The Olympics

I'll get one of the major things I find really annoying about the NBC coverage. Two words Ryan Seacrest. Wow could NBC have picked anyone worse. This from an article in the L.A. Times:

But even by the relatively low standards of the genre, none of his interviews have been great, highlighting not only his lack of sports knowledge but also the mystifyingly successful Seacrest brand of blandocity. Though inarguably one of the hardest workers in the industry, he is, on television anyway, a personality marked mostly by lack of personality, a greeter more than a host, a scrim more than a player.

I think that’s being very kind.

But now on to the good stuff.

I will have to say I always enjoyed watching the Olympics. Some great stories from the Olympics. Michael Phelps being one of the best. Two great stories Wednesday night well actually three: the American synchronized divers Kristian Ipsen and Troy Dumais getting a bronze, Nathan Adrian wining the 100 freestyle and his great reaction and Danell Leyva getting an all around bronze medal in gymnastics after a disastrous start.

This is what the Olympics is all about.

Kristian Ipsen and Troy Dumais

Nathan Adrian reacts to winning the gold

Nathan Adrian gets his medal

Danell Leyva

Olympic Ads

I'm sitting here watching the Olympics. I've started noticing some of the ads that are running.

Both McCain and Obama are running ads. You seem to see more ads for McCain than Obama. The McCain ads have improved a little from the most famous person on the planet attack on Obama. The McCain campaign ran a second most famous person in the world earlier in the week. But now they are running ads that actually talk about what McCain is for. They emphasize how McCain is the original maverick and that he is ready to lead.

I think it is very debatable that McCain is the original maverick since he seems to be selling out right and left well mostly right I guess.

Both candidates ads center on energy and how to make the country energy independent. It gives me a little confidence that this time around there might really be a serious discussion on our addiction to foreign oil.

Another one of the ads is from GM. It talks about how you can get good fuel economy from an SUV. It touts one of their cars as getting 24 mile per gallon on the highway. This is supposed to be good gas mileage? Who are they kidding. Makes you hope that some of the ideas on energy from McCain and Obama's ads are introduced as soon as possible.

Of course there are all the ads for the terrible programs that are going to be on NBC this fall. I try to ignore most of them.

It's hard to believe that in a week the Democratic convention starts.

What A RACE!!!!

So I thought the swimming relay would be the most exciting event of the games. But no!

How do you measure one hundredth of a second? I can't even imagine how to figure out how short of amount of time that is. It was such the right way for Michael Phelps to win his seventh gold medal. Here's the coverage from USA Today and the Post.

"I saw so many quotes saying it's impossible to duplicate it, it won't happen, and it just shows you that really anything can happen," Phelps said of tying the record.

Later on NBC's coverage they had both Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz on to. I have to say Spitz was incredibly generous. I think he was genuinely pleased that Phelps broke his record. It was just a fantastic interview. Here are a couple of quotes from Sptiz:

"I wondered what I was going to say at this monumental time when it would happen and who I would say it to, and, of course, I thought I was going to say it to you for some time now. The word comes to mind: epic. What you did tonight was epic.

"I never thought for one moment you were out of that race. You represent such an inspiration to youngsters around the world.''

My Trip to the Olympics

In 1996 I had the incredible pleasure of going to the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

One of my friends had relatives that lived there. We talked about going on and off for about a year and finally we decided to go. There was a lottery for tickets. You could pick out the events you wanted to go to and hopefully get tickets. One of the choices was a baseball game and the other was a water polo match. In fact the water polo match was the match to decide the medals. Needless to say we picked the water polo matches.

The results for the bronze medal Italy beat Hungary 20 to 18. It was up to that time the highest scoring game in Olympic history. For the gold medal game Spain beat Croatia 7 to 5. In one of the games, I don't remember which one, one of the coaches was ejected. He then tried to coach the team via cell phone. That didn't last very long.

We got to see the medal ceremony too. Oh yes and Juan Antonio Samaranch, head of the International Olympic Committee, handed out the medals.

One final quick note we went to the Olympics the day after the bombing. I'll add a few more reminiscences over the course of these games

What a Race

What an incredible race last night (I guess I should say Monday morning) in the men's swimming 4 x 100 relay. It brought me to the edge of my seat. It should what the Olympics is all about. And it was great that the Americans won. Here's a story about it from USA Today. This from the Post. Here's a great piece from Sally Jenkins in the Post.

Finally a few photos.

0808 Let the Games Begin

The start of the Olympics.

Usually I’d be really excited. I’d be all set to sit down for the next two weeks glued to my TV to watch as much of it as possible. I’d be going through sleep depravation to see all the event live. Staying up until midnight and maybe even beyond. I’d have the DVD recorder all set to record them. I’ve been recording the Olympics since 1984. First on Beta unfortunately not all of the tapes made it over to VHS. Now on DVD.

But this time around I have to say I’m not all that interested.

I’ll watch but not with a great deal of enthusiasm. The main reason is I think it is completely wrong that the International Olympic Committee awarded them to China. To me it is just a bad idea. You can start with the struggle over the air quality. To the relocation of people to build the venues. To, and this is the most important thing, the Chinese record on human rights. Tibet comes to mind. The support of Sudan. The totally ridiculous action of revoking Joey Cheek’s visa by the Chinese government because he is such a threat to China. The American team responded by naming Lopez Lomong, one of the Sudanese “Lost Boys” and a member of the anti-genocide group Team Darfur to be the American flag bearer.

The equally ridiculous contention by the Chinese government that the Olympics is no place for politics when that is exactly what the government is using it for. What they mean to say, but can’t, is that there is no place for politics in the Beijing games if the politics in any way shape or form criticizes China.

So will I watch? Yes I will because I really enjoy the Olympics. Because I had the great pleasure of attending the Olympics in Atlanta and it truly is a spectacle. But I have to say I won't be as enthusiastic this time around.