OK, something's up in badminton. At 9:50 Central this morning, it will be Denmark and Japan playing for the women's doubles gold, and, already today, China lost the bronze-medal match to South Korea, 2-zip.
Hungary takes gold in the women's kayak single 500m sprint event, with Denmark and New Zealand being awarded the silver and bronze in a photo finish with Belarus. My sense of things was that Hungary must be having an unusually successful Olympics, but, in fact, Hungary has been in medal decline since Barcelona 1992. Its best medals performance was Helsinki 1952 (16 gold, 10 silver and 16 bronze for third place overall).
Earlier today, Spain, Great Britain and Lithuania won the men's kayak double 200m sprint medals, and so now we're getting a break in the Baywatch music at the boat venue to hear Spain's national anthem. The version that they played for the medal ceremony sounded to me to be less peppy than this one, so I wonder if that whole minor-key deal with the U.S. anthem is at play with all of them.
The women's modern pentathlon is underway. Someday, I want to write a thriller about a guy who stops practicing law in order to train for the modern pentathlon, only to get caught up in international intrigue that requires him to use all of his modern pentathlon skills.
Team USA bungles a baton exchange in the women's 4x100m relay semifinals, and the defending gold medalist/Olympic- and world-record holder fails to qualify for the medal race in Rio.
My comment below was overwrought and unfair to our team. Apparently our women runners were bumped on the track by Brazil, and so they have been given a second chance. I still agree with a lot of the things that I said before, but I was unfair to our runners, and therefore I have deleted that post.
Not surprisingly, a lot of the folks over at the Guardian are enraged that the Americans are being given a second chance. I suppose they think it would be more fair to eliminate any team that gets bumped while trying to make a handoff.
OK, more badminton drama ... China and Great Britain--locked in a nip-and-tuck duel for second place in the medals standings--split the first two sets in the men's double final ... Great Britain leads 12-3 in what I think is the deciding set to (perhaps) 21 ...
Amazingly, the USA men's team actually manages to haul the baton all the way around the track in the 4 x 100. They edge China to win their heat. But don't worry -- they will have other chances to drop the baton before it's all over.
Now the Gold Zone is pointing out that since 2007, the USA men have won only one silver medal in the 4 x 100 in a major match. This is not limited to the Olympics; it also includes world championships. We have a silver medal from the 2013 world championships. In every other big match since 2007, we have dropped the baton or been disqualified.
It's disgraceful. But no one in the U.S. press corps cares; they're all too busy celebrating the greatness of Jamaica. It is literally true that most U.S. reporters would be devastated if the USA beat Jamaica in the relays.
The Team USA men's 4x100m team does qualify for the final. There was a false start in the semi heat, and that means automatic disqualification for the offending team. The NBCOlympics.com commentators thought they saw the problem on the U.S. side of the start, and, indeed, it was. But it turned out to be the Dominican Republic, in Lane 2, to be flagged, not the United States in Lane 3. Phew!
The NBCOlympics.com badminton commentator is a British woman, and she is totally into this match ... "Two ... tantalizing ... points ... away from the bronze medal ..."
All this automatic-disqualication stuff on first false start is silly. That's not how real life works. They ought to give the racers at least one extra chance, at the Olympics, anyway. If track and field wants to be all big and bad with that sort of thing in their regular season and world championships, that's fine. But once they get to the Olympics, they ought to get over themselves. I get to see these people run once every four years, and that's ridiculous to spoil my enjoyment just because some guy jumps wrong at the start of some race.
Rah! Kerron Clement, who was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and grew up in La Porte, Texas, wins gold in the men's 400m hurdles for Team USA! Kenya and Turkey (!) take silver and bronze.
How many times have I told you -- don't underestimate Serbia? They are the West Virginia of nations. Austria-Hungary underestimated Serbia in 1914 -- how did that turn out?
Anyway, the USA women, who were favored to win the volleyball tournament, are now down 2 sets to 1 against Serbia in the semi-finals.
