In my fantasies I like to think that American decathletes, Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee are congratulating each other on their medals and saying - "Hey, you know who should really be in the middle of this hug? Our girl Kat!"

Yes, I know I'm deranged.

Random Thoughts - 2012 Summer Olympics Edition Part 2

I've been following the history being made by the young lady who was the first female athlete from Qatar that they've ever allowed to compete in an international event. Unfortunately it's had a heartbreaking end before it even really started.

I’m super bitter about stupid ol’ Roger Federer getting past Juan Del Potro to make the finals of Olympic men’s singles in tennis. If ever I needed my boyfriend Novak Djokovic to step up and beat the smug right out of Federer, it’s now. C’mon Nole!!!

My boyfriend Ryan Lochte went from looking happy like this:


To looking dejected and disappointed for the rest of his individual medal events:

Top all this with having to deal with your mom bragging about your “playa status”; it’s been a tough week for my Ryan boo.


What no one has been able to explain to me (and I’ve actually submitted this question on both the IOC site and through Bob Costas’ blog because I’m a dork), is why when two athletes tie for the silver medal, they only give out a gold and those two silvers; no bronze is given for the third best time.

But if two people tie for bronze, they’ll go ahead and give out both bronze medals.

Except of course if it’s gymnastics, the sport with the most ridiculous and nastiest scoring rules. When American Aly Raisman tied with Russian Aliya Mustafina for the Women’s Gymnastics All-Around bronze medal, they didn’t just give them both a bronze and move on – which would have been the right thing to do.
Instead they did an archaic scoring system where they threw out the lowest score for each girl, in this case both of their beam scores, and recalculated the remaining three scores. Mustafina ended up winning the bronze because basically she got to throw out her HORRIBLE beam score, which was the worse of the night, and Raisman’s remaining scores were 6 tenths lower than hers. It was so disappointing.

One week of the Olympics is finished and while others, especially people I follow on Twitter are expressing "Summer Olympics Fatigue", I'm still just as excited for the start of the track and field events, as I was for the swimming and gymnastics.

But can we talk about all of this INSANE HATRED towards NBC for their televised coverage of the Games? Every two years the same argument breaks out - people complain about the fact that medal events happen throughout the day but are only shown by US network television during primetime hours, a long time after they finished and the results are on the internet and WAAAAHHHH! spoilers are bad!

Get over it people! First of all, NBC (or whatever network) has to make money. There's nothing wrong with that. And hey internet savvy hipsters? There are millions of people in this country that aren't on the internet all day and you know, work, so the only opportunity to watch Olympic coverage is during primetime with tape delay.
Not to mention the fact that this particular Olympics is in a time zone where all of the events are taking place between 2AM and 7AM American time. I guarantee that NONE of the dumbasses complaining about the NBC tape-delay televised coverage would actually be willing to get their asses up at 3AM to final a gold medal swimming race. And hey, guess what? If you are inclined to do - YOU CAN WATCH IT ONLINE LIVE.
I think NBC has done an exemplary job of televising the Olympics this year. Not only do they have their affiliate networks helping out (Bravo is playing all of the tennis matches, CNBC is showing the soccer), but they've made all of the events available online with high-quality video players that haven't once clogged up with buffering nonsense or ads.
And for those who complain that they only show Americans performing in events. Guess what? That's all that most of us care about. If you want to watch a sport that isn't being televised, again you can go onto the NBC Olympics website or use their smartphone app to watch whatever the hell you want. It's all there - every heat, semifinal and final, for every sport.
And other nations' televised content is the same way. I'm privileged enough to live in a city that has access to Canadian televion. Do you think their Olympic coverage is slanted towards Canadian athletes? Damn right it is.
Okay, rant over. But seriously, lay off NBC you guys. I'd like to see any of you come up with a better solution.

Random Thoughts - 2012 Summer Olympics Edition: Part 1

Let's first talk about Olympic swimming. I won't rehash all of the drama and talk about the "rivalry" between Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps. I will say that there was some serious AWKWARDNESS between the two after Lochte got outswam in the last leg of the 4X100 meter relay, losing them the gold. Yes, the US team was in first place in the first 3 legs of the relay, but I don't think Ryan "lost" the gold for the Americans; the French anchor swimmer was just faster. It was a very close race, and people seem to be forgetting that the US wasn't favored to win ANY medal in this relay - so we should be really happy with our Silver.

Ryan Lochte is such a bad-ass. I refuse to acknowledge the fact that he like to wear a diamond grille in his mouth like a dumb wannabe pimp. This fact diminishes his hotness factor, and I just can't let that happen.

Michael Phelps has freakish arms. FREAKISH!

I'm sort of in love with a French male swimmer named CAMILLE. C'mon French people, WTF!? How is Camille a name that you use for both girls and boys? But anyway...HELLO BOYFRIEND!

