Beijing 2008

Htown Harry

Htown Harry

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Joined
May 13, 2007
Messages
1,525
Less than 24 hours until the opening ceremonies and I'm starting to get excited...

Favorite Olympics ever - 1968 Mexico City. I was 8. Jim Ryun, George Foreman, the Fosbury flop, medal-stand protests, an awakening to how big and diverse the world is...I was hooked.

Favorite event - track & field, especially the 100 meter dash and the relays

Least favorite event - women's gymnastics. The athleticism is impressive, but the hype and the endless TV coverage just wear me out. Diving is similar - the judged events just don't keep my interest like the timed events or the team sports.

Can't get excited about - men's basketball, stories about polluted air

Offbeat event I will seek out - The Lopez family competing in taekwondo.

Secretly want to be - a gold medal-winning swimmer. Second choice - trainer for the Norwegian women's soccer team. :cool:
 
HFWR said:
And don't forget Bob Beamon's long jump...
Click to expand...

Doh! How could I leave out the greatest individual, single-event Olympic performance in my lifetime??

From wikipedia: "Prior to Beamon’s jump, the world record had been broken thirteen times since 1901, with an average increase of 6 cm (2½ in) and the largest increase being 15 cm (6 in). Beamon’s gold medal mark bettered the existing record by 55 cm (21¾ in.) as he became the first person to reach both 28 and 29 feet...Beamon's world record stood for 23 years, and was named by Sports Illustrated magazine as one of the five greatest sports moments of the 20th century. Beamon’s world record was finally broken in 1991."

What will be the greatest sports achievement in Beijing?
 
Htown Harry said:
What will be the greatest sports achievement in Beijing?
Click to expand...
Somebody breaking 2:15 in the marathon, in that smog and heat. :eek:

I just got HDTV in time for the Olympics. The opening ceremonies look incredible!
 
Aren't they amazing! Certainly done on a large scale. Naturally my favorite part so far has been those adorable children, representing the different Chinese ethnic groups. Well, and who can do fireworks better than the Chinese?
 
I thought the opening ceremonies were wonderful. So much creativity on a grand scale, and beautifully synchronized! Who would have thought that a tableau on paper and printing could be so exciting! I really enjoyed the paper and printing scenes, when the dancers painted a picture and especially when they did the "wave" and highlighted characters. It was focused on China's four great inventions (paper, printing, the compass and fireworks). One of my staff is Chinese. She wondered why they hadn't included China's fifth great invention, which is.....

ICECREAM!

:D
 
Simply amazing! i just watched the recording this morning and there were several times i had to say WOW!

it was beautiful, artistic, modern, incredibly syncronized and amazing... i'll likely watch it several times over with the kids...

i've watched every opening ceremony since i was a kid and this has to be my favorite.
 
:smitten:1968's Summer Olympics also opened my eyes to the world and the majesty of what it takes to be a world class athlete!

Now.....if this Olympic's athletic performances even come close to the opening ceremony's "gold medal" perfomance - we are all in for the Olympics of our lifetime!!
 
I love the Olympics but I tend to be a little different in what I like and dislike than many.

Favorites are Track and Swimming but I also like to watch most of the obscure minor sports. Least favorite of the major sports is gymnastics.

I don't like the way the networks cover the Olympics. They seem to assume that the audience has a 30 second attention span. I prefer to see the entire event not just the high-lights. Can you imagine if they only showed the touchdowns in a football game yet that is how they show much of the Olympics.

Since I do a lot of endurance sports I would be happy if they showed the entire marathon or triathlon or bike road race but realize that will not happen because 99.9% of the audience would be bored to death.

I attended the Sydney Olympics and saw track, beach volleyball, diving, gymnastics, mens basketball and field hockey. Beach volleyball and track were the best. I saw the mens 10k running race and it was great, all 25 laps. Gymnastics was only ok, even though the tickets were for the men's team medal competition and were the most expensive tickets that we had.

I'm also not real big on the opening ceremonies. It is mostly just pageantry. Same for the Super Bowl halftime. I turn off the TV at half time. What I do like about the opening and closing ceremonies, particularly the closing ceremonies, is seeing the emotions of the athletes.

MB
 
Though I am a pretty big sports fan, I am not at all excited about this grand event. I used to enjoy it, but it has gotten way, way to nationalistic, almost jingoistic, for my taste. I'll check the medal count each day in the paper and hope that the USA wins gold in every event.:rant:
 
Lucky mb!
I am going to try to get tickets for the winter games in 2010. I know several people who will be volunteering there, and one who is volunteering for the Paralympic Games next month in Beijing.
Has anyone on the board volunteered for the Olympics?
 
mb said:
Favorites are Track and Swimming but I also like to watch most of the obscure minor sports. Least favorite of the major sports is gymnastics.

