August 8th, 2012 at 10:38 AM ^
All the best stuff is at the end of the work day when you're going home. Basketball at 5. Beach Volleyball Final at 4. And if the 2:15 100m hurdle semi goes well for Porter, then the Final at 4:15. Yet in the morning, not a whole lot.
August 8th, 2012 at 11:22 AM ^
Whoa - how did I not notice these guys before today?
What are these mascots supposed to be? Aliens?
August 8th, 2012 at 11:34 AM ^
Wenlock and Mandeville are awesome!
August 8th, 2012 at 11:36 AM ^
these mascots are creepy... googled an explanation of the design and that didnt help at all in understanding the logic.
August 8th, 2012 at 11:50 AM ^
you explain a one-eyed phallus-shaped mascot? They should just sell dildos with the olympic rings stamped on them.
August 8th, 2012 at 12:16 PM ^
With the Olympics rings.
August 8th, 2012 at 11:50 AM ^
Looking at them reminds me of the sci-fi story "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream."
August 8th, 2012 at 12:21 PM ^
or for Ultraman to come save us.
August 8th, 2012 at 11:35 AM ^
Geena almost got bumped out of the semi's -- fortunately there was a pretty slow heat where no one qualified by time (just the top whatever places).
August 8th, 2012 at 11:39 AM ^
...men's volleyball quarterfinal is underway. Follow the action here. USA lost the first set 28-26.
August 8th, 2012 at 11:41 AM ^
Because NBC online live's feeds all seem to have gone ca-blooey except for Taekwondo? Or is it just me?
August 8th, 2012 at 11:45 AM ^
I can't find the men's v-ball game on TV anywhere.
August 8th, 2012 at 11:52 AM ^
It's on regular NBC.
August 8th, 2012 at 11:57 AM ^
I swear I looked there, but oh well. Serbia about to beat AUS in water polo after an upset scare.
August 8th, 2012 at 11:44 AM ^
Serbia is down 8-7 against Aussie with 7 minutes left. AUS kind of sucked in the group round and squeaked into the q'finals.
August 8th, 2012 at 12:11 PM ^
The US men's team is in deep trouble. They blew a 2-0 lead against Russia a few days ago, and I don't think they've recovered. They're down 2-0 to Italy, and they look horrible. Let's hope for a big comeback.
August 8th, 2012 at 12:52 PM ^
Absolutely horrendous performance by USA -- out in the q'finals to friggin' Italy.
August 8th, 2012 at 12:55 PM ^
The quarterfinals are the absolute worst time in the tournament to lose. Lose in group play and you can still qualify. Lose in the semis and you've still got a chance at the bronze. Lose in the finals, and you've at least got the silver. But here? Nothing.
Do they play shirtless?
/asking for a friend
August 8th, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^
Not sure if NBC showed this (I watched the stream) or plans to, but don't miss it if they do.
August 8th, 2012 at 12:51 PM ^
Not sure what network, but it was crazy. I unfortunately didn't see how it ended (other than being forced to OT) because I was on a conference call.
and the handball equivalent of Bryce Drew is at 1:27.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/handball/men-quarterfinal-1.html
OT was almost as exciting.
And yes, it was crazy. 27-27 after regulation, 30-30 after the first overtime. Hungary won in the second overtime, 34-33. I was cheering for Iceland, but that was a great match.
The second handball quarterfinal just about topped the first one, with France beating Spain 23-22 on an amazing rebound goal as the clock ran out.
Perhaps I'm missing some nuances of the sport, but I'm convinced that the USA could be a top team in handball, since it requires the type of athlete that the US produces in abundance and then discards after high school or college--6'2" to 6'6", strong throwing arm, ability to play zone defense and run set plays but also to improvise when needed. I'm thinking of the type of athlete who was a starting quarterback in high school as well as a starter on his basketball team, but isn't quite good enough to get paid for either sport.
The US produces hundreds of those kids every year. Get a few of them together, teach them the sport, and I think that within 4 years the US is challenging Brazil and Argentina for a spot in the Olympics. Not that the US Olympic Committee would devote the money to such a program, but it seems like a sport (like volleyball or water polo) that the US could be good at if there were even a few colleges who had varsity handball.
I remember someone once saying that Michael Jordan could have been the greatest handball player alive. Of course, things worked out for him in basketball, too.
Didn't Dirk Nowitzki consider a handball career? I know his father was on the German national team.
I don't think people in the US appreciate just how popular the sport is in Europe. It's the #2 or #3 (after hockey, in Scandinavia) team sport in most of the continent. A spot in the Olympics would be well within reach for the US if they committed to it, as Alton suggests, but it's a long way from there to challenging the top European teams. It's not easy to take kids from a handful of college programs and take on squads of full-time professional players.
Handball can be a pretty physical sport as well:
Awesome start to the decathlon this morning... I think two more events today and right now the Americans are 1 - 2.
This is by far my favorite track & field event.
This is my biggest gripe about the tape-delayed coverage; it's not that we don't get to see stuff live (I've been late to some of the streams and watched them as replays) but that NBC edits the events into stories and in doing so takes away most of the tension and expectation of a live event.
Of course, the field events are cut so badly there's hardly even a story left.
Netherlands field hockey on nbc sports, just sayin'
The Netherlands win in a shootout! We get to enjoy watching this team once more.
field hockey shootouts are weird. Like the time limit and playing rebounds aspect. Hopefully the whole final is televised.
trying to decipher the good track and field heats, diving going on, and apparently I missd the runner up Beach Volleyball match as Brazil gets the bronze 11-21, 21-19, 15-12..
Great job by the Brazilians to come back after getting thwacked by China. I wish our men's team had the same amount of balls (in both v-ball and water polo -- grim :( )
i know they plan to show it in primetime, but is the women's beach volleyball usa vs usa final on tv live anywhere? can't find it...
someone else pointed out the story of a young teenage female boxer from flint - in case anyone was looking for it, Claressa Shields won her bout today over Kazakhstan's Marina Volnova and is on to the gold medal game tomorrow against a Russian. the match will be midday tomorrow....
We are laying waste today in track & field. Finally a good day since last week's killer day in the pool.
Misty Mae-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings get gold for the 3rd time in a row. Crazy. 21-16, 21-16.
WTF is with the dong punching in basketball? Melo got it the other day. Today a French player gave it to a Spaniard (this one was seen and called an unsportsmanlike foul). Sore losers, I guess. /smh
I totally agree with you that it has no place in the game. But I did find it funny how he stated he was "giving him something to flop about."
I can't get over how this U.S. basketball team can just suddenly make it rain and go on a 20-2 run in the blink of an eye. Australia has played well for the bulk of this game but they're now down 35.
August 8th, 2012 at 10:04 PM ^
Why do hurdlers go 110 meters instead of 100?
I thought it might be the extra straightaway at the end, but really they started at 100 yards, played with the spacing, and ended up deciding on 110. The women bounced around even more, with records at all sorts of distances, and ended up at 100. So it can be done at that distance too. As far as Wiki is concerned at least.