Surprise, surprise

It's safe to say that there have been a number of surprises at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Here's a look at a few of those surprises.

The US women's soccer team, before the Opening Ceremonies even took place, was shut out in the first game of the tournament by Sweden. This happened as I was driving to Logan Airport to catch my flight to Tokyo. The US women have been a dominant force over the past decade-plus, so for them to lose that badly in the opening round came as a surprise. That probably made it a little less of a surprise when the team fell short of making the final, falling in the semifinals to Canada. I think, and this is just my opinion, that maybe some of the players hung around a bit too long in search of more Olympic glory and they couldn't keep up with some of the younger teams in the competition. Without a question, this team has been an impressive force for years, but it may be time for a little new blood.

The US men's basketball team also lost in its first game of the Olympics, falling to France and bringing thoughts of an all-out collapse from the US. The team was able to bounce back nicely and get back on track, and as I write this, just knocked off Spain to get into the semifinals. The days of the Dream Team are certainly gone, as there is no Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley and the like walking through the doors of the Saitama Super Arena. Kevin Durant is a legit superstar and became the leading US scorer in Olympic men's basketball in this tournament. Beyond him, there are not a lot of big names on the team, with some of the biggest names playing for other countries. It's possible that Gregg Popovich has lost the faith of the players. It's also possible that the players aren't in it for the right reason. But, their success level is still to be determined. Then the rest of the story can be written.

The US softball team had a great run, but its loss to Japan in the gold medal game was certainly a surprise to many. The US women had beaten Japan earlier to earn the "home field advantage" but just couldn't find the offense to do it again in the gold medal game. Softball was definitely an after-thought in these Olympics. The Japanese love baseball and softball officials made some concessions in order to get the sport included when Japan added baseball back in to the Games. The fact that softball was played on a modified baseball field just felt wrong, but again, that was a concession that was made to get the game back in the Olympics. I believe both sports belong in the Games and both sports deserve to be played on their own fields.

Simone Biles pulling out of the team competition, the all-around and the majority of the individual events was definitely a surprise, and while I haven't been watching the NBC coverage, I imagine it was everywhere in their discussions. She was, without question, the face of the Olympics for NBC and losing her certainly had to be concerning to them. I will never pretend to know the amount of pressure that being that face put on her or the physical toll that her body was under as she prepared to perform. Something wasn't right and she made the right choice for her own personal health to step back. She's scheduled to compete again tonight and surely there will still be plenty of cameras on her. Here's hoping she's back to feeling right.

There are always some surprises at the Olympics, this time around has certainly not disappointed in that way. I am sure there will be a few more over the next few days.

Saitama Super Arena was the site of a big upset in the opening round of the men's basketball tournament.