>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Moving away from doping, how about throwing? As in deliberetly throwing matches?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444226904577562112515755348.html
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>Very un-Olympian, I'm glad they got booted.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>OTOH it's good to see some aspects of the Olympics are 100% reliable: "Still, Locog and the IOC both said tickets to the Tuesday matches wouldn't be refunded."
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>They should be embarrassed. Of course, Olympic committee potentates long ago proved themselves incapable of embarrassment. If you saw their compensation packages or travel arrangements it would make you sick to your stomach. Wouldn't that money be better spent on development programs for young athletes?
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>I pass through the West end of London every morning at the moment and see the limousines parked up with the rather haggard looking Olympic potentates being loaded into them. Most look like they've ever done much more than jog to the bar.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>So true. There was a good cartoon in The New Yorker recently (as there always is, or a dozen of them) with a flabby guy sitting on the examination table in a doctor's office. "Is there any history of exercise in your family?" the doctor asks him.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>For your friday pleasure.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>LOL
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I have been watching the Olympics the way I watch most sports now. I set the recorder, wait an hour or hour and a half after the start, and then start watching. That way I can fast forward through all the commercials. And boy, are there a lot of them. I have not measured but bet commercials take up close to 15 minutes every hour.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Well I'm not watching it but it is on the BBC here so no adverts at all. I guess NBC want to make their investment back. Your point would be a useful reminder to wave at people here who think the BBC should be funded by advertising and we shouldn't have a license fee.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>You are a clever man, Nick, but you are not going to get me to criticize the BBC. I think they're terrific.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Yeah, obviously NBC needs to make its investment back, or at least not lose too much of it. That said, there is a noticeable focus on the web content. Even if you are in the dinosaur business (dominance of American airwaves by three networks) you have to recognize changing reality.
>>>>>
>>>>>I wasn't trying to entrap you mike :-)
>>>>>
>>>>>By here I meant people in the UK.
>>>>
>>>>Consider it clarified. No problem.
>>>>
>>>>Why aren't you watching? There have been some terrific cycling events, plus your city has been brilliant on the world stage.
>>>
>>>Press are reporting that The Who and McCartney will be playing at the closing ceremony so I'll probably mute that bit. Maybe put on a bit of Elgar instead..
>>
>>Agreed -- geezer alert. I am surprised anyone would put The Who (what's left of them) on TV ever again after their atrocious Super Bowl halftime act.
>
>I was thinking the same thing. That performance ( I think I said so here at the time ) made me embarrassed to have lived past 30 <s>

The irony is that one of Pete's most well known lyrics is "Hope I die before I get old." Maybe that's exactly what you meant.

Boy, are the Olympics winding down. There are still some key track events left but since about Thursday there has been a lot of filler on the NBC telecasts. Lots of coverage of synchronized swimming AND rhythmic gymnastics (rolling eyes). "Where did that come from?" features on the 1992 "dream team" U.S. basketball team (that one was about half an hour leading off the show yesterday evening) and other golden oldies like Sebastian Coe and Roger Bannister. I guess they were committed to keeping the daily broadcast time unchanged and just filled it with whatever they could think of.

Reading the Chicago Tribune on Thursday, I learned to my great surprise that I know one of the athletes who competed. A young woman named Regina George ran the 400 and 4 x 400 relay for Nigeria. Regina spent her entire youth in Chicago but through the arcane rules of Olympic eligibility was eligible to be on the Nigerian team since her father is from there. When I was heavily involved in AYSO youth soccer in Chicago several years ago I was very familiar with Regina. Much more so with her younger sister Phyllis, who I coached two seasons when she was on Emily's team. They were good pals and had sleepovers at each other's houses. Both Phyllis and Regina ran like gazelles, as would be expected from the gene pool. Their dad, Phillip, and mom, Florencia, met on the track team at Wichita State. Florencia is from Venezuela. (Which explains why she hated cold soccer days so much). The kids have carried on the tradition -- Regina will be a senior on the Arkansas track team this year and Phyllis will be a sophomore on the soccer team. It still surprised me that Regina is an Olympian. In soccer you can definitely see who the speedy players are but it doesn't necessarily translate to being an Olympic sprinter.

Regina came in 10th or 11th in the 400 in London and ran the anchor leg in the 4 x 4 relay. They qualified for the finals in 8th place, where they finished in the back of the pack. That's still a heck of an accomplishment. She is the second Olympian I have known and both times it has been surreal seeing them running on TV in the Olympics.

I take zero credit for Phyllis's soccer skill, BTW. Even before U-8 she had been taught tremendous skills by her dad. All I had to do was send her out there and occasionally pull her back to defense when her dominance was ruining the game for other players.

One funny time was when Phyllis was 8 and was making a throw-in from the sideline. As kids that age tend to, she was taking a while deciding where to throw it. "Sometime today," a voice boomed out behind me. My reaction was, Hey, who's that yelling at my player?! I turned around and it was her dad. We had a good laugh about that after the game.

Have you watched any of the BMX? That is a pretty wild event, sort of a cross between cycling sprints and rollerball.