Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Three more stories from the world of sports in today's From Left Field.
1. Harper’s swing tears cover off ball
Roy Hobbs had a wallop so strong he tore the cover off the ball on an RBI extra-base hit in the “The Natural.” Sure that was fictional, but it has been the benchmark for strength in baseball.
On Thursday, Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper hit a foul ball off a pitch in seemingly normal fashion; however, that swing also tore the cover off a baseball.
Watch it here:
#HairFlip. Ball rip. pic.twitter.com/D24c8TNWQF — MLB (@MLB) June 9, 2017
> .[@Bharper3407](https://twitter.com/Bharper3407), just casually busting baseballs. [pic.twitter.com/CXu6rcrpix](https://t.co/CXu6rcrpix) > > — MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) [June 9, 2017](https://twitter.com/MLBGIFs/status/872972415432896512)
> C'mon, Bryce man ... only 2 or 3 guys in history ever busted the guts out of a baseball. [pic.twitter.com/SkkR9W4AJI](https://t.co/SkkR9W4AJI) > > — Washington Nationals (@Nationals) [June 9, 2017](https://twitter.com/Nationals/status/872969370372366336)
2\. McCain blames Diamondbacks for incoherent questions; team fires back perfect response ========================================================================================
The nation was abuzz Thursday as former FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate intelligence committee about his dealings with President Donald Trump and investigations regarding possible connections between Trump’s campaign and Russia before he was fired in May. We’ll stop the politics there.
However, many noticed that McCain had somewhat incoherent questions for Comey during the hearing. In fact, the incident even caused him to start trending on Twitter.
McCain, afterward, didn’t shy away from those questioning him and fired off a prepared statement Thursday afternoon to explain why he came across so incoherently.
His reason? He had stayed up late watching the Arizona Diamondbacks play San Diego the night before, which started at around 10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
“I get the sense from Twitter that my line of questioning today went over people’s heads. Maybe going forward I shouldn’t stay up late watching the Diamondbacks night games,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks responded quickly and perfectly without typing a single word.
¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/oJSCTxsmE8 — Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 8, 2017
At least it was worth staying up for because Arizona won the game, 7-4.
3. IOC adds 3-on-3 hoops, BMX freestyle to Olympics
It is expected that the 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris and the 2028 Olympics will be in Los Angeles. When it happens, there will be new competitions.
The International Olympic Committee announced Friday morning it is adding 3-on-3 basketball and BMX freestyle cycling beginning in 2020.
The committee also announced 285 athlete spots from the 2016 Games will be cut. The reduced numbers of athletes will be seen mostly in weightlifting, wrestling, sailing and shooting.
Other sports that were previously added include sports climbing, baseball and softball, surfing, skateboarding and karate.
