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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 9, 2016 21:41:04 GMT -5
I have never much cared for Phelps. I mean, I admire his accomplishments, but he just... doesn't flip any of my switches as a sports fan. I can't explain it. I think I wish he'd had more of a rival or something? I don't know. I just found the All Michael Phelps All The Time Show in London to be exhausting, and it's built up enough residual ill will that I can't muster any enthusiasm for him now. I'll turn in my American Sports Fan card now.  Phelps works much better as an adversary than he does as a hero in terms of storytelling which I think is part of the reason its hard to muster enthusiasm for him when watching NBC's coverage. He is much more fun abroad because the local commentary team pretty much makes him out to be this unstoppable monster that "Our local hero must overcome." He's pretty much Galactus in swimtrunks. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 9, 2016 22:19:15 GMT -5
Katie Ledecky is awesome.
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Post by ganews on Aug 9, 2016 22:27:46 GMT -5
I have never much cared for Phelps. I mean, I admire his accomplishments, but he just... doesn't flip any of my switches as a sports fan. I can't explain it. I think I wish he'd had more of a rival or something? I don't know. I just found the All Michael Phelps All The Time Show in London to be exhausting, and it's built up enough residual ill will that I can't muster any enthusiasm for him now. I'll turn in my American Sports Fan card now. I haven't watched more than a moment of swimming coverage at a time this year. But what made Phelps tolerable in 2012 was in comparison to his truly awful teammate and rival Ryan Lochte, who seemed like such a douche and so clearly burned to supersede the former. Wifemate and I couldn't remember his name until we saw all the swimmers introduced in a montage, and we were like, "Oh that guy." |
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Aug 10, 2016 8:34:23 GMT -5
I have never much cared for Phelps. I mean, I admire his accomplishments, but he just... doesn't flip any of my switches as a sports fan. I can't explain it. I think I wish he'd had more of a rival or something? I don't know. I just found the All Michael Phelps All The Time Show in London to be exhausting, and it's built up enough residual ill will that I can't muster any enthusiasm for him now. I'll turn in my American Sports Fan card now. Phelps works much better as an adversary than he does as a hero in terms of storytelling which I think is part of the reason its hard to muster enthusiasm for him when watching NBC's coverage. He is much more fun abroad because the local commentary team pretty much makes him out to be this unstoppable monster that "Our local hero must overcome." He's pretty much Galactus in swimtrunks. That makes total sense. And I will never not love watching swimming during the Olympics because it's the one time my years of youth and high school swim team come in handy, allowing me to feel comfortable chiding the world-class athletes on my television with things like "hmmm, little sloppy on that flip turn. Hope it doesn't cost her" |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Aug 10, 2016 9:18:32 GMT -5
I haven't watched more than a moment of swimming coverage at a time this year. But what made Phelps tolerable in 2012 was in comparison to his truly awful teammate and rival Ryan Lochte, who seemed like such a douche and so clearly burned to supersede the former. Wifemate and I couldn't remember his name until we saw all the swimmers introduced in a montage, and we were like, "Oh that guy." Oh man, Ryan Lochte is THE WORST. When he showed up at some point on my TV at the start of these games (perhaps a montage like you said? Or in a commercial?), he struck me like he's America's super-annoying fuck-up cousin who we all can't stand, but because he's family we have to invite him to functions. He's obviously great at swimming, and if he'd been born in a different era would probably have been the best of his generation, so you can't really ignore him BUT OH MY GOD HE IS THE WORST. Nudeviking, you make such a great point about Phelps. He is really the athlete who most makes me think like that Mitchell & Webb sketch with the Nazis where they're sitting in a foxhole somewhere and suddenly wondering, "Wait, are we the bad guys?" There are many Americans-at-the-Olympics sports situations that make me think like that -- women's beach volleyball, men's basketball, women's gymnastics*, women's soccer, and on and on -- but Phelps is, like, the purest distillation of the feeling. *Strangely, for the first time ever, I am wildly in love with our utterly, smashingly dominant women's gymnastics team this year. Normally I spend my gymnastics TV time howling about how NBC is dropping the ball by not showing any of the other teams, but last night I realized that, frankly, there was no narrative benefit to showing the other teams. When they did take the time to showcase non-Americans' performances, even the really great ones, it was like everyone else was playing at a lesser sport than what the American gymnasts were doing. And my knee-jerk is to reject the heavy favorite every time, but... not this team. I love that crazy, amazing, dominant Simone Biles! |