I don't like the way the networks cover the Olympics. They seem to assume that the audience has a 30 second attention span. I prefer to see the entire event not just the high-lights. Can you imagine if they only showed the touchdowns in a football game yet that is how they show much of the Olympics.

Since I do a lot of endurance sports I would be happy if they showed the entire marathon or triathlon or bike road race but realize that will not happen because 99.9% of the audience would be bored to death.
Click to expand...

There are too many sports to show entire events, unless they want to just cut out some sports. The alternate channels that NBC broadcasts on do help. We'll see what all they show, but I'm seeing channels dedicated to soccer and basketball.

The bike road race was interesting, but so were the beach volleyball matches. I thought they compromised with enough bike race coverage, and allowed full coverage of the two US matches. I think they do a pretty good job of showing a variety of sports. You like swimming. I'd be bored to death if they showed all of the swimming heats.

The marathon is one of the few events of the final day and as I recall there has been a lot of coverage on it in the past.
 
RunningBum said:
The bike road race was interesting, but so were the beach volleyball matches.
Click to expand...

Apparently you aren't the only fan of beach volleyball...

640-george-bush-vol_788317c.jpg
 
Htown Harry said:
Apparently you aren't the only fan of beach volleyball...
Click to expand...

I saw beach V-ball in Sydney. A Brazilian team was in one of the matches and the Brazilian fans were absolutely crazy. The Bondi beach song was blaring in the background the entire time and the atmosphere was incredible.

MB
 
RunningBum said:
There are too many sports to show entire events, unless they want to just cut out some sports. The alternate channels that NBC broadcasts on do help. We'll see what all they show, but I'm seeing channels dedicated to soccer and basketball.

.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't have cable :(
 
Meadbh said:
Lucky mb!
I am going to try to get tickets for the winter games in 2010. I know several people who will be volunteering there, and one who is volunteering for the Paralympic Games next month in Beijing.
Has anyone on the board volunteered for the Olympics?
Click to expand...

Yes, and it was (sort of) free (if you don't consider the long hours) because it was a performance award from DWs company. I think I'll keep her.

MB
 
I just loved that they cut short the US National Anthem during Michael Phelps' first gold medal ceremony. Everyone was looking so emotional with tears welling up in their eyes, and there, the anthem suddenly ended half-way. Bush and his wife were there too in the audience and they looked quite surprised. Phelps started laughing, and then everyone was at ease again. Funny moment.
 
mb said:
Unfortunately I don't have cable :(
Click to expand...
I hate to tell you, but you're missing a lot of good stuff, especially if you like full coverage of a match.
 
I too enjoy the Olympics - far more than any other sporting event. I was at Calgary and Atlanta and had the time of my life. Became a olympic pin collector. Now I'm looking forward to Chicago. (insert smiley icon for hope, fantasy, desire)

The Beijing opening ceremony was fantastic.

The TV coverage so far has been a bit better than Athens. Still, too much blah blah and not enough competition. Seems to me that with 6 stations to show programming, they could satisfy most needs, but not the case. Having spend most of my adult life overseas I am used to less US-centric coverage and more beginning-to-end televised events.

Olympics in HD, however, somehow makes it all worthwhile. :D

Michael
 
TromboneAl said:
Did anyone feel that the opening ceremonies were a little excessive?
Click to expand...

hey man, they've waited thousands of years for their turn...(how long have the olympics been around?) ok, well, maybe at least hundreds of years...
 
TromboneAl said:
Did anyone feel that the opening ceremonies were a little excessive?
Click to expand...


I felt so, too. I understand the issue of pride, but spending $300 million for 3 hours of fun, at whose expense? Also, part of it feels military, and others political, especially when the president announced the commencement of the Games. It sounded exactly like Chairman Mao announcing the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. His tone, rhythm, and phrasing, are all the same as Mao's. I am sure it's intentional: Mao announcing the founding of the country, and Hu showing everyone that China is ready to take on the world. Of course, the Olympics has never been free of politics, but the overtone is so obvious here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Htown Harry
Vancouver 2010
2 3 4
Replies
79
Views
6K
calmloki
calmloki
saluki9
Honoring a true American hero
Replies
11
Views
2K
Ronstar
Ronstar

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom