2012 London Olympics

[Hebrew Hammer]

The gear on the bows used in Archery is ridiculous...all they're missing is a sight reticule and a laser range finder.

New event for 2016, the Hopolite Heptathlon:

1) Archery
2)Javelin
3)Wrestling
4)Fencing
5)Boxing
6)Marathon
7)Mud run obstacle course for time.

That would be a hell of an athlete. This is Sparta!!!

Womens soccer is awesome, why can't the men play that well? And no flopping!

Why isn't there a professional women's indoor volleyball league? I never get tired of watching it...great action and tight shorts.

[SimonM]

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/combat-spo...-men-judo.html

Booyeah!

[GeneChing]

W&M are bordering on my fav mascots ever. Who thought them up? H.P. Lovecraft?

Wenlock and Mandeville



I've only been watching on the telly (antenna). Men's art gymno was all about pommel horse. Great to see a Brit team win. Missy Franklin is looking like America's new Olympian sweetheart. An anglophile too - how diplomatic. I caught a boxing match on Telemundo last night: Ehsan Rouzbehani IRI def. Colombian Monra Valera. It was very entertaining. Also caught some Men's C2, which looked pretty fun. There's too **** many websites and none of them are streaming well for me.

[MightyB]

without seeing the matches - my hunch is just a guess.

About his match with the Korean - The Korean probably had more Yukos prompting the first call for his win, but the judges probably got together after hearing all of the boos and probably cited some nonsense about Ebinuma displaying more of the spirit of judo, being aggressive, etc... and lo and behold he wins because heaven forbid that no Japanese are represented in their sport in a prime weight category. (too many Euros were winning with their hybrid wrestling so the Kodokan changed the rules last year - you make your own assumption, but my feeling is the Kodokan always changes the rules to favor the Japanese throwers).


The second bout - maybe the ippon wasn't an ippon and was judged a wazari because he didn't fall on the flat of his back. My guess on what really happened though is to see my above comments.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Check out this photo of American Judoka Travis Stevens in his battle against the despised Germans!

Talk about being a warrior...

[GeneChing]

...all I hear is Benny Hill's Yakety Sax.

There's a lot more photos if you follow the link. I only c&ped the dancers

Benny Hill and bikinis... it's bonkers but brilliant! Beach volleyball hits Horse Guards Parade (and comes with a very strange soundtrack)
By Jane Fryer
PUBLISHED: 04:26 EST, 29 July 2012 | UPDATED: 03:32 EST, 30 July 2012

Maybe it’s the troupe of bikini-clad cheerleaders who keep dashing out to dance the conga and writhe on all fours.

Or it could be the Benny Hill theme tune that blasts out every time the linesmen rush forward to rake the sand off the red court lines.

Or perhaps it’s the DJ yelling: ‘This isn’t Wimbledon, you’re allowed to make some noise here!’

Whatever it is, women’s beach volleyball is not your average Olympic sport.

Victorious: Zara Dampney, left, from Great Britain celebrates with her teammate Shauna Mullin, right, after defeating Canada in their Beach volleyball match on Sunday

The British pair, the country's first female representatives in this sport at the Olympics since 1996, impressed on their way to a 17-21 21-14 15-13 victory

The British pair, the country's first female representatives in this sport at the Olympics since 1996, impressed on their way to a 17-21 21-14 15-13 victory
Great Britain's Shauna Mullin, left, and Zara Dampney embrace after they beat Canada during a beach volleyball match

And when Great Britain’s Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney jog through the drizzle and a tunnel of cheerleaders into the amazing purple 15,000-seat temporary stadium in Horse Guards Parade, it feels a long way from Chariots Of Fire.

When Olympic tickets went on sale in the ballot, beach volleyball was one of the most oversubscribed events, second only to the 100 metres final. A year on, it remains the hot ticket of the Games.

Or, at least, the women’s beach volleyball does. No one seems quite so interested in the men.

It could, of course, be due to the fact that the women display mesmerising skill, above and beyond their male peers.

A true taste of British summer: Dark skies during Men's Beach Volleyball Preliminary match between Spain and the Netherlands
Spain's Elsa Baquerizo McMillan challenges her Dutch rivals for the ball
Baquerizo embraces teammate Liliana Fernandez, rear, after they beat the Netherlands

But it is more likely to be because men play in singlets, baseball hats and baggy knee-length shorts while the women wear very, very, very small bikinis. Or at least they do when the temperature is above 16C. Regulations dictate that when it’s colder than this, they can wear shorts.