Re: Women's Gymnastics

Watching Jordyn Weiber not be happy for Aly Raisman was one of the most poignant moments of any Summer Olympics. It's completely ridiculous that the IOC's rule says that only 2 all-around competitors from each country can compete. What bullshit! It should be the top 24 girls - PERIOD. If that means that most of that 24 is made up from athletes from just 2 or 3 teams, then so be it. It should be about who the best competitors are, not making it "balanced" or whatever other crap explanation the officials are using.

To quote Peaches & Herb - "too much, too little, too late..."

 
The U.S. Women's Gymnastics team got a bronze medal...10 years after the fact.

The International Olympic Committee stripped China of its 2000 Olympic Games women's team bronze medal based on the recommendation of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). After conducting an internal investigation, the FIG nullified the results of Chinese gymnast Dong Fangxiao at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. It was determined that Dong was 14 years of age in 2000, which violated the rule that gymnasts must be at least 16 years old to compete in the Olympic Games. The FIG recommended that the IOC strip China of the team bronze medal

At the Bejing games in 2008 there was a lot of talk and accusations thrown around about the Chinese team being under age and therefore having an unfair advantage. And to tell you the truth, a lot of those girls from the 2008 Chinese team did look to be about 8 years old; but it's surprising that FIG went ahead and investigated the claims from back in 2000.

Should we expect more investigations concerning the Chinese Olympic gymnastics team?

I will say that after reading a lot of the comments from the ladies the competed for the US in 2000, while they're happy with the decision, it doesn't seem like it's going to have a big effect on their lives. Maybe there were some opportunities lost a decade ago, but besides bragging rights with their kids, what does this really do for them?

Of course Bela Karolyi, the infamous U.S. (and former Romanian) gymnastics coach is thrilled. He's been quoted as feeling justified after all these years later, and he's calling for further investigation into the 2008 team.

You know who I feel the worst for? Little Dong Fangxiao. She's now a 24 year old woman who's probably feeling a little humiliated about something that wasn't really her fault. Imagine the pressure that she must've been put under to lie or evade questions about her age. What a gross thing to happen to that team.

I can't wait for the Bob Costas narrated special report about all of this that's bound to air during the next summer Olympics in London in 2012.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Wrap-Up

I really can't say it any better than journalist Dan Wetzel's commentary about the 21st Winter Olympiad.
I'm a huge Olympics nut, and this was seriously one of the best that I've seen in my lifetime.

First, a belated congrats to the US 4-Man Bobsleigh team's gold medal win Saturday:


Uh, how hot are Steve Mesler and Justin Olsen? Yowza!

Some of my other favorite moments of these games:

The US Nordic Combined team - Before Vancouver, our Nordic combined team had not won a single Olympic medal in this sport; that's since 1924 folks.

But that's all changed now thanks to Johnny Spillane's silver in the indv short hill, his 2nd silver along with Bill Demong's gold medal in the indv long hill, and the Team Combined silver, where Spillane picked up his third silver of the Games along with teamates Demong, Todd Lodwick, and Brett Camerota.

All this for a sport that's never received much attention in this country. As someone who's been a fan since at least the 84 Sarajevo games, it's nice to see Nordic Combined get some respect.

Regarding USA Hockey's silver medal "loss" to Canada on the last day of the Games. It's so bittersweet for me. I really wanted the US guys to win the gold, but one of my favorite hockey players, Pittsburgh Penguins' Sydney Crosby scored the winning overtime goal for Canada.

Finally, why were people at the closing ceremony forced to wear those weird paper-like snuggie ponchos? Pretty great closer though.

Vancouver 2010 Olympics wrap-up for the week

First up? ART! Two of the coolest photographs I've ever seen, showing Olympic speedskaters in practice training.























Other things that made me smile this week:
I almost got my North American sweep of the medals in Ice Dancing. Oh well, too bad about Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto having to settle for 4th place, I was estactic for Canadians Scott Moir & Tess Virtue, and the US team of Meryl Davis & Charlie White. Also, I still am having a love affair with Charlie White's hair.

Charlie and Meryl did this crazy move (on the left) in their Phantom Of The Opera themed long program.



Scott and Tessa were simply breathtaking and graceful everytime they stepped on the ice.

The pure joy that Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue brought to everything they did in Ice Dancing this week was a sight to behold. Especially watching Scott sing "Oh Canada" at the top of his lungs, with tears of happiness streaming down his face.

In other figure skating news...

- Once again my boy Johnny Weir proves to be the classiest man on the planet.

I did get to go to Vancouver for a short 12 hour period and got to experience some practice run for the Women's Aerials. Kind of amazing that sport. Also, I kind of love the Men's aerialists outfits. Those fetching wool pants with the belts and suspenders, paired with the turtelnecks? Kind of hot.

Things that wiped the smile off my face this week:

- Julia Mancuso getting screwed in the women's Giant Slalom and also getting criticism for not being Lindsey Vonn.

- The complete LACK of coverage on one of my favorite Olympic sports, the Nordic Combine. The American guys actually won the first medals EVER in this sport, and all we get is Bob Costas telling us about it afterwards. TOTALLY LAME!

