Good morning and welcome to my weekend thoughts. Each Monday, I will share my thoughts on what's happening in and around SE Louisiana and give my opinions on some random topics that are on my mind. I'll also answer some questions that our readers send in so hit me up on anything from sports, music, food and more...

1. The Saints defeated the Cardinals in their first preseason game on Saturday night and what a night for the rookies, with Spenser Rattler, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Taliese Fuaga and Charlie Smyth all putting on impressive performances. Rattler got his 1st NFL touchdown not on a pass but by taking the ball in himself. What a way to start his NFL career. After a late scoring touchdown drive by Arizona, the game came down to a field goal off the leg of another rookie, Irish kicker Charlie Smyth. Smyth was cool as can be in what was his first kick in a football game, putting the Saints up 16-14 for the win.

2. American gymnast Jordan Chiles has been stripped of her bronze medal on floor due to a judge's error not once but twice. 1st, they miscalculated the degree of difficulty of her routine which resulted in her initial score being too low. Team USA filed an inquiry, and the judges corrected her score which moved her into 3rd place, thus winning the medal. The Romanian team later filed a formal appeal, saying that Team USA's inquiry had been submitted four seconds past the 60-second deadline (something the judges should have also noted) by which inquiries can be filed. The International Olympic Committee ruled on Sunday that Chiles has to return the medal.

The Romania Team did not request Chiles to be stripped of the medal instead asking that both her and their gymnast, Ana Barbosu, be awarded the bronze. Even worse, Chiles has been subjected to some hateful comments on her social media accounts over the controversy and announced her plans to take time away from social media.

Chiles wrote on Instagram, "I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you."

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said they are appealing the decision, but sadly, the damage has already been done. What should have a triumph in a young athlete's career will always be tainted by someone else's mistake.

3. Former LSU track star Sha'Carri Richardson finally got her gold.

Richardson was the anchor on the women's 4x100 relay and after a rough start for Team USA, she would not let them be denied. Richardson absolutely dominated the competition on the final leg of the race to help bring home the gold for the women's team.

Richardson will now leave Paris with 2 Olympic medals. She also earned a silver in the women's 100-meter dash early last week. If you know her story, it was an absolutely incredible to see all of Richardson's hard work and perseverance finally pay off.

4. The LSU Tigers are in their 2nd week of training camp and our very own Luke Hubbard and Jefferson Powell have their boots on the ground to get you all the details out of Baton Rouge. So, make sure you follow us online and subscribe to the site to get the all the latest news and info as we are now just under 3 weeks away from the season opener against USC in Las Vegas!

5. Did you know that today is National Middle Child Day? (Yes, it really a thing)

Middle Child Day was originally named Middle Children's Day and it was created to honor the middle child born to a woman named Elizabeth Walker in 1986.

In 1964. Dr. Alfred Adler developed the well-known Middle Child Syndrome Theory. His theory states that the birth order plays a significant role in personality development and that children have different personality traits according to the order they were born into a family.

Some characteristics include have creative strengths, being peacekeepers and excellent at solving conflicts (Often due to being in between their battling older and younger siblings)

So, to anyone who is a middle child, enjoy your special day!!

6. For all you Marvel junkies, D23 was this past weekend. The Disney fan event is always a fun one that features teasers and trailers of their upcoming projects. Two of the biggest announcements were about trailers for the upcoming series Daredevil: Born Again (premiering March 2025) and Agatha All Along, which will premiere next month.

Still waiting on the news of a Wanda/Scarlet Witch movie... Just saying, Marvel!

7. I will close out this week's Weekend Thoughts with the 2024 Olympics closing ceremony that featured performances by Snoop and Jay Z, Billie Ellish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, H.E.R and an appearance by Tom Cruise, who repelled down from the roof and took off through Paris with the Olympics flag on a motorcycle, He wound up at the Hollywood sign with the Olympic rings replacing some of the letters on the iconic sign. This was a signal of the "passing of the torch" to Los Angeles, who will host the 2028 Olympics.

While it was an entertaining and thrilling summer games in Paris, it was also one filled with its share of controversy from Day 1. For something been around for over 120 years and only takes place every 4 years, you would think that they could have things fully figured out by now??? Let's hope by 2028, LA can learn from the issues in Paris and there will be less drama here.

For those keeping score, the United States finished first overall in the medal count with 126 total: 40 Gold, 44 Silver and 42 Bronze. GO USA!!!

Au revoir Paris, it has been fun!

Stay up to date on all the LSU news with your premium subscription

Talk about this story and more in The Quad

Make sure you're caught up on all the latest LSU news

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video and live streaming coverage