OT: Olympic Competition Day 13 (you know how the spoiler thing works by now, right?)
Women's Volleyball going up against S. Korea right now (oh, the battles in the CRex household - and hey, Korean handball at noon!), and then a bunch of other stuff...early track, synch. swimming and ribbon gymnastics. Pretty type stuff. But Water polo women at 1:30, and the I'm sure to be popular around here soccer game at 2:15. Not a bad day all around.
(I almost thought about turning the Brian on WTKA thread into this, but the first few posts would have been awfully weird...)
August 9th, 2012 at 10:33 AM ^
No American has won a gold in Women's boxing.
August 9th, 2012 at 11:01 AM ^
Considering this is the first Olympics with women's boxing that doesn't mean all too much.
August 9th, 2012 at 11:28 AM ^
August 9th, 2012 at 11:36 AM ^
August 9th, 2012 at 11:50 AM ^
So... after today we will have medaled in every Olympics with women's boxing. What an amazing storyline for 2016!
August 9th, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^
Bob Costas will be all over that. "(Name of women's boxer in 2016) has a legacy to live up to. Her country is counting on her to keep the medal-streak alive. Can she finally get out of the long shadow of her predecessors?"
August 9th, 2012 at 12:08 PM ^
in media.
cant believe the state of usa boxing overall. went from a strong medal contender in every weight class to only medalling in two womens events the entire olympics!
is it just a "down" year, or do you think there are other factors involved? wonder if the rise in popularity of mma has had an effect? people inclined to compete in "fighting" events now start in the more popular mma gyms rather than the more traditional boxing gyms? quit following boxing but has it fallen off that much in usa in general?
Heard on NPR that olympic scoring has diverged so much from scoring in professional and Golden Gloves, that the skills of US fighters don't facilitate success in the Olympics. FWIW, olympic scoring is supposed to be changed for the Rio olympics.
Grantland also had an article with a similar theme before the Olympics started.
The bigger issue is that the punch-counting system has led to a mutated style of boxing that is suited toward landing single punches with no regard for the effectiveness of the punch. Why throw a five-punch combination if the most you can expect from the judges is one point for it? You may as well thrust out a quick jab to the forehead and then get the hell out of the way.
August 9th, 2012 at 12:12 PM ^
Canada's women's soccer gets its own stoppage-time miracle, beating France 1-0 on a goal in the 92nd minute. Canada won despite being pretty clearly outplayed - they were outshot 25-4. Soccer can be very weird.
they showed one great shot after another from France match-long, then Canada's gamer winner.
August 9th, 2012 at 12:26 PM ^
Oscar Pistorius didn't get to run in the 4x400 . . . because his teammate crashed right before the handoff and was eliminated. Crazy.
August 9th, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^
August 9th, 2012 at 12:41 PM ^
August 9th, 2012 at 12:33 PM ^
hitting their outside shots in the early going, Aussies looking tough. Their men did for a while last night, too, though, so. . . hard to tell.
August 9th, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^
USA's defense inside is non-existent. They are letting the Aussie big girls get right to their spots. Entry passes are way too easy too. The battle's already done once the ball gets that far inside. USA needs to change that or else get hot shooting in the second half.
August 9th, 2012 at 12:49 PM ^
The Australian women's team is ranked much higher than their men's team in the world rankings. The women are #2, so an Aussie win today wouldn't be that much of a shocker.
usa women are supposed to be even more of a favorite than the men, so a loss should be greater upset.
I was comparing each Australian team's relative chances against the respective U.S. team, not which U.S. team is more heavily favored to win gold. One betting site had the Aussie women at 10-1 to win gold (2nd choice behind U.S.), while the Aussie men were 250-1 (the longest odds of all the teams in the quarterfinals).
And both U.S. teams were the heavy favorites with the exact same odds: 1/20.
But the US holding off the Aussies. 65-59 after 3.
Open-water swimming looks brutal. I can't imagine swimming 10,000 meters. Amazing that it ended up that close at the finish.
August 10th, 2012 at 3:33 AM ^
Claressa Shields won gold! She was one of the happiest people I've ever seen during a medal ceremony! It will be nice to see a positive story come out of Flint.
