Mid-Olympics Open Thread!
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Since the This McCain Smear diary went over 300 comments, Drupal has split it into two pages. This causes a problem with viewing it, since you have to scroll down to the bottom of the first page to hit "next" to see additional comments. I've modified the site so that now under Comment Viewing options you can pick 500 comments per page as the maximum. I advise everyone to do this, it doesn't affect performance on shorter diaries but it keeps the longer ones on a single page.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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)And deep down there's a part in every American who wants to see it happen.
I say get in touch with your dark side. It is very powerful.
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| parent )there's nothing deep down about it as far as I'm concerned. If the Republicans have no compunction about doing it I'm not willing to stay pure and noble just to feel smug about it and lose another election.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )Gene Upshaw dies three days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Not much warning there--condolences to Gene's family and friends for their unexpected loss.
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). . .what it looks like when Usain Bolt completely cuts loose.
More later.
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)is a one-man race. He had it 2/3 of the way through the turn.
We just don't get to see something like that very often.
And I thought poor Ato Bolden was going to lose his voice...
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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| parent ). . .that I'll revisit later in Part Four if it turns out that I'm right: Jamaica still has the 4 x 100 relays to go. It's a foregone conclusion that the Jamaican women will win unless their fourth relay runner is missing a leg, but it might well pale by comparison to the men's event--presumably Mr. Bolt will be anchoring the race for the Jamaicans, and it might well be that Jason Lezak's legendary relay heroics take a back seat to the 2008 version of this:
Bob Hayes was a legendary US Olympian, but I think that he'd respect what Usain Bolt is doing for Jamaica.
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| parent ). . .when the mark of 19.32 was set*--the memory probably raised his energy level a bit.
*--he was third (9.90) in the 100 when Donovan Bailey set the record at 9.84, too--he was eating a lot of dust that year for a guy who ran two times that would have won Olympic gold in most prior Olympics. Still, hard to knock two bronze medals against that level of competition--he can compare notes with Walter Dix.
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| parent )The answer my friends, is both.
I am glad to see Obama and Co. finally pointing out that Old Man McCain has a hair trigger temper and can't be trusted to lead our great nation: LINK
If McMaverick's handlers weren't so afraid of letting him talk to the press it would be pretty easy to see him blow his top again:
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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)Rather than comment on the general silliness of your persistence on this "McCain is a serial philanderer" charge, I'll just address one little (albeit revealing) comment of yours here:
If McMaverick's handlers weren't so afraid of letting him talk to the press it would be pretty easy to see him blow his top again
Are you suggesting that over the course of the primary campaign (and that of 2000) and since (with the exception of very recently), that (1) McCain has kept the press at bay while (2) Obama has engaged them and done so informally to a much greater degree?
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| parent )McCain has certainly kept the press at bay since Rove's boys took over his campaign. LINK
But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )Rudy Giuliani. Heh. That's what happens when no one else is willing to show up. Gee. Wonder if we're in for 'a noun, a verb, and 9/11'?*
*Like Biden or not, still the best line of this political season. Not that there's much competition.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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)Anyone, anyone but Joe Biden. Biden voted for this war in Iraq. He's backed the balkan-ization of Iraq. He's a political weathervane.
If Obama picks Biden, he instantly loses the antiwar vote.
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| parent )- Login or register to post comments
| parent )and will this make the 'antiwar vote' line up behind McCain?
There's an enormous enthusiasm gap between the respective parties in this election season and the selection of Biden will have no effect on closing that gap, and neither will McCain's pick.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )Obama picking Biden would go a long way toward closing the enthusiasm gap.
--The other day I heard that ignorance and apathy are sweeping the country. I didn't know that, but I don't really care.
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| parent )The man's got an election to win.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )Should we approve a new patriot act every year now?
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| parent )with respect to cycles.
--"Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much." Ob
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| parent )Kucinich has much better things to, um, do. He's knee deep in...
let me rephrase that: Mrs. Kucinich is ankle deep in Dennis.
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| parent )Someone's gotta say it eventually my freinds, maybe Biden?
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )How dare you impugn the integrity of a true American hero even as he reminds of his heroism on a daily basis?
Sounds like you're one-a them fellas who doesn't put his country first.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )opportunism and naked ambition of an uppity individual who is 'not one of us', trumps 5 and a half years being tortured as a POW and the transcendent re-birth such an experience bestows on a fellow some 40 years later in the midst of a Presidential campaign?
