Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Olympics

I am caught up in the Olympics. At any other time, I would flip the channel away from men's gymnastics as fast as I could but during the Olympics I sit and watch marveling at what they do. The same goes for women's gymnastics, swimming and many of the other Olympic sports. I think it's the fact/allusion that the Olympics remain an event primarily for amateur athletes who train diligently in relative obscurity in the hopes of standing on a platform, wearing a medal and hearing our national anthem play. Michael Phelps will make a lot of money in endorsements when this over but he appears no happier than the USA gymnastic guys I saw last night throwing their bodies around in incredible feats of strength and power with smiles from ear to ear when they completed near perfect routines. Oh yeah, how about synchronized diving? Let's gather up a few of us and go do that to perfection a few times. Wow.

The opening ceremonies with the drummers is one of the neatest visual experiences I've ever seen. The Chinese may have horrible views on human rights but they have some good drummers and brilliant imagination. How about the guy running through the sky carrying the torch. Really cool stuff.

I'll be torn tonight. Texas is playing Boston with (slim) hopes of hanging around for the playoffs. I may have to find my old portable radio to listen to the game and watch the Olympics.
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It's 72 degrees this morning and the ground is wet. I wish there was a way to bottle this morning and open it up every day from now through mid-September.
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What's your favorite summer Olympic sport? I suppose my favorite is still basketball but I will spend more time watching individual sports like swimming and gymnastics.

1 comment:

Rick Ross said...

I prefer the sports with a clear result. The judged sports frustrate me because I don't know what to look for. One guy sticks in his dismount, and the commentators criticize something. Another stumbles and they say, "That was a spectacular performance!" Give me the first guy to the finish line / most points when the clock runs out kind of stuff.

I like swimming, basketball and track.