Summer of Sports '21: Welcome to 3x3

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

130 years ago in a western Massachusetts gym, Canadian James Naismith came up with a new idea to keep his Springfield YMCA PE class active during the harsh winters of the Northeast, and basketball became his magnum opus. The game would ultimately catch on in every aspect you can think of: the NBA becoming the second most-popular of the four major U.S. sports, the college game forging its identity early on & where March Madness takes over our attention every spring, and a sustained run of dominance in the international realm for the U.S. program.

Wherever you go in this country and elsewhere, a basketball hoop is found everywhere outside of gyms and arenas: they're stuck to the back of farmhouses and the top of garages, in every public and private parks, and dedicated courts next to parking lots in city streets. And it's with the inspiration of the ladder in mind that, this year, has seen a second form of America's own game being brought into the big time: a form of basketball that has its roots in the streets, and where millions of youngsters play this game after school and on warm days during their summer off from school.

Three-on-three basketball -- or officially classified at 3X3 -- is one of several new sports to make its debut at the Tokyo Olympics, along with surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and the freestyle variation of BMX. And while many of us were waking this morning, today saw its crowning moment on sports' greatest stage, as the first Olympic gold medalists were crowned. But to better understand what this new aspect of a game we love, it's worth taking a deep dive into its journey to this moment.

Summer of Sports '21: A Swaggy Weekend at the Fights

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

As a result of the unprecedented shutdown of all sporting activity last year, this 2021 Summer of Sports has seen plenty take place: Giannis Antetokounmpo taking his place as the NBA' new king by way of an epic Finals MVP performance, the Lightning denting the Stanley Cup in their celebrations of back-to-back NHL titles around Champa Bay, England getting stung again in penalties while Lionel Messi tasted his first major trophy for country with Argentina, and golf's new generation taking over in Jon Rahm and Colin Morikawa winning the U.S. and British Opens after Phil Mickelson's PGA Championship win. But the world's eyes are now on Tokyo as The Games of the XXXII Olympiad have taken over our attention a year later than scheduled due to the pandemic.

Two years ago, Giannis opened more than a few eyebrows in another aspect of our entertainment landscape: reality television. When asked by the media of what his plans were in getting set to lead a team of NBA All-Stars against LeBron James, the Greek Freak gave a namedrop to three MTV shows in the genre: Are You The One?, Ex On The Beach and The Challenge. And when he reported back to training camp before what would become a successful campaign to the NBA title, a face mask he wore bore the symbol of 7-time champion Johnny Bananas who won the season of the ladder that was the only game in town when much of Season 35 of the fifth major pro sport was the only sports event on primetime television in a COVID-stricken America.

The Challenge more than filled the void for both the MVP and athletic-hungry sports fans alike, who joined with reality viewers and those who've been with the show from day 1 for Total Madness. A person who competed with Bananas in that $1 million final a year ago this month was Bayleigh Dayton, who forms one-half of Big Brother showmance Swayleigh with husband Chris "Swaggy C" Williams, who she met on BB20 in 2018. Chris himself is a basketball fanatic who, along with Bay, met Lakers boss Jeannie Buss when Dwayne Wade & LeBron James played one more time on the court. And earlier this month, Swaggy got to pay it forward to the one member of his family he's known all his life as they experienced one of the summer's biggest sports events: the climax of a UFC trilogy in Sin City.

MTV Reality WRAP: Siesta Key - Hard to Say I'm Sorry

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Hello there, the summer rages on and the attention of this blogger is on opening weekend of the action in Japan. But for a moment, let's take the opportunity to focus in on drama of a different kind: Siesta Key, and Season 4 rounding towards the end of its summer portion before it turns the Wednesday night attention to the other big global sporting competition that's happening in August.

Everyone in the Floridian clique have now settled back in their familiar surroundings after a vacation unlike any other to the Caribbean, and last week saw a return bigger than those who came home from the West Indies. There, Chloe came to the door of Amanda's house and got caught up on what went down in Palm Island, and promptly gave a suggestion of trying to bring Juliette and Kelsey back together while also bringing Kels & Madisson out for some yoga on a paddleboard. The former also revealed to her parents that she's not ready to have her big wedding day, while Brandon brought the group together again -- this time for a baby shower for young Quincy.

Also last week, Max made it more official with Kelsey as he stated his intents to move in closer to the model in the Sarasota area... and that's not all for the zookeeper. We'll tell you who else is joining him for the big move, along with last ditch efforts to bring back her and Jules when we bring you the Week 11 Siesta Key WRAP coming up.

