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What Had Happened Was

What Had Happened Was: 8/16/16

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    Athletics – Olympics: Day 10
    Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas reacts after winning the gold medal in the Women’s 400m Final as bronze medalist Shericka Jackson of Jamaica (L) and silver medalist Allyson Felix of the United States (R) stand over her on Day 10 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 15, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
    By Ryan Cortes Rhiannon Walker

    GAME. BLOUSES.

    When Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt snatched Sunday night’s men’s 100-meter final right out from under American Justin Gatlin’s grip, Bolt couldn’t help but smile and look to his left, creating one of the best photos we’ve seen at this year’s Olympics. Monday night, though, may have produced an even better, more absurd picture.

    During the last turn of Monday night’s women’s 400-meter final, American sprinter Allyson Felix took off furiously, trying like hell to catch up with Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas. The two women approached the finish line stride for stride, the rest of us holding our breaths terrified. Then it happened.

    Miller dove across the finish line, her hands slamming and skidding on the ground. She didn’t just win the race and beat Felix — No, Miller won the heat by a mere seven-hundredths of a second.

    The dive wasn’t well-received, though. Instead of celebrating Miller for a heady play (SORRY!) and for doing something that won her a gold medal, fans were having fun reliving the end of the race.

    It was a jarring moment, but for what it’s worth, multiple teammates of Felix’s told ESPN’s Johnette Howard that they too would have dove across the finish line if needed. “I did it myself twice this year,” Natasha Hastings said. “I dove [at the U.S. Olympic trials] for my spot here. And I did it in indoor nationals as well. You do what you’ve got to do to get over the line.”

    Maybe, as Claire McNear of The Ringer wrote, we should be talking about Miller as an outright Olympic hero instead.

    BLESSINGS!

    SOCIAL STATUS

    It took our man some 282 at-bats but … it happened. New York Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon (the oldest player in baseball at age 43 and the only person besides Ichiro Suzuki of the Miami Marlins, who was born in 1973 and still plays) drew a walk. For the first time ever.

    https://twitter.com/BravesOptions/status/765496665310539776

    FOR THE CULTURE

    Here is Larry Wilmore’s statement on the cancellation of his Comedy Central show, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

    Ever wonder how John Legend and Chrissy Teigen’s relationship began in the first place? It all started on Twitter.

    This op-ed explains why banks should not profit from prisons.

    Akai Gurley’s family will receive a settlement of more than $4 million from New York City after Gurley was fatally shot by former police officer Peter Liang back in 2014.

    Khalid Jabara, an Arab-American, was murdered in a hate crime in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

    TOP THREE TWEETS

    Every morning we’ll hit you here with the best of what we saw on social media the previous night. Why? Why not?

    1. GOTTA BLAST

    2. WHO DID THIS?!

    3. VERDICT: TRUE

    #ICYMI

    Our brother, and the editor of WHHW, Martenzie Johnson penned a first-person personal letter about his hometown of Milwaukee. Another black man, this time 23-year-old Sylville Smith, was fatally shot by a (black) police officer on the north side of Milwaukee. Johnson walks folks through his former stomping grounds and details exactly why he has never returned back home.

    For all intents and purposes, this is my city. I grew up here. I never waver when asked where I came from, and I proudly wear my Milwaukee Bucks apparel around my new home in Maryland. But, unlike the many friends and family members still there, I hate the place where I was born. When I was 6 years old, a man was shot and killed right outside of my mother’s house. Fearing the safety of her three young kids, my mother eventually moved us to a house miles away, but still on the north side of Milwaukee, where most of the black population in the city resides. This is the Milwaukee where at least five police officers beat the hell out of Frank Jude because they could. The same Milwaukee, where I remember as a 13-year-old not understanding how a man could be beaten to death so brutally by a group of teens that his blood splattered to the top of a porch roof and his ear fell off. Growing up, outside of my nationally recognized middle school, I went to some of the poorest and poorest-performing schools in the state. My senior year of high school, my school was the first in the city’s history to have police officers — not safety officers — assigned to it full time. This same school was the reason behind a citywide cellphone ban a mere months before I was set to graduate. While I was more or less isolated from gun violence and the drug trade through my years in the city, I witnessed enough to make me, at age 17, decide I wanted to leave and never come back.

    PICTURE PERFECT

    Ryan Cortes is a staff writer for The Undefeated. Lemon pepper his wings.

    Rhiannon Walker is an associate editor at The Undefeated. She is a drinker of Sassy Cow Creamery chocolate milk, an owner of an extensive Disney VHS collection, and she might have a heart attack if Frank Ocean doesn't drop his second album.

    This Story Tagged: Shaunae Miller Allyson Felix What Had Happened Was Carmelo Anthony Bartolo Colon DeMarcus Cousins