their next five and owned only two points after their first 10 g

RIO DE JANEIRO -- There were smiles and hugs all around, even a celebratory chant. Winning gold felt good -- awfully good -- even if everyone in the arena knew this U.S. gymnastics team was simply too good to lose.This was the U.S. basketball team -- men or women -- crushing an opponent by 50 points. This was Michael Phelps lapping the field in the relay.It was just like another competition for us, said 19-year-old Madison Kocian. It didnt even feel like the Olympics.What might be the most superb collection of gymnasts ever put together -- led by Simone Biles, a teenager who may one day be crowned the greatest gymnast ever -- put on the show the sport had been waiting for Tuesday in a performance that was over almost by the time Laurie Hernandez finished the first vault.In a sport usually decided by the smallest of margins, the U.S. women obliterated the competition, finishing a whopping 8 points ahead of the silver medalist Russians. They did it by winning every discipline, finishing it off when Biles bounded to a finish in the floor exercise that by then had been rendered meaningless.Two of the members of the self-titled Final Five won gold medals for their second Olympics in a row. The three others pocketed their first, though there should be others to come before everything is wrapped up a week from now in Rio.They did it for themselves and they did it for their country. They did it for national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, who is retiring after her final Olympics and enjoys fierce loyalty from her charges.But they also did it for each other, for the long hours spent training and living together as they were molded into an Olympic team to behold.It is the hardest sport in the world and we make it so easy. At least thats what people tell us, Biles said. The pride we show on the floor is really genuine.This is a team so deep that Gabby Douglas -- the spectacular star in London four years ago -- was a mere role player, going out for only a turn on the uneven bars. She sat, legs crossed, just watching as her teammates warmed up for the final floor performance.Later she stood, fingering the gold medal she will add to the two she won in London.It never gets old, Douglas said. Its so refreshing. It doesnt feel different. It feels the same. Going out there and competing with these amazing girls and standing on that podium, it feels the same.Many on the team will now have to compete with each other as medals will be awarded in the individual events and the all around. Led by Biles -- who has a legitimate shot at making Olympic history with five gymnastic golds -- they could win them all.Theyre all part of a team so good it had to have a name. The Final Five is a tribute to both Karolyi in her last Olympics and the fact that in Tokyo four years from now the teams will be limited to one less member.For Biles, the Olympic debut couldnt have gone any better. The 19-year-old is a three-time world champion and so dominant that she is a prohibitive favorite in her remaining four events, but still had to deal with the realization this is the worlds biggest stage.I slept OK, I had some weird dreams, she said. The moment we all woke up we were so happy and so excited. Weve trained so hard for this. We expected to hit all our routines and be very confident because we did it in practice.Cool under pressure, they delivered what everyone expected and they delivered it in style. Thanks to NBCs heavy coverage of their sport, they were introduced in prime time to America and America has to like what it sees.There might be some tears later, maybe after everyone is done. For now, though, these are terrific athletes in search of more than just a team gold.That doesnt mean they arent happy, even if they find it a bit difficult to describe just how happy they are.I havent found the word yet, Biles said. I need a dictionary.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg Pittsburgh Pirates Store . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. Pirates Jerseys 2019 . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/ . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Stitched Pirates Jerseys . Burke is expected to miss two to three months after breaking a finger in the teams third preseason game. Tinsley, a 10-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Utah, where the point guard averaged 3. Pirates Jerseys 2020 . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Different coach, same start.When the Anaheim Ducks began last season under coach Bruce Boudreau, they lost their first four games and gained only one point from an overtime defeat before earning their first win. Under Randy Carlyle, who guided the Ducks to the 2007 Stanley Cup and replaced Boudreau in June, the squad achieved the same results after five games.Carlyle and the Ducks hope to reverse that trend Sunday night in the teams home opener against the Vancouver Canucks at the Honda Center.The Canucks began the season with four consecutive victories for the first time since 1992 before losing Saturday night to the Los Angeles Kings in a shootout, 4-3. Only the Canucks and the Montreal Canadiens have yet to lose in regulation this season.Its a lot of fun to play hockey right now, Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom said. Were really buying into what we say were going to do, and it gets results.Vancouver achieved its success without placing one player among the NHLs top 20 in goals, assists, points or plus-minus rating. Nor did the Canucks rely on goalie Ryan Miller for four of the first five games. Miller, the former Vezina Trophy winner who played in the past two Winter Olympics for the United States, missed the last four games with unspecified tightness in his core muscles.But Miller will make his second start of the season Sunday night. The 36-year-old began his 15th season Oct. 15 with 25 saves in win against the Calgary Flames.Anaheim, meanwhile, seeks to avoid the kind of phenomenon that occcurred after last years 1-3-1 start.dddddddddddd Following a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild to end that four-game losing streak, the Ducks lost their next five and owned only two points after their first 10 games.Undisciplined play, disorganization on offense and the lack of forechecking defined Anaheims poor start this year. But the Ducks overcame all three problems in Thursday nights 3-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers. Despite taking eight penalties, Anaheim kept the Flyers from scoring on all but one of their seven power plays. Last year, the Ducks led the NHL by defusing 87.2 percent of opponents power plays.You got almost the same group in here thats killing penalties, guys that work hard and are hard on the puck, Anaheim winger Ryan Garbutt told the Orange County Register after scoring the winning goal Thrusday night. I think confidence carries over. I think our penalty kill is going to be a strength of ours for the season.Off the ice, the Ducks and defenseman Hampus Lindholm remain at an impasse in contract negotiations. Lindholm, a restricted free agent, seeks a contract between $5.5 and $5.8 million per season while Anaheim is offering between $5.1 and $5.4 million per year, report various sources.The Ducks have only $323,335 in room under the salary cap after signing forward Rickard Rakell, another restricted free agent, to a six-year contract extension Oct. 14. ' ' '