Sports
NHL To Broadcast Stanley Cup Final Games In American Sign Language, A 1st For A Major Sports League
Brice Christianson was concerned that interpreting the annual pre-Stanley Cup Final State of the NHL address into American Sign Language for the first time in 2022 would be a one-time opportunity to introduce the Deaf population to hockey.
Two years later, it is impossible for him not to become emotional as the league takes another significant stride.
The Stanley Cup Final will be the first time a major sports league broadcasts games in American Sign Language. Deaf announcers will provide play-by-play and color analysis for each game between Edmonton and Florida. Game 1 is on Saturday.
“This is a great first step toward having representation, having deaf people on screen, and connecting the Deaf community to people like them,” said Christianson, the founder and CEO of P-X-P, which is producing the telecasts that will be available on ESPN+ and Sportsnet+. “For the NHL to approve and believe in this is revolutionary. It’s genuinely historic, and they’ve confirmed that they want to continue doing so.”
NHL To Broadcast Stanley Cup Final Games In American Sign Language, A 1st For A Major Sports League
This next phase in the NHL’s cooperation with P-X-P, which seeks to make sports more inclusive through interpretation, follows another historic occasion. Last weekend, TNT aired an ASL broadcast of the United States Women’s Deaf National Soccer Team’s match against Australia. Reporter Melissa Ortiz was on television, narrating the scene in American Sign Language.
In the Cup Final, Jason Altmann, a third-generation Deaf and P-X-P’s chief operations officer, will face Noah Blankenship from Denver’s Office of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services. Having that representation is more important than closed captioning since it directly benefits the Deaf community rather than forcing members to read words about the games.
“To be able to have this real-time coverage of play-by-play and color commentary in American Sign Language being called directly rather than a re-interpretation is really what the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community want,” said Kim Davis, the NHL’s senior executive VP of social impact, growth initiatives, and legislative affairs. “It is what they deserve. That makes the game more significant to them. It is not as if you are reinterpreting for them from another language. They’re hearing the game live in their native tongue and in the way they understand it best.”
Reaching this stage is another success for Christianson, an ASL interpreter born to deaf parents who have spent years convincing teams and leagues to try new things. The relationship with the NHL began during a 2021 meeting with Paul LaCaruba, the NHL’s VP of youth strategy and hockey culture, and ended with Christianson begging one person to support his ideas for serving the Deaf population.
NHL To Broadcast Stanley Cup Final Games In American Sign Language, A 1st For A Major Sports League
Christianson explained that LaCaruba became that person, allowing him to interpret for Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly two years ago. That was a news conference, but this is an opportunity to offer the season’s most crucial games to a previously neglected population.
“We know there are millions of deaf and hard of hearing hockey fans — and many more who have yet to fall in love with the sport,” LaCaruba stated. “We are building access for the Deaf community, by the Deaf community, and there is no better platform to gauge a reaction than during the Stanley Cup Final.”
Do not do a victory lap; instead, gauge the reaction. Christianson stated that there is a plan to continue doing this for the NHL beyond this series, and that way forward allows this to serve as a test, with potential tweaks and enhancements for the next time.
“I think it’s very brave for the NHL to say, ‘Hey, we want to do this,'” Christianson stated. “We’re all going to go in with our best and we’re going to try our best, and then we’re going to come back and we’re going to debrief and we’re going to try to get better with every process.”
NHL To Broadcast Stanley Cup Final Games In American Sign Language, A 1st For A Major Sports League
It could become a pattern for others. Davis, who has learned a lot about ASL and dealing with the Deaf population, would be delighted if the NHL were the first, but not the last, to try something like this.
“We’re doing something no other major league has ever tried before, and that is a broadcast and experience for the Deaf by the Deaf,” Davis stated. “We are proud of that. We simply want to continue to support the communities with which we want to be authentic, and if another league wishes to model it, we believe that imitation is the finest form of flattery, so let us do so.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Sports
NHL Rumors: The Predators and Steven Stamkos agree to a $32 million contract following the Lightning Run.
(VOR News) – Steven Stamkos, who has been a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the past 16 seasons and has won two Stanley Cups during his time there, is leaving the organizational organization. Now, he will be playing for the Nashville Nationals.
