<p>Unless I missed it, no one has commented on our fencers who went gold, silver, bronze. Notre Dame, Yale and Duke.</p>
<p>^ missypie, Not here, but on other “Olympic” threads. I think on the Duke, Notre Dame, and High School Life forums.</p>
<p>“Unless I missed it, no one has commented on our fencers who went gold, silver, bronze. Notre Dame, Yale and Duke.”</p>
<p>And homeschooled!</p>
<p>You’d probably have to be homeschooled to be able to attend all of the tournaments. I had heard that the Notre Dame Olympian had taken time off to concentrate on the Olympics.</p>
<p>Thank Heavens for DirecTV DVR and getting the New York feed of NBC in HD. We are setting the DVD to record at 5:00pm here on the West Coast and start watching at 7:00 and then zipping through the commercials and are able to be done by 9:30. Not sure how people are able to stay up to midnight to see the best events.</p>
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<p>Amazing. I said to WashMom, “that will teach the French team to talk smack.” Eerie. I would think ANY Olympic athlete would be smart enough to trash-talk like that. Didn’t the French team get the “Public Relations 101” lecture?</p>
<p>Next I’d love to see the trash-talking French dude swim naked or in his PJs and win the 100 free like he claimed he could (when asked what he thought about the new Speedo suit :rolleyes:). I have a feeling the 100 free is going to be as exciting as the relay.</p>
<p>Just finished seeing the Chinese men blew everybody away in team gymnastics. They did not self-destruct this time.</p>
<p>^I guess I’m going to have to stop reading this thread until AFTER the broadcast in California…</p>
<p>goooo USA in gymnastics and swimming! so many medals tonight!</p>
<p>I’ve been running in and out of the den catching as much of the coverage as I can. Beautiful, breathtaking (though very long) opening ceremony.</p>
<p>Enjoying the swimming, but even more looking forward to track and field.</p>
<p>NOT enjoying the over-extensive coverage of Beach Volleyball! They’re force-feeding it just as they did four years ago. Way boring, IMO. Show me more of just about anything else, please. Handball, Field Hockey, Rowing, Badminton, you name it. The more variety, the better.</p>
<p>Another pet peeve: cameramen zooming in on the faces of disappointed athletes, trying for the teary closeup. Give them a break!</p>
<p>Pro: the NBC’s extensive online coverage. At first their website wouldn’t allow me to view any footage, as our cable provider is “not a participant.” </p>
<p>I tried again and fibbed–
instead of typing in my own zip code and local cable tv provider, I remembered the theme song of that old 70’s kids’ tv show “ZOOM,” where they’d sing their Boston address & zip-- “0-2-1-3-4…” Clicked on Boston, then Comcast, and voila, we can watch our favorite sports (like field hockey) online.</p>
<p>I like the beach volleyball coverage…almost better than volleyball coverage. I’d like to see handball and field hockey.</p>
<p>I am taping the equestrian events on Oxygen for my horse girl D who is on a 4-H exchange trip. The cross-country part of eventing was amazing - they converted a golf-course in Hong Kong into a gorgeous course, much shorter than previous Olympic courses out of concern for the horses, but just as exciting, even with the rain.</p>
<p>I have really been impressed with Pres. Bush during this Olympics, especially, his interaction with the American athletes. He reminded me so much of Gov. Bush 2000, who was going to bring everyone together. What happened to that Bush?</p>
<p>Amy Tryon got DQ’d :(. Apparently, she fell off her horse, but is going to be OK. The horse is OK, too.</p>
<p>Watched the recorded 400 free relay. Yay! Wow! However, if Phelps was my kid, I would have had a loooong conversation with him about swimsuits and what they should cover.</p>
<p>Then watched more swimming last night. I’m very happy that Natalie and Aaron got their gold medals. They deserved them! I noticed that the Russian guy who took the bronze in the 100 back did not wear a cap. WTH? Was he trying to make a statement that he did not need no fancy suits or caps to be good? Or did his lucky cap break apart just before the race? I heard that some athletes were furious with their officials because they could not compete in the new Speedo “NASA-developed” suits due to pre-signed sponsorship agreements with other companies (Nike, Arena, etc.).</p>
<p>Can’t wait to see the track and field competitions.</p>
<p>Just heard on NPR that the firework display during the Openning Ceremony was animation. How ridiculous is this. It was reported that the Chinese spent months creating a firework display on a computer. They even added a camera jiggle to give the illusion that it was filmed. I can take Sarah Brightman lip synching but animated fireworks is another story. The only redeeming part of this was that it was good for the environment.</p>
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<p>Not really. There were actual fireworks but it was the broadcast feed that was partially animated (and it was only part of the display that was animated) so as not to have to worry about weather, smog, or potential danger to helicopters attempting to film it live.</p>
<p>shrinkrap, I think you’re right. I look at this post with one eye closed, knowing it might all get ruined for me.</p>
<p>That said, can someone explain gymnastics judging for me? The execution scores are so inconsistent that I’m beginning to believe my 13yo that it’s rigged. In particular, I’m thinking of shawn johnson’s balance beam routine in the prelims, which looked damn-near flawless to me (saw one slight bobble), and yet she only received an 8.8 for execution. And last night with the men’s, the Chinese guy who stepped out of bounds still scored higher in execution than what looked like GREAT high bar routines for the Americans.</p>
<p>Why didn’t NBC at the time report that it was digitally altered?</p>
<p>Fireworks on TV just aren’t as good as fireworks in person. I wish there were a way to get the same feeling as being there. I vote for MORE enhancement!</p>