In a scouting booth high above the court, his fingers flying across the keyboard a mile a minute, Joe Trinsey punches in every touch of every point in an Olympic women's volleyball match between Argentina and South Korea.

Before the night's first serve, the Americans' technical coordinator skips down a few stairs and adjusts a tiny camera that gives him the match feed on his laptop. He slaps hands with China's technical chief, Lingxi Yuan.

Trinsey can rewind the match as needed. It's not.

"Just on the very slight possibility I miss anything -- very slight," he said with a smile between points.

Nobody considers challenging this gum-chomping, knuckle-cracking number genius to a type-off.

"It's like Moneyball," setter Courtney Thompson said of the baseball book based on the Oakland Athletics' analytics-focused approach. "When Joe tells us we're going to get three, five, seven extra points a match off of this, it's so motivating to us because he's so smart. When Joe says something, we all listen."

The American women, who were chasing their first Olympic gold before Thursday's five-set semifinal defeat to Serbia, will play for bronze today against the Netherlands. Coach Karch Kiraly has embraced volleyball analytics the way baseball has turned to sabermetric measurements to evaluate players.

"Joe is the man -- 10 steps ahead of the rest of the world," assistant coach Tom Black said.

"Library of Congress" is how U.S. consultant Marv Dunphy, the 1988 gold-medal winning coach, refers to Trinsey.

Serious snack

As the Olympic whirlwind sweeps through Rio and brings with it disapproval of everything from shoddy construction to water pollution, residents are drawing a line in the sand. Nobody better attack their favorite snack.

They are called biscoito globo, and they're more than just a snack in Rio. They are a symbol of local pride.

The starchy, puffy treats made with coconut oil, milk, water, and a pinch of salt and sugar are manufactured locally and sold in paper bags by street vendors along the coast and in stores throughout Rio de Janeiro. Babies munch on them from their strollers as if they were cereal. Beach-goers nosh on them while tanning.

When a New York Times story described the crunchy rings as "flavorless" and "air turned into a doughnut-shaped wafer," locals got up in arms, taking to social media to criticize America's fast-food culture. Brazilians began sharing photos of the puffed rings. A popular one showed bags on the sand, next to a drink or sunglasses.

TV reporters sought out Olympic tourists who ate globo rings and were willing to say so on camera. Newspaper columnists jokingly likened the outrage to a diplomatic quarrel. On Facebook, Brazilian columnist Mentor Neto tried to explain the secret to the rings.

"It's not something for beginners," he said. "Brazil is not for beginners. It must be felt on the palate and throat and not the taste buds ... it should be felt in the soul. If we were a serious country, we would interrupt the Olympics today. We would cross our arms and return to work only after Obama apologizes."

QUIZ

How many gold medals has Karch Kiraly won?

ANSWER

Three. He's won two in team volleyball and one in beach volleyball, the only person to win at least one in each sport.

Sports on 08/20/2016