Monday August 18, 2008
Dear Blog
Dear Blog
So, .. the Olympics have reached the halfway point in their fortnightly extravaganza and there are several interesting noteworthy plots to report.
Aside from the Sporting aspect of these games, I’d like to peek into the Chinese culture .. or maybe I should cite their Government’s socialization.
I would be remiss if I didn’t speak to the terrible air quality in Beijing. The Government curtailed over 50 % of the automobile traffic in the city and closed most nearby Factories in an effort to give the World a shiny image of their Capital .. and it, still, is hazy and unclear. Pity the poor folks health, there, when it’s business as usual.
In the Opening Ceremonies, we were told that the Pyrotechnics were live and in fact, they were not. They were recorded and graphically aided.
Then, we were led to believe that the cute little girl who sang their Anthem was live. It not only was NOT live (it was lip sync) but it was not the same child. The Chinese Government thought the little girl whose real voice was heard was ‘not pretty enough’ to be seen on TV. They should have their face slapped off for that. But when you consider they snatch 3 year old children from their homes and families and house them in ‘gymnastic factories’ just for Olympic glory .. well, it sickens this Reporter !
And don’t get me started on the Boxing Judges. What a farce !
Okay, .. now on to more positive news:
First, the largest story is Michael Phelps who won an unprecedented 8 Gold Medals surpassing the 7 Golds that Mark Spitz won in 1972 in Munich, Germany.
Phelps’ 8th Gold was won in the 400m Medley Relay.
Aaron Peirsol got the Americans off to the lead in the Backstroke, but Brendan Hansen .. a major disappointment in this Olympic year -- slowed them down with only the third-fastest Breaststroke leg.
By the time Phelps dived in for the Butterfly, the U.S. was trailing Australia and Japan. That's when he really went to work.
With his long arms whirling across the water like propellers, Phelps caught the two guys ahead of him on the return lap and passed off to Lezak a lead of less than a second for the Freestyle. The Australians countered with former world record-holder Eamon Sullivan as their anchor.
"I was thinking not to blow the lead," Lezak said. "I was really nervous !"
Sullivan tried to chase down Lezak and appeared to be gaining as they came to the wall, but Lezak finished in 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds (a full half second ahead) .. Phelps' seventh world record in his personal Great Haul (get it?) of China.
I have enjoyed the Gymnastic competition.
Watching USAs Nastia Liukin win Gold and her USA teammate, Shawn Johnson go Silver in the Individual Gymnastic competition was thrilling and compensated for their 2nd place finish to the Chinese in Team Gymnastics.
The Basketball and Track & Field is nice but we get plenty of that on a routine basis. Softball and Baseball haven’t been as prevalent, so far but will over the final week. And am I the only one who thinks Beach Volleyball is an Olympic Sport to lure the 16 – 49 year old viewers ? Funny how this is when the beer commercials hawk their wares.
At this (Monday morning) reporting, the USA has won 67 Medals as has China.
Aside from the Sporting aspect of these games, I’d like to peek into the Chinese culture .. or maybe I should cite their Government’s socialization.
I would be remiss if I didn’t speak to the terrible air quality in Beijing. The Government curtailed over 50 % of the automobile traffic in the city and closed most nearby Factories in an effort to give the World a shiny image of their Capital .. and it, still, is hazy and unclear. Pity the poor folks health, there, when it’s business as usual.
In the Opening Ceremonies, we were told that the Pyrotechnics were live and in fact, they were not. They were recorded and graphically aided.
Then, we were led to believe that the cute little girl who sang their Anthem was live. It not only was NOT live (it was lip sync) but it was not the same child. The Chinese Government thought the little girl whose real voice was heard was ‘not pretty enough’ to be seen on TV. They should have their face slapped off for that. But when you consider they snatch 3 year old children from their homes and families and house them in ‘gymnastic factories’ just for Olympic glory .. well, it sickens this Reporter !
And don’t get me started on the Boxing Judges. What a farce !
Okay, .. now on to more positive news:
First, the largest story is Michael Phelps who won an unprecedented 8 Gold Medals surpassing the 7 Golds that Mark Spitz won in 1972 in Munich, Germany.
Phelps’ 8th Gold was won in the 400m Medley Relay.
Aaron Peirsol got the Americans off to the lead in the Backstroke, but Brendan Hansen .. a major disappointment in this Olympic year -- slowed them down with only the third-fastest Breaststroke leg.
By the time Phelps dived in for the Butterfly, the U.S. was trailing Australia and Japan. That's when he really went to work.
With his long arms whirling across the water like propellers, Phelps caught the two guys ahead of him on the return lap and passed off to Lezak a lead of less than a second for the Freestyle. The Australians countered with former world record-holder Eamon Sullivan as their anchor.
"I was thinking not to blow the lead," Lezak said. "I was really nervous !"
Sullivan tried to chase down Lezak and appeared to be gaining as they came to the wall, but Lezak finished in 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds (a full half second ahead) .. Phelps' seventh world record in his personal Great Haul (get it?) of China.
I have enjoyed the Gymnastic competition.
Watching USAs Nastia Liukin win Gold and her USA teammate, Shawn Johnson go Silver in the Individual Gymnastic competition was thrilling and compensated for their 2nd place finish to the Chinese in Team Gymnastics.
