WWTBAM Bored

Here's my and some others' point. Alicia whatshername totally f*** up the balance beam and the dance exercise. If you couldn't see the distress and despair on her face afterwards, and notice that her coach at least didn't beat her about the face...

They all know if they've screwed up. It's very sad. Don't begrudge some sort of human compassion.

JBillyGirl wrote:

Spoiler

My heart breaks for Alicia. She's only 20 years old and she will never live this down. And IMHO it's not even clear that we'd have won even if Alicia had been clean, but we'll never know. I am sure it will all be blamed on her, poor thing. If only Chellsie Memmel had not sprained her ankle; then maybe some of the pressure could have been taken off of Alicia. This team has been through an awful lot, and silver is still a great achievement, but I'm sure they are hurting right now and I don't blame them.

Oh, I know. It was awful. I mean, two really two people down in the big picture and just bizarro gaffs in crucial parts.

At least our girls have hit puberty. And quite nicely, I might add.
Not that that was any sort of snarky comment on the youngishness of the Chinese girlies. They were athletically awesome.

The Chinese girls are awesome, but there is a certain fearlessness that comes with being 12 or 13 or 14. By not following the age rules, China's team has an unfair advantage, just as doping gives other teams an unfair advantage.


Stories about their age are all over the media, but the IOC is so anxious to suck the figurative cock of China that they won't do anything about it.

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:The Chinese girls are awesome, but there is a certain fearlessness that comes with being 12 or 13 or 14. By not following the age rules, China's team has an unfair advantage, just as doping gives other teams an unfair advantage.


Stories about their age are all over the media, but the IOC is so anxious to suck the figurative cock of China that they won't do anything about it.

I'm pretty sure there is a potential MM buried in PSM's post.

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:The Chinese girls are awesome, but there is a certain fearlessness that comes with being 12 or 13 or 14. By not following the age rules, China's team has an unfair advantage, just as doping gives other teams an unfair advantage.


Stories about their age are all over the media, but the IOC is so anxious to suck the figurative cock of China that they won't do anything about it.

I'm pretty sure there is a potential MM buried in PSM's post.

Ya think? Well, not a potential MM.

I'm worried that the combined thoughts in PSM's post may get this bored on a not-so-nice list.

Here's my and some others' point. Alicia whatshername totally f*** up the balance beam and the dance exercise. If you couldn't see the distress and despair on her face afterwards, and notice that her coach at least didn't beat her about the face...

They all know if they've screwed up. It's very sad. Don't begrudge some sort of human compassion.

I totally agree with you, Beebs!!

I felt terrible for Alicia!! Her emotions were TOTALLY appropriate, the team's reactions were appropriate AND compassionate and Marta looked like a stern, but loving parent/coach.

The post-event interviews were great too. Alicia and the team were a class act.

I was hoping to see the same reactions from the men under similar circumstances.

The guys were grinning and acting like their big mistakes were "no big deal." NBC never questioned them, never challenged some of their hubris. I found that VERY disconcerting, considering that they, too, could have won the silver ... The men's team could have given the same interview with some humility, IMHO.

dimmzy wrote:
I felt terrible for Alicia!! Her emotions were TOTALLY appropriate, the team's reactions were appropriate AND compassionate and Marta looked like a stern, but loving parent/coach.

The post-event interviews were great too. Alicia and the team were a class act.

I was hoping to see the same reactions from the men under similar circumstances.

Most athletes have a fairly good idea of their own abilities and limitations and those of their opponents in major competitions. There is only one Olympic gold medalist, one Super Bowl champion, one NCAA basketball champ. So over 99% of all athletes end their career in "failure."

What matters is how they deal with it. There are some sad cases of people who never get over a loss the rest of their careers or in some cases their lives. Most of them know how to deal with it by putting it in perspective, knowing that while they might not be the best in the world, they were better than 99.99% of the rest.

The team that finished second to the Americans in last night's 800 relay felt a lot better about winning silver than the French did the night before, because they knew going in they had almost no chance to win. So you go into the competition, looking to do your best, knowing that there's always that chance you may win but that it will take something that almost never occurs, based on your own performance and that of your opponents. If it doesn't, you look at what happened realistically and can take pride in it.

The American woman gymnasts were by all accounts very close to the Chinese in ability. So for them to win it would have taken performances that were very good but within what they could realistically hope for. It didn't happen and they were crushed. True, injuries hurt, but they felt they had a good shot at winning. The men, on the other hand, were on a much lower ability level, especially considering the injuries and substitutes. It would have taken an evening free of error for them to have gotten second. The fact that their main error occurred at the end rather than at the beginning makes no difference. They accomplished more than they could have expected and were rightfully proud of it.

I think you have articulately postulated the opposing view to mine ...

I still think they could have shown a little humility and gratitude that their screwups didn't cost them the bronze as well.

In any case, ON WITH THE GAMES!!!

I had a great deal of difficulty determining identity in the "girls" gymnastics, simply because they all looked the same. The Chinese team were all matched in size and shape, but had some individuallity in hair.

The US team were very physically different, but they were all little blond clones, even down to the same barrettes to hold the sides of their ponytails.

Sad to watch them fall apart like that, and I think the camera people need to have their heads smacked for getting in their faces like that.

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:I'm pretty sure there is a potential MM buried in PSM's post.