Summer of Sports '21: The Olympic Torch Relay

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Friday marks the official opening of The Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo, Japan, with the Opening Ceremony to take place in the new National Stadium, at the site of the first Olympics to be held in Asia in 1964. The Opening Ceremony will feature all the pageantry that's associated with the opening act of the world's greatest sporting spectacle, and this year will take on greater meaning after the events of the past year. It will culminate with the entrance of the Olympic torch, and the eventual lighting of the Olympic flame, marking the climax of a journey that begins in the birthplace of the Ancient Olympics, and culminates in the Olympic city to officially begin the Games. 

When the Ancient Olympic Games were originated in Olympia, the Greeks lit perpetual flames in their temples having being lit by the sun's rays, and where eternal flames burned at the altar of goddess Hestia, Zeus and Hera. Even today, the ritual of the torch being lit still remains to this day, and it's here where the modern Olympic torch relay begins at the ruins of the Ancient Olympic Stadium, which hosted every Ancient Olympiad from 776 B.C. until it ended in 393 A.D. more than a millennium later.

It's after the torch is lit that its global journey begins, with a relay that usually spans around 100 days and reaches its climax with its arrival in the Olympic Stadium at the end of the Opening Ceremony. But given the extraordinary circumstances of an Olympics being postponed by exactly one year to the 125th anniversary of the first Modern Olympics in 1896, the flame has been safely kept in the host nation until it was reignited to provide a sense of hope during this time of peril in our world. Fittingly enough, the Tokyo relay began again in March to coincide with the arrival of Japan's iconic cherry blossom season.

Pic: Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee

The roots of an Olympic torch relay in modern times began in 1928 when a symbolic flame was used in Amsterdam, and eight years later the idea came into fruition when the head of the Berlin Olympic organizing committee found that torch races were held in ancient Olympia. It gave him inspiration to have the flame be lit in the original Olympic Stadium, and then be transported to Berlin through a relay in Greece and the host city, and later through the host nation.

Those who carry the flame on these Olympic torch relays convey messages of peace on their journey the same way that messengers proclaimed the Olympic truce around Greece and later to the world, while the torches they run with have become icons themselves. Along with Olympia, the relay also makes a stop in the first host city of the modern Games, Athens and the original Olympic Stadium used for the 1896 Games, before it begins its journey towards the host nation.

An average Olympic torch relay sees thousands of torchbearers of all ages carry the flame, while tens of thousands of miles are being accumulated along the route, while also embracing many different climates from the snow to the beach to even being underwater while en route to the Sydney 2000 Games. As it passes through cities, towns, regions and monuments via all kinds of transport, communities all being united by the awe-inspiring sight that comes when something as mesmerizing as the flame passes by. 

Then, comes the moment everyone waits for: the torch arrives in the host city just days before the Opening Ceremony - and it's during the main event itself that enters the Olympic Stadium. The identity of the final torchbearer and the one who lights the cauldron is as closely-guarded a secret as any that only a handful of people know about until the moment arrives, which creates for the most dramatic and moving moment of any Opening Ceremony.

Typically, the honor of lighting the flame goes to a member of the host nation's proud Olympic & sporting history: the last two times the Games were held in America, the honor was bestowed upon Muhammad Ali in Atlanta and the Miracle on Ice hockey team in Salt Lake City. The flame has also been delivered in dramatic fashion at the Ceremonies, from Antonio Rebello's flaming arrow in Barcelona to a ski jumper two years later in Lillehammer.

So, which prestigious Olympian from Japan's proud sporting past will have the honor of lighting the flame -- or will it be someone else? Friday will offer the answer to that question, all following a night of celebration and hope that begins an Olympic Games that is truly unlike any other.

- I AM DC

#DCBLOG

Summer of Sports '21 - A Primer on Sports Betting

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Since 2007, it's been a near-annual tradition of mine to fly to a city that's both America's playground and one of the world's great tourist destinations. If you know me, then Las Vegas has become my favorite place to travel to... and just seeing the nearly 200 #DCVegas videos I've posted on my YouTube channel very much explains my love affair with Sin City. And when I next go there, I am looking at the chance to do something that I've never been able to do before, but one that's become a red-hot item.

Even though I've enjoyed each of my ten Vegas trips and with #11 likely to come this fall, something I've not done yet is take even one bet on a sports event at the many race & sports books in town... and I'll be down to bet on a horse race or a football game for the fun of it, just like so many others. The allure of betting on sports events have become a hot commodity lately as laws that barred this activity outside Nevada were struck down, and interest has boomed to go along with it as the U.S. now follows other countries in making sports betting a greater part of the sporting landscape here.

