Wednesday, August 8, 2012

2012 Summer Olympics: August 8

Starting Thursday, I'll be using Twitter instead of posting here about the Olympics.

4:40 p.m. - SPOILER ALERT: NBC messed up.  May-Treanor and Walsh did not.

4:30 p.m. - No, I'm not mad at NBC at all.  My internet feed just jumped forward to catch up with itself and I missed four points.

4:25 p.m. - The online commentator literally just said something like: "The Americans returned it, but it was to middle court, giving the Americans all the time they needed to recover."  Maybe he's just being funny.  He probably thinks most Americans are just going to watch it delayed anyway.  I hope he just keeps referring to both teams as "the Americans" throughout the whole match.

4:20 p.m. - SPOILER ALERT: America will when the gold medal in Women's Beach Volleyball.  Take that, NBC.

4:15 p.m. - OK, so I haven't really done any complaining about NBC.  Enough has been said about it everywhere else on the internet.  But as far as I can tell, I can't watch the Women's Beach Volleyball live on TV.  This is ridiculous.  I can see replaying it in primetime.  That makes sense to me.  But to have basketball, cycling, boxing, wrestling, and whatever else is on right now instead of the two American teams battling for a gold medal is just stupid.

9:30 a.m. - Just to be clear... an Xbox marathon is not the same as a real marathon and is not an Olympic event.  Also, this "happier than Gallagher at a farmer's market" commercial ruled.  I think it was Geico?

9:15 a.m. - Looks like a long day of basketball is on the schedule, but I'm about to check out and do some non-computer stuff. Hopefully I'll catch Team USA when they're on.

8:55 a.m. - NBC Sports just showed a great piece on the 1996 USA Gymnasts who defeated Russia for the gold medal when Kerri Strug did her final vault after hurting her leg. I think it was Meredith Vieira doing the interviews and narrating.  If you can find it online or anything you should check it out.

7:45 a.m. - Handball overtime with Hungary and Iceland.  But more importantly... does Old Spice have an ad campaign that says "Believe in your SMELF"??  I'm trying to write and commercials are the best time to do that.  But it's hard to concentrate with such stupidity on the TV.  Believe in your Smelf is worse than the DVD kiosk, the military DVDs, and all the bad blogathon commercials combined.

7:20 a.m. - Handball is a pretty funny sport too.  If I had known about this growing up, I know my brothers and I would've been firing mini-basketballs at our sofa until like 2:00 in the morning.  My main problem with it is that it has a clock that counts up instead of down.  I don't like these up-counting clocks because I never know when it's about to end and when I should get excited.

I am not an Olympics expert. I am a fan of baseball, football and basketball. I like to watch other sports, even if I do not know what is going on, and the Olympics are fun to watch. If my thoughts upset you in any way, feel free to comment or ignore me.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

2012 Summer Olympics: August 7

5:00 p.m. - Comeback and upset complete.  Kessy and Ross advance.  The Brazilian girls might fist fight.  They looked pretty mad at each other.

4:30 p.m. - Took a break for grass-cutting and pizza.  Watched the USA Women's Volleyball team win, then caught the gold medal race in Women's Cycling Sprints.  Those two actually did come to a complete stop on the bikes.  I was so into it.  I need more cycling sprints.  Now it's Women's Beach Volleyball and Kessy/Ross are making a big comeback against Brazil, the top team.  And it's raining.

11:45 a.m. - USA just scored.  Why is overtime not sudden death?

11:40 a.m. - In a 9-8 game with one second left, I think USA just pulled a Chris Webber.  I guess we called a timeout without having possession.  Australia got a penalty throw and tied it 9-9.  Overtime.

10:55 a.m. - I was watching some horse stuff and didn't realize we had a USA/Australia Women's Water Polo gold medal game on NBC.  Water Polo beats horse stuff.   Also... the Saints have options at wide receiver.

10:15 a.m. - Since this basketball game is a 35-point blowout, can we just play our soccer team in the fourth quarter?

10:05 a.m. - I like the guy next to Canada's bench trying to get the boom mic as close to the coach as he can.  Sort of an event in itself.  "He hit her in the face that time.  He may fall out of medal contention after the penalty for face-hitting."

9:35 a.m. - You think we'll ever see H.O.R.S.E. in the Olympics?  That would be my favorite event.  I'd like it even more than that steeplechase thing I watched where the guys had to run through water puddles on what was basically an obstacle course for adults.

9:25 a.m. - Canada's hopes of avenging yesterday's soccer defeat by beating us in Women's Basketball have now diminished after this 23-8 start.

8:45 a.m. - FYI, I'm about to win a gold medal in coffee making.

8:25 a.m. - So the British guy won the gold medal in the triathlon.  But his little brother, who was running with him the whole way, had to take a 15-second penalty for not doing the bike transition thing correctly and ended up with the bronze.  Such a terrible blow to the sibling rivalry.  Could you see Thanksgiving (if they celebrated Thanksgiving)?  "I could've beaten you for the gold..." "Too bad you don't know how to park a bike." 

8:00 a.m. -  The cycling just got really cool, as they jumped off the bikes in their bare feet, put them on bike racks, put on new shoes and took off running.  Apparently I had just missed the swimming part.

7:40 a.m. - With these track heats, it's funny because you could set a world record in a qualifying run and then not even medal later.

7:30 a.m. - Outdoor cycling to start the day.  I like these outdoor races because I get to see London.

