Kendrick Farris tomorrow in the 85kg class. I'll be surprised if he cracks the top 10, but a USA lifter, hooray. Also, I watched a little handball. Didn't really understand the appeal, but after this video, I'm starting to get it:
I love handball, I love everything about it. I'd make the goal 2 feet less wide though. The worst position in the world has to be goalie in handball. But I love the rules, you can dribble it, otherwise you have 3 steps before you can pass it. Those Matrix style run ins and fake-outs before hitting the inner circle shots are fucking awesome.
Please? She doesn't look a day younger than any of the girls that won in Beijing. And they were totally over fifteen. (To apologetically steal something I read earlier tonight...) A female gymnast's career ends the same way this sentence does.
No, it's an interesting half observation...how important are the Olympics for the different sports, how is this preeminence changing? Other half observations: these gymnastics floor routines, the little dance moves they do in between the important tumbles, the little moves that I could even do...why? Just cut to the chase. At this level of play, it should be nothing but crazy tumbles. It should be Cirque du Soleil craziness. Ha! The Chinese looking coach for the US women's gymnastic team just not so gently moved one of the gals into the standing position, from the sitting, as they waited for the final tumble score towards the all around finals. Stand up, homegirl! I can be such a traditionalist. I also love the different builds of the different athletes. My husband got sick of me muttering "brick shithouse" as the US women's gymnastics team competed. That would be an AWESOME song for their floor routines, btw. That and "Baby's Got Back".
And, read backwards. Am I the only one that thought that during the interview? They showed the bottom of the shoes, and they correctly read "RYAN LOCHTE" on the bottom. So, when he leaves prints, isn't each name mirrored? I think if I wanted to leave my name printed everywhere I walked, and I could convince a shoe company to custom make me a pair of shoes, I'd get them to make the rubber backwards to leave the correct print behind. Maybe he spends a lot of time looking in the mirror . . .
My 72 year old mother has a crush on this guy. I had dinner with her last night and tried to explain that he's a douche and a moron and she looked at me, picked up the remote, pressed the mute button and said, "Problem solved." I'm so proud.
This is what separates the male floor routine from the female floor routine. The reason is partly tradition and partly the ideal of gymnastics. Female gymnastics is about grace and beauty. Yes, power is still important, but look at the events that women have to themselves - uneven bars and beam. Power and strength isn't as important on those events, at least not like it is on parallel bars, rings, and horizontal bar. As a result, if they got rid of the choreography, it would signal a change in the ideal that women's gymnastics strives for. Of course, you might think that all of that is a crock of shit, but that's the reason why there's still the dance moves. Also, if you look at lower-level gymnastics, you'll notice that the structure of the routine is exactly the same. The routine that an eight-year-old gymnast does is exactly the same as the Olympian she'll grow up to become. The only difference is the difficulty of the elements. I find a sort of beauty in that as well.
I firmly believe there should be poppin and lockin' during floor routines. Droppin it like it's hot would be inappropriate for girls of this age. Maybe a little downrocking after landing a somersault combination, and into a few flares and windmills before popping back up and pirouetting? I believe we need to update immediately.
Im just pissed at the entire lack of Bela Karolyi commentary at this Olympics.* *edit: I guess they have interviewed him. They really just need to hire the man to call the play by play.
Watching Bela is one of my favorite things about the summer Olympics. He reminds me of all of the old, Eastern European men who've been in my life. He has so much passion. We need more Bela providing commentary. I love him.
God I still feel like a pedo listing to a grown up Kerri Strug. But Dominique Moceanu was still my first and only gymnast love. /endcreepness
It's a shame the Major Crimes Unit managed to sneak McNulty in and took you guys down. Related, but Dominque Dawes is fucking stunning these days:
I don't know if anyone is watching the mens 85kg but 5 out of 12 people i believe scratched out on their lifts including some of the favourites.
Andrei Rybakou, from Belarus, failed all three snatches he looked injured., Some Iranian and French guys also couldn't do them I forget their names. The chinese guy Lu Yong killed it on the snatch but then couldn't get any of the C & Js going. There was I think a couple of other guys who didn't finish but I started watching late. Ivan Markov was really close to a bronze but both times couldn't hold 209 up for the C&J by a hair and I think he messed up on his second snatch attempt and decided to play it safe.