Yesterday afternoon, with thermometers bobbing at a perilous 17C, this revelation was a source of grave concern amongst a group of four men drinking pink champagne from plastic glasses at the bar until the men’s matches had finished.

‘Why would they do that to us? Why would they ruin our Olympic experience? This is the only thing we wanted tickets to!’ gasped Jonathan, a shipbroker from London.

Fortunately, his fears were never realised. As a beach volleyball virgin, I have no idea whether London in the rain has the same je ne sais quoi as the sun-kissed beaches of Ipanema, or Santa Monica. Though I assume the cheerleaders don’t usually stand shivering in dressing gowns between dances.

But it doesn’t matter. It is the noisiest, most colourful, bonkers, flesh-revealing thing you can imagine. A bit like the old Saturday night TV show Gladiators, but louder, more shouty and in bikinis with lager.


Bonkers: A group of dancers use beach balls during their routine to keep spectators entertained at the beach volleyball


What a show: Cheerleaders perform during Women's Beach Volleyball on Day 1 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Horse Guards Parade


Beach party vibe: Cheerleaders' dance performances were greeted with cheers as enthusiastic as any those granted any of the sporting prowess on display


And it’s really fun to watch. Every time a point is scored the music blasts – anything from Queen to The Proclaimers, Beyonce to The Rolling Stones.

The rules are brilliantly simple. There are two players on each team and the aim is to ‘ground’ the ball on your opponent’s side of the net, or prevent them from returning it. The first team to reach 21 points wins the set and the best of three sets wins the match.

Players can ‘flick’ the ball to each other up to three times on their side before ‘spiking’ it across the net.

And yes, Federation Internationale de Volleyball really do stipulate that the bottom half of female competitors’ kit can feature ‘no more than 6cm of cloth at the hip’ – unless it’s cooler than 16 degrees.

So it’s vital to have a body that is tanned, smooth and hairless. There’s nothing that moves, wobbles, ripples or bulges. And they all wear make-up and jewellery and patriotically painted nails.

The bodies come at a price. For Dampney and Mullin it was more than four hours of training six days a week for the past five years. They don’t drink alcohol or eat sweets. Fruity: Russia's Anastasia Vasina, right,and Anna Vozakova celebrate at Centre Court of the stadium in Horse Guards Parade at the end of the second set of their women's beach volleyball preliminary phase Fruity: Russia's Anastasia Vasina, right,and Anna Vozakova celebrate at Centre Court of the stadium in Horse Guards Parade at the end of the second set of their women's beach volleyball preliminary phase Pool B match yesterday afternoon
Russia's Anastasia Vasina smashes in front of China's Xue Chen at Centre Court of the stadium in Horse Guards Parade during their women's beach volleyball preliminary phase - Pool B match


Down in the wet sand, they’re halfway through the first set and the cheerleaders are out of their dressing gowns and doing the conga. Helicopters circle overhead (as pilots presumably lean over for a good gawp), the air is thick with the smell of hotdogs and lager and everyone is cheering.

And when Mullin and Dampney win the second set, everyone’s up on their feet dancing.

Suddenly, we’re winning. GB takes the final set and the crowd goes berserk.

Mullin said recently: ‘We don’t play beach volleyball to look good, we play it to win.’ And there’s something about the sport that will win you over.

It’s like a brilliant spoof – a sort of Hugh Hefner bikini Olympics crossed with a ridiculous game show.

It’s not something to take your granny to, or probably even your mum, but it’s a brilliantly fun afternoon. And we won!

[Hebrew Hammer]

As per our previous diatribe on Indian Athleticism, I present this:

A country of 1.2 billion people, one bronze medal in Men's air rifle accurate to 30ft...bravo India

Medal Tracker - India
OVERALLATHLETES
Bronze Medals
MEDAL EVENT ATHLETES RESULT
Shooting - Men's 10m Air Rifle Gagan Narang 701.1

Mongolia population 2.8 million also 1 bronze medal...in Judo!