Here's the thing for me as a volleyball fan. Even if you win, you have to go through set after set that are hotly-contested. And there's no clock -- you have to get enough points to win. So no lead is ever safe. So you have really long matches, and you can never be certain of victory until the match is over. For a pessimist like me, that's just guaranteed misery. Every four years, I start off all excited about volleyball, and by the time we get to this stage, I just want it to be over.
I feel really badly for the women's volleyball team -- I really do. But they were absolutely horrific down the stretch. They had won the fourth set 25-16, and then they led all through the fifth set, and were in a position where all they had to do was keep scoring off of Serbia's serve. Instead, after being the dominant team for something like 45 minutes, they simply fell apart, blowing point after point until the match was over.
Anyway, that's exactly what I meant about how no lead is safe in volleyball. That just wears me out. The Nats blew a two-run lead in the 9th inning of a deciding playoff game against St. Louis in 2012, and I still haven't gotten over it.
Except for the ready-for-football part. I listened to a podcast about the NFL East the other day, and I think I'm just going to take a pass on this season.
On the Gold Zone, it's time for the handoff from Tanith White to Andrew Siciliano. This time, she has an actual football to use for the handoff, which is more evidence that -- for me, at least -- it's time for the Olympics to end and for football to begin.
I was stuck in traffic for about 90 minutes today, and, because I'm an idiot, I spent most of it going back and forth between ESPN and Fox Sports Radio. The whole time I was hoping to get an update on how Team USA was doing in the women's volleyball match. That didn't happen, but I got plenty of opinions on Ryan Lochte.
Given the level of expertise at those two outlets on matters like the law, international relations, the history of U.S. involvement in South America, and police procedures here and in Brazil, I'm sure you got some real insight into the whole Ryan Lochte situation.
I would love to call one of those guys sometime and ask where, exactly, he studied philosophy, or business management, or political history, or ethics, or any of the other things that they would rather discuss than sports.
The USA women's relay team, having been given a second chance, zips around the track without dropping the baton, and qualifies for the 4x100 final. Good for them!
Meanwhile, the decathletes are in their 9th event -- they are throwing the javelin. Ashton Eaton made it through the pole vault and is still in first place.
OK, something's up in badminton. At 9:50 Central this morning, it will be Denmark and Japan playing for the women's doubles gold, and, already today, China lost the bronze-medal match to South Korea, 2-zip.
ReplyDeleteI like both of the Geico commercials, but I would prefer more viewings of the Marco Polo and fewer of the sandcastle dads.
ReplyDeleteThe Marco Polo actor deserves an Academy Award.
DeleteHungary takes gold in the women's kayak single 500m sprint event, with Denmark and New Zealand being awarded the silver and bronze in a photo finish with Belarus. My sense of things was that Hungary must be having an unusually successful Olympics, but, in fact, Hungary has been in medal decline since Barcelona 1992. Its best medals performance was Helsinki 1952 (16 gold, 10 silver and 16 bronze for third place overall).
ReplyDeleteEarlier today, Spain, Great Britain and Lithuania won the men's kayak double 200m sprint medals, and so now we're getting a break in the Baywatch music at the boat venue to hear Spain's national anthem. The version that they played for the medal ceremony sounded to me to be less peppy than this one, so I wonder if that whole minor-key deal with the U.S. anthem is at play with all of them.
By the way, I've created my own little song that I sing to myself whenever I tune in Gold Zone.
ReplyDeleteThe women's modern pentathlon is underway. Someday, I want to write a thriller about a guy who stops practicing law in order to train for the modern pentathlon, only to get caught up in international intrigue that requires him to use all of his modern pentathlon skills.
ReplyDeleteARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHH!
ReplyDeleteTeam USA bungles a baton exchange in the women's 4x100m relay semifinals, and the defending gold medalist/Olympic- and world-record holder fails to qualify for the medal race in Rio.
