RIO DE JANEIRO -- Shortly after Claressa Shields punched her way through yet another elite opponent to reach another Olympic gold-medal bout, she spontaneously broke into song.Swaying gently to the tune in her head, the worlds best middleweight ripped through several bars of the Bill Withers classic Just the Two of Us, only with altered lyrics to reflect her shared mission with Shakur Stevenson as the only Americans left in the Rio Olympic boxing tournament.Just the two of us, building gold medals in the sky! Shields sang. Just the two of us, me and Shakur.U.S. coach Kay Koroma could only watch and smile.The thing about Claressa, when shes smiling and joking around, thats when shes the most dangerous, he said.Rio has been a song for Shields, who takes on the Netherlands Nouchka Fontijn on Sunday for her second Olympic gold medal.The rest of the worlds top boxers havent been able to wreck Shields good moods ever since she burst onto the international scene at the London Games. Her final bout in Rio de Janeiro is the culmination of a four-year stretch in which she hasnt lost a fight and has rarely even been tested -- certainly not yet at the Rio Olympics, where top female fighters only must win three bouts to claim gold.A lot of girls are here just to beat me, but Im here to win a gold medal, Shields said. Beating me is winning a gold medal to them, so they go out there and they fight me a lot harder than they did any other opponent.Shields is increasingly competing largely against her own preparation and motivation -- something she does well.She gave herself a C-minus grade for her opening bout, but she figured out why she didnt feel right against that Russian opponent. Because she can no longer stomach the food in the athletes village cafeteria after a month in Rio, she had consumed only a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and some chocolate milk on the day before her first fight.She stopped eating like the college student that she recently was, eating proper meals and subsequently dominating Kazakhstans Dariga Shakimova to reach the final.Koroma and head womens coach Billy Walsh work on game plans with Shields, but her superior skills and athleticism often make it relatively easy work. With her confidence fairly bursting, Shields doesnt appear to require much help to dominate.You dont have to worry about if Im going to get out there and not let my hands go, Shields said. Thats never going to happen. I dont even have to warm up for that.Shields beat Fontijn at the world championships in May. Fontijn has a better chance than just about anybody in the world to end Shields dominance, but the talent gap between Shields and the middleweight field has been larger than in any division in Rio.Shields one-sided success and ensuing fame have been an enormous boon for USA Boxing, which is coming home from Brazil with one silver and one bronze from its men after failing to win anything in London.The rising popularity of womens boxing in general has allowed USA Boxing to get the funds to hire veteran Irish amateur coach Walsh, who oversees the entire team from his official position as the womens head coach.Walsh only got the job late last year, and his true focus is on the 2020 Olympics as he attempts to build a cohesive program. After some initial conflicts with his star, he has become a fervent backer of Shields, lauding her example to his other seven fighters.None of these guys understood what I was trying to build with Team USA when I got here, Walsh said. Claressa is the only one that caught on. It was massive. She said, `Youre trying to build a team. Exactly. Were trying to build a bond, and she sees it better than anyone. Chris Paul Jersey . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Michael Olowokandi Jersey . - Chris Tierney snapped a tie with a power-play goal late in the third period as the London Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Erie Otters 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Wednesday. https://www.cheapclippersonline.com/120h-austin-rivers-jersey-clippers.html . Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. Baron Davis Jersey . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . Gar Heard Jersey . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. HOUSTON -- Another home loss by the Houston Astros on Monday night delivered a crushing blow to their already slim playoff hopes.Robinson Cano hit his second homer of the game with two outs in the 11th inning, lifting the Seattle Mariners over the Astros 4-3.Houston scored two runs in the ninth, but then Cano sent a slider from Luke Gregerson (4-3) into the second deck in right field to win.The victory moves Seattle two games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card and drops Houston, which has lost four of five, to 3 1/2 games back in the race.Were just not executing at the most critical times, manager A.J. Hinch said. But were going to keep fighting these last five games and see where it takes us. But certainly, its disappointing.Drew Storen (4-3) pitched a perfect 10th for the win. Nick Vincent allowed consecutive singles to Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa before retiring the next two batters for his third save.Cano doubled in the first inning and his home run in the third made it 2-0. Hes been great against the Astros this season with eight homers, four doubles and 22 RBI in 17 games.We didnt control Cano at all -- difficult way to go against them, Hinch said.Houston won five of six games on a road trip before returning home to drop three of four to the Angels before Mondays loss.Were doing the best that we can to salvage what we can and fight through this and get as many wins as we can, Hinch said. Were just having a hard time getting those wins in the last four or five games.Houston starter Collin McHugh yielded six hits, two runs and struck out six in seven innings.Despite their recent struggles, the Astros are still holding out hope.Theres no doubt that we need help, McHugh said. We need some other teams to beat some other teams and we need to win the rest of them. ... Weve got five more games to give ourselves a fighting chance.The Astros trailed 3-1 entering the ninth when George Springer singled off Edwin Diaz with no outs before advancing to third on a single by Marwin Gonzalez. Altuve grounded into a force out that left Gonzalez out at second and scored Springer to get Houston within 3-2.ddddddddddddAltuve stole second base before the Astros tied it on an RBI single by Correa.Evan Gattis followed with a single to leave Correa at third, but Diaz retired the next two batters to send it to the 10th.Mariners went up 1-0 when Seth Smith scored on a groundout by Nelson Cruz in the first.Cano made it 2-0 when he homered into the bullpen in right-center field with one out in the third.The Astros hadnt had a baserunner since the second inning when Jake Marisnick drew a walk with one out in the sixth inning. The Astros cut the lead to 2-1 on an RBI double by Gonzalez with two outs. Altuve singled after that, but Gonzalez was thrown out at home on the play to end the inning.The Mariners added a run in the ninth inning when Ben Gamel bunted and reliever James Hoyt badly overthrew first base for an error that allowed Ketel Marte to score from first. The play elicited a smattering of boos from the sparse crowd.Hisashi Iwakuma allowed four hits and one run in six innings to bounce back after allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings in his last start.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: OF Colby Rasmus is done for the season because of a hip and groin injury. Rasmus, who hasnt played since Sept. 18, will seek a second opinion on his injury. ... Houston RHP Lance McCullers, who has been on the disabled list since Aug. 3 with an elbow strain, has left Houston and will continue his rehabilitation at the teams spring training facility in Florida. Hinch said hell throw live batting practice there before they decide his next step.UP NEXTMariners: Felix Hernandez (11-6, 3.61) will start for Seattle on Tuesday. Hernandez will pitch in Houston for the first time since June 12, 2015 when he allowed five hits and eight runs in 1/3 inning of a 10-0 loss, tying the shortest start of his career.Astros: Mike Fiers (11-8, 4.50) is scheduled to start for the Astros on Tuesday. Fiers allowed four hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings of a 2-0 loss to the Angels in his last start. ' ' '
