Wow, Latvia v. US Men's Beach Volleyball was friggin' nuts! Good game.

I love how they already showed the Saber final and showed the girls with their medals but now they are showing the Bronze match... WTF?

I wasn't a big fan of the fencing either. I actually enjoyed women's weightlifting more than the fencing. Some Chinese woman dominated the event and set an olympic record. Pretty cool, huh? I'm looking forward to the swimming tonight, the basketball tomorrow at 10 AM ET, and track and field later on in the games. I also like the volleyball and I'm going to check out the boxing on CNBC in a half hour.

There's a decent chance we'll see a Georgia v. Russia Judo confrontation at some point.

Beach Volleyball is of course a no-brainer, but I'm strangely drawn to these female weightlifters......

The beach volleyball isn't really doing it for me. I'm kind of a "T" man in the T or A question, though....I could see the appeal.

:)

They even have beaches in Latvia?

Yes

Google Maps

I'm assuming temporary but would love to get it permanently for Monk, Psych, Burn Notice and In Plain Sight. TWC always gives us USA HD during the US Open and then it goes away. Hope it's permanent.

According to my sources there is a chance it might stay here in LA. I hope it does, would love to watch my Burn Notice in HD.

Just watched my DVR taping of the Opening Ceremonies (was out last night), and

:jawdrop:

That was absolutely amazing. That is the greatest spectacle I have ever seen in my life. It was just magnificent in all aspects, from the drums to the moving blocks to the calligraphy print to the modern day colors to the taek-won-do. WOW!

And Jon, I think you and your son misheard. The Pakistanis were loudly cheered. Are you thinking of the Iran reception instead?

I agree on the misheard part (which I mentioned up the thread a bit) and granted I wasn't paying specific attention to it until he mentioned it (although I did watch for the Iraq/Iran reactions later). My best guess is that he mistook one of the first strong reactions of the night for being anti rather than pro.

Potential spoiler womens 4x100 freestyle swimming (btw - Loved the comment last night when Germany was walking in about how they were going back to an East German style training program due to lack of success. Pause. Followed by the other commentator quickly saying something along the lines of "Well, most of the program.")

So is fencing this olympics' curling?

SI

That was great :D

SI

Michael Phelps and the 400IM final in seconds on NBC.

I liked the opening ceremony- pretty darn cool. I know that's an understatement but I think you'd have to be there to really get a grasp on how neat it looks. Well, except for Matt Lauer. And I'm not a big Costas fan either (it's not pronounced "Cape Verd", guys).

Also, I've decided DVR is really the way to go for the Olympics. I could fast forward through some of the countries and still see them but in fast motion.

Same with the events- like gymnastics- just fast forward to the dismount and you'll see how they grade crap (*grumble, grumble*)

That said, I just love the wall-to-wall sports. I didn't care about the US-centric rowing this morning because I'm not a huge rowing fan. So I was flipping back and forth between the Canada-China women's soccer game and the Italy-Russia volleyball match.

SI

Gold Medal for Phelps and he breaks his own WR by about 2 seconds in the 400 IM (the event that folks thought that he'd have troubles in)

Revoke my guy license or whatever, but it just doesn't do it for me either. I'm watching sports, I don't need sex appeal. The team volleyball is a lot better than beach, which is just a spike contest. That poor Japanese team where they were facing the two Americans who had almost a foot on them- it just wasn't even fair.

SI

Here's the problem- it's not cumulative. No matter how good he does in any individual events, it's not like they carry over. That's 8 individual events and like 20 races in a week. Really rough.

SI

Wow, Michael Phelps' mom's scream is unpleasant to listen to.

Anyone know the story on those new full-body suits? I was hearing they gave a borderline unfair advantage and were the main reason why so many world and American records were falling at the American trials, but none of the medalists were weating them here. Is their effect overblown, do they only help for certain strokes, or is Phelps just that absurdbly good?

5 individual events, 17 races

but he's just...a freak.

I'm in the camp that he does it (as long as the relays hold up.) The guy is built for swimming. His body is freakish, and he apparently has the work ethic to match it. He nearly pulled off the 7 Golds last Olympics when he was only 19, and he's better now.

Well, by individual, I didn't mean single person but discrete or specific events.

SI

Wow. South Korea/China 1-2 in the 400 Freestyle. First swimming medal for SK and first mens medal for China.

Wow, I honestly don't know where Phelps' breastroke leg came from! It's now obvious that he wasn't fully tapered for Trials. It's also too bad Ryan dropped off a bit from Trials, but it was still his 2nd fastest swim ever and a podium position.

kudos to the hungarian guy too though

i'm all for them using technology like that to make the swimmers swim faster - anything to keep them off PED's is fine by me.

For sure. Cseh has had a great lead-up, and swam a great race!

Ah, the suits...I wish we were back in the days where the suits were only a concern of those of us involved in the swimming world.

Long story short, the LZR Racer (Speedo's latest suit) debuted around the 1st of this year, and immediately records started falling at nearly every big meet in the world. Why? Maybe because the suit is buoyant and provides a distinct advantage. Or maybe because athletes were entering into the peak of the four year cycle. It probably can never be scientifically determined, but it sure has led to a lot of fuss.

The NCAA banned the suit from its championships. There is a lawsuit and counter-lawsuit between TYR, USA Swimming, Speedo and Erik Vendt, there are now competing suits that are also on the verge of the not-quite-clear line between acceptable and unacceptable, but the most important thing is that everyone does have access to the suits, and thus, the competition is fair in Beijing, even if the record board might be taking some unfair hits.

sheesh. they're DESTROYING World Records in the pool

Watching the men's 56kg weightlifting competition, which seems about as pointless as having a 5'9''-and-under basketball competition.

The funny thing is if folks tie after their three lifts, then they use whoever weighs the least to determine who wins

Man, the online live streaming coverage is really comprehensive. Loving this.

Meh, I guess it's like the debates in golf about equipment dominating the sport.

anyone catch how our national anthem was cut short when Phelps was on the podium, right before the "land of the free and home of the brave" part was about to be played. bad form, i wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional.

you mean to tell me a country that can put on a grandios spectacle for the opening ceremonies can't work a cd player?

hey - who's this anthony guy??

Was that the only mistake you noticed in the playing of the anthem?

Yeah, but $300M to put on the opening ceremony and $40B+ for infrastructure improvements doesn't leave much money for CD players ;)

SI

they come out of the womb knowing how to dissemble a cd player and reassemble it. just bad form, especially with our President in attendence. they should be ashamed of themselves, i highly doubt the same thing happens if a Chinese person wins a gold.

I agree with you on wanting sex appeal/sports separate, but I have to disagree on the "spike contest." Beach volleyball has a lot of finesse shots, as does women's indoor (my favorite to watch). Men's indoor, now that's a spike contest. Bump, set, spike, possible block, repeat... snooze.

Woot! Phelps won his first gold!

men's indoor is on now.

I vastly prefer beach vollyball. Much more finesse.

We know you are perfect.:lol:

It was a surprise that Phelps won a medal and all :)

What time will the soccer game (US-Holland) be shown?

Looks like it will be shown live on USA at 7:45 am ET. But they might be switching between that and Serena Williams.


If they focus too much on tennis I might watch the soccer online instead.