#6 Houston 40, Cincinnati 16

As it turns out, I was right to be worried about this game. The Cougars struggled through the first three quarters, and when Cincinnati scored a touchdown to take a 12-16 lead early in the fourth quarter, I was really concerned. But the Coogs rallied from that point forward, rattling off 28 unanswered points (including two touchdowns on back-to-back pick-sixes) to secure the road win.

The Good: Greg Ward, Jr completed 24 of 36 passes for 326 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 73 yards and two touchdowns; the UH ground attack netted a total of 180 rushing yards. The Cougar defense, meanwhile, held Cincinnati to only 30 total rushing yards, and contributed 16 points to the final score in the form of two pick-sixes and a safety.

The Bad: The Cougars looked sloppy on offense through much of the game. Greg Ward, Jr threw two interceptions, including the one that led to Cincinnati's go-ahead touchdown. Bearcat quarterback Hayden Moore attacked the UH secondary to the tune of 275 passing yards and two touchdowns. UH cornerback Harold Wilson dropped a sure pick-six in the first half that would have turned the tide of the game much earlier had he held on (he made up for it with a pick-six in the fourth).

The Bizarre: This fumble recovery by Cincinnati, late in the first half, led to a Bearcat field goal right before halftime (via SBNation):

What it means: This was probably the Cougars' biggest road test, and they passed. This is not to say that trips to Navy, Memphis or even SMU will be easy; every opponent is going to give the Coogs their best shot from here on out. However, this game was especially tough because the Cougars were playing a road game (in a stadium they haven't won at since 1971), on a short week of rest, against a pretty good Cincinnati team that they only beat by three points at home last year. And they didn't just escape Nippert Stadium with a win; they imposed their will on the Bearcats in the fourth quarter and made a statement.

Next up for the Cougars is a September 24 trip to San Marcos to face the Texas State Bobcats.

#6 Houston 42, Lamar 0

The Cougars actually came close to selling this one out: 39,402 tickets were sold, and while there were clearly a lot of no-shows, a good crowd was filling into TDECU Stadium by the middle of the first quarter. That UH sold that many seats for an 11 am game against an FCS opponent is really remarkable, and shows just how far the program has come.

Alas, with about three minutes to go in the first quarter, the game was suspended due to lightning in the area. And although no thunderstorms reached the stadium itself, menacing clouds and frequent bolts of lightning in the surrounding area forced the game to be postponed for three and a half hours.

By the time the game resumed, most of that crowd had gone home. Even Lamar's band had to leave before play resumed (the contract with their charter bus company probably specified a return time).

The Good: With Kyle Postma filling in for Greg Ward, Jr at quarterback and Kevrin Justice and Mulbah Car filling in for Duke Catalon at running back, The Cougars ground out a workmanlike game plan that managed 511 yards total offense. Postma, Justice and Car all had over 100 yards rushing. The Cougar defense, meanwhile, held Lamar to only four first downs for the entire game and never allowed the Cardinals to cross midfield.

The Bad: The Cougars went for it on fourth-and-goal twice but came away with nothing. Kicker Ty Cummings missed two field goals.

The Annoying: NCAA rules require games to be halted whenever lightning strikes within eight miles of the stadium. A thirty-minute clock then begins, but is reset every time there is another strike within the eight mile buffer. With all the storms marauding around the Houston area last Saturday, it took a long time before things cleared to the point that play could resume. I was very close to leaving myself; had the delay lasted much longer, in fact, the game could have been cancelled completely.

What It Means: This was an expected win over an FCS opponent, and Tom Herman and his staff used it to give the backups some reps while giving Greg Ward Jr time to heal his shoulder and Duke Catalon time to heal his foot before Thursday's game against Cincinnati. The playcalling, likewise, was very generic so as not to give Cinci any new scouting material.

But it's a short week for the Coogs, and Thursday's game really scares me. Cincinnati is coming off a convincing win at Purdue; they are the real deal. The Bearcats are also looking to avenge last year's close loss at TDECU. The Cougars have not won at Nippert Stadium since 1971.

From man to whiny sore loser

Last Saturday the Central Michigan Chippewas traveled to Stillwater and upset the #22-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys on a miraculous final play that shouldn't have even happened. Due to an officiating error, CMU was granted an untimed down at the end of the game, and made the most of it with a ridiculous Hail-Mary-and-lateral play to score a touchdown and win the game, 30-27.