Before this is all over the South will rise again, see if it don't.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )still the best line of this political season. Not that there's much competition
On that we can agree.
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| parent )n/t
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| parent )Traveller
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)Ato Boldon--who won four Olympic sprinting medals for Trinidad at Atlanta and Sydney--has been doing commentary for NBC in the track and field coverage and doing a fine job of it. He was clearly in awe of what Usain Bolt did in the 100, but it didn't stop him from looking at the race again after it was finished and saying about Bolt's behavior as the race was ending: "Kids--this isn't the right way to act at the Olympics." The relatively gentle chiding will hopefully be taken to heart by Mr. Bolt--we're probably going to be seeing him for a long time to come, and it would be nice if he didn't develop obnoxious habits that he can't break.
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)Don't taunt the world record holder in your event. The likely result is a serious beatdown.
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)before the 400 relay finals.
Your thoughts on that Chinese catcher's intro to smashmouth baseball and the potential consequences of blocking the plate?
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent ). . .you're running the risk that a runner is going to level you--it's part of the game, though I think Pete Rose was being excessive in clobbering Ray Fosse in an All-Star Game. Of course, the runner can get the worst of it, too--IIRC Dave Parker ended up on the DL with a broken cheekbone for a month or so once by plowing into John Stearns. Stearns stayed in the game. Tough SOB.
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| parent )Maddux going back to the Dodgers.
It's division title time, bay-bee!!
In other Dodgers news--Jeff Kent is really, really dumb in addition to being an @$$#ole. Slamming Vin Scully in LA is tantamount to blasphemy--particularly when a cursory examination of the situation suggests that Scully is right and Kent is wrong.
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)I don't know if anyone mentioned this before, and I'll acknowledge that Warren was far less obnoxious than most religious right figures (albeit a VERY low bar) the other night, but one question was just incredibly obnoxiously stupid, or stupidly obnoxious.
He asked "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?"
Well, jeez, Pastor Warren, have you stopped beating your wife?
The answer is "A BABY has human rights at all times, dumbass!" The whole question is whether / at what point an embryo/fetus becomes a baby -- i.e., a person, and thus is due "human rights". But good job stating the question in a neutral fashion. I can see why you come across as such a reasonable guy.
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)it was a low point in BO's performance. He got all stuttery and evasive, then said the question was "above my pay grade." C'mon, who could not have known that question was coming?
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )I mean it was a stupid, loaded, presumptuous, self-righteous question, as I explained.
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| parent )~At times like these I am reminded of the immortal words of Socrates when he said...."I drank what?"
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)ok, I've never heard that expression before, and I don't know if it's because I'm too old, too young, or neither.
Does that mean sex or, well, beating the bishop?
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| parent )Oh boy, I have to confess to something stupid. When I said "I've never heard that expression before", it's because I misheard what Borgnine said. I thought he said "I pass the pig a lot". Don't ask why I thought I heard that instead of the "m" word -- I have no idea. But I'm cofessing to momentary stupidity (yes, momentary, and I'm not putting that to a vote).
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| parent )funny, cos I was always told it would make you blind.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )Well now I feel just awful. Forgive me for complaining previously that you are "blinded by partisanship". I was unaware of your history.
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| parent )is a serious person?
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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)- a two minute shot clock.
- two soccer balls in play simultaneously.
- widen the goals to 3/4 of the field but allow each team two goalies armed with quarterstaves.
- anybody (which is everybody) who fakes an injury has to warm the bench for five minutes while a substitute takes his place so he can "recover".
If that doesn't work, the players should be given canes to assist with tripping each other, and the goalies should be able to skeet-shoot at long shots on goal with .410 gauge shotguns. Right now it's about as interesting as a whittling competition.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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)The question then becomes, is there something wrong with the taste of the remaining few percent?
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| parent )Lots wrong with us short attention span types who don't favor an extremely slow, very tentative game with no or low scores, ludicrously faked non-injuries, one or two minutes of genuine activity each period, and an apparent ban on the forearm shiver and clotheslining. Other than those shortcomings, Olympic soccer matches the thrills, spills and raw excitement of Winter Olympics curling, particularly if you bet on the Canadians.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )~At times like these I am reminded of the immortal words of Socrates when he said...."I drank what?"
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| parent )Who knew those guys at The Guardian could be so funny?
