Month: August 2008

They showed 90 seconds of the hammer throw. 90 seconds! That’s the kind of event I want ten minutes on.

I wish they’d set up some of the events more. I love volleyball, but they don’t even tell you when you’re watching a gold medal match or a pool qualifying round. It’s pathetic enough that we have to watch trials and heats of some of these events at the expense of other sports, could they at least tell us what’s going on?

Olympic Edition Links o’ Interest:
The 5 moments from the opening ceremony China doesn’t want you to remember.

Proving the Chinese gymansts are 14, a Google detective story. Part One and Two.

The real medal count, minus the events with subjective judging.

The funniest? sweetest? most pathetic? swimming trial.

The very young Michael Phelps

Seriously Phelps, watch the attitude

(Almost caught up… only a few hours behind)

I feel like I should say something about Phelps. I can’t think of anything. It’s amazing he’s incredible and so on. I was desperately hoping Mark Spitz would launch into a tirade on national TV about how shabbily he’s been treated and Phelps is overrated and is his day they didn’t have these crazy swimsuits etc. No such luck.

I don’t like his Mom and her reactions after the wins. Sure she’s proud. Sure she’s happy. But surprised? Astonished? Mouth hanging open like Mother Teresa just parachuted in? No. It’s Michael Phelps for goodness sakes, half of these races he hasn’t lost for years. Get over it and show a hair of dignity.

When Phelps retires, do you think he’ll gain 80 pounds in the first year? He’s been eating such huge amounts of food for years. Maybe he’ll have a second career as a Subway spokesman.

At last they’re showing minor sports. I’ve just watched shotputting (awesome) indoor cycling (awesome) and badmitton (not so awesome). During badmitton the announcer said of a winning point, “It hits the tape and lands like a butterfly with sore feet!” Ah, the poetry of badmitton.

I like the heptathalon. There really is something amazing about being so good in a variety of sports. The strange one is shot putting. “Ok, you have to run fast, run fast again, run while jumping over something, jump high, jump long… and it says here you’re supposed to huck this big rock as far as you can.” I think they should have more variety. They should compete in a round of golf, slam dunk contest, uneven bars, kayaking, darts, the dozens, Magic, World of Warcraft, rock paper scissors, etc. And of course the shotput.

I just watched a commercial for Bounty. The family discussed how many sheets it would take to pick up the spill they had just made. In the corner it said, “Not a competitive claim”. What does that mean? I think it means they’re lying and you aren’t allowed to hold them to what they’re saying. Has there ever been another ad to say this?

Equestrian: It’s funny that it all takes place in Hong Kong, 1200 miles away from the action. It’s like the organizers said, “You really want to do the whole horses thing? Okay… but we’re not having you weirdos near the actual athletes.” What is with the outfits? How can you call yourself a sport when you’re wearing those ridiculous red jackets? And is there any other olympic sport that depends on an animal? I think it’s kind of cool but let’s have some consistency. Add falconing and the Iditarod. Maybe some piegon shooting, enough with these clay substitutes!

Later update: They did an extended interview with Phelps and his Mom. I have to walk back my snarky comments about her. That mother did something right. Great family. Somewhere the Dad who abandoned them is kicking himself over and over and over.

Steeplechase? I like little events, but that is just plain weird. The water jump is about as random as you can get. I had a vague impression that steeplechase was something horses did. I still think I may be right.

My cover as a stereotypical yuppie grows ever deeper. Yesterday I got my first luxury car (entry-level, but give me a break). I’m the proud owner of the 2005 Acura TL below.

I’m starting to learn my way around the car buying thing. The last one I got the dealers to compete amongst themselves. For a new car that’s the winning strategy. It doesn’t work for used cars since they aren’t fungible. But I was finally able to use connections through work (thank you Geaster!) to get one from auction. Saved a couple thousand that way.

Ah, who cares. I got a new car. Goes fast, looks pretty. I just hope I can keep from getting pulled over for speeding before I get the official tags and insurance.

Anyone want to buy a used VW Passat? Very low mileage, but some child-related food stains that won’t come out and a nagging feeling that the whole thing is going to fall apart within a couple months…

Nope, those Chinese gymansts are not 16. Who’ve thunk it? The interesting part is that there is nothing to be done about it. If China says they’re 16 that’s the end of the story. If we call China a liar we get nowhere.

Why do divers shower after every dive? To keep their muscles loose. What is the little jet of water at the side of the pool for? It creates small ripples that gives divers visual cues to see where the surface of the pool is.

Did you see the coverage about the weightlifter who turned his arm backwards? Good gory stuff.

I need to update my sport ranking system with a new criteria. To whatever degree a sport is judged on artistic merit, it isn’t a sport. Art is fine, but it isn’t sport. I tuned it to an equestarian event yesterday. There was no jumping and galloping or turning, it was just showing off the horses. Like a dog show — that’s an Olympic sport? Figure skating requires enormous athleticism but the costumes and the emoting take away from the sport. Likewise girls gymnastics with the little freaky dance moves in the middle of floor exercises and all the garbage with the ribbon. That ain’t sports. If you want to do that stuff, aim for this, not the Olympics.

Yep, she worked for our spy agency. Among others. Incredible. This is not a parody.

Here’s an excellent short write-up about what Social Security means.

