Random Olympic Thoughts
My kids and I watched every prime-time NBC airing of the Olympics. We've seen more commercials over the past two weeks than in all of the past two years!
Speaking of which, during an ad for John McCain, my son said, "He looks like a crazy old man."
We would all chuckle when the announcers would say, "Here we are at Women's Gymnastics," and then they'd show the teeny-tiny Chinese girls, some of whom didn't even have all their permanent teeth.
I want to remodel my house to look like the Beijing "Water Cube." Can you imagine that at Christmas?
You'd think that a country with a population of 1.3 billion could find a few people to fill seats in their Olympic venues. I haven't seen that many empty seats since Michael Richards played The Apollo.
At first, Usain Bolt was annoying. After three gold medals, he's just amazing.
Michael Phelps... There are no adjectives in existence that describe him. My kids will always remember his eight gold medal swims, but I will always remember my son excitedly leaping off the couch when Phelps out-touched Milorad Cavic by a hundredth of a second in the 100m butterfly.
Diving really is as boring as I remember it from the last Olympics.
Synchronized diving is doubly boring.
It's funny how the USA, a nation that prides itself on individualism, dominated team sports in these Olympics. Gold medals went to women's basketball, soccer, and beach volleyball, and men's basketball, volleyball, and beach volleyball. Silver medals went to women's water polo, volleyball, and softball, and men's water polo. The men's baseball team picked up a bronze medal.
NBC's aerial views of the beautiful and majestic Chinese scenery sure gave me a hankering for some orange chicken down at Panda Express.
We always cheered loudest for the old folks -- Dara Torres (41), Lisa Leslie (36), Kristin Armstrong (35), Jason Lezak (32), Todd Rogers (34), Lloy Ball (36), and Oksana Chusovitina (33).
Kinesio tape... What a scam. Sure looks good on Kerri Walsh, though.
Two elderly Chinese women were sentenced to a year's "re-education through labour" after asking for permission to protest during the Games. They'll probably be working right beside Zhou Luxin, the Chinese diver who botched his final dive in the 10m Individual Platform.
Jackie Chan can sing?
Speaking of which, during an ad for John McCain, my son said, "He looks like a crazy old man."
We would all chuckle when the announcers would say, "Here we are at Women's Gymnastics," and then they'd show the teeny-tiny Chinese girls, some of whom didn't even have all their permanent teeth.
I want to remodel my house to look like the Beijing "Water Cube." Can you imagine that at Christmas?
You'd think that a country with a population of 1.3 billion could find a few people to fill seats in their Olympic venues. I haven't seen that many empty seats since Michael Richards played The Apollo.
At first, Usain Bolt was annoying. After three gold medals, he's just amazing.
Michael Phelps... There are no adjectives in existence that describe him. My kids will always remember his eight gold medal swims, but I will always remember my son excitedly leaping off the couch when Phelps out-touched Milorad Cavic by a hundredth of a second in the 100m butterfly.
Diving really is as boring as I remember it from the last Olympics.
Synchronized diving is doubly boring.
It's funny how the USA, a nation that prides itself on individualism, dominated team sports in these Olympics. Gold medals went to women's basketball, soccer, and beach volleyball, and men's basketball, volleyball, and beach volleyball. Silver medals went to women's water polo, volleyball, and softball, and men's water polo. The men's baseball team picked up a bronze medal.
NBC's aerial views of the beautiful and majestic Chinese scenery sure gave me a hankering for some orange chicken down at Panda Express.
We always cheered loudest for the old folks -- Dara Torres (41), Lisa Leslie (36), Kristin Armstrong (35), Jason Lezak (32), Todd Rogers (34), Lloy Ball (36), and Oksana Chusovitina (33).
Kinesio tape... What a scam. Sure looks good on Kerri Walsh, though.
Two elderly Chinese women were sentenced to a year's "re-education through labour" after asking for permission to protest during the Games. They'll probably be working right beside Zhou Luxin, the Chinese diver who botched his final dive in the 10m Individual Platform.
Jackie Chan can sing?
Permalink posted by Idaho Dad at 12:05 AM
10 Comments:
i had the same thought about the empty seats.
i guess trying to get people to go to china for the olympics was a hard sell...
I have distinct memories of watching the Olympics a child. I am sure your kids will remember these for the rest of thier lives.
We also enjoyed the 2008 games but bailed with 4-5 days to go...pretty much post-Phelps. Just couldn't stay into it after that. The Bear loved it and, like your kids, will hopefully recall the experience for a long long time.
I have fond memories of the '72 games. My parents and older brother had gone to Europe for two weeks, leaving my sister and (7-year-old) me with my grandmother. I remember watching Olga Korbut, Mark Spitz, and Frank Shorter while eating ice cream.
I didn't pay attention to the Olympics again until 1984, and then every year after I've always watched the bulk of the events.
I like your son and I barely know him. I loved his comment about McCain. I too was amazed at Phelps ability to pull out both close races and set world records.
How about this? My husband and I have a running joke where we squeak out "Come on, Shawn!" We just couldn't believe that teeny little voice came from Nastia...
son Joey says he had to watch his future wife, Shawn Johnston, she just doesn't know it yet LOL The most boring was ping pong by far...
p.s. the Spirit lake ice cream is great :)
Thanks for the wrap-up. We didn't watch a lick of the Olympics. They're getting their exercise imitating ninja moves from NARUTO, though. And I take pride in that.
Jackie Chan was trained in traditional Chinese opera, which included gymnastics, kungfu, and singing. I have one of his music albums somewhere at home. He's not bad, if you like Chinese music.
I remember first getting interested in the Olympics in '76, and I still enjoy watching. Clare watched some gymnastics, swimming and diving with us, but most was on too late for her. I was a little disappointed that NBC didn't show more of a variety of events during prime time.
We also cheered the old folks. And I thought the same about Jackie Chan.
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