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )I am guessing Angry John and Cindy don't worry too much about mortgage payments.
(h/t The Carpetbagger Report)
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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)Nicer neighborhoods, too. And Edwards' "there are two Americas, and this one's mine, so beat it, punk" spread with the jet planes, airport and everything was nifty, if a bit too kitschy in the furniture choices.
(Am I allowed to bring that stuff up now that the '04 election is behind us?)
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )here's the pics from meeting Harley and Bird Dog for drinks:
This should cancel out the video of hot ladies earlier in the thread, and then some.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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)me, even down to the shirt. This is scary - please tell me that's not Harley. Please.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )I know what you look like. And I'm sorry, I'll knock off the menehune jokes, I didn't realize how cruelly accurate I was being.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )I didn't realize that this was a cruel hoax to out me, or that Smoking Gun still had those booking snaps. When's your next Drupal upgrade planned for, Mr. zero-day exploitee?
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )the guy in the top picture is clearly Harry Caul.
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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| parent )I certainly thought of Gene Hackman, tho not necessarily from the Convo.
btw, i heard they were making that into a TV series. ... given how much i love the film, I think I'll just assume it sucks + never watch it.
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| parent )Geez, guys, Don't you know Elvis Costello when you see him??
Better resolution here http://www.mirrorprintstore.co.uk/image/Elvis-Costello_179087.jpg Hey Hank -- or anyone -- why does it lose resolution when I post it, and if there's a solution (a resolution solution), what is it?
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| parent )
--~At times like these I am reminded of the immortal words of Socrates when he said...."I drank what?"
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| parent )Why am I the only one who looks comfortable in that outfit?
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )you're doimg bought out the same beaming smile that 100 kilo Olympic lap dancer did?
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )because he didn't change your shirt. [edit: actually, I mean he just transfered the pattern from your shirt to the jacket]
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| parent )you'll get it right one of these times.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )oh come on, man. Look at it. The colors and pattern appear close enough for my remark to work. Come on, amigo!
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| parent ).
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent )Just a one-color shirt (white not counting)? Are you feelin' all right?
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| parent )some of the subtler colors. It's not a black and white kind of thing.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )Hey, I know subtlety. I'm all about subtlety, a**hole! ;)
By the way, a Jack Handey I just remembered:
"Marta talks about sensuality, but she wouldn't know sensuality if it bit her on the ass."
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| parent )I kinda sorta met Abe Vigoda yesterday. He walked by (very slowly and stiffly, with a cane) the cafe at which I was eating on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and I recognized him, then saw that someone asked for a picture and he obliged, silently holding his hand up as if to wave. He then turn around and continued on, and I said "Loved you in The Godfather...and Barney Miller" and he held up his hand again as if to wave, but without turning around. He seemed very, very old -- no big surprise to anyone, I'm sure.
The guy I've seen several times around there is Richard Belzer. Every time he was wearing all black (in daytime).
On a totally different subject, can someone please tell me why even young women with nice bodies are wearing maternity dresses these days?? I told my girlfriend the other day that I think if some famous designer cut arm holes in a potato sack and put it on a model, and then some starletts started wearing them, every girl/woman would start wearing them. I also showed my girlfriend this video (below), telling her is was all that any girl with a nice body needs to know about fashion. She didn't agree, to say the least.
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)On How To Handle Chicks' coffee-table book come out? ;)
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| parent )My only tip on "how to handle chicks" is: As often as possible.
oh, in case my girlfriend is reading this: Please listen, dear. I didn't mean to use the plural "chicks". Oh, and I definitely didn't mean to say "chicks". ok, dear? And how was your day? Oh yeah? How did that make you feel? Awwwww. Yeah, that's understandable. And by the way, I'm such a lucky guy to have you. Oh, and you look great no matter what you wear. And no, I don't want you to dress like a whore. Well, not all the time. No, wait, I mean never. I respect you too much for that. Did I ask you how your day was?
Whew!
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| parent )Yours was the gold standard of relationships around here. Do I detect trouble in paradise?
