Monday, August 11, 2008
Olympic potpourri & link dump
Despite Canada's failure to win a medal thus far, or come close to doing so, I'm enjoying the Olympics a lot so far. I'm with the majority, I suppose, in agreeing that the Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay was just enthralling; the swimming as a whole has been very enjoyable.
I remember writing some uncomplimentary things once about the Steve Armitage/Byron Macdonald announcing duo, and now I'm not sure why: Byron has an eye for detail that has provided legitimate insight so far. (Everything bad I've ever written about Armitage still stands... of all the creepy camera shots that flash by during an Olympics in China, the creepiest is still the shot of those two guys last night: Macdonald sitting down with his papers in front of him, and Steve standing behind with his hand gently placed on the back of Macdonald's neck.)
**What's up with Canada? Jeff Little has an excellent post running down the events where Canadians have a medal shot; it just happens that most of them are later on in the Games.
**The biennial "winner" of Canadian Woman I Had Never Heard Of Before The Olympics But Now Have A Crush On: Kara Lang! Canada takes on Sweden tomorrow at 5:45AM MT and needs at least a draw to advance. Also, I'm probably too old for these crushes now. Sorry for bringing it up.
**The G&M's William Houston has a good blog going: Games on the Box. Come to think of it, he has a good gig going; I've watched 12-16 hours of Olympics per day for two weeks for free in the past!
**If you're trying to check out results or schedule in any detail at all, I definitely recommended bypassing SI.com, Yahoo! Sports, TSN, CBC, and the rest of them in favour of the official site. Organized, and complete.
**The most disappointing aspect of the Olympics so far: the total lack of good TV ads. The WonderBread ad with the kids was briefly precious, but has run its course. That's it. Compare to Athens, where Bell had two ads that remained entertaining for the entire duration of the Olympics. There was "Pause Live TV", where the Olympians twiddled their thumbs (the weightlifter was flirting with the judge) while Joe Sixpack returned a beer rental and grabbed a snack. And there was "Instant Update", where the guy kept finding Olympians (in full gear) in various places around the house: synchro swimmers in his shower, a kayaker next to him in bed, etc.
**And finally, recommended reading. Jim Henley is one of my favourite bloggers, and way back in 2002 he wrote a rather brief piece that nevertheless is a fairly compelling and complete rebuttal to those who pine for the good ol' amateur days at the Olympics. He begins:
Read the whole thing. And Go Canada.
I remember writing some uncomplimentary things once about the Steve Armitage/Byron Macdonald announcing duo, and now I'm not sure why: Byron has an eye for detail that has provided legitimate insight so far. (Everything bad I've ever written about Armitage still stands... of all the creepy camera shots that flash by during an Olympics in China, the creepiest is still the shot of those two guys last night: Macdonald sitting down with his papers in front of him, and Steve standing behind with his hand gently placed on the back of Macdonald's neck.)
**What's up with Canada? Jeff Little has an excellent post running down the events where Canadians have a medal shot; it just happens that most of them are later on in the Games.
**The biennial "winner" of Canadian Woman I Had Never Heard Of Before The Olympics But Now Have A Crush On: Kara Lang! Canada takes on Sweden tomorrow at 5:45AM MT and needs at least a draw to advance. Also, I'm probably too old for these crushes now. Sorry for bringing it up.
**The G&M's William Houston has a good blog going: Games on the Box. Come to think of it, he has a good gig going; I've watched 12-16 hours of Olympics per day for two weeks for free in the past!
**If you're trying to check out results or schedule in any detail at all, I definitely recommended bypassing SI.com, Yahoo! Sports, TSN, CBC, and the rest of them in favour of the official site. Organized, and complete.
**The most disappointing aspect of the Olympics so far: the total lack of good TV ads. The WonderBread ad with the kids was briefly precious, but has run its course. That's it. Compare to Athens, where Bell had two ads that remained entertaining for the entire duration of the Olympics. There was "Pause Live TV", where the Olympians twiddled their thumbs (the weightlifter was flirting with the judge) while Joe Sixpack returned a beer rental and grabbed a snack. And there was "Instant Update", where the guy kept finding Olympians (in full gear) in various places around the house: synchro swimmers in his shower, a kayaker next to him in bed, etc.