The Basketball and Track & Field is nice but we get plenty of that on a routine basis. Softball and Baseball haven’t been as prevalent, so far but will over the final week. And am I the only one who thinks Beach Volleyball is an Olympic Sport to lure the 16 – 49 year old viewers ? Funny how this is when the beer commercials hawk their wares.
At this (Monday morning) reporting, the USA has won 67 Medals as has China.
The USA has 20 Gold, 22 Silver and 25 Bronze.
China has 39 Gold, 14 Silver and 14 Bronze.
The Redskins played their 3rd (of 5) Pre-Season game of 2008 verses the New York Jets on Saturday August 16, 2008 .. in New York.
They won the contest 13 – 10 when the Jets Kicker, Mike Nugent missed a chip-shot / gimmie Field Goal as time expired. I will not bore my readers with the details as it’s just a Pre-season game.
Next week the Redskins travel to Charlotte, North Carolina to take on the Carolina Panthers in the next to last Pre-season game.
The final Pre-season game will be played at Fed-Ex Field in Landover, Maryland against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday August 28 at 7 PM and televised, Nationally, on NBC.
And as reported here, previously, the Redskins open the NFL Season the following Thursday, September 4 in the New Jersey Meadowlands verses the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants also at 7 PM and also Nationally televised on NBC.
Now, Baseball: I’m not even reporting on the Nationals anymore. It’s one thing to be THE worst team in MLB but to then go on their second 9 game losing streak in the month. Pathetic ! The Manager should be fired as well as the Hitting Coach. The Lerner ownership group should be embarrassed and should apologize to the people of Washington and surrounding area. Then, this off-season, they should open up their wallets and procure some Major League talent and quit talking about building for the future.
Carl Edwards won NASCAR’s 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday August 17. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch finished 2nd while David Ragan finished 3rd. JGR’s Tony Stewart finished 12th and his other Driver, Denny Hamlin blew his engine within the Race’s last few laps and finished 39th.
The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race will be the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee .. on Saturday, August 23.
* This past Friday, my 8 year old Beagle, Rascal, was diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease.
If you have a pet – you know how I feel; if you don’t – you won’t. *
I want to give a ‘shout out’ to Adrienne, Siouxsie, Taffy, Miriam and all my friends in Key West, Florida during Tropical Storm Fay.
And although many tourists, as well as locals, are evacuating – these fine people are not and will weather out this near-Hurricane (as they always do).
Today in Key West, the high air temperature is predicted to be 85 degrees with a Relative Humidity of 87 % .. oh and did I mention RAIN.
Today’s LoCo weather forecast calls for air temperatures of 90 degrees and with a Relative Humidity of 80 %.
Okay, thanks for dropping by this Blog, today.
I hope to see you, tomorrow, for amateur Lyricist day at this URL.
My time is, now, up .. I thank you for yours.
The Redskins played their 3rd (of 5) Pre-Season game of 2008 verses the New York Jets on Saturday August 16, 2008 .. in New York.
They won the contest 13 – 10 when the Jets Kicker, Mike Nugent missed a chip-shot / gimmie Field Goal as time expired. I will not bore my readers with the details as it’s just a Pre-season game.
Next week the Redskins travel to Charlotte, North Carolina to take on the Carolina Panthers in the next to last Pre-season game.
The final Pre-season game will be played at Fed-Ex Field in Landover, Maryland against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday August 28 at 7 PM and televised, Nationally, on NBC.
And as reported here, previously, the Redskins open the NFL Season the following Thursday, September 4 in the New Jersey Meadowlands verses the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants also at 7 PM and also Nationally televised on NBC.
Now, Baseball: I’m not even reporting on the Nationals anymore. It’s one thing to be THE worst team in MLB but to then go on their second 9 game losing streak in the month. Pathetic ! The Manager should be fired as well as the Hitting Coach. The Lerner ownership group should be embarrassed and should apologize to the people of Washington and surrounding area. Then, this off-season, they should open up their wallets and procure some Major League talent and quit talking about building for the future.
Carl Edwards won NASCAR’s 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday August 17. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch finished 2nd while David Ragan finished 3rd. JGR’s Tony Stewart finished 12th and his other Driver, Denny Hamlin blew his engine within the Race’s last few laps and finished 39th.
The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race will be the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee .. on Saturday, August 23.
* This past Friday, my 8 year old Beagle, Rascal, was diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease.
If you have a pet – you know how I feel; if you don’t – you won’t. *
I want to give a ‘shout out’ to Adrienne, Siouxsie, Taffy, Miriam and all my friends in Key West, Florida during Tropical Storm Fay.
And although many tourists, as well as locals, are evacuating – these fine people are not and will weather out this near-Hurricane (as they always do).
Today in Key West, the high air temperature is predicted to be 85 degrees with a Relative Humidity of 87 % .. oh and did I mention RAIN.
Today’s LoCo weather forecast calls for air temperatures of 90 degrees and with a Relative Humidity of 80 %.
Okay, thanks for dropping by this Blog, today.
I hope to see you, tomorrow, for amateur Lyricist day at this URL.
My time is, now, up .. I thank you for yours.
LARRY CURTIS SPURLOCK
1 comment:
T & P on your dog's health. We have a beagle and our heart goes out to you and your family.
Claire Z.
Charlie K.
Tommy
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