Needs more Team Handball

Some thoughts from the opening weekend of the Olympics…

1) I was in a bar during much of the Opening Ceremonies so I missed much of the pageantry and spectacle. I am intrigued as to what the purpose of the giant Q*bert board was. Without sound it really did seem like one of those grand communist spectacles, which is kind of expected. Huge numbers of people doing everything in unison. All that was missing was the group calisthenics.
2) Congrats to a Domer for winning the first gold for the U.S. in fencing in Women’s Sabre. The U.S. swept behind students from Notre Dame, Yale and Duke, which kind of tells you the type of people who fence in this world. They are also going to be competing in the team event, which I really hope consists of two teams of three simultaneously swinging swords at each other. You know, with competitors jumping on top of tables and leaping on to tapestries and fighting up the stairways of the arena. That would be awesome.
3) If you haven’t watched fencing yet you really should if just for the helmets. We have now added bullet proof glass to the classic mesh and added in yellow and red LED lights to show scoring. It looks vaguely like what I wear when I play laser tag.
4) Things that intrigue me about beach volleyball (besides the obvious). A) The fact that they had to create a beach in Beijing. B) The importation of an American announcer and pop music. C) The rather incongruous cheerleaders being brought out onto the court during changeovers (which I don’t believe Pierre Du Coubertain imagined back in 1896), D) The fact that places like Latvia, which I do not believe have beaches, are able to field teams.
5) What I learned by watching parts of the cycling road race. A) The smog in Beijing is just killer. Everything just looks gray and depressing as if breathing would be a complete challenge. B) Beijing has a 7 Star hotel with a massive Jumbotron taking up several floors in the middle of it. Why either of those are needed is a bit of a mystery to me.
6) If I am going to be forced to watch hours of gymnastics I request that all falls be accompanied by humorous sound effects. Up to and including the theme to the Benny Hill Show and the sound the mountain climber makes when he falls off the cliff on The Price is Right.

Best of 120 Minutes: I can’t say that I am a fan of the band Bush. In fact, I pretty actively dislike them. There is nothing about this song that I particularly enjoy either. However, Julie Delpy plays a significant role in the video and that is all I need to know.