According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Steven Stamkos has signed a contract with the Nashville Predators that will pay him $32 million over the course of four years. The contract will extend from free agency to free agency. Through the use of social media on Monday,
Steven Stamkos delivered the following message to Tampa residents:
As noted by NHL.com’s Corey Long, Steven Stamkos has previously voiced displeasure with the Lightning’s unwillingness to negotiate a contract prior to the 2023-24 season. As a result, Stamkos had expressed his displeasure at the Lightning’s unwillingness to do so.
Steven Stamkos’ legal representative sent this information to Pierre LeBrun of TSN on June 28. The statement said that Steven Stamkos had the intention of entering the free agency market on July 1. It was stated by Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com that the information was confirmed the next day by Julien BriseBois, who is the general manager of the Lightning.
Stamkos was unable to come to an agreement with the Lightning before he became eligible for free agency. This is in contrast to the circumstance that occurred in 2016, when the Lightning signed him to a long-term contract just two days before he went eligible for free agency.
Over the course of the previous season, Steven Stamkos played in 79 games and finished with 40 goals and 41 assists. The Predators will now count him as a part of their team.
In his career, he had scored forty goals for the seventh time, and it was the sixth time in seven years that he had a season in which he averaged points per game. In addition, he had scored forty goals for the seventh time.
The Lightning were ousted from the playoffs by the Florida Panthers in five games during the first round of the 2024 playoffs. As a result, Stamkos’ prior eight-year deal with the Lightning, which was worth $68 million, was terminated. At the beginning of the first round of the playoffs, the Lightning captain was the team’s leading scorer with five goals in five games. He had scored five goals in total.
The sharpshooter, who is 34 years old, will undoubtedly be a significant asset to Nashville’s offense, and there is little doubt about this.
The Lightning’s power play was the most effective in the National Hockey League (NHL) throughout the regular season, and Steven Stamkos was a huge contributor to the Lightning’s power play success. As a result of his deadly one-timer, he was able to record 39 points while the club was on the man advantage. He scored 19 goals and had 20 assists during that period. During his first 17 seasons with the Lightning,
One of the most prolific NHL producers is Steven Stamkos.
He has been able to successfully perform that shot, which is one of the reasons why this is the case.
At the completion of the 2023-24 season, Stamkos was one of just six active players in the National Hockey League who had accumulated more than 1,100 points throughout the course of their careers.
Only Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins have scored more goals than he has over the course of his career, making him the third most prolific current scorer in the National Hockey League. He has scored 555 goals throughout the course of his career.
Since his debut in the league as the first overall pick in the 2008 draft, Steven Stamkos has participated in a total of 1,082 regular-season games and 128 playoff games with the Tampa Bay Lightning team. In the first round of the draft, he was selected.
Despite the fact that the Lightning will definitely retire his uniform at some point in the future, Stamkos has the potential to become a part of the history of another team if he is able to lead Nashville to a playoff run in 2025. This is provided that he is able to lead Nashville to a playoff run.
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Simone Biles Headlines A U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team Eyeing Redemption At The Paris Olympics
Sports
Simone Biles Headlines A U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team Eyeing Redemption At The Paris Olympics
Minneapolis — They all had a motive to return. Every one of them.
Simone Biles must move past those agonizing two weeks in Japan three years ago, when the gymnastics sensation chose her mental health and safety over glory, inspiring some but infuriating others.
Suni Lee wanted to prove — maybe most importantly to herself — that the all-around gold medal she won while Biles watched from the stands was not a fluke.
Jordan Chiles hopes to turn the team silver she helped secure at the 2020 Games into gold.
Simone Biles Headlines A U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team Eyeing Redemption At The Paris Olympics
Jade Carey will be an official member of the five-woman Olympic squad after qualifying as an individual qualifier, a route not open to the United States this time and one she has no desire to pursue again.
They’re all reclaiming the one-of-a-kind spotlight that only the sport’s largest stage can deliver, including 16-year-old newbie Hezly Rivera.
Their reasons are quite personal. However, their motivation is not clear.
“This is definitely our redemption tour,” Biles said after winning the U.S. trials on Sunday night, securing her third Olympic appearance. “I feel like we all have more to give.”
Perhaps no one more than Biles, who, at 27, is the oldest American woman to make an Olympic gymnastics squad since 1950. She never expected to be doing this nearly a decade after becoming a crossover sensation in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
So here she is—still working, still pushing—not to silence the detractors who continue to bombard her social media mentions, asking if she will “quit” again, but because she is motivated to get the most out of her extraordinary skills.
