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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Even if only for two weeks, can Faster-Higher-Stronger overpower deadlier, scarier and bloodier? Can the Olympic Games still offer the world momentary levity, distract from terror, shootings, poverty and other worries in globally grim times? If not, what use is the multibillion-dollar celebration of youthful endeavor and mostly niche sports?Through no fault of their own, the athletes who will march in massed, joyful ranks behind their nations flags in Friday nights opening ceremony for the first Olympic Games in South America shoulder expectations beyond their own ambitions for gold, silver, bronze and personal bests.No Olympics in recent memory has opened under so many dark clouds, both within recession-battered Brazil and beyond. Headliners Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps are back for more medals. But no feat of theirs, or the other 10,500 Olympians, between the first medal awards on Saturday and the Aug. 21 closing ceremony will paste over recent horrors of 84 people murdered with a truck in Nice or the shooting massacre of 49 people in a Florida nightclub. Sports are, and always will be, trivial compared to such atrocities that have come depressingly thick and fast of late.The Olympics may help me take my mind off things, said Parisian lawyer Remy Durand, reflecting over lunch Thursday on the Champs-Elysees. But its not going to change my overall mood lastingly, after the attacks in recent weeks and months in France.Yet Olympic organizers cant be faulted for trying, with their Together we can change the world slogan and OlympicPeace hashtag. Cold War boycotts aside, the games remain a symbol of global togetherness, even if an increasingly commercialized one. By putting religion and politics aside, the Olympics still can remind the worlds people of their shared humanity, not their divisions.Picture Berlin in 1936, when white German long jumper Luz Long bonded with black American Jesse Owens when Adolf Hitler wanted to peddle racial supremacy. Or Sydney in 2000, when athletes from North and South Korea walked together behind one flag in the opening ceremony, momentarily putting aside more than half a century of enmity. Or Barcelona in 1992, when white South African Elana Meyer ran over to plant a kiss on Ethiopias Derartu Tulu. Meyer had won silver to Tulus gold in the 10,000 meters to become her countrys first post-apartheid individual medalist.On Friday, at the opening gala of these Olympics at Rios Maracana Stadium, 10 refugee athletes will march as one team behind the white Olympic flag -- a reminder to the world that they arent solely defined by their lack of a place to call home. While not as grand as opening ceremonies past, Rio still expects to wow.The Athens ceremony was classic, and Beijing was grand, was musical. London was quite smart. Were going to be cool, said creative director Fernando Meirelles.Still, the games have their naysayers. Doping scandals -- from sprinter Ben Johnson losing his 1988 Olympic gold medal over steroids to Russias recent state-organized subversion of anti-doping efforts -- have stained all Olympians and heightened cynicism of their feats and worth.On behalf of all of this summers competitors, a Brazilian athlete will pledge at the opening ceremony that they will compete without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship. The same promise has been made at all games since 2000 but may ring false among fans, especially with Russias flag fluttering among the others; the International Olympic Committee rejected calls for a blanket ban on all Russian athletes. The IOC, as it has in the past, will store some 4,500 drug-test samples to be taken during these games, so they can be thawed out and retested in years to come.Then theres the expense of the games. Big spending and the waste of unused venues in ex-host cities have forced Olympic organizers onto the defensive and left them with a shrinking pool of taxpayers willing to foot the bills. The $10 billion to $12 billion spent on Rios games should have gone to better causes in a city rife with poverty, critics say.After Rio, the Olympics rumble to Tokyo in 2020, leaving Rio de Janeiros 6.5 million people -- the racially mixed, socially divided Cariocas -- with the same concerns the world was largely oblivious to before the Olympic echo chamber turned the Zika virus and favelas into household words.Few outside Brazil cared about untreated sewage and teeming viruses in Rios picture-postcard Guanabara Bay before its polluted waters were chosen for Olympic swimming and sailing. Rios alarming murder rate and turf wars between drug lords and police werent so high on the globes agenda before athletes and hundreds of thousands of Olympic visitors discovered that the prospect of being in harms way has long been the darker flipside of Brazilian Samba, carnival and caipirinha cocktails.Despite the problems, Olympic ideals arent dead. Pope Francis told pilgrims on Wednesday at his weekly audience at the Vatican that in a world thirsty for peace, tolerance and reconciliation, he hopes the games can inspire everyone to pursue a prize that is not a medal but something more precious -- achieving a civilization in which solidarity reigns, founded on the recognition that we are all members of one human family.The U.S. womens basketball coach, Geno Auriemma, called the Olympics a two-week haven where people can get away from it all.Every time you get here, get settled in, nothing seems to matter to any country other than the competition -- as it should be, said Auriemma, now at his third games. These two weeks, the joy and spirit of competition seems to win out.And even on the streets of Rio, some Brazilians are beginning to embrace the moment and all that it means.Finally people are beginning to feel the Olympic spirit, said Ilene Pessoa, a college administrator who lives in Rios Copacabana neighborhood. The eyes of the world are on us.