Slap in the face

Normally I don't pay a lot of attention to hockey, but ouch.

Hot Stuff

"“It’s good for a while, then there will be some dishes left out, and then someone will have a blowup,” Isaacson said. “And then everyone will pick up their things again, and it’ll be fine for another couple days. Then there’ll be another blowup.”


See, curling is cool!


NYTimes: The Neighborhood Curling Team

She floats through the air

I hadn't realized women aren't allowed to ski jump in the Olympics! Bogus.  Some female ski jumpers are suing the Vancouver organizing committee, hoping they'll pressure the International Olympic Committee to change its rules.  But whatever the verdict, and even though the plaintiffs often outperform men, that doesn't mean women's events will get the same billing as their male counterparts':


"Women jumpers got their first international circuit in 2004, and were allowed to compete at world championships for the first time last year. But in a sport in which the best European men are treated like rock stars and pocket roughly $10,000 per win, the women are only allowed to compete on a secondary circuit that awards winners $500. And, says Ms. Jerome, women are treated very differently. She and her teammates have eaten meals with barn cats jumping on the table and slept above livestock stalls in lodging arranged by competition organizers."


CSMonitor: Why Women Can't Ski Jump in the Winter Olympics

Good bye Chicago, Bon Dia Brazil!

I was rooting for Chicago, one of my favorite cities, but I think the 2016 Olympics in Rio should be pretty sweet. If any country can come close to topping the show China put on last year it's Brazil! There'll be all kinds of Monday morning quarterbacking about how Chicago lost out, in the first round of voting no less. But this theory doesn't make any sense at all. Because Rio is supposed to be so safe?

"Luciano Reyes speculated that Chicago was undone by a negative reputation internationally."The violence in the schools became an international issue, and all the corruption; the rest of the world just sees us as Crook Town," said Reyes, 59, currently unemployed, who bought his first TV two decades ago specifically to watch the Olympics.'

Washington Post: Rio de Janeiro to Host 2016 Games

Inside the Box

Last August during the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics, millions of people probably shrieked "No way!" ("Imposible!" "невозможный!" "!مستحيل") in worldwide unison when the boxes that had moved in perfect synchronization were revealed to be controlled by a person crouched inside each one. David Pogue met the guy who made it all happen; and knowing how it works doesn't make it any less visually striking.

David Pogue: The Secret of the Dancing Boxes Revealed

Olympic Trampolining (Trampoling?)

I was still wrapping my head around beach volleyball when I learned that the trampoline is an Olympic sport. It's a little hard for me to watch because on top of my baseline level of anxiety about individual sports, I grew up hearing my parents warn their friends whose children were begging for trampolines that their insurance payments would go way up. This may not sound particularly disturbing; but being raised by attorneys, I knew that these costs were in place because of the potential for unspeakably horrible accidents. Nonetheless, it's pretty mesmerizing. Watch video from Athens 2004 here (you may have to install a plug-in).

Street Carnage Olympic Roundup

I was really floored by the opening ceremony for the Olympics- the parts that I was awake for, at least. I have mild self-diagnosed narcolepsy so it's not the Olympic Committee's fault that I conked out as soon as the tai qi number started, managed to come to just as the torch was being lit, and fell asleep again. I caught about 45 minutes of team entrances, but missed all 38 countries I'm actually from. Group sports don't really interest me and individual sports make me extremely nervous that an athlete is going to hit her head on the diving board/fall mid back-flip kersplat on the balance beam/drop a giant dumbell on her foot, so the teams' entrance outfits will probably be the only things about them that I can comment on with any authority. Street Carnage handily sorts them by theme, such as "Coke Barons," "Airline Attendants," and of course, "Worst Outfit in the World".

Jezebel: This Year, at the Olympics Ceremony...