Olympic Daily Glance, Day 11 — Time for a USA comeback

Tuesday at the Olympic Games: People going in circles.

WHAT HAPPENED MONDAY

Did you see that women’s soccer game? Maybe the most compelling ever. And after last year’s World Cup, that’s saying something.

The U.S. men’s hoops team broke open a close game and shrugged off a groin punch to rout Argentina. The U.S. men’s volleyball team swept Tunisia.

Other than that, it wasn’t a good day for the USA. The field hockey team went out with a 7-0 loss to previously winless South Africa. Hungary handed the water polo men a second straight trouncing. The wrestlers came up empty. The remaining men’s pair crashed out in beach volleyball.

The U.S. only came up with three medals, though each one is worth celebrating in its own way. Jenn Suhr finally got her long-awaited pole vault gold after a silver in Beijing and frustration in world championships. Michael Tinsley was a surprise silver medalist in the men’s 400 hurdles. And Matt Emmons, who twice had bizarre mishaps on his last shot in the Olympic 50-meter 3-position rifle, had another last-shot slipup but limited the damage this time, slipping only from silver to bronze. Add that to his medals in 50-meter prone from 2004 and 2008, and he has a clean sweep of gold, silver and bronze.

The stunner was Felix Sanchez, the New Yorker running for the Dominican Republic, who turned back to clock to his heyday of the early 2000s to win the 400-meter hurdles. He then pulled a picture of his late grandmother, which he somehow had been carrying in those skin-tight uniforms the tracksters wear, laid it down on the track and kissed it.

MEDAL PROJECTION UPDATE

NOW I’m overprojecting the USA. The medals they missed: men’s 400 (2), women’s shot put, equestrian team jumping, women’s uneven bars, women’s Laser radial. Ouch.

Australia at least whittled away their deficit. Pretty soon we may ask some questions of Germany.

Underprojected: 6 for China. 4 – South Korea, Denmark, Cuba, North Korea, Mexico, South Africa. 3- France, Sweden, Colombia.

Overprojected: Australia 9, Germany 7, Turkey 6, Britain 6, New Zealand 5, Brazil 4, USA 4, Italy 3.

Right on course: Netherlands (10 medals), Hungary (8), Jamaica (4), India (3), Croatia (3).

TUESDAY’S VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS

Times ET. Everything’s available online. NBC, MSNBC and NBC Sports Network may occasionally hop around to other events. Names are U.S. athletes unless otherwise mentioned.

And my life has changed since finding NBC’s online Gold Zone, which hops around from event to event. 

4-6 a.m.:

• 4:00, NBC SN: Field hockey, men’s hockey, South Korea vs. Netherlands.
• 4:30: Canoe/kayak, sprint qualifications
• 5:00: Track and field, first hour of heats/qualifiers – women’s javelin, men’s 110 hurdles, men’s triple jump, women’s 5,000
• 5:00: Diving, men’s springboard, semifinal
• 5:00: Equestrian, dressage, team final. Picks: NED-GER-GBR
• 5:07, NBC SN: Canoe/kayak, women’s 500 K1 heats. Carrie Johnson.
• 5:19: Cycling, women’s omnium, individual pursuit. Sarah Hammer is tied for first after first day. This race will run between several early rounds of the men’s Keirin.

6 a.m.:

• 6:30, NBC SN: Triathlon, men’s. Hunter Kemper, Krispy Kreme fan, is back for more. Triathlon, that is — not donuts. Picks: GBR-RUS-GBR
• 6:30: Canoe/kayak, women’s 500 K1 semis. Carrie Johnson.
• 6:50: Track and field, men’s 200 heats. Thinking NBC might break in to show Bolt, who’s conveniently in the first heat.

8 a.m.:

• 8:00: Sailing, men’s windsurfer, medal race. Picks: NZL-POL-FRA
• 8:18: Wrestling, men’s 66kg Greco-Roman, round of 16. Justin Lester.
• 8:54: Wrestling, men’s 66kg Greco-Roman, quarterfinals.