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 10, 2016 9:36:58 GMT -5
I haven't watched more than a moment of swimming coverage at a time this year. But what made Phelps tolerable in 2012 was in comparison to his truly awful teammate and rival Ryan Lochte, who seemed like such a douche and so clearly burned to supersede the former. Wifemate and I couldn't remember his name until we saw all the swimmers introduced in a montage, and we were like, "Oh that guy." Oh man, Ryan Lochte is THE WORST. When he showed up at some point on my TV at the start of these games (perhaps a montage like you said? Or in a commercial?), he struck me like he's America's super-annoying fuck-up cousin who we all can't stand, but because he's family we have to invite him to functions. He's obviously great at swimming, and if he'd been born in a different era would probably have been the best of his generation, so you can't really ignore him BUT OH MY GOD HE IS THE WORST. Nudeviking , you make such a great point about Phelps. He is really the athlete who most makes me think like that Mitchell & Webb sketch with the Nazis where they're sitting in a foxhole somewhere and suddenly wondering, "Wait, are we the bad guys?" There are many Americans-at-the-Olympics sports situations that make me think like that -- women's beach volleyball, men's basketball, women's gymnastics*, women's soccer, and on and on -- but Phelps is, like, the purest distillation of the feeling. *Strangely, for the first time ever, I am wildly in love with our utterly, smashingly dominant women's gymnastics team this year. Normally I spend my gymnastics TV time howling about how NBC is dropping the ball by not showing any of the other teams, but last night I realized that, frankly, there was no narrative benefit to showing the other teams. When they did take the time to showcase non-Americans' performances, even the really great ones, it was like everyone else was playing at a lesser sport than what the American gymnasts were doing. And my knee-jerk is to reject the heavy favorite every time, but... not this team. I love that crazy, amazing, dominant Simone Biles! CBC has a story about the "Olympians of Tinder" on their site right now and of course Lochte is the poster child. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 11, 2016 8:49:05 GMT -5
Did anyone see the nonsense with the Ukrainian men's gymnastics team? The one guy totally just purposely tanked - grabbed the bars and then came back down, went to the floor, posed, walked off - purposely got zeros. All three scores count in the team all around, so he knew what he was doing. So weird.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Aug 11, 2016 9:59:07 GMT -5
Did anyone see the nonsense with the Ukrainian men's gymnastics team? The one guy totally just purposely tanked - grabbed the bars and then came back down, went to the floor, posed, walked off - purposely got zeros. All three scores count in the team all around, so he knew what he was doing. So weird. That was the craziest thing I've ever seen*! I just read somewhere a theory that one of the Ukrainian gymnasts was physically unable to compete, but fell ill too close to the start of the event for them to be able to activate an alternate, so the team was stuck. Since NBC didn't see fit to broadcast any of this shit, and only mentioned it basically in passing two days later, I feel I've been robbed of a certain measure of the fun SCANDAL! INTRIGUE! WHAT THE FUCK??-ery that we're all due during any given Olympics. Hmph. So, with the usual "Fuck you, NBC" as a given, I did enjoy the presentation they gave us of the men's all-around. What an exciting competition! Men's gymnastics is the bomb, and I couldn't believe that Ukrainian guy doing routines with start values over 17. THAT'S INSANE. Our tivoing yesterday brought us some other gems -- some trap shooting featuring an Italian guy who was basically a live-action Elmer Fudd; the men's cycling time trials where an American guy fell over not 200 meters into his race and we learned that the cycling commentators are really welcome, genial patter to have on in the background during dinner; and some flamboyant saber fencing where we discovered the joy that is the "flunge" (note to the fencing color guy: you only need to explain once that a "flunge" is a flying lunge. Either stop using the word "flunge" or stop explaining each time what it means, because... well, we can figure it out). And we'd tivoed enough daytime stuff that we were able to zap over most of the swimming in prime time. Well played, stately Dick n Hisses Manor! *Okay, I've probably seen crazier, but it was still really weird. |
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Post by ganews on Aug 11, 2016 11:34:29 GMT -5
