RIO DE JANIERO -- Its the phrase thats uttered at the start of every Olympics and consists of just four little words -- Let the Games begin. But Friday night, even more than usual, they felt like four of the most potent words in the vocabulary of sports because of what they signaled.Finally, blessedly, and not a moment too soon for Rio de Janeiro, its 2016 Summer Olympic Games have been officially handed off to the athletes now -- not the stumbling organizers and their bumbling contractors, not the IOC fat cats who are too busy picking shrimp cocktail from their teeth to ban all the drug cheats. Or the rock-throwing protesters who bedeviled the running of Brazils Olympic torch relay and showed up by the hundreds again Friday night, prompting security forces to disperse them with tear gas less than a mile from where teams from a record 207 nations marched onto the floor of Maracana Stadium to take part in a rousing opening ceremony.Despite down-to-the-bone budget cuts that left producers of Friday nights show joking We cried -- in fear as they studied more extravagantly funded opening ceremonies, the first Olympic Games held in South America kicked off with a joyous show. It delivered on its planners promise to make up for their relatively modest budget with ingenuity, energy, stirring samples of some of the countrys best indigenous music, and some lighthearted touches that were meant to acknowledge life might not be perfect in Brazil, but theres a lot to love and marvel about here if you suspend judgement and lean in closely enough.From Brazilian recording star Luiz Melodias rendition of Aquele Abraco, the farewell song penned by his legendary countryman Gilberto Gil, to the shows evocation of Brazils ethnic diversity and status as the biggest garden on the planet (this is the home of the Amazon rain forest, after all), the ceremony gave these Games an unmistakable sense of time and place.There were symbolic pleas for peace and tolerance -- a nod to world events beyond Brazil. There were beat-driven Samba, funk carioca, and bossa nova songs that pulled people to their feet and had them dancing in place. In the wide-open spirit of Carnival, Brazils most famous supermodel (Gisele Bundchen) and its most famous transgender model (Lea T) took star turns. There was a street-dancing performance meant to evoke the art that springs from the miserably poor tin-roofed favelas that go staggering up the hills and valleys around Rio like makeshift Lego cities, one red-blocked unit stacked atop another; the segment was intended to be a reminder that beauty and wonder live even in the most unlikeliest and challenging places.Pele, now 75 years old and still the most famous sports star this soccer-crazed country has produced, grew up in one such slum. His absence here Friday because of ill health was felt.But hundreds of other notable athletes did show. Swimmer Michael Phelps, the 22-time Olympic medalist, carried the flag for the American team, which arrived earlier in the lineup than usual because Estados Unidos is the Portuguese spelling of United States. The first-ever Refugee Olympic Team, which this year is composed of 10 athletes from strife-torn South Sudan, Syria, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, marched in under the five-ring Olympic flag. Sprinter Etimoni Timuani, the only athlete from the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu, strode in rocking a ribboned sarong, the Austrians wore lederhosen, the Micronesian team wore head wreaths that appeared woven from palm fronds and Chinas team acknowledged their hosts by waving little Brazilian flags as well as their own.Brazilians have understandably been of two minds about hosting these Olympics because of the economic crises and political upheaval that have developed since the IOC awarded Rio these Games in 2008. Times were far better then. Theyre more fractious now. Crime has spiked. The Zika virus remains a concern. Promises that the Games would leave an improved infrastructure and cleaned-up waterways around Rio have not been kept, making the estimated $4.6 billion price of these Olympics (it spikes to $20 billion counting infrastructure costs) feel unconscionable to many.Brazil also has two sitting presidents at the moment because one, Dilma Rousseff, is scheduled to go to trial at the end of this month in impeachment proceedings, which opened the way for the other -- interim pick Michel Temer -- to preside Friday night.(The opening ceremony producers denied at their pre-show news conference Thursday that they had been told to create some sound effects to play if Temer was booed, which he was, when he took the podium to declare the Games open.)IOC president Thomas Bach acknowledged earlier this week that the road to the Rio Games had been long and testing, and the preparations were challenging.In one last flourish, the Olympic flame was brought into Maracana Stadium by Brazilian tennis champion Gustavo Kuerten, handed off to retired basketball star Hortencia Marcari to Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, the marathoner who lost gold when he was attacked during the 2004 Summer Games. He lit the cauldron.We never give up, we never give up, Rio Organizing Committee president Carlos Nuzman said in a stem winder of a speech to the crowd. Lets stay together when differences challenge us.Much of Brazils troubled backstory will temporarily fade a bit into the background at daybreak Saturday, when the competitions begin in earnest with 16 sports contested and seven gold medals to be won. Over the next 16 days, the conversation will turn more to whether sprinter Usain Bolt can possibly win again, or whether Marta can lead Brazils womens soccer team to a gold medal. Would huge gold medal hauls by American