Medal Tracker - Mongolia
OVERALLATHLETES
Bronze Medals
MEDAL EVENT ATHLETES RESULT
Judo - Men's 73kg, Bronze medal match, Sainjargal vs D. Elmont Nyam-Ochir Sainjargal 0011

Care to bet which country brings home more medals?

[sanjuro_ronin]

Kazikstan has 3 gold in weightlifting.

[monk64]

There's been a lot made about how the archery gold medalist is "legally blind".

From what I've read, he could correct his vision with glasses but chooses not to in competition.

I don't know a lot about archery and am not sure how much is vision and how much is muscle control and training to be 100% repeatable all the time.

Of course, it's still an awesome accomplishment to win a gold medal in archery, even if you have perfect vision :-)

[GeneChing]

No pun intended, but I was hoping to see some archery. I was hoping NBC, in their ever-lame coverage wisdom, would know that archery is trending with Brave, Avengers and Hunger Games. I'm interested in any of the events that are remotely martial.

Im Dong-hyun Sets World Record At London Olympics: Blind South Korean Archer Breaks 72-Arrow Mark
By BETSY BLANEY 07/27/12 05:35 PM ET AP

Im Dong Hyun of Korea celebrates breaking the World Record during the Men's Individual Archery Ranking Round on Olympics Opening Day as part of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Lord's Cricket Ground on July 27, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

LONDON — South Korean archer Im Dong-hyun sees only blurred colors and lines when he peers toward the target about 76 yards away, arrow at the ready. It doesn't stop the legally blind Olympian from hitting the grapefruit-sized yellow center – again and again and again.

Im set the first world record of the London Olympics on Friday, breaking his own mark in the 72-arrow event and helping South Korea set a team record in the opening round. He broke the record he set in Turkey in May by three points with a score of 699, hours before the opening ceremony of the 2012 Games.

"This is just the first round, so I will not get too excited by it," said Im, who has 10 percent vision in his left eye and 20 percent in his right.

He combined with Kim Bub-min and Oh Jin-hyek, breaking the record for 216 arrows with a score of 2,087. That was 18 better than the mark South Korea set in May.

The 26-year-old Im does not wear glasses in competition, saying he relies on distinguishing between the bright colors of the target. He won gold in the team event at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

South Korean coach Jang Young Sool also didn't seem too impressed by his team's accomplishment. He said his archers must get ready their next test.

"We will have a day of rest now and prepare for tomorrow," he said of the gold-medal match Saturday.

France finished second in the team event, followed by China and the U.S., which was ranked No. 1 coming into the event. The U.S. men beat South Korea last October in London.

Brady Ellison, world No. 1 individual archer, said the conditions were ideal Friday and he wasn't surprised the individual world record fell.

"I don't think you get those types of scores anywhere if the weather wasn't just perfect today," the American said. "Korea shoots good, and if you look at the scores, they're always top in the ranking round."

Also Friday, the American women's team scored a surprising second-place finish. Miranda Leek, Jennifer Nichols and Khatuna Lorig scored 1,979 points with 216 arrows. They were 14 points behind South Korea, which scored 1,993 points.

The U.S. team is ranked No. 6 in the world and qualified for London just last month in Utah.

Lorig, competing in her fifth Olympics, finished fourth in the individual event with 669 points on 72 arrows. She trailed archers from South Korea and Taiwan, all tied at 671 points.

"The ranking round is just a practice," she said. "As a team it is going really well. There is great team spirit and everybody is happy."

Lorig is a naturalized American who's represented the Unified Team of the former Soviet Union, the Republic of Georgia and the U.S. She coached archery to Jennifer Lawrence, star of "The Hunger Games."

Spectators hoping to catch a glimpse of the action Friday were turned away from Lord's cricket ground.

Preliminary rounds were listed as non-ticketed, so several thousand spectators showed up at the venue expecting to get in for free.

A spokeswoman for the London Games organizing committee said tickets were not advertised or sold for the qualifying events and "we have always made it clear" that the early competitions were not open for spectators.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects style on Taiwan; minor edits.)

BTW, heard about Bad Badminton, right?

Olympic badminton players expelled for trying to lose
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Updated 1h 35m ago

LONDON – The Badminton World Federation confirms it has disqualified eight female badminton players from China, South Korea and Indonesia from the Olympics doubles competition for trying to lose matches to receive a more favorable draw.

The federation found the players guilty of "not using one's best efforts to win a match" and "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport" in matches Tuesday night.