and some flamboyant saber fencing where we discovered the joy that is the "flunge" (note to the fencing color guy: you only need to explain once that a "flunge" is a flying lunge. Either stop using the word "flunge" or stop explaining each time what it means, because... well, we can figure it out).  FLUNGE! |
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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 11, 2016 12:20:36 GMT -5
I haven't watched more than a moment of swimming coverage at a time this year. But what made Phelps tolerable in 2012 was in comparison to his truly awful teammate and rival Ryan Lochte, who seemed like such a douche and so clearly burned to supersede the former. Wifemate and I couldn't remember his name until we saw all the swimmers introduced in a montage, and we were like, "Oh that guy." Oh man, Ryan Lochte is THE WORST. When he showed up at some point on my TV at the start of these games (perhaps a montage like you said? Or in a commercial?), he struck me like he's America's super-annoying fuck-up cousin who we all can't stand, but because he's family we have to invite him to functions. He's obviously great at swimming, and if he'd been born in a different era would probably have been the best of his generation, so you can't really ignore him BUT OH MY GOD HE IS THE WORST. I still remember the enormous amounts of hype that Lotche got heading into London, when it was so screamingly obvious that NBC had decided to designate him as the new Phelps. Say what you will about Phelps, but he at least seems to have a decent brain up there (though his devotion to that weird cupping thing that is covering him in those perfectly circular bruises is causing me to rethink that). Lotche--not so much, which quickly became apparent as soon as he sat down for his first conversation with Bob Costas. Until last night, I don't remember his name coming up at all this year. |
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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 11, 2016 12:27:19 GMT -5
Did anyone see the nonsense with the Ukrainian men's gymnastics team? The one guy totally just purposely tanked - grabbed the bars and then came back down, went to the floor, posed, walked off - purposely got zeros. All three scores count in the team all around, so he knew what he was doing. So weird. That was the craziest thing I've ever seen*! I just read somewhere a theory that one of the Ukrainian gymnasts was physically unable to compete, but fell ill too close to the start of the event for them to be able to activate an alternate, so the team was stuck. Since NBC didn't see fit to broadcast any of this shit, and only mentioned it basically in passing two days later, I feel I've been robbed of a certain measure of the fun SCANDAL! INTRIGUE! WHAT THE FUCK??-ery that we're all due during any given Olympics. Hmph. They did cover it Monday(?) night, during the late-night show where the majority of the coverage of the team final was regulated to. They didn't dwell on it too long, of course, since it didn't involve the US, but they did discuss it some. They were as baffled as everyone else. I don't think we've still gotten an "official" reason why the guy did that. Speaking of the team final, I guess I'll need to go online to see how Japan won the gold, since NBC showed maybe two vaults and one floor routine from them. |
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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 11, 2016 12:40:01 GMT -5
Anyone see this odd Daily Beast article where a (straight male) reporter went to the Olympic Village, opened up dating apps, and waited to see how many athletes would hit on him? One of the apps he used was Grindr, and while the original version of the article didn't list any names, it would list nationalities and give hints about height and sport. There are only 11 openly gay male athletes at the Games, which means this guy was essentially coming pretty close to outing closeted athletes. The article has been changed to take out some of the more obvious identifiable information, but the original version is still out there.
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Post by ganews on Aug 11, 2016 13:29:56 GMT -5
Anyone see this odd Daily Beast article where a (straight male) reporter went to the Olympic Village, opened up dating apps, and waited to see how many athletes would hit on him? One of the apps he used was Grindr, and while the original version of the article didn't list any names, it would list nationalities and give hints about height and sport. There are only 11 openly gay male athletes at the Games, which means this guy was essentially coming pretty close to outing closeted athletes. The article has been changed to take out some of the more obvious identifiable information, but the original version is still out there. With sexual activity in the Olympic Village so well-publicized for the past couple Olympiads, I have wondered how many athletic-looking people just cruise the area so that Tinder or whatever can mark that as their location. It seems like there would be a direct-to-DVD "Wedding Crashers" rip-off script in that; take that premise and sprinkle in the sports montage from "Old School" when the crashers are forced to demonstrate athletic prowess.