9 a.m.: MSNBC signs on with Japan-China volleyball

• 9:00, NBC SN: Basketball, women’s quarterfinals. USA-Canada.
• 9:00: Sailing, women’s windsurfer, medal race. Picks: ISR-POL-GBR
• 9:00: Gymnastics, men’s parallel bars. Picks: USA-CHN-JPN
• 9:47: Gymnastics, women’s beam. Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman. Picks: CHN-USA-ROU
• 9:48: Wrestling, men’s 66kg/96kg Greco-Roman, semifinals.

10 a.m.:

• 10:00: Synchronized swimming, duet final. Picks: RUS-CHN-ESP
• 10:05: Sailing, women’s match racing, quarterfinals. USA vs. Finland
• 10:30, NBC: Water polo, women’s semifinals. USA vs. Australia
• 10:30: Table tennis, women’s team final. China vs. Japan. Picks: CHN-SIN-JPN
• 10:37: Gymnastics, men’s horizontal bar. Danell Leyva, Jonathan Horton. Picks: CHN-CHN-NED

11 a.m.:

• 11:00: Cycling, women’s sprint semifinals.
• 11:07: Cycling, women’s omnium, 10k scratch race. Fifth of six events.
• 11:23: Gymnastics, women’s floor exercise. Jordyn Wieber, Aly Raisman. Picks: RUS-CHN-USA
• 11:53, NBC?: Cycling, women’s omnium, 500m time trial. Last event. Picks: GBR-USA-CHN

Noon:

• 12:00, NBC SN: Soccer, men’s semifinals. Mexico-Japan.
• 12:26, NBC?: Cycling, women’s sprint final. Picks: GBR-AUS-LTU
• 12:45: Wrestling, men’s 66kg/96kg Greco-Roman, repechage/bronze.
• 12:57: Cycling, men’s Keirin final. Picks: GBR-GER-FRA

1 p.m.:

• 1:00: Beach volleyball, women’s semifinals. May-Treanor/Walsh Jennings vs. China.

2 p.m.:

• 2:00: Track and field, men’s high jump. Picks: RUS-USA-RUS
• 2:00: Diving, men’s springboard final. Picks: CHN-RUS-CHN
• 2:00, NBC: Volleyball, women’s quarterfinals. USA-Dominican Republic
• 2:00: Weightlifting, big guys. Picks: IRI-IRI-UKR
• 2:03: Wrestling, men’s 66kg Greco-Roman final. Picks: IRI-GEO-KOR-FRA
• 2:05: Track and field, women’s long jump qualifiers
• 2:15: Track and field, women’s 100 hurdles semis. Lolo Jones time. Plus Dawn Harper — you know, the defending champion. Lolo’s great, too, though. Final is later.
• 2:45, NBC SN: Soccer, men’s semifinals. South Korea-Brazil.
• 2:45: Track and field, men’s discus throw. Picks: GER-POL-LTU
• 2:48: Wrestling, men’s 96kg Greco-Roman final. Picks: SWE-RUS-BUL-IRI
• 2:55: Track and field, men’s 800 semifinals

3 p.m.:

• 3:25: Track and field, women’s 200 semifinals

4 p.m.:

• 4:00: Track and field, women’s 100 hurdles final. Picks: AUS-USA-JAM
• 4:00, NBC: Beach volleyball, women’s semifinals. Kessy/Ross vs. Brazil.
• 4:15: Track and field, men’s 1,500 final. Picks: KEN-KEN-ETH

5 p.m.:

• 5:00, CNBC: Boxing, men’s welterweight quarterfinals. Errol Spence is the last U.S. hope (thanks, arbitrators!)

Plus women’s handball quarterfinals, men’s hockey group play, table tennis and boxing.

Check the full schedule for time updates and results throughout the day: London2012.com

REMINDERS

Full TV listings: NBCOlympics.com
Full online listings: Also NBCOlympics.com

You know who actually has the best glance of how Americans are faring? Wikipedia.

I’ll be doing this daily during the Games. As a reminder, you’ll also find my work at Bleacher Report, and I’ll be helping Trapit capture the best Olympic news sources. Follow @TrapitSports or all Olympic-related Trapit feeds on Twitter for more.