Players were roundly booed after they appeared not to exert themselves in preliminary rounds of the round-robin tournament before they were set to move on to elimination competition.

Early Wednesday, the Indonesian pair and both Korean pairs appealed the decision. There was no immediate word on the Chinese.

Then late Wednesday afternoon local time, the Federation announced it had rejected the Korean appeals and that Indonesia had withdrawn its appeal.

According to Niels Nygaard, president of Denmark's National Olympic Committee, this type of play has been "a problem" in other international competitions during qualifying rounds. It crept into the Olympics because this was the first time the Games is holding qualifying rounds rather than all elimination play.

"This was a very good action to take," said Nygaard, who adds that Badminton is very popular in Denmark where 125,000 people play. "It's very important that the players play their best at all times. They always should be expected to play their best."

Martin Kranitz, Germany's badminton team leader, said the federation's decision was "necessary."

"You cannot accept that players manipulate the game," Kranitz said, adding that he witnessed Tuesday's disputed matches. "It was unbelievable. Everybody could see this. This produces a negative image for badminton and a bad image of China."

Kranitz said about 220,000 people play for organized badminton clubs in Germany.

Badminton is not the only sport where competitors did not play to win here. On Wednesday, the coach of the Japanese women's soccer team said he had his team play for a 0-0 tie with South Africa on Tuesday to avoid having to travel to Scotland for the quarterfinals. The outcome left Japan second in Group F, meaning it will now play either Britain or Brazil in Cardiff on Friday. If it had won the match, it would have faced the top-ranked United States or France, another strong team, in Glasgow, also on Friday.

Japan coach Norio Sasaki used substitutes in the second half and told them to keep possession and not score, based on how the other match in Group F was going. In that match, Canada drew 2-2 with Sweden, meaning Sweden topped the group. "It was a different way of playing compared to the usual game, but the players were on the same page as me," he said.

The eliminated badminton players are world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China and their South Korean opponents Jung Kyun Eun and Kim Ha Na, along with South Korea's Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung and Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

The doubles pairs were all due to compete in quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon.

China's Lin Dan, the No. 2-ranked men's singles player, said through an interpreter the sport is going to be damaged.

"Especially for the audience," he said before the disqualifications were announced. "This is definitely not within the Olympic spirit. But like I said before, it's not one-sided. Whoever sets the rule should make it knockout so whoever doesn't try will just leave the Olympics."

In one of Tuesday night's matches, pitting Chinese players Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yan against Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na of South Korea, the players appeared to deliberately serve into the net, triggering a warning from the referee.

The federation examined whether the Chinese players sought to throw the match so that they would not have to meet another Chinese pair in the next round.

A similar controversy erupted a short time later involving another South Korean pair and their Indonesian opponents.

The performances prompted broad condemnation from both the International Olympic Committee and London Olympics chief Sebastian Coe, who said the play was "unacceptable.''

"It's depressing,'' Coe said. "Who wants to sit through something like that. It is unacceptable.''

IOC spokesman Mark Adams also expressed dissatisfaction, saying that the group would support the federation's review.

But London organizers said they would not provide refunds to the spectators at the questioned events.

London Olympics operations director Paul Deighton said the tickets to the disputed events also provided spectators with access to other matches that were not questioned.

"It wasn't a one-off game,'' Deighton said. "No one has asked for a refund.''

[Brule]

A side bar to the badminton things, i found it funny to see Bruce Li was the angle the media played here breifly, although not in this online story but you can see where they got it from.

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/racquet-sp...ces-semis.html

[Hebrew Hammer]

This American kid Brady Ellison was oustanding...US men have won the silver in team competition and Ellison has a shot at gold in the individual.

I'm surprised that some other cultures with a long history of archery aren't more competitive in this event, ie: England, Mongolia, Japan (with Kyudo) or even some representation of native americans on the US Team.

Would be cool if they added a horse back mounted event or two.

[GeneChing]

A side bar to the badminton things, i found it funny to see Bruce Li was the angle the media played here breifly, although not in this online story but you can see where they got it from.

Bruce Li. HAAAAAAAAA! I didn't see that until now. Thanks!

There has been some Archery coverage

Really? I missed that. Mind you, I'm watching NBC Broadcast (antenna) and Telemundo. I'm trying not to get sucked into streaming, because then I wouldn't get another thing done until after August 12th. I confess. I'm an Olympics addict.

