Olympic Thoughts

Few programming notes before diving headfirst into a two foot pool of water:

1.) Added some things to the site like lists and book recommendations to the right hand side of the window. Nothing too exciting there but it jazzes the place up a bit.

2.) I just reached 500 hits...thanks to all who have been here and keep coming back.

Some Olympic thoughts:

1.) I thought the Opening Ceremonies were pretty neat. Nothing like kicking back with a few drinks with some friends to watch a ton of countries come together in one place. Highlights for me included the neat drum light countdown in the beginning (Matt Lauer called it "intense"), the Olympic rings being brought out of the floor (its hard to explain), and the various countries coming into the stadium. A friend and I were trying to do the math in terms of how many athletes there were based on the number of people in the country. For example, the United states had 304 million people with 640 athletes (1 per 475,000 people) while I believe one of those Caribbean countries like Nivas or St. Kits had 4 athletes based on 20,000 people (1 per 5,000). China was out there with only 615 athletes and over a billion people in population.

2.) I only caught a glimpse of that men's 4x100 relay swimming event where the Americans came roaring back to win but its one of the better sporting events you'll ever see. Speaking of which, why don't they have swimming races for horses, dogs, or other land based animals? You can have the Atlantic Derby instead of the Kentucky Derby. I assume horses know how to swim right?

3.) Bob Costas's interview with George Bush was the most absurd interview I've seen in awhile. I used to love Bob Costas when he called football and basketball for NBC but he's evolved into this elder statesman using words like "galactic", "adversity", "emotion", and "arduous". Only Jim Lampley and Brent Musberger are allowed to speak like that.

4.) I caught some of the woman's volleyball game last night and can't figure out what that black stuff is on Kerri Walsh's shoulder and arm (She's the blond American). It looks like tape but then it looks like its part of her skin. It sort of reminds me of the villain "Venom" from Spiderman 3 in that it might take over her entire body, cause her to grow really big fangs, and develop a bad attitude towards people named "Peter Parker".

5.) The woman's Chinese gymnastic team looks like they are 10 years old. Let me know if you think I'm wrong. They can't be more than 4 feet tall.

6.) My wife and I had a debate last night about when somebody says their hotel or resort they vacationed at has an "Olympic sized" swimming pool. The pools used in the Olympics are 50 meters. I can't remember ever seeing a 50 meter pool but I say its 50 meters while my wife says 25...can you settle a bet? On the line is who gets to tar the driveway the next time its needed.

7.) Unless my ears deceived me, I definitely heard the NBA on NBC theme song during the men's basketball game. That is a future post for sure as no one and I mean NO ONE could get me pumped up for a basketball game like NBC and a Bob Costas voice over setting the game up.

"Can the Knicks finally overcome Michael Jordan and his Bulls or will Chicago be looking at further enhancing their already growing legacy. We'll find out....next"