They went to sleep and I quickly ghetto-rigged my laptop to my t.v. It's actually a quite impressive tangle of cables and for someone that can barely work the GPS in the car I'm pretty damn impressed with myself. I have to admit, watching prelims during prime time is a let-down, I think. I really appreciate Dick Ebersol making the athletes swim their finals at 7 in the morning during the Beijing Olympics. These time zones are going to kill me. In fact, I want FINA to listen up and stop worrying about open water safety (oh wait....nevermind.....) and worry about holding world championships in time zones that work for me. Enough with the middle east and asia, I put my foot down at EST.
Announcers, can we stop calling the women "girls?" I hate to get all bra-burning and Gloria Steinem here but it's straight up condescending. All those women can kick almost all your asses so have some respect. We don't call the men "boys." You gonna call Abby Wambach a "girl?" No, you're not. She'll head-butt you from here to the moon so don't call Vollmer one either.
I'm going to let the experts coffee talk about what happened this morning, especially in the boys men's 4x100 free relay (Ryan Lochte in the final? Discuss.) Garrett's quote after the race broke my heart. I don't think it was his "fault" and I just want to fly to China and give him a big Jewish Mother hug and a nice loving and rejuvenating bowl of matzah ball soup.
So with a huge amount of hope, excitement and a sprinkling of OCD- tinged obsession fans will stay up late and wake up early for the next week or so. We'll all be completely sleep-deprived, our immune systems will crash and our white blood cell count will shoot through the roof. Maybe we'll all get pneumonia and become better-than-ever versions of ourselves. Now everyone, go take a nap.
I'm already 5 yrs behind in my sleep due to my job. This swim meet may kill me. I should have taken vacation.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what kind of discussions went on among the swimmers and coaches to decide who was swimming in the finals of the men's relay. I do not think Lochte should have had to prove himself in prelims, and I think he's a far better racer than GWG, but I feel bad for GWG for taking the weight of disappointment of bronze on his shoulders.
p.s Rowdy is even harder to take when the results are known and somewhat disappointing.
ReplyDeleteWhat did GWG say?
ReplyDeleteHaving thought about this all day, the coaches were in an awkward spot because if they guarantee Lochte a spot then their final relay is set before prelims, with Adrian, Lezak and Phelps already guaranteed.
ReplyDeleteHere's GWG's quote:
ReplyDelete“I feel sick about it. It’s a huge disappointment to get bronze,” he said. “It’s pretty embarrassing for me to go slow like that and it’s disappointing to feel like it was my fault that we did poorly.”
http://sports.sanchoverde.com/?p=3335
Hear, hear on your caution to the announcers! Our women's team could practically walk out on deck wearing super hero capes so the "girls" nonsense can just stop right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually making chicken noodle soup tonight. Raising a spoon to GWG. That had to be hard. I hope Phelps' words about it being more motivation take over quickly from the beating-yourself-up stage.
I'm also laughing at all of us talking about how sleep-deprived we are. I'm reminding myself that though I still have to run a functional life here, at least I don't have to swim all these races myself so I can't possibly be as tired as those athletes, right?
ReplyDeleteYeah, check in with me on Friday night and we'll all see how we're doing.
I like GWG.. but since beijing he hasnt been the same swimmer. He is such a risky choice when you know that Lochte can deliver when he needs too. This needs to be a wake up call.
ReplyDelete