[GeneChing]

London Olympics: Mariel Zagunis fails to medal in women's saber
Published: Wednesday, August 01, 2012, 2:04 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 01, 2012, 4:33 PM
Ken Goe, The Oregonian By Ken Goe, The Oregonian


LONDON - Mariel Zagunis was rolling in the semifinals Wednesday in the ExCeL Center.

The two-time reigning Olympic gold medalist in women's saber breezed to three, easy preliminary victories and was leading her semifinal round match with South Korea's Jiyeon Kim 12-5.

Then, inexplicably, the bottom dropped out.

"I had a little lapse in concentration," Zagunis said. "I don't know. Things started happening really quickly. I wasn't landing my attacks. All of a sudden it was 12-10, 13-10."

Once the momentum turned, Zagunis couldn't get it back. A Kim counter produced the winning touch in a stunning, 15-13 upset.

That dropped Zagunis into the bronze medal bout against Olga Kharlan of Ukraine. That one went south for Zagunis in mid-match too.

Trailing 10-9, Kharlan reeled off six of the bout's last seven points to win 15-10 and collect the bronze.

“I’m in disbelief,” Zagunis said. “It’ll probably hit me later. I don’t know when.”

Zagunis began the XXX Olympiad carrying the U.S. flag in the Opening Ceremony. Now, for the first time ever, she will return home to Beaverton from an Olympic Games empty handed.

"Everything happened so quickly," Zagunis said. "I wish of course I could turn back the clock now and go back to when it was 12-6 and refocus myself and do it all over again. But that's the thing with saber fencing. Things happen so quickly."

Both Kim and Kharlan used a counterattacking strategy against Zagunis' aggressiveness.

Kim said through an interpreter that she changed tactics in the semifinal bout. She began feinting, waiting for Zagunis to lunge, and then countered.

It seemed to work.

"She was impatient," said U.S. women's saber coach Ed Korfanty, who has worked with Zagunis at the Oregon Fencing Alliance since she picked up the weapon. "She had everything she wanted."

Until she didn’t. After the bout, Zagunis let her helmet fall to the strip in disbelief.

Things had gone so well for so long on Wednesday _ Zagunis won her first three bouts by scores of 15-7, 15-9 and 15-6 _ that perhaps she got into a hurry to get through the semis and onto the main event.

Kim is no slouch. She beat second-seeded Sofa Velikaya of Russia 15-9 in the final to become the first woman other than Zagunis to win the gold since women’s saber became an Olympic sport in 2004.

Zagunis, meanwhile, had to refocus in an hour after her semifinal loss, and it might have been impossible.

“She was a little bit sad,” Korfanty said of Zagunis between the semi and the bronze medal match. “She was crying a little bit. It was tough.”

The No. 1-seeded Zagunis didn’t come to London for bronze.

“It’s difficult to pull yourself back together after losing and have to fence again,” she said. “In all other tournaments, if you lose in the semis then you just get third by default.

“So I never have been in this position before. I tried to pull myself together, and I had a good first half with Kharlan. But she was mentally too strong, and wanted that medal as well.”

The ability to concentrate and focus usually is Zagunis’ best quality.

Korfanty talked earlier in the day about her businesslike approach and her mental toughness.

Afterward, he seemed as much at a loss as anyone else to explain how it unraveled against Kim.

“She didn’t beat me,” Zagunis said. “I beat myself. That’s pretty much how the bouts I lose go. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in the season or in the world championships, or in the Olympics. If I lose it’s generally not that they were the better fencers.

“It’s that I was mentally not there. Because I know when I’m there, I fence like I did in 2004 and 2008, and in the world championships 2009 and 2010. When I’m on like that, nobody can beat me.”

She said she will learn from what happened here, and put the lessons to use going forward.

And, if all goes well, that will include the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The only thing I can really look forward to is Rio,” she said. “My chances here are done.”

Olympics 2012: USA boxing in a sorry state, and it shows
Published 4 hours and 53 minutes ago
David Whitley AOL FanHouse Columnist

LONDON—A voice kept ringing out between rounds Wednesday at the boxing arena.