gymnast Simone Biles and multievent U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky justify the talk that they already deserve to be placed among their sports greats?The best antidote for nearly everything that ails the Olympic Games has always been the transcendental contributions of the athletes themselves. There are roughly 10,500 of them here. Like Rio itself, they reliably provoke wonder. And they sure as hell know how to put on a show.Discount NFL Jerseys 2020 . Supported by three-run homers from Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos, the young right-hander went seven strong innings in the Washington Nationals 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. Stitched NFL Jerseys . According the Toronto Star, a knee injury will keep Sundin out of the lineup, which includes former teammates Gary Roberts, Darcy Tucker, Tie Domi and Curtis Joseph. https://www.nfljerseys2020.com/ .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Wholesale NFL Jerseys 2020 . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. NFL Jerseys 2020 . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. The U.S. wrestler and retired mixed martial artist says he was visiting his brothers farm in Saskatchewan and decided he wanted to hear what the premier had to say.FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- Patrick Reeds place in the Ryder Cup is looking better with each round at The Barclays, and so are his prospects of winning.Even with a careless finish Friday at Bethpage Black, Reed rode a fast start to a 3-under 68 and a two-shot lead over Emiliano Grillo and Rickie Fowler in the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.The Barclays is the final tournament for Americans to earn one of the eight automatic spots on the Ryder Cup team. Reed came into the week at No. 8. He had an 8-under 134 total.Fowler mostly likely needs third place alone to have any chance of qualifying for the Ryder Cup, and he has done his part. He played bogey-free in the sweltering heat, though still missing plenty of birdie chances. Par is never bad on the Black Course, however, and Fowler shot a 69. He has dropped only one shot all week, missing a 4-foot par putt Thursday that spun out of the back of the cup.Grillo also had a 69, opening with a double bogey and finishing with a bogey.Ryan Moore (68) was three shots behind, while defending champion Jason Day (70) and Jordan Spieth (67) were four back. Spieth is among the few who only have to think about the end of the FedEx Cup. He is No. 5 in the standings, and he already has clinched a spot on the Ryder Cup team.The top 100 in the FedEx Cup advance to the next playoff event outside Boston next week, and 13 players outside the top 100 were eliminated when they didnt advance to the weekend. As for the Ryder Cup, three players who missed the cut can no longer qualify -- Bill Haas, Kevin Na and Daniel Summerhays.CANADIAN PACIFIC WOMENS OPENPRIDDIS, Alberta -- Ariya Jutanugarn had five birdies in a six-hole stretch and shot an 8-under 64 to take a three-stroke lead in the Canadian Pacific Womens Open.A week after withdrawing from the Rio Olympics because of a left knee injury, the 20-year-old Thai star played 20 holes Friday at Priddis Greens. She bogeyed the par-5 18th for a 68 in the completion of the delayed first round, then made eight birdies in her bogey-free second round.In the event before the Olympics, the second-ranked Jutanugarn won the Womens British Open for her fourth victory of the year. She won three straight tournaments in May, and shares the tour victory lead with top-ranked Lydia Ko with four.ddddddddddddSouth Koreas In Gee Chun and Northern Irelands Stephanie Meadow were tied for second. Chun closed birdie-eagle for a 67. Meadow had a 69. The former Alabama player had a seven-hole stretch without a par, making three straight birdies, three straight bogeys and a par.Three-time champion Ko was four strokes back, and Canadian star Brooke Henderson was eight behind.Ko shot a 69. The 19-year-old New Zealander has won the event three of the last four years, the first two as an amateur. The 18-year-old Henderson dropped a stroke in the completion of a first-round 72 and had a double bogey on the par-3 eighth -- her 17th -- in a second-round 68.BOEING CLASSICSNOQUALMIE, Wash. -- U.S. Senior Open champion Gene Sauers eagled the par-5 18th hole for a 7-under 65 and a share of the Boeing Classic lead with Kirk Triplett.Coming off his breakthrough victory two weeks ago in Ohio, the 54-year-old Sauers played the four par-5 holes in 5 under with the eagle and three birdies. He won three times on the PGA Tour.Kirk Triplett had five- and four-hole birdie streaks at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge. Also 54, he followed a bogey on the 11th -- his second hole of the day -- with five straight birdies and added a birdie on 18. On his second nine, he bogeyed the third, then ran off four in a row.Triplett won the American Family Insurance Championship in June in Wisconsin for his fifth victory on the 50-and-over tour.Duffy Waldorf and Stephen Ames were a stroke back.Waldorf also had five straight birdies, from the 15th to the first. He won the season-opening event in Hawaii for his second senior title after winning four times in the PGA Tour. Ames played the final six holes in 6 under.MADE IN DENMARKFARSOE, Denmark -- Wales Bradley Dredge shot a 5-under 66 in windy conditions to take a three-stroke lead in the Made In Denmark tournament.Dredge had a 13-under 129 total at Himmerland after opening with a 63.Swedens Joakim Lagergren was second after a 70.South Africas Richard Sterne (67) and Belgian Ryder Cup hopeful Thomas Pieters (71) were 9 under. Pieters matched the course record with a 62 in the first round. ' ' '
