The Olympics may be over, but the sports world is heating up for you

If nothing else, the Olympics in Rio was a nice way to kill a couple of weeks before the start of the football season. Don’t forget, there will be a college football game played this week with Cal and Hawaii kicking things off in Australia. Say what you will about the Olympics and the coverage of it and the concerns that were shared heading in, but the Olympics once again offered a good dose of the best the sports world has to offer in terms of talent, emotions and special moments that can be shared around the globe. I enjoyed them, and I hope you did as well. But now it’s back to business as usual with the baseball pennant races about to hit their home stretch, the NFL and college football kicking off and the Premier League fresh into a new season. Sports never hits the pause button for you.

Carmelo Anthony captures third Olympic gold

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He may not have been the star of this year’s team in the box score, but Carmelo Anthony was a team leader in every way possible.

Carmelo Anthony may not have an NBA championship to add to his bio, but he did become the first player to win three Olympic gold medals. That is nothing to simply skip over. Anthony’s third Olympic gold came in blowout fashion, with the United States cruising to a 30-point victory over Serbia in the gold medal game on the final day of the Olympics. After the game, Anthony was noticeably emotional about the journey, which started for him with the 2004 bronze medal winning team.

Some people like to suggest a  gold medal means more than winning an NBA trophy. That is really only a judgement and opinion that can be made by those who actually get to compete for either. Would Anthony trade in a gold medal or two for an NBA championship? Who knows, but we know for darn sure Anthony takes great pride in being a part of the United States basketball team, and it’s pretty cool to see a multi-millionaire basketball player get all emotional talking about representing the country.

Meanwhile, some of the NBA’s other big names not in Rio made sure to check in and offer their congrats to their friends from the NBA.

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.