Screen Shots: Sunday, August 11th, 2024

Welcome to Screen Shots! This is where I tell you what you should watch on TV. It’s going to be a very sports-centric list since that’s really the only thing we have left that you simply must watch live. Speaking of watching things, you should watch me on YouTube! Have your own suggestions? Shoot me an email at [email protected]!

Welp, I can’t believe this is it. With this intro, I will crack the 20,000-word mark. I started this because I love the Olympics, and somehow this has made me love it even more. I hope that love is more contagious than Noah Lyles. As we collectively enter a brief period of Olympic mourning, a couple of announcements:

1. This is NOT the end of Screen Shots! Instead, it will transition into being a weekly post covering all sporting events. Subscribe and stay tuned in for when that starts, but it should be much sooner rather than later.

2. My show, Beyond The Arc with Brandon Silvers, will be going on a very brief hiatus as I regroup for post-Olympics sports coverage.

3. Moving forward, I’m going to be more intentional about covering these athletes in between their Olympic years. These athletes drop into our lives for 2 weeks every 4 years and we care about them intensely. But what about the rest of the time? I’m going to do my part to fill that gap.

Alright then, TO THE EVENTS!

Women's Marathon (Medal event) at 2 a.m. ET on NBC, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com

Why you should watch: Many of us know the origin story of the marathon. Legend has it that the Greek messenger, Pheidippides, ran roughly the distance of the modern marathon from the Battle of Marathon to Athens to let everybody know that the Persians had been defeated. After sharing his message, he died. The big joke is always, “Why would we choose to run a distance that killed the first guy who did it?” but what if I told you that was just the last bit of all his running? This dude ran 150 miles in 2 days before the final run that killed him. Here we are clowning him for dying and we picked the shortest distance he ran to use as the marathon. 

The 1st Olympic marathon for women did not take place until the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, 88 years after the 1st men’s Olympic marathon. This was due to the thought that women were too fragile. Hang this thought in the Museum of Male Arrogance. Imagine spending centuries watching women push other humans out of their vaginas without pain medicine and saying, “We must protect them from doing things that are too physically taxing. No running for you, doll!” Fast forward to today, where Sifan Hassan will be running in this one after already earning medals in the 5000m and 10000m.

Women's Modern Pentathlon Final Laser Run at 6:40 a.m. ET on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com

Why you should watch: The words “laser run” caught my attention. After looking into it further, they need to change the name from “pentathlon” to something that lets us know how insane this event is. Competitors participate in fencing, freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, cross-country running, and, yes, laser pistol shooting. The laser run, I shit you not, does exactly as the name suggests and combines the running and the shooting. They need a whole new marketing department because WHAT?!? This is my kinda chaos. Let’s keep adding events to it. Go nuts. Get Aussie break dance lady in here.

Women's Volleyball: United States vs. Italy Gold Medal Match at 7 a.m. ET on NBC, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com

Why you should watch: The US women are looking to defend their Olympic gold medal while also giving us one giant collective heart attack. They survived a five-set thriller against Brazil in the semifinals and now have the pleasure of taking on an Italian team that has looked the strongest all tournament. How strong? They have not lost a set since their opening match when the Dominican Republic stole one 26-24. Italy is playing with house money as they have already clinched their first-ever medal in women’s volleyball.

Men's Handball: Denmark vs. Germany Gold Medal Match at 7:30 a.m. ET on USA Network, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com

Why you should watch: Only watching because the women’s gold medal match got me fired up. I might mess around and play in 2028.

Women's Basketball: United States vs. France Gold Medal Game at 9:30 a.m. ET on NBC, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com

Why you should watch: Incredibly cool that both basketball gold medal games feature the same two teams. Safe to say France will have the homecourt advantage. That crowd helped them grit out a tough semifinal game against Belgium. Unfortunately, there’s not enough cheering in the world to overcome Team USA. That’s not to say the US women have looked perfect. In fact, they have spent a great deal of time looking like the shaky team that lost to the WNBA All-Stars before heading to Paris. 

But A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart are the two best players in the world. If there was even a shred of doubt, 4th-place voter, these Olympics have obliterated it. I spent a fair amount of time trying to come up with a game plan that could slow both of them down, and it’s only possible if France is allowed to use players from teams who have been eliminated. And even then I wouldn’t bet on it. With those two on the same team, I just don’t see how Team USA doesn’t come away with their 8th straight gold medal.

Happy watching and STAY TUNED!