Beautiful gold, so-so silver and shameful bronze: The running Olympics thread

[deskslave]

Too early, you say? Mais non! Olympic football kicks off at 5 a.m. EDT, Opening Ceremonies be damned.

Can Michael Phelps win eight gold medals? Will LeBron, Kobe and the rest find a way to screw up a sure thing? And just how many truncheonings can the Chinese security forces hand out?

And by gum, it's on the hour where I am. SportsJournalists.com is now 14 minutes behind, it would seem.

 

[DanOregon]

Re: Beautiful gold, so-so silver and shameful bronze: The running Olympics threa

I understand they're holding many of the finals in the morning to show them live on the East Coast, but will the rest of NBC's coverage be a day late?
I've always enjoyed the bicycling in the velodrome and the white water kayaking, I guess I'll be watching CNBC or Telemundo.

And I'm already burned out on those lower third promos for the Olys they'll throw on in the middle of a show - really bad. I guess once the Games start we can look forward to lower-thirds featuring "Chuck", "Knightrider" and "The Biggest Loser" while some young Olympian relates how she felt when she learned her mother had breast cancer or her dog came down with Guillain-Barre syndrome.

 

[deskslave]

Allegedly on MSNBC.

 

[deskslave]

I suppose that's all a matter of perspective.

 

[buckweaver]

Re: Beautiful gold, so-so silver and shameful bronze: The running Olympics threa

Well, ****.

USWNT is down 1-0 to Norway, 3 minutes into the ****ing Olympics. Bad defensive play and a little hesitation by Solo.

(It's on MSNBC now, by the way. When did Brandi Chastain go brunette?)

 

[buckweaver]

My god. Norway up 2-0 in the 5th minute.

Is this Wambach-less team going to be a ****ing disaster? Sure isn't starting out well. Wow.

 

[slappy4428]

lookin a little hazy... wonder how thick the air is today

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Re: Beautiful gold, so-so silver and shameful bronze: The running Olympics threa

My god. Norway up 2-0 in the 5th minute.

Disappointing effort from the USWNT today. Absolutely pitiful, in fact.

 

[Italian_Stallion]

Wild. I didn't know they started events before the opening ceremonies.

 

[Italian_Stallion]

Does anyone know the name of the reporter pictured midway through this video? He's rapping out words on an old-fashioned typewriter. Perhaps he's someone you know.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Abebe+Bikila&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=2#

 

[kingcreole]

My god. Norway up 2-0 in the 5th minute.

Disappointing effort from the USWNT today. Absolutely pitiful, in fact.

Will the media actually come down harshly on the WNT like they would the men? I think the women's team could be three and done.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

My god. Norway up 2-0 in the 5th minute.

Disappointing effort from the USWNT today. Absolutely pitiful, in fact.

Will the media actually come down harshly on the WNT like they would the men? I think the women's team could be three and done.

If you lose the first match in the group stage, chances are you are pretty much ****ed.

 

[Clerk Typist]

Re: Beautiful gold, so-so silver and shameful bronze: The running Olympics threa

Somebody should have told the ladies that, even though the Opening Ceremony is Friday, today's match was not a friendly.

 

[Webster]

My god. Norway up 2-0 in the 5th minute.

Disappointing effort from the USWNT today. Absolutely pitiful, in fact.

Will the media actually come down harshly on the WNT like they would the men? I think the women's team could be three and done.

If you lose the first match in the group stage, chances are you are pretty much ****ed.

Not with the next two games against Japan and NZ and i believe 8 of the 12 teams making it to the QF.

 

[pseudo]

After an Olympic lull, Beijing makes Games interesting again

ESPN.com senior writer Jim Caple makes some decent points, but he lost me here:

Sportswriters moaning about Internet firewalls and governmental snooping in Beijing are both flattering themselves that a Chinese bureaucratic gnome actually cares what we write about LeBron James' shooting percentage and also neglecting the fact technically our Internet traffic is monitored here, as well, albeit by your boss or your e-mail provider, not by the government.

Seriously? Perhaps someone should e-mail Caple a link to Jones' thread. Better wait until he gets back to the States, though, since he'll presumably be needing Internet access while he's over there ...

 

[Batman]

Just a random thought, but given how much they're trying to manage the press, crowds, foreigners, etc., is there any chance China pulls some shenanigans with the actual competition?
Say a U.S. hurdler beats their stud (can't recall his name, but I think he won gold in '04) or a Paul Hamm comes from nowhere to win a medal in gymnastics. Does a positive doping test mysteriously surface? Could we see a boxing decision along the lines of Roy Jones Jr. in 1988?
I wouldn't put anything past the Chinese at this point.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Re: Beautiful gold, so-so silver and shameful bronze: The running Olympics threa

Just a random thought, but given how much they're trying to manage the press, crowds, foreigners, etc., is there any chance China pulls some shenanigans with the actual competition?
Say a U.S. hurdler beats their stud (can't recall his name, but I think he won gold in '04) or a Paul Hamm comes from nowhere to win a medal in gymnastics. Does a positive doping test mysteriously surface? Could we see a boxing decision along the lines of Roy Jones Jr. in 1988?
I wouldn't put anything past the Chinese at this point.

I don't think China has that much clout with the IOC officials.

 

[Batman]

Just a random thought, but given how much they're trying to manage the press, crowds, foreigners, etc., is there any chance China pulls some shenanigans with the actual competition?
Say a U.S. hurdler beats their stud (can't recall his name, but I think he won gold in '04) or a Paul Hamm comes from nowhere to win a medal in gymnastics. Does a positive doping test mysteriously surface? Could we see a boxing decision along the lines of Roy Jones Jr. in 1988?
I wouldn't put anything past the Chinese at this point.

I don't think China has that much clout with the IOC officials.

I was thinking more along the espionage/conspiracy theories line. I'm just interested to see if a few high-profile athletes suddenly test positive.

 

[GB-Hack]

My god. Norway up 2-0 in the 5th minute.

Disappointing effort from the USWNT today. Absolutely pitiful, in fact.

Will the media actually come down harshly on the WNT like they would the men? I think the women's team could be three and done.

If you lose the first match in the group stage, chances are you are pretty much ****ed.

Not with the next two games against Japan and NZ and i believe 8 of the 12 teams making it to the QF.

Yeah, this isn't a complete disaster for the U.S. women. Now if the men go down a little over five hours from now, that's going to be a tough one to bounce back from.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Re: Beautiful gold, so-so silver and shameful bronze: The running Olympics threa

My god. Norway up 2-0 in the 5th minute.

Disappointing effort from the USWNT today. Absolutely pitiful, in fact.

Will the media actually come down harshly on the WNT like they would the men? I think the women's team could be three and done.

If you lose the first match in the group stage, chances are you are pretty much ****ed.

Not with the next two games against Japan and NZ and i believe 8 of the 12 teams making it to the QF.

Yeah, this isn't a complete disaster for the U.S. women. Now if the men go down a little over five hours from now, that's going to be a tough one to bounce back from.

I've got the alarm set!