Of course, you can't make that movie, the IOC would never allow it. The Disney student worker dorms are another major if lesser-known hook-up spot, but that setting won't work for the same reason.
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Post by Lt. Broccoli on Aug 12, 2016 14:51:59 GMT -5
Canada got a gold medal in tramampoline! Trambopoline!
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Baron von Costume
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 12, 2016 17:07:29 GMT -5
I've never like Hope Solo but man was she an extra giant piece of shit today. I've loved some of the shade she's gotten back.
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Post by Lt. Broccoli on Aug 12, 2016 18:35:26 GMT -5
I've never like Hope Solo but man was she an extra giant piece of shit today. I've loved some of the shade she's gotten back. She's the Ronaldo of women's soccer. |
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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 12, 2016 23:09:10 GMT -5
Before the woman's 800 meter freestyle: "OK, I know that Katie Ledecky is really good, but geez, announcers, stop acting like the race is just a formality to her winning the gold medal."
After the woman's 800 meter freestyle: "I'm pretty sure Katie Ledecky had time to shower, change, go out to dinner, and get a good night's sleep before the silver medalist finished."
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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 12, 2016 23:14:05 GMT -5
Anyone see this odd Daily Beast article where a (straight male) reporter went to the Olympic Village, opened up dating apps, and waited to see how many athletes would hit on him? One of the apps he used was Grindr, and while the original version of the article didn't list any names, it would list nationalities and give hints about height and sport. There are only 11 openly gay male athletes at the Games, which means this guy was essentially coming pretty close to outing closeted athletes. The article has been changed to take out some of the more obvious identifiable information, but the original version is still out there. With sexual activity in the Olympic Village so well-publicized for the past couple Olympiads, I have wondered how many athletic-looking people just cruise the area so that Tinder or whatever can mark that as their location. It seems like there would be a direct-to-DVD "Wedding Crashers" rip-off script in that; take that premise and sprinkle in the sports montage from "Old School" when the crashers are forced to demonstrate athletic prowess.
Of course, you can't make that movie, the IOC would never allow it. The Disney student worker dorms are another major if lesser-known hook-up spot, but that setting won't work for the same reason.
They could just do what Blades of Glory did and make up a fake international competition. Or make up a fake internationally beloved theme park. |
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𝓐𝓻𝓮 𝓦𝓮 𝓒𝓸𝓸𝓵 𝓨𝓮𝓽?
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Post by dＬᵒ on Aug 13, 2016 13:18:18 GMT -5
Nudeviking is there hype over the winter 2018 games? I found out that that Beijing is hosting the '22 winter games, and Tokyo has the next summer (2020), so the games are going to be Asian for awhile. /edit: the 2026 winter games are up for decision, and Salt Lake and Denver are up for the running but I kind of doubt either will get it because: 1) the Salt Lake games were a success (especially since they were in the shadow of 9/11), but it was because of them that widespread corruption was exposed at the IOC, so I think that they're going to hold a grudge. Also it may be 'too soon'. 2) Denver was going to host in 1976, but the town rejected it because they didn't want to cover the budget. Denver is kind of a dysfunctional place since the town is home to the most extreme ends of the American political spectrum; with the crunchiest of hippies rejecting the corporate nature of the games, and the home of the survivalist movement which distrusts anything foreign and 'tainted' by the UN. And not to mention that the airport is closer to Kansas than the city.
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Post by ganews on Aug 13, 2016 14:00:33 GMT -5
We were actually in Japan when the 2020 award was announced. It was just as we were leaving, and they had up a big digital banner announcing it. Wifemate is tossing around the idea of going for 2020, and while it would be relatively convenient because we can stay at Grandma's house in the city, I kind of hate to waste half a trip to Japan on a more-expensive-than-usual flight. I went to some Atlanta events in 1996, and I think I would more enjoy seeing totally new sights in west Japan. I'm not terribly interested in watching sports not on TV unless they're baseball and/or I know at least one of the players.
