All the best shots from the Sentry Tournament of Champions | 2022

Grizzlies Replace Knicks;Air Force Earns Bowl

A spate of late games delayed publication tonight.At FedEx Forum in Memphis,the Memphis Grizzlies knocked the New York Knicks out of top position in the NBA and seized it for themselves with their 105-95 victory.Down by 21 points in the fourth period,the Knicks reduced that gulf to eight points,but couldn't close the deal.Shooting was lackluster by the Knicks,who had come into the game with a 6-0 record.
Leading the Knicks was Raymond Felton with his 18 points and 3 rebounds;Zack Randolph notched 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Grizzlies.At 7-1,the Grizzlies have a 4-0 record at home.The Knicks continue to top their Atlantic Division,with the Brooklyn Nets being second at 4-2.
In college football,Air Force dominated Hawaii 21-7 at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs,earning bowl eligibility for a school record 6th straight season.The Falcons scored all their points on the ground;indeed,they didn't throw one pass the entire game.Cody Goetz ran for one touchdown,while Wes Cobb added two more.
Goetz says he is mocked for his diminutive stature by opponents,but they shut up when he runs the football into the end zone.He is able to hurtle over them.
Air Force held Hawaii to zero first down conversions in the second half.They are expected to play in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl on December 29 in Fort Worth,Texas.

The Sun and Venus From Mauna Loa

Many of us watched the Venus transit on a live feed from the NOAA observatory at 11,000 feet on Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano.Light winds pushing the telescopes caused the images to shimmer.Venus was a big black dot much larger than the sunspots also visible on the sun's surface.Sunspots are magnetic storms a few hundred degrees cooler than the surface of the sun,hence darker in appearance.They have a black umbra,or center,and a gray penumbra,or border.Giant convection cells of heat rise from beneath the solar disc;they are from hydrogen bubbling up from below the surface,causing lighter and hotter regions on the sun.We are near a solar maximum,when there are a lot of sunspots and other activity on the sun.It is the peak of a solar cycle.This was the longest period of time-45 minutes just before sunset-that I have ever observed the sun.It's so liquid and alive:an aspect of the sun we aren't normally aware of.The astronomer Galileo first discovered this;but,in his ignorance of the danger,paid with his priceless eyesight,his retinas damaged by the intensity of the solar rays.Now Venus moved along the sun's rim;but the sun itself,looking blue,red and yellow in the telescopes' filters,had become my fascination.