greyhorse

Quoting myself here... I made the above comment in jest, but I just came across this... https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31944288/the-next-great-olympic-sport-cornhole Please no.

Watching but just don't have much excitement for this team. You've got Kevin Durant. But then where are all the other mega stars of the league? Yeah, they got Booker and Tatum and some exciting young stars. But clearly this is the not #1-12 in the league. I feel fortunate to have been able to watch the Dream Team. Nothing will ever compare to that level of Olympics excitement. I don't watch much regular season NBA, so I'm just now learning that Vince Carter finally retired last year. I thought he was still playing, lol.

Rebecca Lowe I think was hired for Premier league coverage. I also want to say that she has done the Olympics for NBC before? I think Pyeong Chang and Rio if I remember correctly. Watching the Basketball gold game now...Mike Tirico briefly had to cut-in and call play by play when the arena announcers were cut-out due to technical difficulties. He picked it up smoothly and in stride, just like his main gig back home here. I've enjoyed watching him as a host, even though I will always miss pink eye Bob.

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I thought Steve Kornacki was just flat out unnecessary. Having him report on the "medal race" with the same pressured speech, the arm movements, trying to build suspense, etc., didn't work for me. Watching him explain election results was riveting because he would do the math - the votes available, the predicted %, the calculation and margin, etc. Having him tell me that the US could pick up a few medals in gymnastics? I can do that. Heck, a fifth grader could do it.

Wasn't there always an Olympics showcase of all the winners after the conclusion of the events? Set to music, lots of clapping and smiles? Was it removed this year obviously because of Covid and the lack of audience? Or has it been missing from the last several Olympics and I'm just old and memory failing? With Simone and Suni home already, obviously there isn't going to be one...

Although I was already spoiled, I enjoyed watching the 400. I've always loved watching Felix run - she looks like a gazelle and is so graceful. Admired the grit and determination on her face in the last 50 to hold on for the bronze. Knowing what she had to go through to get here makes me appreciate her performance even more. Loved the interaction with her family on the video afterwards. Congrats to Allyson on a stellar career!

Tried watching I think what was called the "Omnium" last night. Boy was it confusing. From this article, I'm guessing what I was watching was the "Tempo Race", which apparently is one of the four races of this so-called Omnium. Was that ever explained in the broadcast? I felt like NBC sort of just cut-in to the race without any introduction, sort of like how they've been doing with all of these lesser sports. "And now, we're going to make our way over to <Japanese venue name and location, which means nothing to us viewers> and we'll join action already in progress for <sport you're not interested in but we'll show you because there's nothing better on>. <Announcers that you might not recognize, although I think in this case maybe it was Christian Van De Velde even though we never saw his face?> has the call." I deduced that you gain points for winning sprints and for lapping the field, which I think I saw happen two or three times. Many questions since there wasn't any explanation... With 20-30 riders, it seemed like 1 or 2 would break away so they could get 20 points. Why would the field allow them to do so? To lap the field, does the rider have to make it in front of every other single rider? Or just make it back to the end of the peloton (I know that's not the right term for this type of cycling but it's the only term I know)? If it's that you have to start at the front, go all the way around super fast, catch up to the back of the field, and then make your way to the front of the pack again, that seems quite difficult. Why were so many riders going "up" the curved track? Wouldn't it be most efficient to stay down low so you're not cycling as much? Or are they going "up" because they're out of gas, and they're moving out of the way so the riders behind them don't run into them? Why can't you just slow down? Is it common courtesy to move out of the way? Just odd that you would see riders voluntarily giving up position when it didn't seem like they needed to.

Closing ceremony has always been an anticlimactic let-down. Some because of the sadness that the Games are over. But mostly because the majority of athletes don't really seem to care. And certainly this year there won't be the festive exuberant atmosphere given that there will be no fans in the stands. The only reason for me to watch in the past years was to see who the flag bearer would be. We know it wouldn't be Simone Biles, who would have been an obvious emotional choice, since she's already back in Houston. It should be Caeleb Dressel, who was the star and face of the US team for these games. But he's likely already home for some well deserved R&R with his beautiful wife. Could it have been the A-team? April Ross and Alix Klineman? They just won yesterday, maybe they'll stick around? Could it have been one of Allyson Felix, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe....all of whom likely competed in their last Olympics? No, it's Kara Winger, whom I'm guessing that 99% of the viewing audience has no idea who she is! Apparently she was selected by her teammates. Fourth track and field athlete selected in history to carry the closing flag. It certainly doesn't have to do with her performance at the games. I wonder if her selection in part was because there's likely still more athletes from Track and Field still in Tokyo than any other discipline.