Really?

TheCockofChina wrote:

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:I'm pretty sure there is a potential MM buried in PSM's post.

Really?

I knew it!

a1mamacat wrote:I had a great deal of difficulty determining identity in the "girls" gymnastics, simply because they all looked the same. The Chinese team were all matched in size and shape, but had some individuallity in hair.

The US team were very physically different, but they were all little blond clones, even down to the same barrettes to hold the sides of their ponytails.

Sad to watch them fall apart like that, and I think the camera people need to have their heads smacked for getting in their faces like that.

I don't think they make all of them be blondes. They just are this year. I know there have been brunettes and probably red heads on the team before. Maybe because they perform as a team it's different, but I know as a mother of one who was a cheerleader in school, all hair had to be worn the same if it was long (i.e in a ponytail) and if you needed barrettes, they had to match.

I know how it feels to be the one that feels like your screw-ups cost the team the brass ring. And, it is not a good feeling. You run that scenario 100 times more and that may never happen again. But, under that particular spotlight, nerves are nothing like at any other time. I felt terrible for Alicia but was glad to see her hold it together long enough to finish her routine. And, then for her to mess up yet again on the floor routine was simply beyond comprehension. Tell me that is something she will always carry with her. I could tell just by the look on her face. I though it was rather telling when she came back from her routine that the coach did not give her a hug as she was customarily doing.

And, how about that men's swim relay! That Lezak fella was just nails catching and nosing out the Frenchie. I've seen many close horse races in my time but that was right up there with the best.

The female swim races are pretty good, too. It's nice to see a variety of girls win the various events. IMO, it's pretty boring watching the same person win all of the events. What's the point of watching if you know what the outcome is going to be (unless, of course, you're betting on it)? I am looking forward to the track and field events.

Chelsie Memmel is brunette, and the oldest of the group, I think, at 20.


t.

Two comments only marginally related:

It was revealed today that Chelsie Memmel had actually broken her ankle (not sprained).

On Monday morning, Alicia qualified for the individual event finals in the vault to be held later this week. NBC couldn't have written a better script in her quest for redemption (cue sappy music, John Tesh overdub and diffused lens.)

Truthfully, I haven't watched an entire gymnastics broadcast since the Olympics began - men or women. Is Chelsie the one who is injured and not participating? Guess I could go look it up.

I've been looking in on the Olympics, but I haven't stayed tuned in for an entire segment of anything since it started. I was out of town for the opening ceremony, so I guess I'm having trouble getting motivated.

When I played football (only one year in 7th grade), I missed a tackle on a particular play. I had chased down the Running Back from the opposite side of the field. I played Right Cornerback. They ran to their right, our left. About 6 or 7 other guys had missed a chance to tackle the runner. I caught him on the 4 yard line. I glanced off (possibly because I was only 4'8" and weighed about 60 pounds) and he scored. We wound up losing 6-0.

Even though I was only the last of 7 or 8 guys who missed the tackle on that play, I was the one whose face mask the Coach grabbed and shook around. Could he have congratulated me on catching the guy? Sure, but the bottom line was that my blown tackle gave up the TD that turned out to be the game-winner.

The following week, I got dropped from A-Team to B-Team. After a couple of weeks of "punishment" for my mistake, I was promoted back to my starting spot on the A-Team.

The story of how I wound up starting at Right Corner is kind of amusing.

TheCalvinator24 wrote: The story of how I wound up starting at Right Corner is kind of amusing.

I'm ready to be amused!!

TheCalvinator24 wrote: Even though I was only the last of 7 or 8 guys who missed the tackle on that play, I was the one whose face mask the Coach grabbed and shook around.

You got through it better than Andres Escobar did. For those who don't remember, he was the Columbian soccer player whose own goal (accidentally shooting the ball in your own net which counts for the other team) led to a loss to the USA and the elimination of Columbia in the World Cup in 1994. Less than a month later, he was shot to death in a bar, supposedly for what he had done.

I guess those Colombian soccer fans are even tougher than dimmzy.

TheCalvinator24 wrote:Even though I was only the last of 7 or 8 guys who missed the tackle on that play, I was the one whose face mask the Coach grabbed and shook around.

While your face was still in it??!!! He could have killed you!

SportsFan68 wrote:

TheCalvinator24 wrote:Even though I was only the last of 7 or 8 guys who missed the tackle on that play, I was the one whose face mask the Coach grabbed and shook around.

While your face was still in it??!!! He could have killed you!

He should have just grabbed you by your chin hairs.

ulysses5019 wrote:

SportsFan68 wrote:

TheCalvinator24 wrote:Even though I was only the last of 7 or 8 guys who missed the tackle on that play, I was the one whose face mask the Coach grabbed and shook around.

While your face was still in it??!!! He could have killed you!

He should have just grabbed you by your chin hairs.

In 7th grade? Where did Cal get his birth certificate, Beijing?

lb13

littlebeast13 wrote:

ulysses5019 wrote:

SportsFan68 wrote: While your face was still in it??!!! He could have killed you!

He should have just grabbed you by your chin hairs.

In 7th grade? Where did Cal get his birth certificate, Beijing?

lb13

I was just going by his photo in his avatar. And quit messing with my symmetry. I have all the final posts until the morning crew comes in and messes it up.