What are the odds her house got robbed during the Olympics? Or are they still on the arson kick in Flint?
US women (or should I say the former UCONN team) pulled out a victory in basketball.
And with 8 events done, the US is looking very good still at 1-2 in the decathlon, which I can't believe isn't getting more coverage. Eaton and Hardee are awesome.
It's amazing how it's gone from practically the signature event in the Olympics (maybe just behind the tumbling pixies the ladies love) to something that even the Americans get time sped coverage of, replaced by Beach Volleyball and the like. It would be different if Americans suddenly sucked in the sport...but we're still kinda dominating it. And the "world's greatest athlete" get no pub. It's seems like it peaked with this:
I think it never recovered from the "Dan vs. Dave" Reebok ad campaign. They spent all this cash hyping them up and then Dan didn't even qualify for the Olympics while Dave settled for bronze.
Dave had a foot injury and still got the bronze, and Dan won the gold medal in '96. But because Reebok over marketed it, we only remember the flop part of it.
McKayla and the Queen are not amused that the Decathlon doesn't get better press.
And, yes, I do agree with the theory that the Dave v. Dan hype is what started the downfall of the sport in the public eye. But if they do finish as expected and get the Gold / Silver, I hope that Ashton and Trey get some good press out of this.
which is that the best marketing vehicle (and thus the event that's most hyped and most covered) is one that's free of this risk of failure. We see endless beach volleyball, and basketball and women's soccer, because advertisers can be fairly certain there's gold at the end of the trail, and the more one-sided the competition the better (women's softball was ideal in this regard, since hardly anyone else plays it).
The more compelling the competition, the greater the marketing risk. In other words, decathlon is screwed.
It's what's different, and unfortunate, about the olympics. An advertiser can pour money into college football or the NFL without caring who wins as long as the competition is good. But it's the nature of Olympics coverage that the vast majority of viewers are rooting for the same side, so that it's essential for the sponsor that that side win (or at very least not flop out so early that people tune out).
as did jenner!! cant believe what a farce he is now as pseudo-celeb step-father.
The decathlon is my favorite Olympic event. NBC should know this and plan accordingly. I wonder what percentage of Americans watching the Olympics recognize Eaton's name.
was the first I'd heard of either of them.
agree and you raise a valid point. really enjoy the decathlon myself in olympic years, but must say, wasn’t familiar with it this year nor that our athletes were such strong favorites. wonder if the whole “dan and dave” commercialization and result previously had a negative impact on publicity for them this year.
It's a real shame NBC isn't covering it better. Through 9 events with 8,148 points, Ashton Eaton is on pace to easily beat the olympic record (8,893) and could potentially break his world record (9,039) from the US trials in June.
The last event is the 1,500m. He needs a time around 4:30 to break the olympic record and 4:08 for the world record. His personal best in a decathlon is 4:14.
USA soccer 1, Japan nil.
(always wanted to say "nil")
Japan plays great plucky ball.
Uh, is anyone on this blog not rooting for USA?
Because in the immortal words of the one and only Ricky Stanzi: if you don't love it, leave it.
I'd imagine, esp. after the other day.
My favorite soccer term that I am always dying to use is Pitch.
Up 5-2 on Spain. Lots of time left though.
And soccer team goes up 2-0 as I'm typing this!
Midway into 3rd quarter. From what I've seen of water polo, this has been a crazy low scoring game.
Reminder that Mary Armstrong, the US goalie, is a Wolverine.
But the soccer team made it a game again, only up 2-1.
Water polo, it should be noted, features a Wolverine in goal - Betsey Armstrong.
And Jamaicans are too fast. I hope NBC shows the weird alien Olympic mascot trying to hump Blake and Bolt after the race.
Bolt can be goofy, but he's a good guy. Did you see the video of him stopping an interview so as not to distract from the U.S. medal ceremony in another sport?
Bolt is one of my favorite athletes. I love the Caribbean culture, and Rasta life is a great mix of care-free and loving. It's crazy to think that I just watched the fastest moving person...probably in the history of human existence?
in this race. But, at his top speed...I wonder if anybody ever moved that fast before?