Although it was later determined that the referees made a mistake, the score of the game will stand. OSU head coach Mike Gundy - who, for the record, is a MAN! - isn't happy about it. Gundy claims that the officiating crew was inferior because it was from the non-Power Five Mid-American Conference (where CMU plays), and from now on he won't play any games at home against non-Power Five schools unless he gets to use his own conference's officials.

"In a contract with a Power 5 school, you're going to exchange officials on your one-to-one games. Otherwise, I would not go into a game without Big 12 officials," Gundy said. "We're playing a school that does not want to use our officials, you move on and find another school."

Gundy said he doesn't want to "disrespect" officiating crews that don't operate in Power 5 conferences, but after Saturday's outcome, he said he won't use them in Stillwater again.

"The best ones will be at [the Power 5] level," he said. "When we're playing in these games, we need to use our officials. Or we don't sign a contract."

There are several problems with Gundy's whiny rant.

First, the arrogant assumption that Power Five conference have better officiating crews. Gundy doesn't mention that the officials in the replay booth were (supposedly superior) Big 12 referees, who could have called down to reverse the call in the event of an "egregious error" but failed to do so (both the MAC crew and the Big 12 replay officials have been suspended for two games because of the error).

Second, Gundy's demand that he get to use his own Big 12 officials from now on appears to be a breach of what seems to be standard for contracts between out-of-conference schools (wherein the visiting team gets to bring their conference's officials).

But third and most importantly, Gundy is simply scapegoating the referees in order to overcome his own failures in coaching this game. Yes, the referees made a mistake. But here's the thing, coach: they shouldn't have been in that position to begin with!

The Cowboys were playing at home and were favored by 19.5 points over the Chippewas; this really shouldn't have even been a contest. At one point OSU led by two touchdowns, but they couldn't put Central Michigan away and let them back into the game. CMU actually led at one point in the fourth quarter; in fact, they outgained Oklahoma State in total yardage (even before the last-second score) and led in time of possession.

We see this time and time again in college football: when you let these scrappy, upset-minded teams hang around, weird things can happen. Mike Gundy, of all people, should know this. It's his job as coach to make sure his players are prepared, even for what was supposed to be a "cupcake" game against a lesser opponent. The Oregonian's Ken Goe notes:

...[I]f Gundy's team had played to its reputation, Oklahoma State would have been comfortably in front in the fourth quarter, not frantically trying to protect a three-point lead.

College football games are played by imperfect athletes, coached by imperfect coaches and officiated by imperfect officials.

As David Wharton of writes in the Los Angeles Times, controversial calls happen in college football. So get over it.

Instead of taking responsibility for his own failures as head coach last Saturday,  Mike Gundy is, in effect, issuing a blanket indictment against the competence of every college football referee that happens not to work for a Power Five conference. And that makes Mike Gundy look less like a man, and more like a butt-hurt, sore loser.

(Oh, and by the way: No. 22 Oklahoma State's loss to Central Michigan was just its second non-conference home game loss under Mike Gundy (who is 25-2 overall). The other loss? Yup!) 

Starting off right: #15 Houston 33, #3 Oklahoma 23

The Houston Cougars made a statement to the nation by beating the Oklahoma Sooners before a capacity crowd of 71,016 at NRG Stadium last Saturday.

Ward escapes, and Linell Bonner makes an amazing catch

The Good: The Cougar offense wasn't at 100% of its effectiveness in this game, but it still got the job done. Greg Ward Jr was 23 of 40 for 321 yards and two touchdowns, but his accuracy wasn't perfect and he wasn't helped by several drops from his receivers. What's more, the Sooners contained him such that he only had a single net yard rushing the entire game. It didn't matter. Thanks to some amazing catches and 88 yards on 22 carries from new running back Duke Catalon (he also caught a touchdown pass), the Coogs outgained the Sooners and held onto the ball for 35 minutes. Steven Dunbar led all receivers with 7 catches for 125 yards, and tight end Tyler McCloskey caught a touchdown. Aside from a few false start penalties, the only glaring mistake by the offense was a goal-line fumble late in the game.