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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 13, 2016 20:07:39 GMT -5
Nudeviking is there hype over the winter 2018 games? I found out that that Beijing is hosting the '22 winter games, and Tokyo has the next summer (2020), so the games are going to be Asian for awhile. /edit: the 2026 winter games are up for decision, and Salt Lake and Denver are up for the running but I kind of doubt either will get it because: 1) the Salt Lake games were a success (especially since they were in the shadow of 9/11), but it was because of them that widespread corruption was exposed at the IOC, so I think that they're going to hold a grudge. Also it may be 'too soon'. 2) Denver was going to host in 1976, but the town rejected it because they didn't want to cover the budget. Denver is kind of a dysfunctional place since the town is home to the most extreme ends of the American political spectrum; with the crunchiest of hippies rejecting the corporate nature of the games, and the home of the survivalist movement which distrusts anything foreign and 'tainted' by the UN. And not to mention that the airport is closer to Kansas than the city. There was some hype when they won the bid and some more hype during Sochi because "We're next!!" but other than that it's been pretty quiet. No big protests about it or fears that they won't be ready or anything like that and on the flip side no one seems really stoked that they will soon get to see Olympic curling but Koreans in general are very proud of their country so I'm sure as it gets closer to the actual date they will amp up their enthusiasm for the event. I know I'll end up going to some random event just because why wouldn't you go if the Olympics were being held like an hour or so from your house. |
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 13, 2016 21:11:30 GMT -5
Americans calling Ashton Eaton a traitor for supporting his Canadian wife during her event...  |
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Post by Jimmy James on Aug 14, 2016 9:42:14 GMT -5
While looking up the most decorated Olympians not named Michael Phelps, I came across Italian fencer Edoardo Mangiarotti, who claimed thirteen medals across 24 years. (his first at age 17 at the 1936 Berlin games, his last at age 41 in Rome in 1960) His Wiki article revealed he was a natural right-hander, but his father (also a great fencer) trained him to use his left. Now I desperately want to believe that just once during a match he was on the verge of losing to his opponent before triumphantly announcing that he was not actually left handed, swapping his blade, and winning decisively.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Aug 14, 2016 15:56:02 GMT -5
Ahh, NBC. Your awful coverage continues to be awful, no matter how frequently and often the awfulness of your coverage is. It's only the primetime coverage, the show that most of the audience actually watches, does the network insist on covering it like a reality show rather than a sports competition. And, as I've said before, the network assumes the primetime audience is only interested in five sports: swimming, diving, track, gymnastics, and beach volleyball. No, NBC will only air gymnastics in prime time if it is WOMEN'S gymnastics. Despite the fact that Men's Gymnastics is far more competitive and exciting right now. NBC doesn't care about that. They only care that USA Women's Gymnastics can crush everyone. Which, yes, USA Women are great! Great gymnasts. But it is barely a competition because no other country is anywhere near their level. So, it isn't really all that thrilling as a *sports competition*. Meanwhile, the Men's gymnastics is incredibly exciting. So many gymnasts doing crazy difficult stuff. NBC doesn't care because the USA is not #1. I mean, who would want to see All Time Greatest gymnast Kohei Uchimura? He's Japanese? Meh, NBC doesn't care. The Men's team competition was pretty tight. The Men's All Around was one of the most thrilling All Around events at the Olympics in years! OMG, seeing Kohei Uchimura actually get pressured by someone was so intense! 1000% more exciting than the Women's All Around. NBC aired 20 minutes of it after 11pmET. Hey, I mean, I guess they actually bothered to tell people who Kohei Uchimura is. So, that's nice? This is just incredibly bizarre to me. Kohei Uchimura actually is the greatest gymnast of all time. NBC's near blackout of coverage of him is crazy to me. They had no trouble showing Vitaly Scherbo crush the 1992 Olympics. They sung the praises of Yang Wei in 2008. But both in 2012 and this year, they've been like.... "Oh, and there's also this Japanese guy, Uchimura. Whatever, back to the WOMEN!!" I kind of feel insulted on his behalf. I think it just seems especially bizarre this year because the USA media headlines are all "SIMONE BILES IS THE GREATEST EVER!!!" and I'm like, "Hello? Kohei Uchimura is actually competing at these exact same Olympics, yeah?" (I'm also incredibly annoyed that NBC won't bother to explain to their viewers how gymnastics scoring works now. They just color code the scores. Because apparently telling people that scores are a combination of difficulty and execution is too complicated.) Whatever. I gave up on NBC's broadcast. The editing of gymnastics coverage was driving me batty. And the tape delay of the nighttime events with me being on the West Coast was just intolerable. I switched to live streaming. |
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Post by ganews on Aug 14, 2016 18:14:47 GMT -5
Aw shit son it's women's weightlifting on NBC SN (I'm in a bar). The snatch. This is what the Olympics are about. I really wish the sound was up.
