Olympic Highlights!

I’ve been consuming the olympics on an almost nightly basis for the past two weeks.  It’s been way exciting, and I’ve really enjoyed getting into the Olympic spirit and all that.  Here are some highlights for me….

1) The Obvious…OK, Michael Phelps is totally awesome.  There’s no two ways around it.  He is on the very short list of possible “greatest olympians of all time”.

2) Informative pieces by Mary Carillo.  OK, I like these because every time she comes on the TV, me and my friends immediately start doing our Will Ferrell-Janet Reno impressions.  Her voice is so manly, that it puts my own to shame.  And seriously, I didn’t know all that stuff about panda bears and Chinese calligraphy.

3) The Redeem Team – USA Basketball is looking great and our defense is looking fantastic.  I’ve watched the China game and part of the Spain game.  I’m going to tape the gold medal game tonight, because it comes on at 2:30am.  The only thing that sucks is that all the games are at like 8am in the morning.  Seriously, I know these games are in China and all, but that is stupid.  They should rebroadcast or something.

4) I know there’s more sports than swimming, gymnastics, volleyball and diving, but this is all I’ve seen on the primetime broadcasts.  I think thats dumb too, but I know that these are the sports that are happening from 8am-10am over there.  Still, really dumb.  Rebroadcast.

5) The men vs women arguement.  OK, buckle up because I have to go off on this one.

While we were watching Misty May and Kerri Walsh do some awesome things one day, one of my roommates, obviously a little too impressed by their dominance (which I’m completely happy about, don’t get me wrong) attempted to present the idea that he believed that our women’s team could defeat our men’s team in a match.

This could never happen.

I repeat: THIS COULD NEVER HAPPEN.

I politely told him that I thought he was completely crazy for thinking that, and he asked me if it was because they were women, and I told him “ABSOLUTELY”.  They he huffed and said “OK” like, “wow, Jim, you are a chauvinistic/misogynistic jerk for thinking that”.

Here’s my thoughts.  I’m not saying that these women couldn’t beat any men.  They would certainly beat a lot of them.  But what we are talking about are olympic athletes who are at the top of their sport for each of their genders.  In general….

- Men are taller.  Kerri Walsh, the taller USA women’s volleyball player is 6′2″.  Philip Dalhauser, the taller USA men’s volleyball player is 6′9″.

- Men are stronger.

- Men are faster.

Period. End of story.  If these teams played each other 10 times, I predict that the men would beat the women 10x in a row.

I’m not saying these women aren’t good.  They are amazing and I’ve really enjoyed rooting for them.  They have a ton of fire, and that’s one of the things you really notice about these amazing people.  The competitive fire!  The competition gets them going!  They want to win!  They need to win!

So I made my arguments and my roommate still wouldn’t concede.  He was like “I guess we just disagree”.  I don’t think this is a matter of opinion though.  Its a matter of right or wrong.

Team USA Basketball – Likes & Dislikes…

Today I watched Team USA basketball pretty much destroy Team Canada in a warm up game that took place last night out in Las Vegas.  USA put down a Steve Nash-less Canada by a score of 120-65.  I thought I would put together a list of things I like about Team USA, and things I do not like.

Likes.

1) They run like crazy.  They pretty much play a pre-Shaq Phoenix Suns style of offense.  Very up and down and fun to watch.  They take a ton of shots, and so they will likely score a lot.  They have 3 excellent playmakers in Kidd, CP3 (crotch puncher) and Deron Williams, so it should be good.

2) Kobe.  For my money, Kobe is the best player in the world.  He consistently amazes me by the type of shots and plays that he can make.  He is poetry in motion.   Rather than be the scorer we would expect him to be (and that he is on the Lakers), he has chosen to be a defensive stopper, asking to guard the opposing teams’ best perimeter players.

3) The inclusion of role players.  In the 2004 Olympics, where team USA took home a disappointing Bronze medal, the team suffered tremendously for lack of players who could do all the little things (like play defense and hit open jump shots) that often make a team successful.  Enter Tayshaun Prince and Michael Redd.  Tay Tay brought in solely for his defensive prowess, and Redd brought in for his jump shooting (6-8 from 3 point range against Canada with 20 points).

4) Dwayne Wade.  He looked awesome against Canada.  It was a true return to form for Wade, who suffered and played through a pretty lousy shoulder injury last season with the Heat.  There is a reason they call him “the Flash“.  He is so quick, and plays with reckless abandon, and somehow manages to look cool and collected at all times.

5) Our defense.  To call Team USA’s defense “tenacious” would be an under-statement.  They are constantly running and poking at the ball.  They made Team Canada work tremendously hard during every possession.

OK, now Dislikes…

1) Number one has got to be Coach Mike Krzyzewski.  Like most people who attended the University of Maryland (Fear the Turtle), I hate his freaking guts.  I don’t care if he’s a good coach, or if the players are really responding to him.  He is the devil.

2) Lebron James.  O, I hate him too.  He is so cocky and confident, and he seriously thinks he’s the best player on the planet.  You will never be as good as Michael Jordan!  NEVER!!!  Your commercials suck!

3) Lack of front court size.  Even with Dwight Howard on the team, I worry about us down low.  Bosh, Howard and Boozer are our go to guys in the middle and not one of them is over 7 feet.  Howard is the only true center.  I would feel much more comfortable if we had Tyson Chandler instead of Carlos Boozer.  I think we may get abused in the middle.

4) Our Uniforms.  The back of our Unis have some sort of sparkly designy thing going on, and it’s unnecessary and ugly.  Plus, we are rocking the Ohio State-esque small tops with large, baggy shorts/manpris.  I don’t think I like that look.

5) Our egos.  As cool as it is to watch our team completely annihilate the opposing team, do you really need to pound your chest and scream after dunking on guys who are no where near NBA talent?   We should have more class than that.  Also, I think we are more prone to defeat because, in general, I don’t think they think they can be beaten.  They have some players who are capable of making some truly boneheaded plays, and they need to respect these opposing teams, or they will pay for it.

So yeah, overall, its basketball, and its the best team in the world (probably), so I’m into it.  I predict gold.