---Associated Press journalists Joshua Goodman, Doug Feinberg and Warren Levinson in Rio de Janeiro and Philippe Sotto in Paris contributed.Koen Casteels Jersey . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Dedryck Boyata Belgium Jersey . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. http://www.soccerbelgiumteamonline.com/Romelu-Lukaku-UEFA-European-Belgium-Jersey/ . LOUIS -- Rookie Tavon Austin has missed another day of practice, lessening the odds hell be ready for the St. Eden Hazard Jersey . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. Nacer Chadli Jersey . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night.Rob Nelson of ESPN Stats & Information revisits the worst bad beats from the weekends gambling action.?Closing lines are courtesy of Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, and pick percentages are via Wunderdog Sports.FridayStanford Cardinal at Washington HuskiesClosing line over/under:?46.5It wouldnt be a football weekend without at least one bad beat from a Pac-12 game. On Friday night, the spread was never in doubt, as Washington led from start to finish. But the problem for the 26 percent of bettors on the under was that the Huskies didnt slow down.After Stanford scored its first points late in the third quarter, Washington led 30-6. The Huskies proceeded to go on a nearly 10-minute drive, capped by a Jake Browning to Aaron Fuller touchdown pass with just over five minutes left (in Washingtons fourth time converting a third down on the drive).Trailing 37-6, Stanford got the ball back but went three-and-out and punted back to Washington. Five plays later, the Huskies faced a third down at Stanfords 25-yard line, and were a first down away from being able to run out the clock. Lavon Coleman got that first down and more, as he scored a touchdown with 1:38 left that pushed the total over.Final score: Washington 44, Stanford 6 (Game goes over)SaturdaySan Jose State Spartans at New Mexico LobosClosing line:?New Mexico -10.5New Mexico entered the fourth quarter with a 41-20 lead, and was covering the 10.5-point spread by a couple of scores. The majority appeared to be on the right side, as 75 percent of the action was on the Lobos.Early in the fourth, San Jose States Deontae Cooper scored two touchdowns in a three-minute span to cut the New Mexico lead to seven. With less than three minutes left, the Lobos stretched their lead to 14 when Richard McQuarley scored from six yards out.Those who bet New Mexico needed one more stop, but they wouldnt get it. San Jose State scored with 31 seconds left, and lost by just 7 points after outscoring the Lobos, 21-7, in the final quarter.Final score:?New Mexico 48, San Jose State 41 (San Jose State covers)Louisville Cardinals at Clemson TigersClosing over/under: 32 in 1st HalfNo college football game this weekend had more action on it than this top-5 showdown in Clemson. In what turned out to be a thrilling finish, bettors who took the first half under might have called it a night at halftime.After all the hype about Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson, these two teams played a scoreless first quarter. You wwere sitting pretty if you had under 32 in the first half.dddddddddddd After Louisvilles Jeremy Smith scored the games first touchdown early in the second quarter, and there wasnt another score until less than eight minutes left in the first half.But then the scores kept coming. Clemson scored 21 points in a four-minute span and led 21-7. Louisvilles Blanton Creque added a field goal, and the score was 21-10 with less than a minute left. With the first half under seconds away from winning, Clemson took 32 seconds to drive 73 yards in four plays, and scored its fourth touchdown in the final 7:48 of the half.Halftime score:?Clemson 28, Louisville 10 (Total goes over)SundayCleveland Browns at Washington RedskinsClosing line:?Redskins -7.5This marked the seventh time the Redskins were favored with Kirk Cousins as their starting quarterback. Before Sunday, Washington was 0-6 ATS in those games, having lost outright four times. This game looked to be following that same script, as the Browns led 20-17 entering the final quarter.Cleveland couldnt get out of its own way, however, and turned it over on three consecutive possessions after taking the lead. Washington took advantage, scoring 14 points off those turnovers.The Browns, who led with less than 11 minutes left and outgained the Redskins for the game, still ended up losing by double-digits. Cleveland is the only winless team left in the NFL this season.Final score:?Redskins 31, Browns 20 (Redskins cover)New Orleans Saints at San Diego ChargersClosing line: Chargers -4The Chargers had covered in six of their past seven games dating back to last season, and were minutes away from another ATS win.Leading 34-21 with possession and less than seven minutes to go, San Diego just needed to hold onto the ball -- but that turned out to be harder said than done. Melvin Gordon had the ball stripped and the Saints recovered. Four plays later, Drew Brees and Michael Thomas hooked up for a touchdown on fourth down, cutting the San Diego lead to 34-28. On the Chargers next offensive play, Travis Benjamin fumbled and New Orleans recovered it again. Seven plays later, John Kuhn punched it in, and Wil Lutzs extra point put the Saints up one. San Diego didnt gain a yard on its next drive, capping off its late-game collapse.Final score: Saints 35, Chargers 34 (Saints cover) ' ' '