Sooner RB Samaje Perine meets Cougar safety Garrett Davis

The Better: The defense played havoc with the Sooners. Oklahoma QB Brandon Mayfield had a decent afternoon, completing 24 of 33 passes for 32 yards and two touchdowns, but he also ran into some trouble with the Houston defense. Ed Oliver, the highly-rated true freshman defensive tackle, made things difficult for Mayfield and the Sooner backfield with 7 tackles and two sacks. Oklahoma's heralded running attack of Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine was limited to 71 total yards rushing and one touchdown. The Coogs also forced two Sooner turnovers.

The Best: Brandon Wilson's kick six, which turned the tide of the game and which will go down as one of the biggest single plays in University of Houston football history:


What it Means: With the win, the Coogs are now ranked #6 in the AP Poll and #7 in the Coaches Poll. Houston is now officially a contender for the College Football Playoff. And now that Houston - having beaten top ten teams back-to-back for the first time in program history - has proven that it can hang with the big boys, the pressure is on the Big XII to either add the Coogs to their conference or account for their cowardice.

This was Houston's first win over a #3 team since they beat Texas in 1984. The Houston Press and cfn.com's Pete Fiutak have more reaction, while Bleacher Report hands out grades. Next up for the Coogs is their true home opener on Saturday, against FCS Lamar.

The long, strange trip

Before the University of Houston Cougars begin what is one of their most anticipated football seasons in program history, I just want to take a moment to reflect on the journey that all of us - the school, the program, the coaches and players who have come and gone, the students, the fans and the alumni - have taken to get here.

As I mentioned in my season preview, the last time the Cougars were ranked in the preseason was August of 1991, when they were #12 (they finished the 1990 season with a 10-1 record and a #10 ranking; this was the pinnacle of the Run and Shoot era).

As I also mentioned, the 1991 season was disastrous for the Coogs. So many of the seasons since then have been pretty tough for the program and its faithful. There were times when I wasn't sure UH football would even survive.

I was a freshman when Miami clobbered Houston, 40-10, in a highly-anticipated Thursday night ESPN game, and burst the Run and Shoot bubble. I suffered through back-to-back 4-7 seasons under John Jenkins and, following that, the abyss of suck that was the Kim Helton era. Between the '93, '94 and '95 seasons, Houston won a total of four games.

I thought things were trending upward after the 1996 season - my final semester at UH - when the Cougars won the inaugural Conference USA championship. That was a fun year: the Coogs almost upset LSU in Baton Rouge, won a wild overtime game against ranked Southern Miss, and went to the Liberty Bowl. I still remember hanging out with all the UH fans on Beale Street in Memphis.

Alas, Kim Helton followed that year up with back-to-back 3-8 seasons, then a fool's gold 7-4 season wherein the team beat nobody with a winning record and didn't make it to a bowl, and then got fired because the athletics director at the time, Chet Gladchuk, thought he had landed Bob Pruett, the successful head coach from Marshall, to take over the program.

Except Pruett backed out, and Gladchuk had to save face by signing Wyoming head coach Dana Dimel.

I met Dana Dimel, who is now an assistant coach at Kansas State, a couple of times while he was at UH. I liked him as a person and I appreciate him for trying to re-open local recruiting connections that Helton had neglected. But under him, the program reached its nadir. There was the announced attendance of 3,006 for a home game against Louisville to end the 2000 season. There was the "Bleachergate" embarrassment of the 2001 season, wherein temporary bleachers put up to accommodate Texas fans for a game against the Longhorns were declared unsafe. Neiher of those events were Dimel's fault, but 2001's 0-11 season - the first winless season in program history - was all on him.

I drove down from Denton, where I lived and worked at the time, to watch all those games at Robertson in 2000 and 2001. I even went to the Army game in West Point, New York in 2001. (While I was up there, I went to Lower Manhattan to discover the ruins of the world Trade Center still smouldering; that was eerie.) I had moved back to Houston in time to witness 2002's 5-7 campaign, which, although better than 2001's O-fer season, still couldn't save Dimel's job.

Those were the days when the east side of Robertson was almost completely empty. There was the band and a (very) small student section, but that was it. I remember thinking that the 19,569 we had for a game against Louisiana-Lafayette in 2002 was a "great!" crowd. That was also the season when we all had to enter the stadium multiple times using different tickets so we wouldn't fall below the NCAA's minimum attendance requirements.