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 14, 2016 19:43:29 GMT -5
Hey all you Olympians where the commentator is like... "And of course she'll be going home with her Olympic Silver medal to get back to her third year of medical school." Stop hogging all the talent you overachieving fucks  |
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Post by Lt. Broccoli on Aug 15, 2016 5:51:29 GMT -5
The 100m finals are the most exciting 10 seconds of my life, every four years, forever. It's just so cool! I can't explain it!
A Canadian medallist also helps!
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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 15, 2016 6:15:23 GMT -5
There's something calming about watching a marathon in the middle of the night while feeding a baby.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 15, 2016 6:52:33 GMT -5
The 100m finals are the most exciting 10 seconds of my life, every four years, forever. It's just so cool! I can't explain it! A Canadian medallist also helps! Usain Bolt makes it look easy. I mean, I know he's running hard, he's putting some effort in, but then he finishes and he doesn't even look winded or that sweaty and the other guys have just fallen over. And I loved the Olympic mascot running after him like "I have a plushie for youuuuuuu...." |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Aug 15, 2016 9:49:59 GMT -5
Notes from a weekend of smorgasbording the Olympics:
-- I continue to adore team handball. Man, what I would give to suddenly have a pro team handball league in the US to watch on the regular (with top-notch talent, of course. I'm not talking about some "early years of MLS" bullshit). Why is this sport not everyone's favorite team sport ever? It's bonkers and wonderful and the games are really short. I love it!
-- I appreciated getting a pretty thorough presentation of the women's marathon on one of the NBC periphery channels. I think Boomer wanted to strangle Hugs and me, though, for how incessantly we were like, "DID YOU KNOW WE DID A MARATHON THIS YEAR?" the entire time. The announcers gave the weather conditions at the start, and we were like, "No biggie. Ours was worse." (For the record, the weather during our race got better; the weather during the Rio one? Got worse.) After some excited talk of how this was the largest field ever for an Olympics women's marathon, the announcers grudgingly admitted there was a relaxed qualifying time, to which we were like, "If it was 7 hours, we NAILED it!" With each mile marker passed, we would inform Boomer which part of the Disney course they'd be on by then. Boomer basically spent 2 hours and 20 minutes making jerking-off motions behind our backs.
-- The men's 10,000m race was totally crazy and so much fun and I wish they were running it again every day. The best part was when they were coming around a turn and there was this totally groovy-looking pole vaulter guy just wandering around the infield right next to them, and we were all watching him and his incredible flowing hair and headband, laughing about how awesome he was... and then noticed that Mo Farah had just fallen over right next to him. Groovy Guy was totally like, "I had nothing to do with that!"
-- The men's floor exercise finals (the part of the men's gymnastics that NBC deigned to show us during prime time) was super-fun -- we had the Japanese guys trying outlandishly crazy routines but clearly being like, "Eh, dude, we won the team all-around and that's all we came here for, so whatever." We had the Americans, who always rub me the wrong way, failing spectacularly. Then we had the Brazilians having the times of their lives, with the entire building supporting them (I loved the crowd cheering all of Sam USA's mistakes because they knew it was assuring their guy the bronze), and then ugly-crying the most extraordinary celebration of silver and bronze. I'm a cold-hearted monster of a sports fan most of the time. I think I most enjoy hearing the lamentations of my sports enemies even more than seeing my team/athlete win, but you know what? It's always awesome to see a competition in the Olympics where all three medal-winners are overjoyed.
-- So much sprinting incredibleness! I don't know how track & field is going to top yesterday's events.
-- Ethiopia's running uniform designs remind me of a canned-good label and I can't put my finger on which one, but as soon as I mentioned it to Boomer and Hugs they both agreed. So now we spend each race cheering for the cans to win. In other sartorial news, as someone with indelible running-related farmer's tan issues, I've been pleased to see lots of women in the teensy-tiny running bikini shorts with very pronounced tan lines from shorts with more coverage. Olympic athletes: they're just like us!
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