Anyway, since when do any hot-looking babes actually read this blog? I think you're safe ;)
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| parent )Nah, no trouble. I learned from past experience how to start out this relationship right: establish a low baseline so she's never disappointed. And on those occasions when I think she's being a bit selfish/inconsiderate, I remind her that "There's only room for one a**hole in this relationship, and that position is taken."
ok, actually I try to treat her well in general, but to a fault I share my primitive male thoughts with her far too often. Although as far as her complaint that I want her to dress like a whore, I've explained to her that, well sometimes yeah -- I mean, there's a reason whores dress like whores: Because it turns guys on. And hopefully a girlfriend/wife would want her guy to have that reaction occasionally even outside of the home. So as I explained to her -- and here's one of many cases in which just shutting up would have been a great idea -- "Dressing like a whore sometimes is really a sensible use of experts as a guide, just like using the same brand of toothpaste as your dentist." And yet, somehow, unbelievably, she didn't find that argument persuasive. Sheesh, go figure.
By the way, there seems to be more response here to the narcoleptic dog video than to sizzling hot babes in miniskirts and high-heel boots. Interesting.
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| parent )to a fair-thee-well, B&B. It would be a real shame to lose you to the trauma ward.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )a girl is always right and nothing (I mean nothing) is ever their fault ...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080813/sc_livescience/thepillmakes...
It really is that simple ... :)
--I had discovered a great secret. That everyone loves themselves more than they love anybody else. And if I wanted them to love me, I better be like THEM!... Ken Nordine
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| parent )Given that hope and change on its own only polls at 45% I'm thinking it has to be Hillary, which will make things interesting (both for the campaign and the possible administration) to say the least.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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)Actually if you ignore the day to day drama and stick with the ten-day averages, hope and change tend to poll closer to 48. While bitter insanity rarely polls higher than 44. A four point win in November is a big win.
Having said that? I think it's Biden. Which will be fun. But you're not wrong about Hillary, who would be both a huge surprise and, in a weird sad awful way, sorta logical.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )I’d want more than a 4% cushion in the polls going into election day just in case there actually is a Bradley Effect. This is kind of uncharted territory.
--"That Sam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am!"- Dr. Seuss
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| parent )What the Ds can't afford is a narcoleptic dog on the ticket:
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| parent )getting those grass stains off Skeeter's chin.
--Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham
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| parent )But Leiberman is practically a Republican these days anyway.
--To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard
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| parent )tho neither he nor Dukakis look like they could make it up much past 9pm.
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| parent )
--~At times like these I am reminded of the immortal words of Socrates when he said...."I drank what?"
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| parent )But does he want an attack bitch?
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| parent )Chinese athletic icon injured, unable to compete in Olympics.
Having been ruthless about wanting to see the Chinese not getting and/or being stripped of medals they clearly *didn't* earn, I'm saddened that they lost the opportunity to see one of their unquestionably legitimate Olympic champions shoot for repeat Olympic gold. My condolences to Liu Xiang, with hopes that he thrives in future international competition.
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)...at least the start of the Semi's between USA and Japan in Woman's Soccer.
I will continue to tell anyone that listens that NBC really sucks on the internet...to include finding a schedule for who's playing and when and what is being broadcast and where.
Geeze, you'd expect that NBC would want people to know their schedules...the first one I found was for Beijing Time, finally I found a listing for NYC and was able to work PST from that.
Still, NBC is doing a miserable job as far as I'm concerned.
Dish Network's enhanced coverage doesn't seem to be worth a tinkerer's damn either...
(I mean I know how to watch sports...even internationally, so why is this so %$#&&&%$###! difficult?)
Further Note to Hank, yes I know that with Firefox I need to install a new app...I refuse, but I couldn't get IE to work either...natch.
Sigh.
Traveller
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). . .there are really no good choices as far as getting results to viewers during the work week without a massive risk of being spoiled; still, it might have been nice if the broadcast of women's gymnastics had been scheduled to convenience the millions of little girls from whom the next generation of great gymnasts will be drawn.
As far as actual competition has been concerned, it's been a magnificent Olympics--all of the objections to be tendered are *gag* political, which is sadly not a new thing.
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| parent )Memo to Jamaican bobsledders: you just got pwned. Seriously.
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)1 gold, 2 silver, no bronze in the women's 100m. It was just astounding. And I have to say that as far as Olympic coverage goes, if I never see another Phelps digital infographic hype-a-thon it'll be too soon. Give me Shelly-Ann Fraser hopping on the track and grinning a mouthful full of orthodontics any fricken day. If she isn't all over TV advertising for the next year, it's our loss.
--Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH
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| parent )"The secret of the team's success?" said Shelly-Ann Fraser, the newly crowned Olympic women's 100-meter champion. "Reggae power."
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| parent )