I disagree. They were already saying that the US was going to win the set and it was a foregone conclusion. Yeah, it's probably unlikely that Serbia would win 9 points in a row. At least three times they made a comment like "Serbia can't be happy to have lost the first set, but they should be encouraged by the play of <big tall hitter>" and "They may have lost the first set, but this is far from over because this Serbia team is strong and can still win." Then of course Serbia goes on a mini run and then Karch had to call the timeout.

Congrats to the A Team! So happy for them, especially for April getting the elusive gold. They were just dominant. Was hoping that they'd win gold on an April Ross spike, but I'm sure they're happy to see the ball go into the net. I'm surprised there wasn't more athletes/staff/etc in the stands. Too hot? April Ross' bikini bottom doesn't really fit right. The top of her butt crack was pretty much showing the entire tournament. I broke a finger once in high school volleyball gym class when I blocked a spike. How do these pros avoid broken fingers, sprained fingers, etc.? Their hands are spread wide apart and it's not like their fingers are taped together.

Agree. It's basically becoming a World X-Games.

How crappy is it that USA-Australia is being shown on Peacock right now but it's only available to the Premium subscribers? I don't know how much it costs to subscribe per month, but I just refuse. I remember the Triplecast for the Barcelona 1992 games that failed utterly. I doubt people are going to sign up for Peacock just because they want to watch a few Olympic events. Pretty soon there's going to be no such thing as free network tv, or at least live free network tv. Every network seems to have their version of a streaming app. I could see a day where if you wanted to watch live, you'll have to pay, and then it'll be reshown for free a day or two later. Edited to add: Just found a Yahoo banner and I guess I can watch the final few minutes of the game...

What Carl Lewis said about the men's 4x100 relay. What an utter embarrassment. Apparently the favorites on paper (says who?) but the history of the team is abysmal. How many times do these guys do these handoffs? I agree with the above, there must not be enough practice and familiarity with each other. No team chemistry. I couldn't understand what the shirtless dude was saying to Lewis through his mask and frustrating mumbling. Seemed like Lewis wasn't interested in hearing more either and just said "ok".

From what I've gathered, "bouldering" is basically just climbing small rocks or walls without a rope or harness, so if you fall it really doesn't hurt you. I caught some World Championship of Bouldering on either Fox Sports or ESPN late at night a few months ago. After watching one or two competitors go, it's just not very interesting. Everyone takes the same path. I can't believe Sport Climbing will be part of Paris 2024, yet baseball and softball are left out. I know softball doesn't have a huge following, but it's taking away a sport that a lot of young women play and hope to represent their country doing so. But sport climbing? Just don't think the popularity is there. Just read that Breakdancing is a demonstration sport in 2024. WTH? Is this the 1980s? I'm waiting for Cornhole, Hula hooping, and Croquet to be selected as demonstration sports.

He said they needed him to match up against the 7 foot Rudy Gobert at center. Meh, I don't buy it. He's played for them before, so yes, he has international experience, but come on, plenty of capable players in the league who could hold their own. He didn't deserve to be picked, showed up out of shape and got bounced out.

Word. Why was he even picked? There was a lot of chatter that he was the "token white guy" and he likely couldn't avoid hearing that. The optics were bad. I think he was probably relieved to have pulled out because he knew that he didn't deserve to be there. Watching the US-Spain game I was shocked to see that PAU GASOL is still playing?! I guess at 40+, he went back to Spain to play there since the NBA moved on without him? He only played a handful of minutes, but pretty surprising to see him.

Agree, pretty incredible that you can be 12 and 13 and now own an Olympic medal. I guess there never really is an age requirement to enter the Olympics (thinking the Chinese women's gymnastic team from all the previous years). If you're good enough to be the best in your country, then why the heck not? Sky Brown...I think they said she lives in Oceanside but competes for Great Britain where her father is from and her mother is Japanese? Did she try out for the US team? Don't know much about her background. Of the 9 medals, I think 5 have been won by Japanese skaters. Are they just that more dominant? Or is it home court advantage and they were allowed to practice on the course? Still don't know what technically I'm watching and I think everything happens so fast that I'll just never know. Was Tony Hawk one of the announcers? I'm assuming he was, even though I never saw his face? He was great at calling out the tricks as they were happening ("that was textbook"). although I can't tell the difference. I especially like the tricks where they go high up in the air, flip it, and not even hold on to the board and their feet land right back in place.