- The sad news that actor Andrew Koenig's body was found in Vancouver's Stanley Park. My heart goes out to the Koenig family and Jimmy Pardo and the Never Not Funny crew.

Thoughts on 2010 Olympic Ice Dancing

I love competitive ice dancing. It's always been my favorite Olympic figure skating event. Maybe because I grew up in the era of the fabulous Torvill & Dean, or perhaps because other types of figure skating had all of the jumps, and therefore all of the falls, and when I was little people crashing onto the ice would stress me out. Ice Dancing always seemed safe. And it has so many rules - and I love rules. Especially as a kid, I loved any sport that had a million things that you had to do precisely right or else you were eliminated. I had to be one of the few people that actually was sad when they removed the compulsory element from pairs and singles figure skating.

Ice Dancing still has compulsories. And as mind-numbing as it can be to hear the same song (often really cheesy and synthesizery) over and over, I love getting the chance to see the competitors having to complete the same pattern. It makes you feel like a real expert because you can easily compare whether one team does something superior. "Oh, the Italian pair did that spin in unison and with more speed than the French." "Oy, look at the knees on the young Canadian couple, they're not bent enough!"

The biggest controversy that happens in ice dancing is usually in the free skate, where the rules tend to be thrown out the window, and there are a lot of lifts and other moves teetering on the edge of being considered "dance" moves. So it was a surprise when several weeks ago at the European Championships leading up to the Olympics that I heard about the top Russian team committing a serious faux pas.

Competitive ice dancing is broken into 3 parts – compulsories, original dance, and the free skate. For the compulsory portion every team is given the same piece of music and assigned the same dance (this year it was the tango) with a specific set of moves and patterns that must be done. Oftentimes the original dance will also have some sort of theme assigned that the pairs can customize and make more their own, i.e. everyone has to do a 3 min waltz, but music choice is open.

This year, the theme for the ice dancing original dance was folk dancing. The dance was supposed to represent the "flavor" of a country or region. Some skating pairs, like the Israelis chose folk dances that represented their own country. Others like the American teams Davis & White and Belbin & Agosto chose to honor other cultures, India and Moldavia respectively.
When the Russian pair of Domnina & Shabalin decided to do an Aboriginal dance at the European Championships in January, they drew criticism from Aboriginal leaders who found the dance and costumes offensive. Domnina and Shabalin toned down their costumes and removed their face paint, but made no changes to the dance itself.

Though they claimed to have done research, the dance they did didn’t really seem Aboriginal. And watching the dance Sunday night, one can understand why Aboriginal leaders were offended. At times, Shabalin led Domnina around by her ponytail. They mugged, stuck out their tongues and mimicked the hand over mouth gesture that was once associated with American Indians. The whole thing made me really uncomfortable. AND cultural insensitivity aside, the dance wasn’t well executed. There were several areas where their footwork seemed off and they weren’t in unison. See it here and you’ll understand what I mean.

After the dance ended, the audience was underwhelmed to say the least. Yet they were still scored higher than Belbin & Agosto who did a lively, and respectful Moldovan folk dance.

My hope for the medal outcomes this evening? I want a North American sweep! I would love to see Meryl Davis & Charlie White from the U.S. take the gold. I find them humble and utterly charming (if a little robotic), and they are totally the future of this sport (also, I love Charlie White's hair!). I wouldn't mind the current leaders, Canadians Virtue & Moir to take the silver, and gorgeous Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto to take home a bronze.

I definitely don't think the Russian team, current world champions or not, deserve to be on the medal stand.

Vancouver 2010 Olympics update - end of week 2

First, let's get it out of the way and talk about how my glorious sweetie, Johnny Weir, was f*cking ROBBED of a bronze medal in the men's figure skating Olympic championship. One of the few besides the gold and silver medalists to skate a clean, spill and error free program, his choreography and grace were the best of the night in the free skate. The way he was underscored by the judges was just a continuation of their jackassery from Tuesday evening's short program where his beautiful routine was scored low enough to put him in 6th place where he ultimately remained when all was said and done. Johnny Weir should be proud of himself and what he accomplished in Vancouver. And I hope to hell he decides to compete in 2014 in Sochi. Afterall, the Olympics will then be held in his beloved Russia. American Evan Lysacek went on to beat Russia's Plushenko for the gold medal. I wish Evan wasn't such a douchey asshole, because he makes it impossible for me to be happy for him and his phenomenal skating this week. Seriously, he was amazing but I still found myself hoping he would fall and tear his Draco Malfoy inspired "Slytherin on Ice" onesie costume he sported during his free skate.

Ice Dancing begins tonight. My two favorites pairs, who both happen to be American, will be competing along with the rest of the field in their short program which will have them all doing different folk dances. Evan Lysacek's "former girlfriend" Taneth Belbin and Ben Aguosto are the team I'm most rooting for, but seriously, I love ice dancing so much I never care who ultimately stands on the Olympic medal risers.

Finally, heaven help me. But I have lately been finding myself sexually attracted to 2-time gold medalist Shaun White. What the hell is WRONG WITH ME?!!