Posts filed under 'sports'
Oksana Chusovitina and Dana Torres have redefined what is possible for people over the age of 30 in competitive athletics. Oksana won a silver medal in the vault and Dana Torres won a silver in the 50 meter freestyle. Both of these events were assumed to be the domain of the young.
I wonder whether this will change the nature of the kind of athletes we see at the Olympics.
Who needs 13 year old gymnasts, we have 30+ year old gymnasts!
And if Michael Phelps is still swimming at 40 and still winning medals at 40, we may be looking at a ridiculously large haul of medals…
August 17th, 2008
One of the creepiest events to watch has been the diving competition. Not because the sport is creepy. Actually the sport is surprisingly fun to watch.
No the female announcer, Cynthia Potter, has been very, very, very creepy. I mean after the 2004 Olympics where I had to suffer through the announcers repeatedly telling us about how the Hamm twins rolled in the hay as young boys (yech! I mean yech!!! I mean twins, hay, rolling.. YECH!!!) I was convinced the creepiness bar could never be surpassed.
No she surpassed it with her asinine comment on why the divers take a shower after each dive:
They just want to have fun.
I mean, what is this the car wash scene from Charlie’s Angels?
And her fawning over the athletes was down right lecherous. I mean, yech…
Of course the cameras which followed the men and women as they take a shower, and the pool that doesn’t have a wall to give them some privacy is just as creepy…
August 17th, 2008
During the woman’s 3 meter diving final, an American diver had a horrible dive where the water sprayed all over the place. The announcer was stunned and could not resist the following comment:
If surf’s up after the diver enters the water, there’s a problem.
August 17th, 2008
This was a funny page with a bunch of cute definitions
Phelpsian is the new Beamonesque – Fourth-Place Medal – Olympics – Yahoo! Sports
Michael Phelps — Swimming
Phelpsian. adj. felps-e-in. 1) dominating a competition. Eddie Murphy’s Meet Dave is not a candidate to have a Phelpsian run at next year’s Oscars.
—
Asafa Powell — Track
Powelled. v. pow-uld. 1) to accelerate at a jet-like pace. He Powelled out of the restaurant when the waitress brought the check.
—
Dara Torres — Swimming
Torres. n. tor-ez. 1) calling into question an accomplishment based on unconfirmed speculation of shenanigans. Bryce said he got the bartender’s number, but everyone called Torres on his account of the story.
August 17th, 2008
So Hoff just finished a great performance and Andrea is interviewing her:
Andrea; How were you able to recover after your bronze medal performance in the 400 IM? (I mean you were the favorite and choked)
Katie Hoff (who assumes Andrea is talking about the disappointment of how she swam, implying that she choked, and is visibly irritated): well actually I did quite well in that race, matching a personal best.
Andrea: Oh no, I was talking about your endurance (a visibly freaked out Andrea who is not looking forward to being relegated to interviewing people on the street about the Olynpics)
Katie Hoff: OHHHHHHH… that’s what you meant (Lying bitch, but I’ll give you that out so you can keep your job)
August 10th, 2008
Andrea Kremer in the 2004 Olympics set a new low for sports journalism when she ripped into the women’s gymnastic team after the team competition.
Her interview was so poor, that Bob Costas who was watching it live had his hand over his mouth in shock and said:
Thank’s for that interview, Andrea.
Andrea failed to make an appearance at the Olympics after that.
But she’s back, and we have to got track her Andreaism ….
August 10th, 2008
After 15 years of futility it is fun to watch Montreal thoroughly dominate someone.
The Bruins are not a bad team, it’s just their style of play is uniquely unsuited to the Montreal Canadiens. Essentially they rely on a physical game that prevents many chances. That style works well if you are dealing with a team that does not have precision passing like Montreal. That style would also work well if the Bruins goaltending is good.
The latest game was proof. The Bruins were able to stay in the game because of their excellent goaltending. The Habs had the kinds of chances they typically get against Boston, but this time Thomas was on the ball.
I do not expect the Bruins to lose another eight to the Canadiens, but it would be fun…
March 23rd, 2008
Just to prove my bonafides as a Montreal Canadiens fan … Here’s a picture of me at the Canadiens-Sharks game this Monday in San Jose.
My wife who sat next to me had a better time… but oh well.
March 6th, 2008
Does it ever, ever, ever end?
The NY Times reported today that Michael Rasmussen failed to show up for a drug test twice. This is unbelievable. Why are they allowed to compete if they fail to show up?
MONPELLIER, France, July 20 — Michael Rasmussen, the current leader of the Tour de France, raced in the 12th stage today despite the disclosure on Thursday that he has missed two drug tests since the beginning of May and has received a warning that he could be suspended from the sport if he misses another.
The drug tests were missed on May 8 and June 28, at a time when anti-doping officials sought to contact Rasmussen but discovered that he had not informed them of his whereabouts.
The stupidity of this line of reasoning is awe inspiring. Let me get this straight:
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Michael Rasmussen is a high profile professional athlete.
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Michael Rasmussen has an employer.
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Michael Rasmussen has a family.
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Michael Rasmussen has friends.
And no one could find him? And no-one could set up a meeting with him?
If the anti-doping agency is that incompetent, of course there is cheating in cycling and sports.
July 20th, 2007
So it turns out that Landis’ miraculous ascent was chemically enhanced.
Was he a fool? A moron? Or both? They had just thrown out the 2005 top finishers from the Tour thanks to the Spanish affair. Did he think he could get away with it? Did he think that they would not test him? Did he think?
And as for phonak… Are we really expected to believe that the team had no idea what was going on? This is the Tour not some amateur race. The atheletes have more doctors and masseurs pampering them than patients in the Intensive Care Ward of hospitals. This is not credible that somehow Landis was able to inject himself with drugs without the team medical staff knowing about it.
So fuck Landis, and the entire sport of professional cycling. The lack of personal integrity on the part of the cyclists is appalling. Perhaps if sponsor’s were criminally liable for the cheating of the athletes we would see this sport clean itself up.
But in the meantime. Fuck Landis, Fuck the Tour, Fuck it all. In one appalling year Landis, Ullrich etc have managed to destroy what Armstrong built in 7 years. Damn them all.
As for me, I’ll stick to basketball, football, and hockey. At least there we do not maintain the pretense that the Athletes are clean. We admit it’s a form of entertainment, where the personal integrity of the players is irrelevant.
August 5th, 2006
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