The qualifying times were all in the 42-second range; the United States finished its race in 1 minute, 6 seconds. Heartbreaking.
DeleteMy comment below was overwrought and unfair to our team. Apparently our women runners were bumped on the track by Brazil, and so they have been given a second chance. I still agree with a lot of the things that I said before, but I was unfair to our runners, and therefore I have deleted that post.
DeleteNot surprisingly, a lot of the folks over at the Guardian are enraged that the Americans are being given a second chance. I suppose they think it would be more fair to eliminate any team that gets bumped while trying to make a handoff.
DeleteWOW! YOU'RE KIDDING ME! TEAM USA IS BACK IN THE FINAL! THAT'S TERRIFIC!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOK, more badminton drama ... China and Great Britain--locked in a nip-and-tuck duel for second place in the medals standings--split the first two sets in the men's double final ... Great Britain leads 12-3 in what I think is the deciding set to (perhaps) 21 ...
ReplyDeleteAmazingly, the USA men's team actually manages to haul the baton all the way around the track in the 4 x 100. They edge China to win their heat. But don't worry -- they will have other chances to drop the baton before it's all over.
ReplyDeleteNow the Gold Zone is pointing out that since 2007, the USA men have won only one silver medal in the 4 x 100 in a major match. This is not limited to the Olympics; it also includes world championships. We have a silver medal from the 2013 world championships. In every other big match since 2007, we have dropped the baton or been disqualified.
ReplyDeleteIt's disgraceful. But no one in the U.S. press corps cares; they're all too busy celebrating the greatness of Jamaica. It is literally true that most U.S. reporters would be devastated if the USA beat Jamaica in the relays.
The Team USA men's 4x100m team does qualify for the final. There was a false start in the semi heat, and that means automatic disqualification for the offending team. The NBCOlympics.com commentators thought they saw the problem on the U.S. side of the start, and, indeed, it was. But it turned out to be the Dominican Republic, in Lane 2, to be flagged, not the United States in Lane 3. Phew!
ReplyDeletePardon ... this badminton match is for bronze ... Great Britain is up on China in the third set, 17-9 ...
ReplyDeleteJamaica also manages to get the baton around the track, so they will be there to smoke the Americans in the final.
ReplyDeleteI'm about ready for football season.
The NBCOlympics.com badminton commentator is a British woman, and she is totally into this match ... "Two ... tantalizing ... points ... away from the bronze medal ..."
ReplyDeleteGreat Britain beats China for badminton men's double gold.
ReplyDelete"They were quite simply superb today!" gushes the Brit NBCOlympics.com commentator.
All this automatic-disqualication stuff on first false start is silly. That's not how real life works. They ought to give the racers at least one extra chance, at the Olympics, anyway. If track and field wants to be all big and bad with that sort of thing in their regular season and world championships, that's fine. But once they get to the Olympics, they ought to get over themselves. I get to see these people run once every four years, and that's ridiculous to spoil my enjoyment just because some guy jumps wrong at the start of some race.
ReplyDeleteRah! Kerron Clement, who was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and grew up in La Porte, Texas, wins gold in the men's 400m hurdles for Team USA! Kenya and Turkey (!) take silver and bronze.
ReplyDeleteMedal Count:
ReplyDelete1. USA: 31 + 32 + 31 = 94
2. GBR: 20 + 21 + 13 = 54
3. CHN: 19 + 15 + 20 = 54
How many times have I told you -- don't underestimate Serbia? They are the West Virginia of nations. Austria-Hungary underestimated Serbia in 1914 -- how did that turn out?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the USA women, who were favored to win the volleyball tournament, are now down 2 sets to 1 against Serbia in the semi-finals.
I still don't understand how we lost that game to West Virginia in 2010. To this day, I don't know why we shot all those three's.
