Raging Dad

Raging Mom and I normally don’t get into sports, but we are wildly into the Olympics. Pretty much any event gets us pumped up, but nothing more than girls figure skating or girls gymnastics. Until this year, when a couple events unexpectedly commanded our attention.

US girls soccer vs Norway
This game was on before the opening ceremonies, and was immediate validation that getting high definition was a great decision. Unbelievable. They lost, but the stunning image and color reawakened my love of the game from my days as a high school JV player. Connie is playing soccer this fall. Bring it on!

Opening ceremony
I used to skip this part of the Olympics. The synchronized movements of the drummers was brilliant in widescreen, another reason to have HD.

Badminton
Why this sport doesn’t get prime time coverage is beyond me. The players are intense and moving fast, but the little birdie moves so slow. How elegant. It made me remember the glory days of when I ruled the court in my badminton/pickleball gym class. Someday, kids, someday you’ll be as cool as your Raging Dad.

Kerri Walsh/Misty May-Treanor, hot, win gold.

Beach volleyball
Oh. My. God. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh’s matches were hands down the the most captivating parts of the entire Olympics. That gold medal match was riveting, and it would have been even if it wasn’t raining on bikini-clad chicks hugging each other and diving in the sand. Again, why the hell is this not prime time TV year round?

Swimming
Alright, I was totally excited by the Michael Phelps drama. Watching history in the making is exciting, but everyone was just a little too aware of the significance for me. I wonder if the other athletes were proud to compete at the same games as Phelps, or if the constant coverage just pissed them off. Maybe a bit of both. Highlight: Korean swimmer Park Taehwan, who false-started in Athens but in China took home the first-ever swimming medal for Korea–a gold. I love watching underdogs win!

Track and Field
Usain Bolt was impressive, but his humility needed work. Seemed like a prick to me. I didn’t get into these events as much, this year.

Johnson wins a gold.

Gymnastics
As usual, we were enthralled with the US women. It was heartbreaking to see Alicia Sacramone fail to perform as she had hoped. Nastia Liukin had the elegance for sure, but she just couldn’t force out a smile while performing to save her life. However, I was very moved watching her dad spotting her while performing, and seeing him get emotional when she hit it just right, and when she hit the mats. Shawn Johnson was simply a joy to watch, and probably my all around favorite performer of the games. Nasty-a needs to take a look at the tapes to see how the effort makes an impact on the performance. Connie has taken a little gymnastics, and she also loved watching these girls bouncing around like it was easy work.

Goofy "memory tower."

Closing ceremony
The Memory Tower was at once beautiful and ridiculous. Here, the high def view of the goofballs running in the air just made us howl with laughter. Probably not the intention of the producers, but it was a great way to close out the games with a laugh.

Now that the Olympics are over, we can go back to a more reasonable bedtime and forget about competitive games (other than the ones that our kids play) until 2010. Whew.