Olympic commentary

So many topics, so little time, even less talent…

1) First Olympic comment of the night. The Chinese figure skater story is great in that she struggled through injury to win the silver medal. However, I still want to figure out how their winning a medal was even possible. For those who missed it, in the pairs competition they did one of those throws and the skater basically crash landed in one of the worst falls that I have ever seen. She struggles to get to her feat and they stop skating the routine. After a check by the doctors and a few minutes of getting her wind back they were able to pick up where they left off. How is that legal? Can you just stop a routine halfway through to catch your breath? This really bothers me.
2) Of course, I should make my typical comment on the fact that NBC is tape delaying almost all of the competitions, which means that I know exactly what is going to happen when I turn on the television. Given that the Olympics are in Italy this isn’t a big surprise when you remember that NBC taped delayed the games when they were held in Atlanta. Admittedly, I probably wouldn’t take time off from work to watch Luge but the fact that I can’t watch the marquee events live takes away a lot of the fun of the event.
3) I also read today the usual complaint (this time from Bryant Gumbel) that the Winter Olympics really aren’t sports given that much of the world doesn’t compete in them and the Greeks never wore skis and stuff like that. It is a silly argument since in my mind they all reach the qualification of sports. Luge and bobsled and skeleton are all variation on who can get down the hill the fastest and if you want to get on the fact that they are all riding something then explain why we have all of these sailing events in the Olympics. You might question the made for America events (snowboarding for everyone!) but those at least fill up what would otherwise be a sparse schedule. And that is what makes the Winter Olympics much more enjoyable than the summer. It is a slower pace and more intimate and it gives you a lot of “Wow” moments. Anyone can run fast or swim fast, ski jumping though, that is a challenge.
4) Switching gears, it looks like Love Monkey has been either been put on hiatus or cancelled, depending on your source. I’m not entirely surprised by the outcome, though I thought that it would last more than three episodes. The writing always seemed to be off, as if it was written by a bunch of graduates of Screenwriting 101. Plus, Jason Priestly was so awful you had to wonder if he was intentionally trying to screw up every scene. That said, it was nice to have a show that featured the music industry so heavily. It was a welcome change from the hospital/police station/district attorney’s office scenario that every other show seems to be using.
5) Listening to local sports radio yesterday I heard the following. With Quin Snyder (a former Duke point guard so I can’t say anything bad about him) resigning as coach of Missouri it means that they are searching for a new coach. Someone on the show called the Missouri head coaching job as “A Top 15 position.” I’m sorry, but please return to planet Earth. Missouri isn’t even a top 15 position in the Big 12. The local sports guys here kill me. The morning after the Super Bowl I turn them on and instead of analyzing the biggest sporting event of the year they were talking about the Iowa State game from Saturday. And people wonder why I have five CDs in my car at all times.
6) Since it is the 14th I’ve had to figure out what I am doing tonight. Well, once I post this I’m going to go and watch Before Sunset and imagine that when I have a book signing Julie Delpy will magically appear in the crowd. That’s even better than spending the night listening to Morrissey.