Sure, in those days it was nice to be able to pull up right next to Robertson Stadium and tailgate; you didn't need a high-dollar Cougar Pride membership to do so. But as far as the program was concerned, it was irrelevant and on life support. The 2002 season was Houston's tenth losing season out of the last twelve.

Those were, indeed, the days when I really feared that the UH football program had no future. 

Then Art Briles was hired as head coach. Say what you will about him - the abrupt way he left Houston for Baylor, the scandals that eventually forced him out of Baylor - but while he was at Houston he made something out of nothing. Sure, his teams were a hot mess of turnovers, penalties and special teams mistakes, but at least he made the program fun to watch again. He had four out of five winning seasons while he was here, he led the Coogs to their second Conference USA championship, and attendance began to trend upward while he was here.

Kevin Sumlin, on the other hand (and as Texas A&M is currently discovering), was nothing but smoke and mirrors. Sure, he had some pretty big wins while he was here - beating a top-five Oklahoma State in Stillwater, that barn-burner of a game against Texas Tech, that miracle win at Tulsa, the program's first bowl win in three decades against Air Force - but his success was pretty much based entirely upon the athleticism of a quarterback he didn't even recruit. When Keenum went down after that disaster of a game in the Rose Bowl in 2010, he had nothing.

And then 2011. Keenum getting a sixth year. Beating UCLA at Robertson. That amazing comeback at LA Tech. The Cougars, that undefeated juggernaut, going into the CUSA Championship. Just beat Southern Miss, and the BCS-busting Houston Cougars get to go to the Sugar Bowl!

Yeah, we all know how that turned out.

When it was over, I thought UH football had gone as far as it could go. Sure, we'd be a "competitive mid-major" from time to time, a novelty program, like Fresno or Akron or Western Kentucky, that ESPN will mention right before a commercial break. But I had this feeling in the back on my mind that the 2011 Conference USA Championship Game was "our moment" and that we blew it.

And then Tony Levine came along. And he brought with him losses to Texas State, UTSA and Tulane. He only served to confirm that feeling in my mind that UH was "done." Building the new stadium was nice, but so what? I wouldn't admit it to anyone at the time, but I remember thinking to myself after that Homecoming loss to Tulane that I might as well walk away, that Houston Cougar football's best days were forever in the past.

But then Tony Levine was fired, and Tom Herman was hired, and now we're here.

2015 ACC Conference champions. Peach Bowl champions. Number 8 in the final 2015 AP and Coaches polls.

And now, today, opening the season ranked #15 in the AP poll and #13 in the coaches poll, with a huge, nationally-televised showdown against #3 Oklahoma on Saturday that ESPN is hyping, and some national media outlets actually suggesting that Houston could win the national championship.

I doubt that will happen. But looking back to those dark days of 2001, or even after that homecoming loss to Tulane in 2014, would I have believed where University of Houston football is right now?

Yes, the Oklahoma Sooners are a legitimate national championship contender. Sooner QB Baker Mayfield is salivating at his chance to pick apart Houston's graduation-depleted secondary. OU defenders are going to have their ears pinned back as they aim for Greg Ward, Jr. Yes, Saturday's game could get ugly.

But right now, I don't care.

It's been a long, strange trip to get here. And while today does not represent the destination for University of Houston football - the journey will continue, regardless of what happens Saturday - I'm going to savor the fact that the Coogs have made it this far.

Countries I've visited, 2016 edition

I still owe this blog a recap of my fantastic trip to the Alps earlier this summer. I don't know when or if I'll ever get around to creating that, but I can at least update the list (which I started last year) of countries I've visited. Besides spending several days in Germany and Austria for the first time in 14 years, this summer I also finally stepped into two countries I have always wanted to visit: Italy and Switzerland. Both of these were short, cross-the-border visits - a matter of a few hours apiece - and I definitely want to go back and explore both countries further. But it's nice to be able to say I've finally been there. I can now say that I've actually eaten a pizza in Italy.

The country I think I found most intriguing, however, was right across the border from Italy: Slovenia is breathtakingly beautiful and the people there (at least, the ones I interacted with) were very friendly. Again, it was a visit of only a few hours, and we ultimately decided not to make a second trip into the country to see the capital of Ljubljana (not enough time!), but right now Slovenia is at the very top of my "GO BACK!" list.