“Nobody’s forcing me to do it,” said Biles, who won the all-around with a two-day total of 117.225, about six points more than Lee. “Every day, I get up and decide to work hard in the gym and perform for myself. I just wanted to assure myself that I could still do it.”
And do it at a level that no one else in her sport—or, when she’s at her peak, sports in general—can match.
A trip to France has never been in doubt since Biles returned from a two-year absence last summer. All she’s done in the previous 12 months is win her sixth global all-around title and her eighth and ninth national titles — both records — despite performing the most difficult gymnastics of her career.
She will be a prohibitive favorite when she goes onto the Bercy Arena floor, but there is still much work to be done before women’s qualifying on July 28. However, some items need to be cleaned up during the following four weeks.
Biles backpedaled after landing her Yurchenko double pike vault, demonstrating both the difficulty of the vault and the incredible power she creates while performing a move that few male gymnasts attempt and even fewer accomplish as cleanly.
She leaped off the beam after failing to land her side aerial, but she wasn’t as furious as she had been on Friday when she uttered an expletive in front of the entire globe.
Biles finished with a flourish in the floor exercise, her signature event. Though there was a little trip out of bounds, there was also unrivaled world-class tumbling, which just earned a shoutout from pop artist Taylor Swift, whose song “Ready For It” opens Biles’ routine.
She stepped down the podium to a standing ovation before sitting atop the steps to take in the occasion in what could be her final competitive round on American soil for quite some time. Perhaps ever.
Biles avoided questions about what lies ahead. That can wait. It’s been a long, winding trek back to this point. She intends to enjoy it while being part of a team with “a lot of weight on our shoulders.”
She believes she and her teammates are better prepared to manage it.
“It’s really nice that Tokyo gave us that opportunity to open up that stage for that talk,” Biles informed the crowd. “And so I think now athletes are a little bit more in tune and we just trust what our gut is saying.”
And Biles’ instincts told her that if she wanted to return, she had to do so on her terms. That entailed taking deliberate steps to ensure her life was no longer defined by her gymnastics.
She married Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023, and the couple is building a house in the northern Houston suburbs that they want to move into soon after Biles returns from Paris.
Biles travels to France as maybe the face of the United States Olympic movement, but she is well aware that more than a few of the millions who will tune in next month will be watching to see if the demons that wrecked her in Tokyo resurface.
Simone Biles Headlines A U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team Eyeing Redemption At The Paris Olympics
While she still experiences periods of fear, such as at last year’s world championships, she has taken precautions to protect herself. She sees a therapist weekly, even during competition season, something she did not do in preparation for the 2020 Games.
The Americans will send their oldest women’s team to the Games, thanks to Biles’ unrivaled longevity—she hasn’t lost a meet she’s started and finished since 2013—and the NCAA’s relaxation of name, image, and likeness rules, which allowed Carey (24), Chiles (23) and Lee (21) to continue competing while cashing in on their newfound fame.
They have relied on that experience over a sometimes tumultuous race, which saw leading competitors Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely, and Kayla DiCello withdraw with leg problems. Their problems kept them out of the running for weeks before they could realize a lifelong dream.
Watching good friends leave the arena in tears reminded me of how narrow the gap between success and failure can be. Biles has remained on the right side of that divide for longer than she imagined. She’ll attempt to enjoy it despite the pressure.
She might have gone ahead of herself in 2021. She is determined to prevent this from happening again.
“I feel like success is just what I make it,” she told me. I’ve been successful by competing in Olympic trials and reaching the Paris Olympic team. So we’ll see what happens from there.
SOURCE – (AP)
Sports
How to Watch Tour De France 2024 in the United States
The Tour de France 2024 has produced two consecutive champions, with Tadej Pogacar wearing the yellow jersey in 2020 and 2021 and Jonas Vingegaard winning the general classification title the previous two years.
Will one of the two break the impasse in 2024, or will a new challenger emerge in cycling’s most important event? We’ll find out in three weeks when the Tour travels from Florence, Italy, to an extraordinary finish line in Nice. For the first time, the Tour will conclude outside of the French capital, while the Paris Olympics begin days later.
While it will be unusual to have the final stage held anywhere else than the iconic circle of the Champs-Elysees, the action leading up to that point should not disappoint. Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel are expected to fight Vingegaard and Pogacar in the GC race, while British sprinter Mark Cavendish will attempt to break the tie with Belgian great Eddy Merckx by winning a record 35th stage.
