Olympics Thread

That was no motion, that was really happening.

I'm so confused about what I should have been doing as a young man in the HS marching band playing the national anthem all those awful awful Friday football nights.









At home feverishly jerking it, that's probably what I should have been doing.

You should have been at my school. The band never played the National anthem. The Choir sang it instead. Every Friday night.

Here?  Yes, but I have it on good authority a couple of people in Toledo are also watching it, so you're in good company.

ehh, I don't see the big deal. It is just a hand over a heart, even if she is sending a message it still is just a gesture that is very easy to let go of. If she doesn't want to do it, she shouldnt have to.

If she don't like it here she oughtta just git back on whatever boat her ancestors come over here on and just go back to wherever it is they came from!!!!


Wait. Hmm. there may be a few problems with that whole "boat her ancestors came over on" thing and a few other things that happened in the intervening years that may interfere with this 19 year old gymnast having such a deep, unabiding love for this country. Lemme think about this and get back to you.

It's time for my final blow-out Olympics Tivo Dragnet Round-Up!  Here are my thoughts regarding everything I can remember from the last four days of Rio 2016:

-- Thursday was a bit of a blur.  Hugs works the late shift on Thursdays, so Boomer and I tend to sit in suspended animation until she gets home, because we're not allowed to do fun things at stately Dick n Hisses Manor without a full compliment of participants.  So there was no tivo of the day stuff, and a fairly lackluster approach to the prime time broadcast.  I did notice Bolt winning the 200m, though, and that was awesome, because Usain Bolt is awesome.  That's my inane comment for today.

-- So, I made some disparaging remarks about the bullshitty bullshittery that is rhythmic gymnastics as an Olympic sport, after the really, really lame demos of it that were included in the Gymnastics Gala.  I am now retracting those remarks.  Rhythmic gymnastics is FANTASTIC!  I mean, it should, by no means, be an Olympic sport.  That's just ridiculous.  But it SHOULD be on my television CONSTANTLY.  Especially when enhanced by commentary by Nastia Liukin, whose most in-depth assessment of a replay tends to be, "That's really difficult."  (I half expected her, by the end of the rhythmic gymnastics presentations, to sit silently through a medly of slo-mo replays and then say, "That's five women wearing a lot of make-up.")  One of my favorite things about it was the costumes.  Hugs and I are both doing a lot of embellished needlepoint stuff lately, specifically Christmassy projects, with lots of sparkly threads and beads and whatnot.  As the teams would mince out onto the floor, each in a more elaborately sparkly costume than the last, we'd gasp aloud, "I want to needlepoint them!"

-- American TV announcers, in anticipation of the Germany/Brazil soccer final: "Will a win from Brazil do anything to offer redemption from their World Cup loss to Germany?"  Non-American Andres Cantor, without even having to think about it: "No."  

-- I love, love, love the track & field relays, and found myself surprisingly tying up my own sense of self-worth in the fates of the US women's and Jamaican men's 4x100 races.  Man, it was such a relief to see the Jamaicans get to the anchor leg tied with everyone else, because I knew before he started that Bolt would get that 9th gold medal.  And, after a lifetime of being ambivalent at best about track & field, that became a really important goal for me during the last week.  You know, because it was a goal for me.  I had a lot to do with all those wins.

-- We watched the entirety of the men's marathon yesterday, and it was both fantastic and infuriating.  Fantastic because Galen Rupp didn't win, but infuriating because he managed a really emphatic bronze-medal finish.  BOOOOO!  Anyway, after having heard whatever person it was who tweeted a suggestion at the outset of the games that each event should have a normal person included in the field so that we could really get a sense of how great all the Olympians were by comparison, that was a reality during the marathon.  Because there was a wide spectator area lining the entire course, and lot of runners were out pacing themselves with the racers.  So you'd get a shot of the lead pack, going along at what looked like an easy, loping jog, and then you'd be able to see, just at the side, some weekend warrior in a full-out sprint failing to keep up with them.  Along the entire course!  Those guys are SO FUCKING FAST.

-- Oh!  Finally, we also managed to tivo both the men's and women's mountain biking events, and that was shockingly awesome (especially the Spanish dude who won bronze, with his sinister chopper mustache).  The secret winner of our Rio experience was bicycling, both the road races and mountain races.  What incredibly satisfying television!  Next best was the team handball (and our TV guide finally stopped lying to us and actually recorded the gold medal match, which was thrilling), followed by the rhythmic gymnastics.  We ended up with a scattershot approach, and often didn't get to watch the things we thought we wanted most, but overall this was an extremely satisfying Olympics.  Final verdict?  Our tivo dragnet managed to suck the marrow from these games, even while being horribly misguided and handicapped by an inability to ever fully escape Bob Costas.  Can't wait for the next one!

Also I want to buy most of the men and women competing in the 800/1500/5000m races a burger. Man some of them have scary stick arms. (I know they just have the right body type for that sort of event but still!)

I choose to believe every time the camera isn't on them they're just rubbing astroglide everywhere.

1. That's unusual and disturbing. This kind of lax attitude toward our national symbols is the reason people think they're being patriotic when they disrespect the flag by wearing it as clothes.
2. Like I said, if she made it to the Olympics, she knew better.

Liz n Dicksgiving Pedantic Editor Type It doesn't matter if you're fat, that spandex is torture. Voice of experience from a man who's 6ft and 140lbs.

This is rich, coming from you. You want to move to Israel because you put your religious identity ahead of your national one.

The reason my parents don't say the pledge or put their hands on their heart is because they're Mennonite, a religion that teaches that being a child of God, and the world, is more important than their nationality. I am not as religious as they are, but it's completely within my - and everyone's - First Amendment rights to express our patriotism or lack thereof however we wish. The flag is a symbol. The anthem is a song. Those are not my identity and given the U.S.' position in the world not something I want to celebrate.

Actually it's not that at all since it has nothing to do with Simone Biles, it was Gabby Douglas. 

I knew that this morning, but Pedantic Editor Type tripped me up.

ganews I do now that I know about them!

I think that last word might expect why I'm so sensitive about this. I'm from California, where "disruptive" is the highest superlative. So, essentially, being a contrarian dickhead and making a mess is actively encouraged (mostly by rich assholes).

Speaking of which, Ryan Lochte is an idiot, the very few people defending him are idiots, the people on Facebook decrying that the very few people defending him are the majority of people because hypocrisy and white privilege and fuck you are idiots.

And hey, none of the athletes died or were kidnapped!