Anyway, below is an updated list of countries I've visited and the years I've visited them, with the most recent visits denoted in red. If I didn't stay overnight in a country - e.g. a order crossing, an airport stopover where I left the terminal, or a cruise port of call - the year I visited is italicized. Nations with an asterisk (*) next to them are among the world's 25 smallest countries, of which is my life's goal to visit all of them before I die. Having spent the night in the picturesque (and ridiculously expensive) Principality of Liechtenstein during this most recent trip, I'm now 20% of the way there.

Antigua and Barbuda*: 
2015

Austria: 
2002, 2016

Barbados*:  
2015

Belize:  
2006

Canada:
1974, 1980, 1982

Czech Republic:
2002

Ecuador: 
1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 2001

Germany: 
2002, 2016

Ireland:
1985

Italy:
2016

Japan: 
2005

Liechtenstein*:
2016

Mexico: 
1979, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

The Kingdom of the Netherlands:

The Netherlands: 
2002, 2006

Aruba: 
2014

 St. Maarten:  
2015

St. Kitts and Nevis*:  
2015

St. Lucia*:  
2015

Slovenia:
2016

Switzerland:
2016

United Arab Emirates: 
2006, 2008, 2012

The United Kingdom:

England:
1985

Scotland:
1985

 Wales:
1985

This past summer's travels get me up to 20 out of 206 sovereign (or de-facto sovereign) nations, or 9.7% percent. Still not great, but I'm making progress.

(Flag source: World Flag Database)

Why you shouldn't drive slowly in the left lane

People who drive slowly in the left lane - especially the left lane of rural, four-lane interstates - are a particular pet peeve of mine (see here, here, here, here and here). The left lane is for passing only, and motorists who drive in the left lane without passing anyone are creating a traffic hazard as well as being inconsiderate to their fellow drivers.

But don't take my word for it; this excellent video from Vox explains why you shouldn't drive slowly in the left lane on the highway:
As the video mentions, traffic flow is improved when the left lane is used only to pass. The video also mentions that crash rates are lower on Germany's autobahns than they are on American highways - even though many sections of the autobahn network have no maximum speed limit - because German drivers are very observant of the "left lane is for passing only" rule. As somebody who recently spent several days driving on German and Austrian autobahns, I can confirm that this is true; slower traffic ALWAYS stays to the right, and traffic flows wonderfully as a result.

The bottom line is this: the left lane is for passing only. It doesn't matter if you're driving the speed limit; if you're in the left lane and you're not passing anyone then you need to move over. If you don't understand or refuse to obey this concept, then you probably shouldn't be driving to begin with.

2016 Houston Cougar Football Preview

Another football season is upon us, and expectations are high for the University of Houston Cougars, who are ranked in the preseason polls (#15 in the AP poll; #13 in the coaches poll) for the first time since 1991.

Looking Back: The 2015 season was Houston's most successful in three-and-a-half decades, as the Cougars defeated the Florida State Seminoles in the Peach Bowl and ended the season ranked #8 in both the AP and coaches' polls. Head coach Tom Herman and his staff followed that accomplishment by signing UH's highest-rated recruiting class ever, thereby keeping the momentum going into 2016.

The Big Story for 2016: It's been a long time since the Cougars entered the season with such lofty expectations. Season ticket sales are up, the national media has taken notice, and some outlets are going so far as to suggest that Houston could actually win it all this year. While that's unlikely, the Cougars are, at the very least, The team is, at the very least, expected to win the AAC Championship and go to a New Years Six Bowl for the second year in a row. Can this team handle the pressure that comes with such elevated expectations?

A side story heading into the season regards the possibility that the Cougars could soon be invited to join the Big XII conference, thereby finally being bestowed "big boy" status as a Power Five conference school. Houston has been teased with Big XII membership before. however, so I'm not believing anything until it happens.

Reasons for Optimism: The electric Greg Ward, Jr is back at quarterback. Highly-recruited Texas transfer running back Duke Catalon is in the backfield. Five-star recruit Ed Oliver joins the defensive line. The Cougars enter the season loaded with talent in the receiving crops, the linebackers and the defensive line. But most importantly, the one person most responsible for last years success - head coach Tom Herman - returns for his second season, along with his staff.

