first off... ABSOLUTELY I WILL GO TO VANCOUVER 2010! let's do it brandi, i'm all in! i'll start saving up my money right now. okay, on to the post... here's what i think about some of the games i've been watching so far:
soccer - i watched the US women against japan late last night, even though natasha kai only played a bit at the end (after starting the first game), i had a lot of fun watching. usually i think soccer is not a great sport to watch because even though they're all professionals, the rules of the game make them all look pretty lame. i mean, ball control is really kind of elusive, players lose the ball a lot. and unless you're REALLY good, there aren't a lot of shots on goal and most of the shots are pretty lame looking (i'm sure they're NOT lame, but they look that way in two-dimensional tv). BUT... that makes it exciting also because you know the chances are few and far between so you have to pay attention ALL the time. i guess that's why it's the most popular sport in the world?
equestrian dressage - you gotta be kidding me. this was on tv for like, hours last night. if you want a laugh (not a good laugh, but a, oh my gosh THIS is what people spend millions of dollars on? kinda laugh), just tune in... it'll be on for like 4 days.
volleyball - awesome, of course. US won 3-1 over japan. kim willoughby was spectacular, but the real star was heather bown, wow, domintation. something weird though... they changed the ball. why do you need to change the volleyball? i mean, i understand technology is technology and i guess they want to make improvements, but that's like tennis saying "we don't want to put felt on the ball anymore," or baseball saying "let's ditch the stitches." now it's this weird, spiral ball with little divets on the surface... weird. here's an old guy holding one:
swimming - speaking of new technology... one "sport" that i don't really care for is swimming. they just introduced a new kind of wetsuit (which, by the way, makes people look even worse than speedos... if that's even possible) which is supposed to make you swim faster, and now all these world records are being broken. it's just dumb. it's all so artificial, y'know? i'm more about naturalistic atheletics. like an open ocean swim, or just a very long distance swim maybe. the fact is, modern swimming requires jumping off the starter (not swimming), then there's all those rules about dolphin kicks underwater (not part of the stroke being contested), then all the turns at the end of the lane (push offs, not swimming), and at the end it all comes down to tenths and hundreths of a second? not worth it. it's an artificial way to measure a legitimate athletic event. of course, they can't really make 400m length pools or eliminate starting blocks so i don't know how you would fix it. don't mean i gotta like it though.
gymnastics - another "sport" that i don't get. well, this one really isn't a sport at all, in my opinion, because it's judged. that means it's subjective, that means it's a performance art. but since these are the olympic GAMES and not the olympic SPORTS it's okay. still, it's so artificial, again. some things are pretty neat, like the high bar, but some are completely lame, like the pommel horse. seriously, it's ridiculous. it would be one thing if it were lame but very unique or something really only gymnasts could do, but watch a b-boy competition anywhere and you'll see all of them doing things way cooler than the pommel horse.
handball - more ridiculousness! have you ever seen this game? it looks like it wants to be basketball, but can't. haha, maybe it's basketball for short people. anyway, there's a goal like soccer but a melon-sized ball that you bounce and throw into the goal. it's pretty lame because they almost dribble the ball, but it looks like they're traveling all the time so i'm not sure if you need to bounce the ball to move or what. then there's the semi-circle around that goal that i guess you can't enter (except for the goalie) and all the defenders just stand around in an arch around the edge of the circle while the offensive players try and slash through to get a clear throw at the goal. i just can't figure out the rules, and i've been watching it all day!
tonight is US men's volleyball (with clay stanley) and tennis and tomorrow is women's volleyball vs. cuba, can't wait!
4 comments:
VANCOUVER 2010!! i can't wait!
is that natasha kai with the tattoos? she looks like a badass! i like watching soccer, even if you need to really watch the whole thing or you'll miss something exciting. i was in mexico watching "beach soccer" on tv. it was like beach vball i guess, there were 4 on a side, plus goalie and it was so much more exciting! the ball bounces all weird cause of the sand and it's so much faster.
equestrian?! c'mon, that's lame!
vball - awesome! it's super weird that they changed the ball. i remember when they used a different basketball for WNBA, i think they eventually changed it back.
swimming - i think to even the playing field, without use of technologies to make us faster/more aerodynamic, they should swim naked.
gym - i like mens better than womens. the rings are cool and requires a lot of strength. they should have a b-boy competition in olympics though, that would be TIGHT! i really HATE the floor exercise part, so lame. they just all look so fake and practiced. you know, it's not natural.
handball - didn't know this was an olympic sport, sounds like a messed up one at that. the picture is pretty awesome tho! if you can choke your opponent it seems like a fun sport.
Ha, ha, ha, I totally know what you mean about handball. I was trying to figure it out, too! Like, what's the deal with dribbling? Are they supposed to do it or not? Did you see field hockey? That's another interesting sport. I don't understand why their sticks need to be so short. It looks like their backs must hurt.
natasha kai is scary... i remember seeing her around UH campus, i think i would cry if she came near me, but i think she's actually really nice, she seemed friendly around UH at least.
if everyone swam naked for the olympics, i bet there would be some VERY different results... or maybe they'd do reverse genetic engineering to make everyone dolphin-shaped.
yeah, floor exercise is the worst! like, if you're gonna do tumbling, just do it. no need music, no need lame dance moves that no one can do well. just walk from corner to corner and tumble, it would be so much better.
i actually did watch a little field hockey yesterday, they all must get scholiosis, however you spell it, and all the old field hockey players get all quasimodo-ed after they retire from the sport. it's so lame, like, if you're gonna do that, just play hockey, or roller hockey at least... or forget all that handball/field hockey/lacrosse and just play soccer!
So when Lance and I were driving yesterday, he said, "We should totally go to the Vancouver Olympics." And I said, "Huh? Funny, Matt and Brandi said they wanted to go." And then he said, "Really?!? Dude, we should totally do it."
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