It's not NBC's fault and I don't see how you can blame the network. The goal is to get an emotional reaction to the athlete seeing his/her family. Like Caeleb Dressel and his wife. I think Benjamin out of all the athletes we've seen immediately post-race was the most gutted about finishing second. Most are happy just to medal. But he clearly thought he should have won. LOL, yes. And whether you tuck right or tuck left. I'm guessing they don't train in those bikini bottoms, hence the tan lines. Noticed many a woman kind of adjusting after the race to avoid a camel toe to all of the world. Congrats to Sydney, she ran a great race. Dalilah went out fast, and you could see when Sydney kicked it in during the last two hurdles. There was one or two strides that were visibly longer and where she made up the ground. She is ten years younger than Dalilah, so kudos to Dalilah for making that race competitive. Amazing to accomplish that at 31. Sydney will be a face of track and field for years to come. Taking the torch from Allyson Felix.

I didn't know either that you can challenge a challenge either. I agree that the all looked clearly out, and I was surprised it was called in after review the first time. Can a manager in baseball challenge instant replay if they don't like the call? You would presume that the video reviewer made the right call in the first place, why would they change their mind a second time? But clearly that's what happened here. Seems like the Canadian challenged by pointing to the ball mark in the sand, since you could hear the US saying that she pointed to the wrong ball mark. So maybe that's what allowed the new challenge? Since I don't watch much beach volleyball, another thing that I seem to have learned is that when you challenge, you have to say what you're challenging. Net fault, ball out, touched on a block, etc. You can't just say "I want a challenge". You have to say "she touched the ball on the block (and that's why my spike went out)", rather than "check to see if my ball hit the line". Just watched the great Phil Dalhausser perhaps in his last match of his career? Qatar just seemed to have more energy and striking the ball with authority. Too many service errors by the US, soft finesse hits that were easily defended, etc. Seemed like Qatar made it a point to serve the weaker Lucena and he just couldn't deliver consistently.

LOL, now that explains it. I guess when they realized there weren't going to be fans in the stands, it was like "why bother? let's go on to the next job..."

Thrilled for Suni too! Figured out the Peacock App is free so was awake in the wee hours of the morning watching live. I'm pleasantly surprised that NBC only cut very briefly to the stands to show Simone cheering her teammates on. And when Suni won the gold? The focus remained on her and only her (at least from what I can remember). It's Suni's moment. They rightfully let her have it. Somewhere in a production room, I'm sure a cameraman had his camera trained on the stands and Simone the entire time, and a smart producer said "No, stay on 1, stay on 1..." (or something like that, I don't work in tv...) It's impossible to mention anything about Suni's win without at least prefacing it with Simone pulling out. She's the GOAT. It's a big deal. This Olympics all around will be remembered probably most for her pulling out, not for Suni becoming the first Asian American to win the all around. Not fair to Suni, but it's unavoidable.

LOL, this was a good read. I like the one about drafting a player standing on the sidelines. Calling Billy Hoyle? I don't see the appeal. Watched Russia vs Serbia last night. I think Serbia was undefeated in regular play, despite all their players looking like they are 40 years old? I know the US didn't qualify, but why didn't they? Why can't they some of the NBAers that didn't make the main team and put them in this?

Wow that was a touching moment. What a race. He is living up to the hype.

He just doesn't have much to add other than things like "he needs to pick it up". He did make a nice comment about "lengthening the stroke and reaching", which even me as a noncompetitive swimmer understands. He has a long way to go before replacing Gaines. Maybe he knew the team wasn't going to be competitive, and he'd rather save himself for the other races? Kudos to GB, they had a ton of firepower like Phelps said.

Agree with this. Is he doing any play by play at all? Or is it all Rowdy Gaines? All I've seen him do is the interviews with Mike Tirico on the little patio in front of the water. He's not going to unseat Gaines even if he is the great Michael Phelps. So if he's not calling the actual races, all he can talk about is his experience as an athlete. Which we've all heard about already and witnessed. The focus should be on the people actually in the water, not on what Phelps accomplished in the past. It's great that they were able to get Phelps to contribute, but I'm hoping that he'll be better utilized the next go around. 1500M. Why isn't it 1600? 100-200-400-800-...1500? Ledecky with the win. All is right with swimming now. And congrats to Sullivan who came on strong in the last quarter of the race.