Reasons for Pessimism: With the caveat that I am, by nature, a pessimistic person, here are three big concerns of mine going into the season:

• The Cougars have lost a lot of talent from last year's team. Only six offensive starters and five defensive starters return from last year's 13-1 team. Among those lost are safeties Trevon Stewart and (NFL first round draft pick) William Jackson, CB William Jackson, LB Elandon Roberts, WR DeMarcus Ayers and RB Kenneth Farrow. 

• A lot of last year's success was luck. As SB Nation's Bill Connelly explains, the Cougars were the beneficiaries of a lot of lucky breaks last season. The victory over Memphis, for example, came down to a missed field goal as time expired. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; the Coogs created chances and took advantage of the breaks they received last year. But those lucky breaks tend to revert to the mean over time, and the team cannot count on such good on-field fortune repeating itself in 2016.

• The Sports Illustrated Jinx. Greg Ward, Jr made it on to the cover of a regional edition of Sports Illustrated's college football preview:

        Doesn't that look great? Well, yeah, but so did this, back in 1991:

        This was my freshman year of college. The Cougars were coming off a 10-1 season, were
        ranked #12 going into the season, and QB David Klingler was a top Heisman candidate. We all
        know how that season turned out.

        This is not to say that the SI cover jinx is a real thing, and there's no question that Tom Herman
        is a better coach than John Jenkins, who is largely responsible for the disaster that was the 1991
        UH season. But 1991 is nevertheless a cautionary tale: the Cougars were highly ranked, were
        garnering lots of national publicity, and were expected to have a great season. They flopped.
        Let's hope that history does not repeat.

The Schedule: Although the Coogs only leave the State of Texas three times this fall, the overall schedule is going to be tough. #3 Oklahoma at NRG Stadium, #17 Louisville at home and Cincinnati, Navy and Memphis on the road are obviously the toughest obstacles. Just because the latter two AAC West opponents are missing their biggest playmakers from last year (QBs Keenan Reynolds and Paxton Lynch, respectively) doesn't mean they aren't capable of exacting revenge on the Cougars and denying them a second straight division title. SMU, Tulsa and Central Florida re likely to be improved programs this fall as well.

What the Computers Think: Sagarin starts the Cougars off in the #34 position with a rating of 79.20. That implies a 11-1 record for the Coogs when opponent ratings and home field advantage are taken into consideration, although the Louisville game is essentially a toss-up. The Congrove system used by collegefootballpoll.com also predicts an 11-1 campaign. Other algorithms are not as friendly to the Cougars; Massey gives the Cougars a 75% or better chance of winning in seven of their twelve regular season games, while ESPN's initial Football Power Index ranks Houston #46 to start the season and gives them a 75% or better chance of winning in only six of their games.

What I Think: This is really a hard season for me to predict. One one hand, the Cougars are talented, well-coached and coming off one of the program's best seasons of all time. On the other hand, they face a tough schedule featuring strong Power Five opponents (Oklahoma, Louisville) and revenge-minded conference rivals (Cincinnati, Navy, Memphis), they've lost a lot of key players from last year's team, and they are saddled with tremendous pressure. The pressure doesn't just come from the sports media and their elevated expectations for Houston; it also comes from the need for the Cougars to prove that last season wasn't a fluke, that the program has, at long last, become a national power that deserves a spot in a Power Five conference like the Big XII.

My heart wants to believe the Coogs can meet expectations by going to a second-straight New Years Six Bowl and maybe, just maybe, make the four-team playoff. But my head says that the team simply has too many obstacles to allow that to happen. I predict a 9-3 season, with losses against Oklahoma, at Cincinnati, and against one of Louisville, Memphis or Navy.

I realize that a 9-3 season probably won't be good enough for a second-straight conference championship and definitely won't be good enough for a second-straight New Years Six Bowl; in fact, it will be widely regarded as a disappointment. But that's what I believe is most likely to happen, so that's my prediction.

Must-read articles about the Cougars, the struggle to join the Big XII, coach Herman and the season ahead from Dennis Dodd of CBS, Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated and Adam Kramer of Bleacher Report. Houstonia's take is excellent as well. SB Nation, fansided.com, USA Today, si.com, and collegefootballnews.com all have more.