It was hard to make out over all of the Russians cheering. But it sounded like the guy knew what he was talking about. And the American fighter certainly could have used the advice.
Team USA boxing's Dominic Breazeale has been in the ring for less than four years, yet was counted on by the U.S. in these 2012 Olympics. (AP Photo)

“He’s in the building,” U.S. assistant coach Charles Leverette assured reporters.

He is head coach Basheer Abdullah. Try as he might, Abdullah couldn’t yell quarterback-turned-boxer Dominic Breazeale to a victory. In those few strange moments, you learned all you need to know about U.S. Olympic boxing.

We sent out a football player, and he was coached by a guy sitting in Section 28.

It would be embarrassing if it weren’t so funny. After a nice start Sunday, the U.S. went 0-for-3 Wednesday. America suddenly is down to four boxers.

U.S. boxers won one piddly bronze in Beijing. Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, they might.

“You’ve got to think about all the countries out there that have never had an Olympic medal,” Leverette said.

Yeah, but we’re not Bahrain. We’re the country that produced Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, the Spinks brothers, Oscar de la Hoya.

They were all Olympic heroes. Remember Howard Cosell announcing all those great prime-time bouts? Bob Costas will spend more time on dressage than boxing in London.

You can’t blame him. And you can’t really blame the guys in the ring. They’re trying.

Blame the system.

USA Boxing could mess up the one-car funeral it’s been overseeing. Abdullah’s role at the games epitomizes the problem.

A coach cannot be in the corner during a fight if he’s worked a professional bout in the prior six months. It’s a dumb rule, but the Olympics must maintain some guise of amateurism.

Abdullah thought he’d be okay, but he worked a women’s bout in March. That started the clock over.

USA Boxing supposedly knew this but got caught in the usual scramble. It didn’t even hire Abdullah until a month before the games.

Even if the coach had been able to scream in Breazeale’s face, it wouldn’t have mattered against Russia’s Magomed Omarov.

But think how preposterous it would be if USA Basketball hired Mike Krzyzewski four weeks ago. And he had to call plays from a dozen rows up.

Leverette initially repeated the party line that the absentee coach routine is not a problem. But he’s too honest a guy to keep up the charade for long.

“In certain ways, of course,” he said. “Any sport you go through, if you don’t know who’s leading, how do you know where to go?”

USA Boxing certainly doesn’t have a clue. America won 10 golds in the boycotted 1984 games. It has two in the past 20 years.

There’s been a dearth of leadership and severe lack of money. But even if Jerry Colangelo were brought in to straighten things out like he did the Dream Team, boxing’s inherent problems might be too much.

It’s a niche sport that most kids aren’t exposed to. There’s no real amateur pipeline. The average American has no idea the name of the heavyweight champion of the world.

The Olympics used to launch fighters into pro stardom. It’s become a chicken-and-egg proposition.

Boxing isn’t popular because there are no Sugar Rays or de la Hoyas coming along. There are no Sugar Rays or de la Hoyas coming along because boxing isn’t popular.

And we haven’t even mentioned the MMA.

All this is how the U.S. ends up with a guy like Breazeale in the ring against a Russian bear. He was a quarterback at Northern Colorado during the last Olympics.

He was 6-foot-7 and obviously a good athlete, but not good enough to make the pros. On a whim, he hooked on with All-American Heavyweights, a program that tries to turn college athletes into boxers.

“I only have 3½ years under my belt,” he said. “And it showed tonight.”

The judges scored it 19-8 for Omarov. If only the Russian would have grabbed the microphone and yelled, “Now I want Tebow!” it would have been the perfect farcical ending.

At least the other two American fights were closer. But it’s obvious the problems that ailed us in the ring aren’t getting much better.

“It’s unfortunate,” Leverette said. “We’ll go back and regroup and light a fire under these kids again.”

Here’s hoping the Abdullah has a very long match.

At least the Fab Five took gold. Like I said, I was at the Olympic Trials which were in San Jose this year, so I've been following gymnastics more closely than ever.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Bruce Li. HAAAAAAAAA! I didn't see that until now. Thanks!


Really? I missed that. Mind you, I'm watching NBC Broadcast (antenna) and Telemundo. I'm trying not to get sucked into streaming, because then I wouldn't get another thing done until after August 12th. I confess. I'm an Olympics addict.

Its called Cable or DSL Gene...they have about 4-5 channels of coverage going throughout the day.