**And finally, recommended reading. Jim Henley is one of my favourite bloggers, and way back in 2002 he wrote a rather brief piece that nevertheless is a fairly compelling and complete rebuttal to those who pine for the good ol' amateur days at the Olympics. He begins:
I remember the years of “amateur” Olympics - Mark Spitz and Eric Heiden and, especially, Sugar Ray Leonard, Maryland’s Pride. I remember the Miracle on Ice and even, prepubescently, Peggy Fleming. Oh the lost years of glory, before professionalism, sponsorships and the Dream Team, when athletes competed for the love of sport itself. Now NBA players and NHL players and money-grubbing pros have ruined the games.
Faced with that much crap, one hardly knows where to start.
Glory Days, then. At the time of the Olympic revival at the end of the 19th Century, “amateur” was how upper-class young men kept out the riff-raff. Championship-caliber athletes from working-class and poor backgrounds had to turn pro. By my childhood, “the amateur ideal” had morphed into affirmative action for socialist countries: corporate money and perks, bad; government money and perks, good!
Read the whole thing. And Go Canada.
# posted by Matt @ 11:59 am 
Comments:
I had a few friends who interviewed Kara Lang when she was in town for one of the CONCACAF tournaments a few years back. Apparently she's an incredibly nice person, albeit one with hands that could crush walnuts.
Kara Lang's no Jennifer Heil. What a nice way to begin Torino that was.
Also, you've never heard of Kara Lang?
During that 4X100 race, I jumped off the couch in the last leg and started yelling encouragement at the French swimmer: "The Germans are right behind you! Get movin' man!"
But the Americans prevailed anyway.
Also, you've never heard of Kara Lang?
Two minutes Googling tells me that anyone who has paid the slightest bit of attention of Canadian women's soccer in the past 5 years would know who she is.
Aaaand, there's my explanation.
Despite Canada's failure to win a medal thus far, or come close to doing so, I'm enjoying the Olympics a lot so far ...
Hey we looks like we may win for the most to be deported ...
Seven Canadians deported from China
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080811/BEIJING_deport_080811/20080811?s_name=beijing2008&no_ads=
Anybody catch China's gold-medal win in sneaker-making? Total bullshit. That kid was a ringer: no way she was 12. Eight, maybe, nine tops.
For some reason the terrible relative quality of women's soccer bugs me more than it does watching other women's sports. I think it's because the sex difference can lead to an interestingly different tactical environment in things like tennis or basketball or golf, but in soccer there's no reward for the girls being slower, less gifted, and defensively unsound.
Soccer's still waiting for its Billie Jean King or Danica Patrick, I think. No real reason it can't happen--none of the men's soccer greats have been track stars or anything.
Kara Lang is terrific. I think it was Woman's World Cup a few years back she scored on a free kick from an ungodly distance. Drilled it into the top corner. She was 17 or 18 at the time. Jumping up and down, mouthing quite clearly "Motherfucker!"
The Canadian swim team is bouncing back. They were so awful in Greece. I know it sounds silly with no medals and all but they are building nicely. Its like our skiers. They're rebuilding the program from scratch. It takes time but I think the medals will come but not until London. The relay team was just a few hundredths off of the pre Games world record.
Agreed on that, Cosh. We were watching the last game and Canada has about six players who can actually play - Lang, Sinclair, Chapman and Wilkinson plus the sub Timko and the keeper. The rest are all very good athletes who run very fast and kick the ball as far as they can whenever it comes near them.
Still, I have followed women's soccer since the U-19s in Edmonton a few years back. Its good stuff.
colby cosh said...
...but in soccer there's no reward for the girls being slower, less gifted, and defensively unsound.
You are forgetting they do tend to tackle like total nutcases though. At least that much is entertaining and they couldn't do that if they were bigger and faster like the men.
Are those Vinnie Jones tapes standard for the NA women's soccer curriculum or something?
I always wondered how you could be an "amateur" while receiving thousands of dollars from the government each year to do what you do. I mean, everyone's gotta eat, but let's drop the pretentious bullshit: the amateur Olympics are a relic of days happily past.
**The most disappointing aspect of the Olympics so far: the total lack of good TV ads. The WonderBread ad with the kids was briefly precious, but has run its course. That's it. Compare to Athens, where Bell had two ads that remained entertaining for the entire duration of the Olympics. There was "Pause Live TV", where the Olympians twiddled their thumbs (the weightlifter was flirting with the judge) while Joe Sixpack returned a beer rental and grabbed a snack. And there was "Instant Update", where the guy kept finding Olympians (in full gear) in various places around the house: synchro swimmers in his shower, a kayaker next to him in bed, etc.
Have to disagree. The Gatorade one with the Killer's 'All These Things That I Have Done' is pretty cool and also I saw one today where they talked about a bunch of different athletes from different countries in a '300' like setting.
