The 2012 Olympics

I am not a big jock and I question the nationalist orientation of the Olympics in a global society. Those aside, I had the opportunity this weekend to watch quite a bit while patrolling a site with six huge TVs indoors and out running different channels. Here is what impressed me.

1. Female athletes of all kinds.
2. But, as silly as the game is, I have to admit that the men's water polo teams are aesthetically pleasing, at least. (The game was hard to follow... I do not see where the goalie has a ghost of a chance, or why the ball was placed and not there. US over Italy... but close... The USA eked out a 1-point lead and then attempted to run out the clock. Italy called a time out and it was funny seeing the USA coach being pissed off at an "unfair" response to his own cheap gamesmanship... but bodies like Greek gods...)
3. Croatia loses to the USA in women's basketball... but it was a close game. The announcer was making excuses for the USA team which finally outlasted the Croatians in the fourth quarter. The USA women are professionals, of course. The Croatians were basically, the five tallest women in Croatia. I was impressed.
4. Women's archery. Russia, Korea, China, Kazakhstan. I couldn't understand how they all were shooting low... then I saw the rain... and still the perfect center 10 from China. Wow!
5. Women's 2-man crew (is that skulling?). Greece took first place in the qualifying round. I wondered what the ancients would have said about that.
6. Sand volleyball. Not really a serious sport, but you gotta like trim women in bikinis. US over Argentina, but, again, I mean considering that we have these games at Applebee's and Holiday Inn to say nothing of actual beaches, you have to be amazed that any other nation can hold its own so well.
7. Women's fencing. Foils. No idea what was going on. I only knew from their expressions who got hit first. Speed of light play. Italy takes it.
8. Women's synchronized diving. Another silly sport, but to me, better than gynnastics to watch for the grace and power.
9. Women's Gynmastics qualifying. Unearthly. I have hard time believing that a human being can do these things. Simply amazing.

Post 1

Monday, July 30, 2012 - 9:54am

Women's beach volleyball.

+ Tivo in slomo.

= soft porn.

I'm sorry; I meant esthetically pleasing.

It is my one complaint this Olympics; too cold and they play outdoors.

I thought the cold was going to bring out some great match points, but it so cold they are wearing long sleeve tops.

Usually they are wearing red, white and blue floss.

regards,
Fred

Post 2

Monday, July 30, 2012 - 6:26pm

Historical Footnote:

The ancient Olympic games were usually played in the nude. Unless it was too cold. Just saying.

Mostly it was all men running and jumping about naked, but not exclusively. After all, it was a woman who won one of the early chariot driving events (yes, that's for real.) And, Wikipedia tells us that "[t]he first games began as an annual foot race of young women in competition for the position of the priestess for the goddess, Hera and a second race was instituted for a consort for the priestess who would participate in the religious traditions at the temple." I'll be honest and fess up... I'd have been a spectators lined up to watch those races.

This all goes back almost 800 years before Christ... Speaking of which, about 1,200 years later, the Christians had problems with the Olympics and shut them down for while. Well, after all, the games were considered to be in tribute to the Gods (plural... you know, like Zeus, and various "Olympian" gods, and not the Christian God). But it might have been that Christians don't like naked people (I have no idea of that being true then, I just know it seems to be true now.)

It all goes to show you that modern opening ceremonies could be much more interesting... you know, naked people giving playful homage to ancient Greek gods? Just a thought.

Post 3

Monday, July 30, 2012 - 8:42pm

Fred,

I thought the cold was going to bring out some great match points ...

"Match points", huh? Is that what they are calling them nowadays?

:-)

Ed

Post 4

Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - 6:32pm

Anyone watch opening ceremonies? The Brits did this huge pageant covering the history of the UK. This included the creation of the National Health Service, and they had a giant NHS logo out on the field, hospital beds etc...weird, and disturbing.

Heard some guy on the radio liken it to if we did a tribute to food stamps...which sadly is probably not too far out of the question these days.

Post 5

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - 8:08am

Ed:

re; "Match points", huh? Is that what they are calling them nowadays?

I'm not touching that with a ... well, I'm not touching that.

Unfortunately.

regards,
Fred

Post 6

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - 9:36am

Pete, we have a Banter thread here about NHS at the 2012 Olympics.

Post 7

Friday, August 10, 2012 - 6:53pm

Olympics Humor:

Sometimes, some things are best left unsaid:

Weightlifting commentator: "This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning during her warm up and it was amazing."
Dressage commentator: "This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother."
Boxing Analyst: "Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious."
Softball announcer: "If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again."
Basketball analyst: "He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn't like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces."
At the rowing medal ceremony: "Ah, isn't that nice, the wife of the IOC president is hugging the cox of the British crew."
Soccer commentator: "Julian Dicks is everywhere. It's like they've got eleven Dicks on the field."
Tennis commentator: "One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them . . . Oh my God, what have I just said?"

And finally, Obama calls Phelps:

"Congratulations Michael, but remember you didn't win all those medals, someone else did. After all, you swam in public pools, built by state employees using tax dollars. You got training from the USOC, and ate food grown by the Department of Agriculture. You should play fair and share your medals with the people who can barely keep their head above water, let alone swim."

Post 8

Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 4:19am

ahh, ye gotta love the English language, huh........;-)

Post 9

Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 9:00am

Bill,

You really crack me up!

Ed

Post 10

Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 9:19pm

The Olympics also spawned a new meme about a certain American gymnast being disappointed with her performance...

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mckayla-is-not-impressed

:)

Post 11

Monday, August 13, 2012 - 12:18pm

... and on a more serious note...

This was more Olympics than I watched in all my life. I had eight big flat screen TVs with enough channels to get two different NBC feeds. (She's going to win... see...) I was just amazed. It took me most of the games to get my head around a lot of it. I mean, the core events are martial arts, left over battlefield skills. But, as abstract skills, they test the limits of eyes and hards.

I really had to think about the floor gynmastics dances, water polo, beach volleyball, etc. On the surface they are silly. But watching them closely - sometimes repeatedly with different feeds - I really came to appreciate the physical achievements for what they were in their own contexts. That said, I was taken aback during the Russian floor gymnastics. All of the girls were teenagers. They knew nothing else their whole lives, working eight hours a day at this, winnowed down to those who would make the Olympic team. Then what?

During the Croatia-Italy gold medal match in men's water polo, one of the Croatian stars was "still playing at 39..." Then what? Selling insurance? I mean, that's what a lot of American athletes end up doing because they can bank on that Superbowl Ring.

I believe in a sound mind in a sound body. I think that the uncoordinated nerd and the dumb jock are stereotypes that we push children into and into which we push children.

At the end, I was disappointed that the "summaries" only focused on the number of medals won. Like US versus Espana for men's basketball, the US won, but Spain had nothing to be embarrassed about: they played a good hard game, considering that the US team had that lifetime headstart at shooting hoops.

Post 12

Monday, August 13, 2012 - 12:45pm