Olympic wrapup

So the United States "won" the 2016 Summer Olympics, coming back home from Rio with the most overall medals (121) as well as the most gold medals (46). China, which won 70 medals (26 gold), and Great Britain, which garnered 67 medals (27 gold), competed for second place, but neither country came close to Team USA's totals. This is the sixth summer Olympics in a row that the United States has come away with the most number of total medals; America has also won the greatest number of golf medals in five out of the last six summer Olympiads. Fuck yeah!

Over 64% of Team USA's medals came from just three sports categories: swimming (33 medals), track and field (32 medals), and gymnastics (12), but the United States also dominated in sports such as basketball, winning gold in both the mens and womens tournaments.

(This brings up something that's always bothered me about the Olympics: why are medals for team sports such as basketball and soccer, which play multiple games in tournaments over the course of the Olympics, worth the same as one-off individual events such as the mens 100-meter breaststroke or the womens javelin throw? This is not a knock against the athletes that compete and win in these individual events; it just seems that, given the number of games played and the number of athletes involved, team medals should be counted as a separate category. But that's an argument for another day...)

Although Team USA won the most number of medals, it did not win the highest number of medals per capita. After the 2014 Winter Olympics I calculated these rankings myself, but now there's a handy website that calculates these things for you.

It turns out that Grenada is the most efficient country in terms of medals won per capita; the silver medal won sprinter Kirani James gives the Caribbean island a ratio of 106,825 inhabitants to medals won. The Bahamas comes in second with one medal per 194,009 residents, while Jamaica comes in third with one medal per 247,812 inhabitants. At one medal per 2,656,353 inhabitants, the United States falls somewhere in the middle of the pack. At the bottom of the list is India, with a ratio of one medal for every 655,525,263 residents. (If it makes India feel any better, its rival Pakistan was the largest country to win no medals at all.)

One country manages to finish in the top ten in medals per capita in both the Winter and Summer Olympics: Slovenia won one medal per 257,192 residents in the 2014 Winter Games, which was good for second place, and one medal per 515,942 in the 2016 Summer Games, which placed the (amazingly beautiful) Alpine country seventh.

Azerbaijan had the most efficient team in terms of medals won per competing athlete: their 56-person team won 18 total medals, for a ratio of 0.32 medals per athlete. Ethiopia came in second at 0.24 medals per athlete, while the United States came in third at 0.22 medals per athlete. The least efficient team in terms of medals won was Portugal, which only managed one medal among its team of 94 athletes. That's still better than Chile, which was the largest team (42 athletes) to win no medals at all.

If weights are assigned to medals - i.e. a gold is worth more than a silver, which is in turn worth more than a bronze - Tajikistan comes out on top in terms of medals per team, and the USA is second. Efficiency... Fuck yeah!

It stands to reason that richer countries perform better in the Olympics than poorer countries because they have more resources to devote to athlete training and sports development, and the final medal tally from Rio largely bears that out: highly-developed nations such as the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and Australia are all in the top ten. That makes the accomplishments of countries with smaller, less-developed economies, such as Grenada, Jamaica, Kenya, Fiji and Burundi, all the more remarkable. The United States actually falls closer to the bottom in terms of medals per GDP, but that's simply because our GDP is, by far, the world's largest. Once again: Fuck yeah!

It also makes me wonder why OECD countries such as Portugal, Finland and Austria performed so poorly in Rio. Austria is a Winter Olympics powerhouse, so you'd think some of that athleticism and infrastructure would rub off onto the summer sports. Yet the landlocked nation won only a single bronze medal - in sailing!

Why passenger trains suck in America

It's a question I often come across in my line of work: why does America's passenger rail system suck so much? Other countries have sleek, comfortable high-speed trains that get people from one city to another quickly ad reliably. The USA, on the other hand, has Amtrak: the money-hemorrhaging government enterprise that is infrequent, slow and unreliable.

The general suckiness of inter-city passenger rail in the United States is the result of many factors, including geography, urban density, the primacy of freight movement, and political inertia. But don't take my word for it: spend a few minutes watching this excellent, if not somewhat wonky, video on the subject.

(h/t: Atlantic Citylab)