Anyone watching?  If so, what events are you paying closest attention to?

 

I'm watching bits of everything at the moment, but I'm really waiting in anticipation for Track and Field.

I watched the men's and women's bicycling. I watched it just as much for the scenery as for the sport.

Definitely been watching it.

 

I'll be there next week, so I'll contribute some pics.

I watched the men's and women's bicycling. I watched it just as much for the scenery as for the sport.

 

Yeah that's exactly why I wish I would have watched that event.  I think it's technically the first event of the games and is meant to highlight the host city.

I watched the men's and women's bicycling. I watched it just as much for the scenery as for the sport.

 

Yeah that's exactly why I wish I would have watched that event.  I think it's technically the first event of the games and is meant to highlight the host city.

First events were soccer games that started a few days before the opening ceremony.

 

I have a couple of cousins that live on that side of London and one has been whining on Facebook about the noise from the crowds and how she's been late to work the last couple days because of "____ tourists that can't figure out how to just get onto the ____ing tube!"

I'm not watching the Olympics. I'm boycotting because they could've been/should've been in Cincinnati: http://queencitydiscovery.blogspot.com/2012/07/when-city-dared-to-dream-how-2012.html

 

Seriously though, Cincy was a long shot and I'm not really boycotting. Haven't gotten to watch much with moving over the weekend. What's the deal with Phelps? Did he break the record for most Gold Medals?

The opening ceremony was atrocious. 

 

I saw about 45 minutes of the bike race.  Agreed, it really showed off London as one of the world's most impressive cities. 

The opening ceremony was atrocious.

 

I only saw about 30-45 minutes, but it did seem a bit ridiculous.  One of my buddies joked on Facebook about how it the organizers portrayed the English (themselves, I guess?) as stereotypical chimney-sweeps and and Revolutionary-era soldiers. 

 

First events were soccer games that started a few days before the opening ceremony.

 

Duh! I knew that, too.

 

What's the deal with Phelps? Did he break the record for most Gold Medals?

 

He's struggled a bit, but he's still got 17, just one short of tying the record.

 

MINI-RANT: I think that personal medal counts are kind of overrated, especially when comparing from sport-to-sport.  Swimming has so many events and also seven of Phelps' 17 medals have come as part of relays, which definitely seems to inflate his medal count.  He's a spectacular athlete and maybe the best swimmer ever, but saying that he's a superior athlete to someone competing in another sport simply because of medal count does not make much sense to me.

Yeah, who knew until Friday night that English people still look so...English.  You literally couldn't stage that same event in the US and find enough people who look like that. 

I liked Roger Ebert's take on the opening ceremony.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/14057838-452/danny-boyles-london-olympics-opening-ceremony-is-gob-smacking.html

The opening ceremony was atrocious. 

It was very ... um ... British?

 

I keep seeing people retweeting a comment that they could've done a better job by just showing a video of the Beijing opening ceremony.

 

I actually liked that they didn't try to compete with what the Chinese did, they would have failed even worse than they did, but tried to go in a different direction. A bit silly at times, but not terrible.

Well if the opening ceremony was in fact "for them", I question that decision.  And the crazy thing about British culture is we get it most of the time, then there's something that we are as stupified as the rest of the world.  So was the missing cell phone thing in fact some eleborate parody of a missing cell phone skit as Ebert hints?  So much of it I could only take at face value. 

 

The men's basketball team set Olympic records in Thursday's 156-73 rout over Nigeria (most points in a game; largest margin of victory).  But they got a scare this morning against Lithuania.  Team USA trailed in the fourth quarter before winning 99-94.

The men's basketball team set Olympic records in Thursday's 156-73 rout over Nigeria (most points in a game; largest margin of victory).  But they got a scare this morning against Lithuania.  Team USA trailed in the fourth quarter before winning 99-94.

I was actually hoping they'd lose a game in the early rounds so that they'd take their competition seriously and be a little less cocky; this should do the trick.

