Rec’ing On…Beijing Olympics – Part 1

The 14-hour time difference between live events in China and local time where I am has already made this an interesting Olympics experience.  While the Opening Ceremonies (which were great, by the way) were being broadcast on television by NBC, I was taking full advantage of NBC’s online offerings to watch Australia beat Belarus in women’s basketball while also looking in on the Eventing dressage competition.

Yes…Eventing dressage.  I sort of fell in love with eventing at the 1984 Olympics when ABC devoted the entire afternoon to showing the cross-country portion.  Now, what with being around horses and stuff, I find I have an even greater appreciation.  I can’t hardly wait for Sunday evening (local) so I can again watch the Event cross-country.

No Medal for NBC online for not providing audio commentary during events.  I realize that there are some who eschew the commentaries, especially by those who aren’t adept at it.  Still, every sport has nuances, and it’s helpful to know what they are—especially with those sports that aren’t at all mainstream.

I woke up this morning to watch the United States women’s basketball team take on the Czech Republic.  When the score was 13-2 in favor of the Czechs, I couldn’t help but wonder if the U.S. women attending the Opening Ceremonies the night before was such a good idea.  But then Diana Taurasi did what she does so well and pretty much just scored whenever she wanted.  That plus the spark Kara Lawson provided from the bench really elevated the play of the entire team.  There doesn’t seem to be a weak spot.

Major kudos to the U.S. women fencers (saber), for achieving a sweep of the medals. Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson, and Becca Ward had some inspiring…and nail-biting matches.

I also watched several Team Handball games. This is a sport that has never gotten much traction in the U.S., and I’ve never understood why.  I will admit that I’ve known about this sport for a while, now.  Back in 1984, when the U.S. was trying to field a team (being the host nation, the Americans could finally make an appearance), I had a one week window to try to make the U.S. squad.  (Now, now…don’t get too excited.  It’s not like they were being all that picky at the time.) I just didn’t have enough time to get everything together—besides, my knees probably would never have taken the punishment.  At any rate…I’ve obviously been a long-time fan of the sport.

While I will often praise NBC for giving access to so many hours of coverage, I do have to give them a huge black mark for making their two special sports channels for basketball and soccer being only available in HD.  Also a black mark to Comcast for requiring subscribers to have to be signed on to the HD-tier of their offerings for it to be seen…even on standard def sets. For the amount the company spends on “cute” and punny commercials, they could have opened up those two channels.

Going into the second day we find a lot of men’s sports competition.  Unlike a lot of the public, the men have a much harder time holding my attention.  I be taking the opportunity to groom the horse.