It's all about me

[taxwonk]

I've seen it twice now. Is there something about it I'm supposed to get?

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by taxwonk
I've seen it twice now. Is there something about it I'm supposed to get?

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feat...rko/index.html (Long salon.com article deconstructing donnie darko.)

[Dave]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
The commercials are ridiculous. Last night, Bob Costas announced that the upcoming coverage of the men's 100m finals would be uninterrupted. Thanks, Bob. I enjoyed that solid 10 seconds of commercial-free programming.

Don't forget the other uninterrupted nine minutes, fifty seconds of guys standing in the tunnel listening to music, competitors getting comfortable in the blocks and shaking out their legs, and random shots of family members in the crowd.

If you watch NBC you know it's not just about the competition.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
What sort of DQs? I think that there's been one Russian woman (shot put, I think) and one Greek man (weightlifting) who've had medals stripped because of drug use. The only scoring error that I know about is the South Korean who thinks he won the gold in the men's all-around, though admittedly, the only gymnastics I've watched was the woman's individual all-around and the men's team. Those were fairly clean. There was the non-controversy over Aaron Peirsol's 100 backstroke gold, but that was cleared up almost immediately.

Compared to the cough syrup and vault height fiascos from Sydney's gymnastics, I think this one has gone fairly well.

Question: There appears to be no question that the South Korean's parallel bar routine should have had a higher difficulty score. If the higher score is applied, he wins the all-around on points. Should he get it retroactively?

I don't think so. I think that the competition doesn't really exist in a vacuum, and what happens during the competition impacts the rest of the competition. Some of the other gymnasts may have changed their strategy if they'd known they needed higher scores to beat the South Korean. There were protest mechanisms in place, and I think that the South Koreans missed their opportunity to object.

I do feel badly that there could be an asterisk next to Paul Hamm's medal though. One of the things that has bugged me about these games are all the asterisks. Commentators are constantly blah blah blah record blah blah remember it was set blah blah boycotted games blah blah.

I agree with you (no retroactive gold for the Korean guy), for the reasons you give. The columnist on cnn.com summed up the reasons why that doesn't work pretty well in his column today (story here).

There was also a time penalty added to a German rider's equestrian performance that (after appeals concluded) stripped Germany of two golds and resulted in US getting a bronze in the event (US, France and England benefitted from the assessed penalty). I only know this because I happened to be playing hookey last week when the event was televised on Bravo.

And I meant to ask sunny at the time (and others of course, but sunny b/c of her horse background) what she thought of all the equestrian events being Olympic events. Dressage seemed to have some of the scoring subjectivity of gymnastics (bad for Olympic events I think), some amount of luck of the draw as far as who went first (later riders got to watch others and benefit from seeing what worked and what didn't) and (most damning to me, I think) the horses were really being treated like the atheletes, not the riders.

[Dave]

Originally posted by Gattigap
I understand that the Ladies of the FB can tell you that it's not the restaurant, but the International flavour and culture of the Male who escorts you there that makes all the difference.

So you're advocating taking FBetties to IHOP?

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Dave
So you're advocating taking FBetties to IHOP?

INTERNATIONAL House of Pancakes? that is tres sophisticated, tres elegant.

ETA just the thought is making me want to jump your black-and-whiteness and have you make beautiful love to me until my claws are embedded in your back in passion.

[Anne Elk]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
And I meant to ask sunny at the time (and others of course, but sunny b/c of her horse background) what she thought of all the equestrian events being Olympic events. Dressage seemed to have some of the scoring subjectivity of gymnastics (bad for Olympic events I think), some amount of luck of the draw as far as who went first (later riders got to watch others and benefit from seeing what worked and what didn't) and (most damning to me, I think) the horses were really being treated like the atheletes, not the riders.

Thanks to the construction detour on my street, I was up early this morning watching Dressage on Bravo. The commentator (who I did not remember from last weeks team event) did a nice job of explaining the intricacies of the event and pointing out technical mistakes.

The Gatlin/Crawford hijinx in the semi-final were non-existent. One friend was encouraging the other to take the win. How is that different from Phelps giving up his spot in the relay to Crocker? As for the hat incident, I didn't see it, but maybe it was really sunny during the race and he forgot his sunglasses.

Anne
Back from vacation - did I miss anything interesting?

[Anne Elk]

The US Soccer web site has the US v. Germany match on matchtracker.

[SSSI]US is leading 1-0 at the 60 minute mark. [/SSSI]

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
God bless Tivo.
What was wrong with Gatlin and Crawford's behavior during the semi-final of the 100m? What was wrong with Crawford's hat in the first heat? I was beginning to suspect that the announcers were just making up controversy for the sake of controversy. Crawford's "the zebra had a false start" quote was one of the funniest of the entire Olympics so far.

The men's medley relay was a thing of beauty. The team did not suffer for Phelps decision to give up his spot. I also was happy to see Gary Hall, Jr. repeat on the 50 free.

It wasn't so much Gatlin as Crawford. It was showboating, plain and simple. You can be cocky if you're good, but you can't be an asshole. If you're slowing down to give your buddy the win while everyone else is running their ass off, that's showboating. Wearing the hat was also a little cocky for me as well. It's about being a little more respectful of your competitors - everyone came to compete - everyone worked hard. Don't be a jackass.

And I felt really bad for Paula Radcliffe in the women's marathon - after running for 2 hours, just to have to stop and cry.

But Gary Hall Jr. saying that he's swims faster than anyone on the planet and then going ahead and doing it - that was awesome.

And Khorkina (or however the hell you spell it) looked like she knew she was going to lose. Falling of the unevens and wobbling on the balance beam - it's like she wanted to have something to bitch about - clearly not her best performance. She should just go back to partying and Russian Playboy - it suits her.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
What sort of DQs? I think that there's been one Russian woman (shot put, I think)

I wonder why they became suspicious?

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feat...rko/index.html (Long salon.com article deconstructing donnie darko.)

So then I guess the short answer is "no."

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
I wonder why they became suspicious?

Wow. I thought Ellen DeGeneres was a lipstick lesbian. She must've really been hitting the gym.

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
I wonder why they became suspicious?

He doesn't really look good in those earrings.

[LessinSF]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Question: There appears to be no question that the South Korean's parallel bar routine should have had a higher difficulty score. If the higher score is applied, he wins the all-around on points. Should he get it retroactively?

...

I do feel badly that there could be an asterisk next to Paul Hamm's medal though. One of the things that has bugged me about these games are all the asterisks. Commentators are constantly blah blah blah record blah blah remember it was set blah blah boycotted games blah blah.

There is no doubt. They miscored it, thinking they should start Yang at a 9.9 instead of a 10. Kamm should give it to him. It should be like golf - score your own fuckups. Imagine the goodwill our country would earn, badly needed as I post this from the friendly confines of Vilnius, Lithuania.

Rebuttal argument to link posted earlier - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5790612/

[LessinSF]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
As of two days ago, the US men's basketball team had the lowest outside shooting percentage of the entire tournament.

Speaking of posting from Vilnius, Lithuania, I was here Saturday night for the game against the U.S., and this place went wild with their victory. It is their best sport (bronze the last three Olympics, and arguably gold in 1972 and 1980, since those Russian teams started mostly Lithuanians) and they are mad for it. Everyone converged on the main plaza in the cener of town, honking horns, waving flags out their window, etc. Kinda like when Detroit won the NBA, but without the riot aspect of it. Everyone was gracious to me, bought me drinks, etc. One girl apparently took so much pity on me she let me take her home. Let the Lithuania/Moldova jokes begin.