DeleteHere's the thing for me as a volleyball fan. Even if you win, you have to go through set after set that are hotly-contested. And there's no clock -- you have to get enough points to win. So no lead is ever safe. So you have really long matches, and you can never be certain of victory until the match is over. For a pessimist like me, that's just guaranteed misery. Every four years, I start off all excited about volleyball, and by the time we get to this stage, I just want it to be over.
ReplyDeleteThe USA win the fourth set against Serbia, and the women's semi-final will be decided in the fifth set.
ReplyDeleteAnd now the men's modern pentathletes are fencing away.
ReplyDeleteCrushing.
ReplyDeleteThe USA was up 12-10 in the fifth set, needing only 15 points to win -- and then fell apart. Serbia wins the fifth set 15-13, and the USA are out.
ReplyDeleteI'm done with volleyball for the next four years.
I feel really badly for the women's volleyball team -- I really do. But they were absolutely horrific down the stretch. They had won the fourth set 25-16, and then they led all through the fifth set, and were in a position where all they had to do was keep scoring off of Serbia's serve. Instead, after being the dominant team for something like 45 minutes, they simply fell apart, blowing point after point until the match was over.
DeleteAnyway, that's exactly what I meant about how no lead is safe in volleyball. That just wears me out. The Nats blew a two-run lead in the 9th inning of a deciding playoff game against St. Louis in 2012, and I still haven't gotten over it.
DeleteI like college basketball -- you play 40 minutes and that's it. Even if you go to overtime, it's only 5 more minutes.
DeleteYeah, I agree with all of this.
DeleteExcept for the ready-for-football part. I listened to a podcast about the NFL East the other day, and I think I'm just going to take a pass on this season.
DeleteI wouldn't blame you for that. Football season is the only one I really enjoy, because it's the one where the stakes are the lowest.
DeleteOn the Gold Zone, it's time for the handoff from Tanith White to Andrew Siciliano. This time, she has an actual football to use for the handoff, which is more evidence that -- for me, at least -- it's time for the Olympics to end and for football to begin.
ReplyDeleteI was stuck in traffic for about 90 minutes today, and, because I'm an idiot, I spent most of it going back and forth between ESPN and Fox Sports Radio. The whole time I was hoping to get an update on how Team USA was doing in the women's volleyball match. That didn't happen, but I got plenty of opinions on Ryan Lochte.
ReplyDeleteGiven the level of expertise at those two outlets on matters like the law, international relations, the history of U.S. involvement in South America, and police procedures here and in Brazil, I'm sure you got some real insight into the whole Ryan Lochte situation.
DeleteThey made up for their lack of information by being extra definitive.
DeleteI would love to call one of those guys sometime and ask where, exactly, he studied philosophy, or business management, or political history, or ethics, or any of the other things that they would rather discuss than sports.
DeleteAl Michaels and Mike Tirico are talking about the NFL right now on Channel 6.
ReplyDeleteAl's all excited about the Rams being back in Los Angeles. I think he lives in Los Angeles.
DeleteI'm pretty excited about the Rams being back in L.A. myself.
DeleteI'm also excited about having Tirico on NBC.
ReplyDeleteI'll say this for synchronized swimming: It makes me smile every Olympics.
ReplyDeleteThe USA isn't involved in any of the sports on the Gold Zone right now, so I'm enjoying myself more.
ReplyDeleteThe USA women's relay team, having been given a second chance, zips around the track without dropping the baton, and qualifies for the 4x100 final. Good for them!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the decathletes are in their 9th event -- they are throwing the javelin. Ashton Eaton made it through the pole vault and is still in first place.
ReplyDeleteIn the women's semi-final for basketball, the USA is in a battle:
ReplyDeleteFRA 36 - 40 USA
Sue Bird is still hurt.
The USA women played much better in the second half. Final score:
ReplyDeleteFRA 67 - 86 USA
This is the fourth straight Summer Olympics (and sixth of the last seven) that Team USA has reached at least 100 medals.
ReplyDelete