NBC just broadcast the men’s 4 X 400 meter relay race that happened “last night” in Beijing. The U.S. team won pretty comfortably and set a new Olympic record in the event, which partly atones for the U.S. track team laying an egg in a number of other track events they were supposed to be competitive in. One of the commentators apparently has a short memory though. I think it was Ato Boldon (who was formerly an elite sprinter for Trinidad and Tobago) who made the erroneous comment but it could have been Lewis Johnson. As Jeremy Wariner was running the anchor leg for the Americans, one of them said that he had anchored every mile relay team for the U.S. since Michael Johnson retired in 2000. This means he must not have seen the gold medal-winning U.S. relay team at the 2004 Athens games, because Wariner actually ran the 3rd leg in that relay and Darold Williamson, who was Wariner’s teammate at Baylor that year, ran the anchor leg.
I would expect something like that from the Dallas Morning News, but I had higher expectations for NBC, especially from someone like Boldon, who usually knows what he’s talking about. Do I have to do everybody’s research for them?
- The opening ceremonies was one of the most amazing events I’ve seen in a long time. My jaw dropped several times just watching the sheer amount of imagination and technical precision that went into its staging. The organizers of the 2012 games in London will have a very tough act to follow.
- Best event so far: the men’s 4 X 100m freestyle relay (swimming). That had an amazing finish as the American team’s anchor leg swam a blistering (I’m sure a better word could be used to describe a feat done in the water) split to catch the French swimmer in the last 25 meters of the race and beat him to the wall by a split second after being behind by a whole body length for much of his turn. Had they finished 2nd, everyone’s most vivid memory of the race would have been the fact that the U.S. relay team included a black swimmer. First time I can remember seeing a non-white, non-Asian swimmer in the Olympics. I think I actually did a double take when he dove into the water on his leg of the relay. And they say black people don’t swim, or help set world swimming records. There goes that stereotype.
- Most random commentary so far: NBC swimming commentator (and 1984 Olympic gold medalist) Rowdy Gaines getting all botanical in describing the smooth backstroke of Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry, saying, “She’s like a piece of balsa wood in the water.”
- I was in my car after lunch today and heard Rush Limbaugh suggest that NBC had hired “a bunch of female directors and camera people” to work on the Olympics broadcast, because “during the events featuring female competitors, we’re not getting the same camera angles that we used to always get.” I haven’t noticed much of a difference in placement of cameras or the angles of their shots, but he may be right. For obvious reasons, Michael Phelps has gotten a lot of coverage so far, but if anything might back up Limbaugh’s (possibly facetious) assertion, it’s the fact that at some point before or after all of Phelps’ races that I’ve seen, they’ve shown a gratuitous shot of his abs that lingered a little longer than it needed to. Yep, must be those female directors. Although whoever produced the feature on him that they showed tonight had good taste, as they played Coldplay’s “Life in Technicolor” in the background.
- Earlier tonight I watched a beach volleyball match pitting the American duo of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers against an Argentinian duo. The Americans won the match convincingly, but more striking to me was Phil Dalhausser’s resemblance to Smashing Pumpkins/Zwan leader Billy Corgan. Take a look below and see if you agree.
Phil Dalhausser
Billy Corgan
- Commercial from the past week that rates highest on the WTF? Scale:
- As a special bonus, I give you a classic David Letterman Top Ten, from a show that originally aired on June 24, 1996, about a month before the Atlanta games.
Top Ten Signs You Won’t Be Qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team
10. Keep accidentally burning your wrestling opponents with your cigarette.
9. You need an advanced pulley system to get over the high hurdles.
8. When you hear the starters pistol, you ball up like a frightened armadillo.
7. To get you to the trials, firemen had to remove the side of your house.
6. When you started running the 100-meter dash, Bob Dole was still in high school. [Shows how dated this list is, it goes back to the year of the Clinton-Dole Presidential race]
5. Boxing opponents get their gloves caught in your stomach.
4. You train by standing in front of mirror, trying to smile like Mary Lou Retton.
3. Being 35 and still living at home with your parents not yet an Olympic sport.
2. When your relay partner tries to take the baton, you shout, “Screw you — get your own damn stick!”
1. Can’t get your a** through the parallel bars.
