Rio Negro and Amazon meet. Manaus is the end of the road in Brazil, so far from the cry and hue of the Olympic media mob that although this team is populated by soccer rock stars, there were a grand total of seven reporters tracking them in the jungle.
We arent in Highlands Ranch anymore, Toto.
The Amazon is the longest through ball that Pugh or Horan has ever played. This is a snapchat that will have friends back home in Colorado buzzing. When the fish for dinner is taller than you, it brings to life Oh, the Places Youll Go! by Dr. Seuss:
Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you
If the U.S. women advance to the championship game of the Olympic tournament, Pugh and Horan will take the pitch in one of the worlds most iconic soccer stadiums. Our main goal is getting to Rio, Pugh said. The beating heart of Brazilian soccer is the Maracana, where Frank Sinatra once sang to 180,000 fans, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass and Pele scored the 1,000th goal of his career.
Youre way ahead of me, man, Team USA coach Jill Ellis said Monday, steadfastly refusing to let her imagination wander from the Amazon to the gold medal game.
When youre deep in the jungle, the only thing on your mind is finding a way out, one step at a time.
"Saturday Night Live" Shakeup Continues With Jay Pharoah, Taran Killam and Jon Rudnitsky"s Depart…
Saturday Night Live is making some big changes: as the show prepares to enter its 42nd season, news has broken that longtime cast members Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah and Jon Rudnitsky wont be returning. Killam and Pharoah have been on the show for six years, while Rudnitsky, a featured player, made his debut last fall.
Killams departure comes as a surprise, since he technically still had one year left on his contract. I had sort of had it in my head I would make this upcoming year my last year, Killam told UPROXX this morning, but then heard they werent going to pick up my contract. I was never given a reason why, really.
Standup Jay Pharoah was an unexpected pick when he was cast as a featured player back in 2010, but after two years of showcasing spot-on impressions of icons like Eddie Murphy and Will Smith, he was bumped up to the main cast; hes perhaps best known for his take on Barack Obama, a staple that will be sorely missed as this election cycle wraps up.
Rudnitsky, whoseDirty Dancing parody was one of last seasons highlights, came to the show shortly after being featured as a New Face of Comedy at Montreals Just for Laughs Festival.
Pharoah, an acclaimed touring standup, will appear in the upcoming Best Man Wedding. Killam is currently wrapping production on his directorial debut, Were Killing Gunther, an action film starring Arnold Schwartzenegger, Bobby Moynihan, Cobie Smulders, Kumail Nanjiani, Randall Park, and Ryan Gaul.
Netflix has released the first trailer for its next Marvel superhero show, Luke Cage.
The super-strong hero-for-hire first appeared in last year"s Jessica Jones, played by Mike Colter. Not much of his backstory was given there, although the show did establish his relationship with Jessica.
His solo show appears to fill in the gaps for the character, flashing back to his origin and establishing a wide supporting cast in Harlem - the first of the Netflix Marvel shows to not have a focus on h**l"s Kitchen.
Marvel Television / Netflix
Netflix"s description for the series sounds like the show sticks pretty close to Luke"s comic book roots too.
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It reads, "After a sabotaged experiment leaves him with super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage becomes a fugitive trying to rebuild his life in modern day Harlem, New York City. But he is soon pulled out of the shadows and must fight a battle for the heart of his city forcing him to confront a past he had tried to bury."
Fans of the character from his earliest comics appearances will be pleased with one particular bit of fanservice in the trailer - a glimpse of Cage, just after the experiment where he gains his powers, wearing restraints that echo the tiara and gauntlets of his original costume. Don"t expect that to last though - elsewhere, he"s seen in regular clothes. With the exception of Daredevil, who only adopted his familiar red uniform at the very end of the first season, this continues the Netflix television shows tendency to shun costumes and colourful superheroics in favour of a grittier, street-level vibe.
Marvel Television / Netflix
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Along with Colter reprising his role, the series will see Mahershala Ali as Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes, Alfre Woodard as Mariah Dillard (here a local politician, but with a very different role in print), Simone Missick as fellow Marvel superhero/private investigator Misty Knight), Theo Rossi as Shades, Frank Whaley as Rafael Scarfe, and Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple.
Dawson"s character, whose onscreen portrayal combines elements of her comic book counterpart with another niche Marvel hero, has been a fixture of the Netflix shows since the first season of Daredevil. Missick"s take on Misty Knight, meanwhile, has been confirmed to crossover to the upcoming Iron Fist, the last of the originally-announced Marvel shows before Netflix launches the team-up series The Defenders.
Cheo Hodari Coker, the writer and producer behind the likes of SouthLAnd, Ray Donovan, and Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious, will serve as showrunner on Luke Cage. The complete first season drops onto Netflix on September 30, worldwide.
