Olympics!!

I'm sufficiently into the Olympics now, after watching ten hours on Sunday from 2pm-12am. That will do it. So to return to my favorite list format, here are 10 things I have learned from watching lots and lots of Olympics coverage:

1) I have a huge crush on Matt Grevers, the 6'8" awesome and cute swimmer. After Ad Hoc, you are next on my proposal list, Matt. Be warned.

2) The Chinese are able to be crazy coordinated. Americans could NEVER do the things they did in their opening ceremony. We are really not that disciplined or able to fake discipline for the pride of our country.

3) The NBC commentators and esp that peppy weird Mary chick seem to speak about the Chinese and China in a condescending manner. They're constantly amazed by the Chinese, which is both insulting to China - like did you think they were a different kind of being, white Americans? - and insulting to Americans. Do you reflect America when you appear shocked and complimentary that a Chinese acrobat practices 7-8 hours a day and then performs? Have you never heard of a professional athlete that practices a lot out of dedication? Have you never conceived that other cultures study more and practice longer than our lazy American butts? Are we really that ignorant of China and Chinese ppl?

4) NBC is stupid to not have a Chinese-American commentator ANYWHERE in their coverage. We are then stuck with little tidbits on ancient Confucius and the one of the freakiest thing I ever heard. During the opening ceremony, one of the commentators proudly talked about the grace all Chinese have as they showed the 2008 (I assume) women dressed in ancient costume, and then went on to talk about if you go into McDonald's in Beijing, you will see that same grace. WTF?? The other commentator called him out, laughing, saying, oh so if you order a hamburger, they delicately hand it to you? It feels like Americans and NBC are unable to reconcile the ancient and modern China, which it true for how we are unable to see other countries as well.

5) I find myself faintly surprised that I'm admiring the intense and probably hugely psychological damaging training of the Chinese. So what if they start training them in the womb and they're gold medal-ready at age 2? So what if their family is probably threatened/lavished based on their child's performance? So what if the athlete might lose a limb if they fall off the uneven bars or will never work again if they come in fourth in swimming? They win, don't they? Then what's the problem. Will we Americans ever have that dangerous yet winning combination of determination, fear of failure, national pride, and absolute scared sheetless of letting down their country?

6) I hate how NBC manipulates the schedule so I don't know what I'm seeing live, or watching delayed, and there's only a few hours of coverage a day. I remember when there would be tv coverage on all the time, including off hours, and we would adapt our lives to watch it. In eighth grade, we would watch during the day at school because that was when it was ON, stupid NBC. I hate the way we Americans change the rest of the world's schedule to accommodate ours, esp so NBC can make sure it gets high ratings. That's the main reason. And there are a lot more sports (field hockey??) that I would like to watch. Esp in the TiVo and DVR age, how can they not be playing coverage 24 hrs a day?

7) I have never heard of synchronized diving into two days ago. Ok. Can we go back to more Matt Grevers coverage? Seriously, more mens swimming is a good thing.

8) Anyone else impressed but a little freaked out by the multiple crews of 2008 of Chinese in the opening ceremony? They were instructed to smile so they didn't look intimidating but how could you not be a little scared of so many ppl doing things in unison? Ppl trained to drum or do tai chi could definitely be trained to do bad things in unison. Nothing against Chinese ppl, just saying that large nationalist crowds doing things at exactly the same time kinda reminds me of Germany. Around, say 1939.

9) I loved watching the US Mens swimming team fight back to win in the 4x100m against France. I started cheering loudly, jumped up and down, and ended by screaming and raising my arms. I watched it late Sunday night and woke up Monday morning happy. Wow, it really changed how I was feeling that wk.

10) The Olympics might be the only time I feel proud of America. Go USA!!

Did I mention my crush on Matt Grevers? Ok, just wanted to make that clear :)

Go women's gymnastics and men's swimming tonight! (Or whenever it actually happened, stupid NBC...)