How about Serena Williams absolutely destroying Sharipova in the gold medal tennis match?  Williams looked like she was just toying with her.  Sharipova looked like she wanted off that court halfway through the first match.

How about Great Britain's Andy Murray beating Roger Federer in three straight sets to win the men's gold?  Sweet victory for Murrary as he lost to Federer in the Wimbledon Final only one month ago (on the same court too).  Murray's gold topped off a British Gold Medal surge over the weekend that pushed them into third place in the nation's medal count on Sunday.

 

How about Usain Bolt winning the 100M dash again?  He looked beatable after finishing 2nd in the Jamaican qualifying race - but blew away the field in London.

 

And I caught the end to an amazing women's soccer semifinal between USA and Canada.  Canada led 1-0 at halftime.  Then the USA women got a 1-1 tying goal.  Then Canada scored again.  Then USA ties 2-2.  Then Canada scored once again to lead 3-2.  Then the USA women got a possibly generous handball call to set a penalty kick - which was converted to tie the game again, this time at 3-3.

 

After 90 minutes, the game went into a 30 minute overtime.  After 30 minutes, it looked like the game was heading for a PK tiebreaker round.  But then - in extra time in the overtime (120 minutes + 3 minutes) - Team USA got the go-ahead goal to win 4-3.  Team USA will face Japan on Thursday in a rematch of the 2011 Women's World Cup that Japan won.

I was happy to see Murray win, but part of me has a hard time taking sports like tennis seriously at the Olympics.  What I mean is, deep down, do you think Murray would rather have that gold medal (despite it being held at Wimbledon), or an actual Wimbledon title?  Someone I know made a great point about a lot of these professionalized sports at the Olympics being a bit anticlimactic because it's not the most important championship in the sport.

 

As for Bolt, he's amazing.  I can't wait to see him in the 200 and the relay.  I wish there were more events for him to compete in.

I was happy to see Murray win, but part of me has a hard time taking sports like tennis seriously at the Olympics.  What I mean is, deep down, do you think Murray would rather have that gold medal (despite it being held at Wimbledon), or an actual Wimbledon title?  Someone I know made a great point about a lot of these professionalized sports at the Olympics being a bit anticlimactic because it's not the most important championship in the sport.

 

As for Bolt, he's amazing.  I can't wait to see him in the 200 and the relay.  I wish there were more events for him to compete in.

I think that there's more of a point when it's a team than an individual medal.

I was happy to see Murray win, but part of me has a hard time taking sports like tennis seriously at the Olympics.  What I mean is, deep down, do you think Murray would rather have that gold medal (despite it being held at Wimbledon), or an actual Wimbledon title?  Someone I know made a great point about a lot of these professionalized sports at the Olympics being a bit anticlimactic because it's not the most important championship in the sport.

 

As for Bolt, he's amazing.  I can't wait to see him in the 200 and the relay.  I wish there were more events for him to compete in.

 

I agree with your point generally, but tennis players have made the Olympics a fairly big deal.  I don't think this would be as good for Murray as winning Wimbledon--no British player has won there in 75 years, and you could see the level of expectation/desire he has to win in his speech after he lost--but I think it's a big deal.  At least as big as any non-major, and maybe as big to him as winning the Australian or something.  Plus, I think a lot of them took this Olympics even more seriously because it was at Wimbledon. 

 

 

I was happy to see Murray win, but part of me has a hard time taking sports like tennis seriously at the Olympics.  What I mean is, deep down, do you think Murray would rather have that gold medal (despite it being held at Wimbledon), or an actual Wimbledon title?  Someone I know made a great point about a lot of these professionalized sports at the Olympics being a bit anticlimactic because it's not the most important championship in the sport.

 

As for Bolt, he's amazing.  I can't wait to see him in the 200 and the relay.  I wish there were more events for him to compete in.

 

I agree with your point generally, but tennis players have made the Olympics a fairly big deal.  I don't think this would be as good for Murray as winning Wimbledon--no British player has won there in 75 years, and you could see the level of expectation/desire he has to win in his speech after he lost--but I think it's a big deal.  At least as big as any non-major, and maybe as big to him as winning the Australian or something.  Plus, I think a lot of them took this Olympics even more seriously because it was at Wimbledon. 