Matteo Jorgenson of Vingegaard’s powerful Visma squad, Neilson Powless and Sean Quinn of the EF Education-EasyPost team in the United States will start the race.
Sepp Kuss, the strongest American rider and 2023 Vuelta a Espana general classification champion, had to withdraw due to COVID. Kuss was instrumental in Vingegaard’s Tour victories over the previous two years and helped Roglic win the 2023 Giro d’Italia.
Here’s how to watch the 21 stages of the 2024 Tour de France 2024 in the United States.
To watch the Tour de France 2024 in the USA, use the following TV channel: NBC.
Live stream: Peacock and Fubo.
Traditional TV coverage of the Tour de France 2024 will be restricted this year, with just two stages shown live on NBC (another will be carried on delay). The full tour will be available on Peacock, the network’s streaming service.
The NBC broadcasts may be seen via Fubo, which provides a free trial for new customers to sample before purchasing. See the complete broadcast schedule for each stage below.
Tour de France 2024 Schedule
The Tour de France 2024 will include 21 stages. Due to preparations for the 2024 Olympics, two rest days have been inserted into the race itinerary, which starts on June 29 and ends on July 21 in Nice rather than Paris. For fans in the United States who tune in live, there will be many early starts, with most days ending shortly before noon.
Stage | Date | Length | Location (type) | Start (ET) | TV/Streaming |
1 | June 29 | 206 km (128 miles) | Florence to Rimini (hilly) | 6:30 a.m. | Peacock |
2 | June 30 | 199.2 km (123.8 miles) | Cesenatico to Bologna (hilly) | 6:05 a.m. | Peacock |
3 | July 1 | 230.8 km (143.4 miles) | Piacenza to Turin (flat) | 6:50 a.m. | Peacock |
4 | July 2 | 139.6 km (86.7 miles) | Pinerolo to Valloire (mountain) | 7 a.m. | Peacock |
5 | July 3 | 177.4 km (110.2 miles) | Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas (flat) | 6:55 a.m. | Peacock |
6 | July 4 | 163.5 km (101.6 miles) | Macon to Dijon (flat) | 7 a.m. | Peacock |
7 | July 5 | 25.3 km (15.7 miles) | Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin (individual time-trial) | 7:10 a.m. | Peacock |
8 | July 6 | 183.4 km (114 miles) | Semur-en-Auxois to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises (flat) | 6 a.m. | Peacock, NBC, Fubo |
9 | July 7 | 199 km (123.7 miles) | Troyes to Troyes (hilly) | 7:05 a.m. | Peacock |
Rest Day | July 8 | — | — | — | — |
10 | July 9 | 187.3 km (116.3 miles) | Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond (flat) | 6:55 a.m. | Peacock |
11 | July 10 | 221 km (137.3 miles) | Evaux-les-Bains to Le Lioran (mountain) | 6:55 a.m. | Peacock |
12 | July 11 | 203.6 km (126.5 miles) | Aurillac to Villeneuve-sur-Lot (flat) | 6:55 a.m. | Peacock |
13 | July 12 | 165.3 km (102.7 miles) | Agen to Pau (flat) | 7:30 a.m. | Peacock |
14 | July 13 | 151.9 km (94.3 miles) | Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan/Pla d’Adet (mountain) | 6:30 a.m. | Peacock, NBC, Fubo |
15 | July 14 | 198 km (123 miles) | Loudenvielle to Plateau de Beille (mountain) | 6:55 a.m. | Peacock |
Rest Day | July 15 | — | — | — | — |
16 | July 16 | 188.6 km (117.1 miles) | Gruissan to Nimes (flat) | 6:50 a.m. | Peacock |
17 | July 17 | 177.8 km (110.5 miles) | Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to SuperDevoluy (mountain) | 6:05 a.m. | Peacock |
18 | July 18 | 179.5 km (111.5 miles) | Gap to Barcelonnette (hilly) | 6:55 a.m. | Peacock |
19 | July 19 | 144.6 km (89.8 miles) | Embrun to Isola 2000 (mountain) | 7:05 a.m. | Peacock |
20 | July 20 | 132.8 km (82.5 miles) | Nice to Col de la Couillole (mountain) | 7:35 a.m. | Peacock, NBC, Fubo |
21 | July 21 | 33.7 km (20.9 miles) | Monaco to Nice (individual time-trial) | 10:10 a.m. | Peacock |
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