Up until recently, the major pro sports leagues long frowned upon Vegas as a city to not place a team in despite a 4-hour drive from Los Angeles and within a flight of that length from everywhere else in the country, but for one obvious reason. Of course, that would be Nevada's stance on legalized betting and long being the only state where full sports betting is legally accepted. And because most every hotel has a race & sportsbook in its casinos, except for exhibition games and the occasional "home" game hosted by a team from next door Las Vegas was off limits for major professional team sports.

But times have changed: the rapid growth of a market that's among the fastest-growing in the country, the millions who travel here each year that makes it among the world's most-popular attractions, and the changing stance in most of the country on gambling have seen a total 180 in Las Vegas' sporting fortunes. In the span of a few years, the NHL has become a smash hit thanks to the rapid success of the Golden Knights, followed by the Raiders moving from California to Southern Nevada... and there may be more to come to join big fights, golf, NASCAR, UNLV, rodeo and more on the Vegas sports slate.

Plus, there's those sports books which probably take the cake for becoming the best place anywhere in America to watch the big games, with a strong communal experience of watching ports with strangers that existed for a long time before the emergence of twitter brought that to social media. And if you happen to follow on Instagram boxing's 50-0 man, Floyd Mayweather sometimes took snaps of the bets the money man makes on a number of games when he wagers at the sports book.

So, what exactly is sports betting? It's the subject of the first installment of this 2021 Summer of Sports, as DCBLOG temporarily turns our attention from covering MTV Reality shows and the upcoming 37th season of the fifth major pro sport of The Challenge, to focus on matters in the sports world -- which has long been a strong passion of mine, and where this intersects with another in the Las Vegas culture.

MTV Reality WRAP: Siesta Key - A Return to the Sunshine, and A Baby Shower

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Instagram @SiestaKey

Well, welcome on in to the dog days of summer 2021 in the wide world of MTV Reality... but as of this past week, we now have more than a bit of clarity on what's ahead as far as television's most exciting reality programming, and we'll delve into all of that for you here coming up. But for the time being, our focus in the MTV community is on the Sarasota, FL suburb of Siesta Key, as Season 4 continues on back in the American mainland after a most memorable vacation.

For the past month, the crew has called the Caribbean their home -- specifically, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines and the private oasis known as Palm Island in the West Indies. But in the past two weeks, an eventful trip saw its biggest moment go down: a time to celebrate Brandon's music video went awry when Jordana got pushed into the pool, and Juliette decided to make her case to join The Challenge once her days as the queen of the Key ends by pulling a Tina -- that is, slapping a girl. Her going HAM on Kelsey saw her & Sam leave early last week as the rest of the group tried to pick up the pieces in their last days in paradise.

Now, the group has returned to reality of sorts, but they're not stopping there... there is a return to the clique for the one who didn't go on that trip down south, some exciting news for one of the girls and her boyfriend, and a baby shower for the resident dad to celebrate which he hopes will be less drama than it was on the island. And DCBLOG will have it all covered on the Siesta Key WRAP just ahead here...

MTV Reality WRAP: Siesta Key - Leaving Palm Island

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/T

Instagram @SiestaKey

We welcome you on back to MTV's own version of paradise in a pandemic, known alternatively as Siesta Key's Caribbean Vacation... and if you thought your last trip to an island getaway was dramatic, than you've surely not seen or experienced what has gone down with our cool clique from Florida. And to put this month-long excursion from the Sunshine State to Saint Vincent & the Grenadines in Cliff Notes form, it started with Juliette's wealthy boyfriend Sam treating everyone to this excursion to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on his own wallet. 

Since they and the rest of the crew arrived in the West Indies, they've seen a Siesta OG sail off into the sunset, an introduction to mainstream America to the social influencer known as SFK, and a hookup by the artist who made that five-figure painting of the queen, among other things. And last we were on Palm Island, something we are familiar with from having covered eight years' worth of MTV craziness on here went down: a party night turned chaotic in a couple fights going down by the sand.

As we rejoin them here, everyone is still abuzz about Jordana getting pushed into the pool and Juliette slapping Kelsey in the latest chapter in Siesta's biggest beef. And whenever something wild like this happens -- and just as it is on the other shows we cover on here, there are bound to be consequences and an immense fallout. We'll have our DCBLOG WRAP of the final week of the Siesta Key's excursion to Palm Island just ahead, along with some perspective.

