season.This past summer there, she did something all too

After 40 years helping some of the greatest gymnasts of all time soar to Olympic gold -- from Nadia Comaneci to Mary Lou Retton to Nastia Liukin -- Martha Karolyi is ready to say goodbye. The U.S. womens national team coordinator is retiring after the 2016 Games.The five-woman group Karolyi is bringing to Rio de Janeiro -- Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez -- has the perfect going away present in mind: Gold. Lots and lots of gold. Maybe all six available, something thats never been done by one country in a single Olympiad.Its a testament to the empire Karolyi has built since taking over the program in 2001 that its not merely just hype but entirely plausible, a luxury afforded when you have the three-time reigning world champion (Biles), the defending Olympic champion (Douglas), a three-time Olympic medalist (Raisman) and the reigning uneven bars world champion (Kocian) on the roster.The gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world has grown since the Fierce Five rolled to the team gold four years ago. The chance of anyone overcoming it is akin to the odds of Michael Jordan and the original Dream Team falling in Barcelona in 1992. No one came close back then. If the Americans do what theyve done at every major international event since 2011, Karolyis final meet will be more of an extended victory lap.Some things to watch for as the rest of the world looks for a pony-tailed version of The Miracle On Ice in search of an upset:THE SIMONE SHOWThe 19-year-old Biles has spent the last three years pushing the boundaries of her sport while putting together a winning streak that is three years and counting, with no apparent end in sight. Shes won 14 world championship medals (10 of them gold) since 2013 and is poised to become the fourth straight American to win the Olympic all-around gold. The Spring, Texas, native is a mix of athleticism and daring. Her Amanar vault is the closest gymnastics gets to perfection these days, and theres a real chance she could win up to five medals on her own: team, all-around, vault, floor exercise and balance beam.ENCORE PART 1Douglas is attempting to become the first reigning all-around champion to repeat in nearly 50 years. While topping Biles seems unlikely, the 20-year-old Douglas could follow in the footsteps of Comaneci, who won the all-around in Montreal in 1976 and earned silver in Moscow in 1980. Douglas path back to the Olympics has been bumpy of late. Though she was runner-up to Biles at the 2015 world championships and captured the American Cup in March, she struggled at times during the selection process and parted with coach Kittia Carpenter in early July.ENCORE PART 2Raisman was the oldest member of the Fierce Five in London while winning three medals, including gold on floor exercise. The 22-year-old (nicknamed Grandma by some of her younger teammates) heads to Rio as arguably the best gymnast on the planet not named Biles. Raisman was second to Biles at both the U.S. championships and the Olympic Trials. She credited longtime coach Mihai Brestyan and her commitment to doing 8 million routines as the key to her resurgence at a time when some American stars are well into retirement.MISSING IN ACTIONRomania, which has finished on the podium in every Olympics since 1976, failed to qualify for the team competition after struggling at the 2015 world championships last fall and slumping at the end of the Rio Test Event in April. An injury to star Larisa Lordache didnt help. The Romanians will be represented by just one gymnast, 28-year-old Catalina Ponor, who will be making her fourth Olympic appearance and serve as her countrys flag bearer during opening ceremonies.THE BRITISH ARE COMINGWhile longtime powers like Romania and Russia have slipped in recent years, Great Britains program has been on the rise. The Brits finished third in the team competition at worlds last fall, the first ever team medal at the world championships in the programs history. The core of that group: sisters Becky and Ellie Downie, Claudia Fragapane, Amy Tinkler and Ruby Harrold, will try to take an even greater step in Rio.7th HEAVENOksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan competed in her first Olympics before most of the women she will be competing against in Brazil were born. The 41-year-old will be the oldest female gymnast in Olympic history when she appears in her seventh games. Her best chance to medal will come on vault, an event she won silver on in Beijing eight years ago.Its a pity there are no points for age, Chusovitina said.BABY SHAKIRAThe 16-year-old Hernandez is the youngest member of Team USA, yet shes hardly intimidated by the stage. Her charismatic performance on floor exercise -- where she struts to the music with the attitude of a supermodel on the runway -- earned her the nickname Baby Shakira as a junior. Hernandez calls her gymnastics sassy, though she combines with a skill level that few can match. Under Armour Trainers Black . -- Aaron Murray threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score, and led No. Clutchfit Drive 2 Blue . Varlamov made 33 saves and Ryan OReilly had a goal and scored in the shootout as the Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Thursday night. http://www.curryshoesuk.biz/under-armour-uk-store/ua-clutchfit-drive-2.html . -- Aaron Murray threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score, and led No. Stephen Curry Shoes Uk . Varlamov made 33 saves and Ryan OReilly had a goal and scored in the shootout as the Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Thursday night. Ua Phenom Proto Trainer . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans. Maryhelen Zabas walked into her local Applebees on a mission. Since she doesnt have cable, she needed a place to watch Game 2 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 15 and figured there would be at least one TV in the bar area tuned to the game.But on a fall Saturday, it was college football as far as the eye could see, so Zabas politely asked a bartender if one of the stations could be turned to the baseball game. Upon noticing the Cleveland Indians T-shirt Zabas was wearing, the bartender readily complied. She herself was a Cubs fan and was hoping her team would face the Indians in the World Series.Zabas found a table with prime sight line of the game and, for the next several hours, she ate wings and watched as the Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1, to take a 2-0 lead in the series. (They would eventually win the series in five.)After the final out, Zabas paid her tab and started for the parking lot. As she stepped outside, she felt the crispness of a fall day in Bend, Oregon, hit her face and breathed in the fresh Northwest air.She was more than 2,000 miles from Cleveland, yet, in this moment, her heart was filled with hometown pride.For most of her life, Zabas was known as Sister Mary Assumpta and had a presence in Cleveland as tall as the citys iconic Terminal Tower. She became a Catholic nun at the age of 17 and was a longtime member of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit -- an order that ministers to the elderly at the Jennings Center for Older Adults, which serves as a retirement community and nursing home in a Cleveland suburb.Sister Mary Assumpta had a claim to fame in Cleveland as one of the most diehard Indians fans in town.She and her fellow sisters were fixtures at ball games at the old Cleveland Stadium, where it was hard to miss a group of nuns dressed in full habit eating hot dogs, yelling at umps and cheering on the Tribe with fervor.At the end of the games, if we lost, people who had a little too much alcohol would say, Oh, Sister, you didnt pray hard enough, and wed turn around and say, Prayer isnt just our job, Zabas said.It seemed no amount of prayer could help the Indians during their 1985 season when the team lost 102 games, so the nuns figured chocolate chip cookies might at least lift the players spirits. After the All-Star break that year, they began taking a batch to the team at the beginning of every homestand.It was just to let them know that somebody cared, Zabas said with a laugh.Over time, it became tradition for the Sisters of the Holy Spirit to bake a special batch of chocolate chip cookies for the Indians home opener each year.Strikeouts were baked in the cookies for the pitchers and home runs into the cookies for the hitters, explained Zabas.But sometimes they got them mixed up and would eat the wrong ones, she joked.Sister Mary Assumptas celebrity grew when she had a cameo in the movie Major League wearing her habit and an Indians jacket. She got her own Upper Deck baseball card, a write-up in People magazine and served as a special World Series correspondent for a local Cleveland TV station and CBS This Morning in 1995.But as much as she was recognized for her devotion to the Indians, it was only a small partt of Sister Mary Assumptas life.dddddddddddd After beginning her career as a high school English teacher, she transitioned into healthcare administration and became an expert in end-of-life care, traveling the country giving programs and lectures on the subject. She also was the backbone of her small group of sisters and worked tirelessly to keep the order thriving. However, her unending service to others and penchant for self-described overextension eventually took its toll.My soul was burning out, she said.So after nearly 50 years as a Catholic nun, she decided to leave her religious order and took a job with the Sacred Art of Living ministry in Oregon, which works with caregivers and the dying.In the summer of 2013, Zabas set off for her new life in the first car she ever owned -- a Chevrolet Sonic. Prior to that, she always shared a vehicle with one with the other sisters. She was no longer wearing a habit and had taken the name Maryhelen, comprised of her given name Helen and decided to add Mary to it.Along the way from Ohio to Oregon, Zabas made stops at national monuments and other attractions, including the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota. It was there that she met a member of the Cherokee tribe, who bestowed upon her an American Indian name: She Who Laughs at the Unknown.It was fitting as Zabas life has been guided by a certain fearlessness. Whenever she gets a bold idea, one way or another, shell find a way to make it happen -- especially if it involves helping someone in need. For instance, there was the time she turned the sisters cookie baking into a business, Nun Better, to support the endowment of the Jennings Center for Older Adults.To this day, at the age of 71, she still lives life at a vigorous clip. In fact, prayer and baseball might be the only two things in Zabas life that force her to slow down.Theres nothing fast about a ball game. With no game clock or time limit, theres only the ebb and flow of balls and strikes. Its essentially a chess match, and the drama is in the details, which Zabas loves.I learned [the game] from my mother, she said. Ive learned the nuances and know that its a game of strategy that a lot of people dont understand.One of the difficult parts about being so far from Cleveland is no longer being able to watch the Indians regularly on TV or go to games at Progressive Field, Zabas admitted.I just long to see a baseball game, she said.She gets her baseball fix by attending an occasional Bend Elks game, the amateur baseball team in town, and always makes room in her schedule for the Indians when she visits Cleveland during the season.This past summer there, she did something all too familiar. She whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and delivered them to the Indians.Perhaps the hitters and pitchers finally got the right cookies this season with the team only one game away from its first World Series title since 1948.Whatever the outcome, Zabas will always keep her faith in the Indians even if she has to do it from afar.I will not switch my fandom no matter where I live, she said. 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