Olympic Notes: Part Two

Olympic Notes: Part Two

I like how the USOC is bitching about the empty arenas, while having the audacity to charge an arm and a leg for tickets. That takes a special kind of balls.

Japan's mens gymnastics team really put an exclamation point on that gold. Hey at least it wasn't the Romanians. Just kidding. A few of those Romanian guys were kinda hot. The rings apparatus is the craziest one. My arms hurt just watching it.

During one of the swimming heats Geo pointed out some Japanese swimmer chic and said "Hey that guy played for their volleyball team." Not right. But funny as hell.

Rowing is such a beautiful sport to watch, especially the coxless four. I think it's because you know it takes a whole lot of strength, discipline and rhythm, and that is enhanced by the contrast of how seamlessly the boat seems to move through the water. Sorry there was no easy way to say that. Let me just use a cliche then, it's like poetry in motion.

I'm disappointed that Athens is supposedly "unattractive." I didn't think the pics were so bad. I've always wanted to visit there. I thought it was going to be beautiful and I love meandering around ancient ruins. That's why when my family went to Europe, one of my favorite places was Rome. It's was cool because you'd walk down the street and pass some modern glass structure, then on the next block would be some ancient building. They don't have stuff like that here in the U.S. We're boring that way. I still want to see it though. I've been Paris, London, Venice, Rome, Tuscany, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and some other places I can't remember now and I still want to see Greece, Madrid and Prague. I want to wait until the girls are older though, before I start dragging them all over the place. It'll be fun too because Geo has never been to Europe.

You know what I like the most when watching the Americans in the Olympics? How the person you're cheering for could be black or white or Asian or Spanish, U.S.-born or an immigrant. And the names on the back of their jerseys often match the teams they're playing against. I think that's awesome.

Maybe there *is* something to this whole knowing-beforehand-who-won thing. At least it removes the nervousness. I wasn't tense at all last night, watching the men on the high bar. I already knew who was going to fall and who wasn't. Too bad they don't do that for figure skating. Figure skating is really freaky to watch. I hate watching skaters take a fall. It's like one second they're gracefully gliding over the ice and the next they're getting ice burns on their ass.

I'm kind of bummed that Roger Federer is out. He would have made the Round of 16 more interesting and I thought he'd make it to the final. If it was a choice between him and Roddick though, of course I'm pulling for my boy. The road to the gold is clearer now.

So Allen Iverson broke his thumb. Does that mean if it hurts too much they'll have to rely on Stephon "The Point Guard Who Doesn't Pass" Marbury to lead them to victory. Snicker. They should just go home then. Save us the trauma of having to watch them get killed by some former member of the Soviet Union, whose total population would fit inside Continental Airlines Arena.

The supposed reasons for our dismal performances:

1. "The world is catching up on skills." Um no. Sorry, I disagree with this one. The world is getting better yes, and there are some international superstars. But their getting better doesn't mean "catching up." Catching up implies that they could create a league as good as the NBA in all their individual countries. This is not so.
2. "They're having difficulty with the international style of play." Yes, this is a good one. That international style of play thing is called "teamwork" and yes, we are having difficulty with such a foreign concept. "What is this zone thing you speak of." And yes, the play is more rough and they're not getting the calls they want but suck it up!!! You're men. Throw an elbow right back for God's sake.
3. "They had a lack of practice time." WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH. "Booo-hooooooooo!!! I'm too skinny, my bank acount is too big and too many hoes wanna bang me."
4. "The NBA title more important." Yes, this was a problem during the creation of the team. But I doubt the reason Team USA is playing so poorly is due to that NOW. They have a lot of pride these guys. They're already there. In Athens. On the world stage. At THE OLYMPICS. Their predecessors laid down some large footsteps to follow. They don't want to be humiliated this way. They need to walk off the pressure, walk off the bullshit and walk off the egos and PLAY the way they can.

This has nothing to do with the Olympics but I just had to comment on it. Air France is going to have to shell out major duckets to this (limbless) woman one of their ticket agents allegedly referred to as just "a torso." Specifically, "a head, one bottom and a torso cannot possibly fly on its own." Nice. It takes especially large cajones to stand in front of a person with no arms and no legs but a working brain, and tell them they're a thing versus a human. Kwame got really mad when he read this, because his dream girl has a small hand.