That 4x100 was absolutely awesome, one of the most compelling races I've ever seen.
I heard Kara Lang mention in a CBC radio interview that she's a vegan. That's impressive for a high-level athlete. Dwayne De Rosario on the men's national team is as well. What are the chances of that? Maybe they hooked up.
She's fantastic.
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I had a few friends who interviewed Kara Lang when she was in town for one of the CONCACAF tournaments a few years back. Apparently she's an incredibly nice person, albeit one with hands that could crush walnuts.
Kara Lang's no Jennifer Heil. What a nice way to begin Torino that was.
Also, you've never heard of Kara Lang?
During that 4X100 race, I jumped off the couch in the last leg and started yelling encouragement at the French swimmer: "The Germans are right behind you! Get movin' man!"
But the Americans prevailed anyway.
Also, you've never heard of Kara Lang?
Two minutes Googling tells me that anyone who has paid the slightest bit of attention of Canadian women's soccer in the past 5 years would know who she is.
Aaaand, there's my explanation.
Despite Canada's failure to win a medal thus far, or come close to doing so, I'm enjoying the Olympics a lot so far ...
Hey we looks like we may win for the most to be deported ...
Seven Canadians deported from China
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080811/BEIJING_deport_080811/20080811?s_name=beijing2008&no_ads=
# posted by 
: August 11, 2008 2:30 pm
: August 11, 2008 2:30 pm Anybody catch China's gold-medal win in sneaker-making? Total bullshit. That kid was a ringer: no way she was 12. Eight, maybe, nine tops.
For some reason the terrible relative quality of women's soccer bugs me more than it does watching other women's sports. I think it's because the sex difference can lead to an interestingly different tactical environment in things like tennis or basketball or golf, but in soccer there's no reward for the girls being slower, less gifted, and defensively unsound.
Soccer's still waiting for its Billie Jean King or Danica Patrick, I think. No real reason it can't happen--none of the men's soccer greats have been track stars or anything.
Kara Lang is terrific. I think it was Woman's World Cup a few years back she scored on a free kick from an ungodly distance. Drilled it into the top corner. She was 17 or 18 at the time. Jumping up and down, mouthing quite clearly "Motherfucker!"
The Canadian swim team is bouncing back. They were so awful in Greece. I know it sounds silly with no medals and all but they are building nicely. Its like our skiers. They're rebuilding the program from scratch. It takes time but I think the medals will come but not until London. The relay team was just a few hundredths off of the pre Games world record.
Agreed on that, Cosh. We were watching the last game and Canada has about six players who can actually play - Lang, Sinclair, Chapman and Wilkinson plus the sub Timko and the keeper. The rest are all very good athletes who run very fast and kick the ball as far as they can whenever it comes near them.
Still, I have followed women's soccer since the U-19s in Edmonton a few years back. Its good stuff.
colby cosh said...
...but in soccer there's no reward for the girls being slower, less gifted, and defensively unsound.
You are forgetting they do tend to tackle like total nutcases though. At least that much is entertaining and they couldn't do that if they were bigger and faster like the men.
Are those Vinnie Jones tapes standard for the NA women's soccer curriculum or something?
I always wondered how you could be an "amateur" while receiving thousands of dollars from the government each year to do what you do. I mean, everyone's gotta eat, but let's drop the pretentious bullshit: the amateur Olympics are a relic of days happily past.
**The most disappointing aspect of the Olympics so far: the total lack of good TV ads. The WonderBread ad with the kids was briefly precious, but has run its course. That's it. Compare to Athens, where Bell had two ads that remained entertaining for the entire duration of the Olympics. There was "Pause Live TV", where the Olympians twiddled their thumbs (the weightlifter was flirting with the judge) while Joe Sixpack returned a beer rental and grabbed a snack. And there was "Instant Update", where the guy kept finding Olympians (in full gear) in various places around the house: synchro swimmers in his shower, a kayaker next to him in bed, etc.
Have to disagree. The Gatorade one with the Killer's 'All These Things That I Have Done' is pretty cool and also I saw one today where they talked about a bunch of different athletes from different countries in a '300' like setting.
That 4x100 was absolutely awesome, one of the most compelling races I've ever seen.
I heard Kara Lang mention in a CBC radio interview that she's a vegan. That's impressive for a high-level athlete. Dwayne De Rosario on the men's national team is as well. What are the chances of that? Maybe they hooked up.
She's fantastic.
Post a Comment
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