MTV Reality WRAP: Siesta Key - Fireworks in the Caribbean

 BACKTRACKED EDITION 

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Instagram @SiestaKey

Hello everyone, aren't you all recovered from an eventful second weekend of July? After a double dose of football, Conor getting KO'd again and Big Brother kicking off, many of you preferred to stay home to enjoy all those just as the West Coast was baked by a good old heatwave while Florida and the East Coast endured the season's first hurricane. And the temps are only rising when it comes to the drama, and it's best that we let kids of Siesta Key warm up our summertime as their Caribbean escape rolls on. 

Last we were on Palm Island in Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, something we know very well around here in having covered all four American seasons of Ex On The Beach came to this show: an ex making a grand entrance. In this case, it was Cara - ex of both Garrett and Alex, who came down south a week later than the rest of the crew and promptly tried to make amends with the clique, while the gym rat proposed with a promise ring to girlfriend Kenna. Also arriving to Palm Island was social influencer Serena Kerrigan, who took a break from her Let's F'in Date thing to help Juliette with her fashion ambitions, all while Madisson and Amanda got into it while shooting for Kelsey's own fashion line.

On the subject of EOTB, we at DCBLOG have been covering this MTV Reality beat for eight years now, and as we embark on our ninth season here something we've been accustomed while following The Challenge, Real World, the many shows with Shore in their title and the like has been conflict that happens when things get testy as the cameras are rolling. And considering everything that's been boiling up in the first three episodes in the Caribbean, it's almost inevitable that things will blow up... and after the break, we'll bring you some belated holiday fireworks from the Caribbean on this edition of the DCBLOG Siesta Key WRAP.

Summer of Sports '21: A DCBLOG Look Ahead

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

In my world, there are four huge passions of mine: television (with a slant towards MTV reality shows), music, Las Vegas and something that's been in my blood almost since I was a kid: sports. I have had a solid passion for it for years and years when it comes to the wide world of athletic competition, and not a day goes by that a mention of sports goes unnoticed in the Cueva household, whether it's watching our favorite sport of the NBA or the many viewing parties of many Super Bowls, boxing fights and beyond.

Back in 2015 during a historic year in many ways in the world of sports, DCBLOG took advantage of a summer off from covering MTV's The Challenge (appropriately entitled America's fifth major pro sport) to offer a season of blog posts devoted to covering topics, issues and primers on the sports world. It coincided with the traditionally-packed season of big events during this time such as the international soccer, the Wimbledon tennis tournament, the Tour de France and the World Series of Poker, plus the UFC, golf and Australian rules football. We've also gotten to do two series of Olympic posts on here when Sochi hosted the 2014 Winter Games and the 2016 Summer Games two years later in Rio, along with a few football posts when Super Bowl 50 was held in the Bay Area.

As my MTV slate is light this summer as far as the blog is concerned, this opens up the calendar for me to devote another series of sports posts that will fill this time which --- thanks to the pandemic pushing back the sports calendar a bit -- will offer plenty of check out on here over the next couple months. Just glancing over at the 200+ drafts I have of posts that I have never posted on here, many of them are sports-related that were put on the backburner due to my total focus on other matters... and when the schedule provides for that it will finally be posted on here.

Considering that the Olympic Games are my favorite event, there will be a number of posts covering that part of the sporting world that only get the attention during the fortnight... and they will be up during the Games, perhaps on a daily or regular basis. That is the tentative plan, provided that I have time to post all of those since I will be hunkered down in my room to binge-watch all the action when competition begins a few days prior to the Opening Ceremony in a few weeks' time.

Since our first season of sports posts seven years ago, something that has emerged into the American sporting discussion has been of sports betting and fantasy sports... something that became ubiquitous when commercials by DraftKings and FanDuel aired around the clock in the 2015 NFL season. We plan to kick off our 2021 sports series with a primer on sports betting in the week ahead, and we'll also delve into the fantasy sports world too. 

There are also posts on sports not well known in America that are planned to come on here including cricket, darts, rugby, Formula 1 auto racing and Canada's take on football. There's also other sporting topics such as the fandom that the nation of Australia have for sport, the first stadium in the entire world to have a retractable roof, and a few other things. Of course, this are our plans during this special season of blog posts... but it's when the run-up kicks off to Season 37 of The Challenge do we wind down our sports season on here and turn our focus back to preparing for all the action and drama from Croatia.

So, that's just a brief Look Ahead to what we got ahead of us in this Summer of Sports... and we'll see you for post #1 just to come.

- I AM DC

#DCBLOG