 

 

 

Yeah, the non-majors in tennis don't seem to carry as much clout as the non-majors in a sport like golf (which will be added to the Olympic lineu in 2016) so maybe the fact that tennis players had made this a big deal has elevated the Olympic competition to a higher level, though not quite to the level of the majors.  Murray doesn't have a single major to his name, so I still think any one, including the Australian, would almost have to take precedence over an Olympic gold.  But that's just my guess. 

one thing im glad of is that after today i wont have to hear the name misty may anymore unless i decide to go to a strip club. its grating lol!

 

so glad swimming & gymnastics are ending as im a big t&f fan. bolt of course is bolt, he is just electric. however, so far the 100m womens hurdles were execptionally and surprizingly exciting. harper unexpectedly made a race of it w/simpson and wells and lolo did great too. i think wells has the edge for rio, we will see.

The U.S. women's soccer team (advancing to the final match after that epic win over Canada) beat Japan 2-1 for the gold today.

 

And how about Usain Bolt?  He blows away the field for gold in the 200.  Bolt wins both the 100 and the 200 in London.  Just like he did in Beijing.  Bolt's win leads a Jamaican gold-silver-bronze sweep in the 200.

What a huge day for mens track and field.

 

-Bolt being superhuman on the biggest stage.

-David Rudisha setting a world record in the 800m (unfortunately this won't get nearly the recognition it deserves)

-Ashton Eaton winning the decathlon in dominating fashion.

 

The crazy thing is that all three of these guys could be back in Rio in 2016.  Age-wise it might be the most challenging for Bolt, but considering the freakish athlete that he is, I wouldn't put it past him.

 

Wow, what a fun day of track!

The men's basketball team got the gold - but Spain gave them a scare.  Spain only trailed by one at halftime and the end of the 3rd quarter.  But the U.S. pulled away in the 4th to win 107-100.

 

FINAL MEDAL COUNTS

(Gold-Silver-Bronze -- Total Medals)

United States  46 29 29  104

China            38 27 23    88

Russia            24 26 32    82

Great Britain  29 17 19    65

Germany        11 19 14    44

 

NBC has done a horrible job. From playing porn music, racial tones to cutting off part of the ending ceremonies for one of their new shows.

You know how much of the Olympics I watched? Zero. Not a single second of it. Nobody I know was very involved in it either because no one asked me if I saw such-and-such Olympic event. But I may watch the winter Olympics in a couple of years. I love winter sports.

^ mckayla is not impressed!  ;)

 

 

NBC has done a horrible job. From playing porn music, racial tones to cutting off part of the ending ceremonies for one of their new shows.

I expressed my displeasure to NBC, and am pretty sure my email will be deleted without even being read because of my colorful language, but it made me feel a little better to tell someone off.

^ mckayla is not impressed!  ;)

 

 

 

Who?

^ mckayla is not impressed!  ;)

 

 

 

Who?

 

lol really? google that, she's a new meme. or dont bother lol! its just in the zeitgeist now due to the olympics, prob wont last long, but its good for a few laffs. to her credit, for being a pouty teen at the moment, even she has a good sense of humor about it.

Sorry for my delayed pics, but here are a few:

 

1) Parliament light shows are night:

 

 

2) Crowded train to the Olympic Village

 

 

3) Outside the Olympic Village -- craziness at all hours:

 

 

 

4) Projection screens all over Hyde Park

 

 

5) Obligatory shot

 

 

 

 

 

You went? I love London.

 

Cool pics, BTW.

I was only there for six days, but still long enough to soak up all the fanfare.

Very nice pics Murray.  Definately one of those "once in a lifetime" experiences I'll bet.

So what did you think of the weather?  The Food?  The crowds?  The venues?

 

The rain and chilly temps, made me a debbie downer.  And don't get me started on that God Awful opening ceremony!