I am not an Olympics expert. I am a fan of baseball, football and basketball. I like to watch other sports, even if I do not know what is going on, and the Olympics are fun to watch. If my thoughts upset you in any way, feel free to comment or ignore me.

Monday, August 6, 2012

2012 Summer Olympics: August 6

8:45 p.m. - Got caught up in the awesome soccer finish.  Definitely ready for the gold match against Japan.  Then I watched the current Dream Team win another game and posted a fantasy football article.  Olympic coverage is kind of bare right now, but I think they're showing my cycling replays in the prime time slot. 

4:22 p.m. -  Hand ball on a free kick so we got a penalty kick.  Abby Wambach got a penalty kick and tied it 3-3.  She has five goals in five games.  This is like a 10-10 baseball game.

4:21 p.m. - I mean, I know I'm dumb and I don't watch much soccer.  But we're lining up for a free kick and the announcer says, "These are things you practice."  Good to know!

4:18 p.m. - Just witnessed my first soccer hat trick, courtesy of Canada's Christine Sinclair.  3-2, Canada.

4:15 p.m. - Canada kicked one in their own goal for a 2-1 lead, but then an American girl got another one to tie it at 2-2. This is actually a pretty fun game. And here's my Cubs article for today.

4:00 p.m. - USA just tied it 1-1. This assures that I'll get to see at least one more goal. It's OK that the USA goal was a side throw that actually hit like two Canada people and then rattled in. The announcers don't even know who to credit the goal to.

3:45 p.m. - OK, I can't really keep up with the 32 sports and 302 events that NBC is claiming to have coverage of. I need like a live bracket or schedule that says something like, "You are watching x. The team that wins will advance to x round." It needs to keep popping up like every 10 minutes. That way I can actually care. This US/Canada Women's Soccer broadcast at least announced at the beginning of the game that the winner is assured of a medal. But if I had missed that, I would be lost. I'm actually watching hours of this stuff every day. I couldn't imagine someone tuning in for 30 minutes here and there and having much of a clue about what they are watching.

2:15 p.m. - Watching cycling, but writing about LSU football.

1:30 p.m. - This women's sprint omnium elimination race is cool. The last one across the line is eliminated each time. Except when their lights flash on their bikes, telling them they're out, some of them ignore it and just keep going. So it's kind of confusing. "What flashing light? I don't see it."

12:50 p.m. - "Hey, whatcha doing back there? You still going REALLY slow? Cause I am. Look how slow I'm going. I almost stopped just now. You still going slow? Let me know when you're ready to go fast."

12:45 p.m. - The thing about this cycling sprint is that nine out of 10 times, the guy who starts in the back seems to come from behind to win. It's almost an advantage to start out slower. The guy in the lead keeps looking back to see what they're doing. They slowly climb the hill. Then they come flying down and take the lead on the one super fast lap. Crazy sport.

12:00 p.m. - Wedge and I have decided that this indoor cycling sprint might be our favorite Olympic sport. The strategy to go very slow at first is perplexing. Gold medal coming soon, I think.

11:15 a.m. - My thoughts on the Saints/Cardinals game from last night.

11:00 a.m. - I lost my TV to some Disney Junior action, so I've got the table tennis rolling online. No commentary. Table tennis without commentary is just as bad as it sounds. But at least I can fully hear the Queen song playing now. (I can't believe this is the 2012 Summer Olympics and we're still using Jock Jams as entertainment.) Anyway, this guy just took off his shirt to wipe off his body after a table tennis match. Plus, with the online coverage, we get behind-the-scenes looks between matches. Which is like the judge doing a crossword puzzle or something, and the receptionist-looking lady on the other side having to get up and wipe the table. From all the sweat, I guess.

10:05 a.m. - So... I think if you come in last place in a men's event, you should then have to face the women's gold medal winner in that event. Just to show we don't always need separation.

9:30 a.m. - Whoa. Doubles table tennis. This just seems uncomfortable to squeeze all of these people into this small space. I think it's time for a bigger table!

9:03 a.m. - In college football news, here's that ECU Pirates 2012 schedule I know you're all waiting for...

9:00 a.m. - OK, shooting. I don't think I can give this approval as a "sport." I mean, when you do something sitting and then you have to do it standing... not very athletic at all. I'm not saying it's not a skill, and I'm not saying I could do it. But it's not a sport.

8:25 a.m. - Women's table tennis, China vs. Korea. I've watched like three matches of table tennis so far and I still don't know how they're serving it. I also think it's hilarious that the "table" is like the size of a coffee table. You could hold hands with your opponent in this sport.

8:00 a.m. - Russia vs. Serbia volleyball. Russia is winning this one easily. My favorite part of the volleyball is how all the guys run up the the net to fake like they're the ones who are going to spike it. I think in basketball, everyone should run and jump to the goal, and then the point guard can just pick one to alley-oop it to. They can't guard all four guys in the air.

7:35 a.m. - Most of last week, I sat here writing about sports and watching various Olympics coverage. I don't know much about any of it, but I decided that I'd go ahead and blog about it this week. If anyone reads my thoughts, feel free to chime in and even educate me. I figure this is better than tweeting a bunch of stuff. Also, maybe Wedge will jump in from time to time as well. Unless he identifies his posts with his name though, just assume this rambling nonsense is coming from me.

I am not an Olympics expert. I am a fan of baseball, football and basketball. I like to watch other sports, even if I do not know what is going on, and the Olympics are fun to watch. If my thoughts upset you in any way, feel free to comment or ignore me.