I demystified Social Security a while ago, part one and two.

A few of my readers may know Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It is one of the most popular and honored science fiction books ever. I loved it when I first read it. Rrereading it as an adult left me feeling disoriented, and I’ve found his other books surprisingly childish. I recently came across a pair of revealing essays about the book.

The first one draws explicit links between Ender and Hitler, claiming that Card deliberately wrote the story as an apology for Hitler. (One of her friends goes further, claiming that Card didn’t even write the book.) Card wrote a rebuttal, but it isn’t available online.

A more tempered and ultimately convincing essay from John Kessel is worth reading in full. His last section (“Why is Ender’s Game popular?”) gets at the heart of my difficulties reading Card’s fiction as an adult.

By the way, Enders Game is currently being made into a movie.

Bad playing, bad cards. I called all-ins 3 times, and was wrong all three times.

1) From the small blind, I raise up 3x, I have As-3s. Big blind goes all in. I’m pot committed with decent cards. He has Q-Q, I get my A for the win.
2) At 100-200, three players have limped to my big blind. I have A-10. I make a move and push it to 600. One player goes all-in for another 1150, almost all of my chips. That’s odd… he limped in and then goes all-in. Hmm… well, he could have a monster hand that he was slowplaying. Or he could have a marginal hand that he’s trying to bluff me on. He actually said, “I’m playing these and if you suck out on me so be it.”, but he’s crafty. As long as he doesn’t have me dominated I think I’m getting the right price on my money. I call. He has A-Q which holds up.
3) After a mini-comeback, I get Ah-Kd. I bet 3.5x pre-flop, one caller. The flop is all low cards. I check to him, he checks. The turn is a jack, he goes all in. Why didn’t I raise preflop? Just because I didn’t have any pairs, pffooie, I could have forced him out. Unless he had a pair. Aw hell, what do I do. He obviously has a pair of jacks. There are three hearts on the board, any heart gives me a nut flush. Assuming he has a jack that’s 15 outs, so around 30% chance to win. Maybe less, he might have A-J or K-J. I’m getting 2-1 on my money. I call. He has Q-J. I need an A, K, or heart on the river, I don’t get it, I’m knocked out.

Note to self: Perhaps playing a game that emphasizes mental discipline is not recommended when one has given blood that day.

Running total: $46

I am falling further and further behind. I had to throw away boxing (stupid point system) and skip some other stuff, I’m only a couple hours back now.

Whitewater kayaking was fun. That’s the kind of sport I like to see in the Olympics.

Water Polo may not be a real sport, but this match was pretty awesome.

Swimming: There is something wrong the structure here. There are just too many races. Different lengths, different strokes, relay vs. individual. It’s not the Phelps isn’t incredible, but that he has the ability to compete in too many races. Kobe Bryant can only get one gold medal. Kayakers, weightlifters, archers only get one gold medal. (Maybe two I’m not sure of the details.) Gymnasts can get two I believe (one team, one individual). Are Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps truly the best Olympic athletes ever? They are not, they are just in the right discipline to get a lot of medals. They ought to get rid of half of the swimming races. Probably lose some of the track & field contests while we’re at it.

Men’s gymnastics: Let’s just say it. Kevin Tan is clearly a traitor. Isn’t it a nice coincidence that our Asian teammate chokes it all in the last event? Do the math people!

More seriously, it is amazing to see the ethnic makeup of the USA Olympic teams. No other country is like us. Our gymnastics team has Asians, Indians, and Russians. During the parade of nations, we had every color of human walking the route – a true testament to the melting pot ideology.

My commenters are right, the 4×100 freestyle relay was incredible. I just watched it a few minutes ago. I still can’t see if the USA anchor had an incredible leg, or the French anchor choked. Relatively speaking of course, since both teams crushed the world record. Just amazing. (Although – cheering louder than Celts/RS/Pats? C’mon!!!) It’s sad that they had to keep interviewing Phelps over and over, he had the second worst time on the team! And by the way, pull up your damn pants Michael! How would you like to be those French — you obliterate the world record by almost four seconds and somehow manage to lose.

I wish they would show more minor sports. Where’s the archery, pistols, velocidrome, curling, all those kinds of sports. I love volleyball, but enough is enough. I liked watching water polo, it was nice to see a sport I didn’t know anything about. I felt more educated when I announced after ten minutes that water polo is the dumbest sport in the world.

Bob Costas’s interview with Bush was really good. Funny how it takes a sportscaster to ask questions that are actually about policy instead of silly horserace questions. I wonder if it’s related that Bush’s responses were so much better than usual.

Those Chinese gymnasts are sick. The men are sick because they’re so good, the girls are sick because they’re all eight.

In a technology demonstration the other day, the presenter said they had started this project with a clean slate. In fact, he said, they “had gone all the way back to cell A1”.

It’s nice to see Bush there. He’s such an ordinary guy in this setting. Iraq, ridiculously low approval ratings, crashing economy etc.. none of that matters. Being a shallow frat-boy jock is a plus instead of a minus. I haven’t liked him this much in years.

Update: I don’t want to make fun of him, but he makes it so easy!

If that link doesn’t show, go here: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/gallery/im:urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,getty:20050301:oly,photo,e9069654e472a74413906702d6aded19-getty-81972190mw013_olympics_day_:1