SUMMER OLYMPICS 2012

[Hayley B]

I watched the show last night and a little bit of womens basketball right now. Me and my family loved The Queen's entrance.

 

[HeyButtahfly]

I'm SO excited!!!!! Just watched the men's Olympic qualifying rounds in gymnastics! USA- YAAAY (edited to avoid spoilers- sorry. )

 

[newsmanfan]

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Watched the whole opening ceremony last night. I'm more a fan of the Winter Games but I try to catch a few things each time around. LOVED the Industrial Rev thing...and Craig in character with Queenie! Too bad she didn't really parachute into the stadium, that would've been too awesome.

Seeing Paul get all choked up was a nice moment, too. Though I was terribly annoyed with the people they kept showing on Team USA who apparently DON'T KNOW THE WORDS TO 'HEY JUDE'...yeeesh.

Am also not sure how I feel about oppressive nations like Syria being allowed to field teams (chosen and sponsored by the regime, no doubt) when they're busy crushing their subjects at home. Was weird seeing Iran, Iraq, and Israel march in one after another; yes, I know, alphabetical order...still weird. I hope they weren't standing next to one another in that giant center space!

Loved the whole idea of the cauldron being formed out of the individual leaves. Neat!
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[HeyButtahfly]

I think the cauldron is great. I love it, too.

 

[Vincent L]

I just created a Wikipedia article for the Olympics opening ceremony album Isles of Wonder. My first new article creation on Wikipedia. Yaaaaay!

 

[bandit]

YES! I have to agree with everything that's been said here so far. I know some people were a little disappointed with the opening but I really have to say that the whole first part of that blew me away. In particular, the forging of the Olympic rings through the industrial revolution....I mean, WOW! That was so exciting to see and it was packed with meaning. Brilliant!
The cauldron was equally brilliant. They really did a tremendous job with all of that.

I have pretty much been absorbed by the Olympics broadcasting on various different channels. In particular, I've been catching the soccer matches and some table tennis, swimming, a bit of gymnastics and one of my new favorites is handball. I'd never seen it in play until this Olympics and its SO fast paced. It's such a kinetic sport and it's exciting to watch. Unlike Hockey and Soccer (two of my alltime favs) there is a great deal more scoring and that keeps things whizzing along.

But really, my hope is to catch a little bit of everything. Keep tabs on my favorites and dabble in everything else. So far, with the exception of that awful LADY from Columbia who outright DECKED Abby Wambach in the eye....the sportsmanship has been pretty inspiring. Lochte, who I don't particularly care for really DID deserve the gold. He was practically two people-lengths ahead of everyone else in that pool. It was pretty amazing. Also, I happened to catch the end of the women's skeet shooting. We won the gold in that but I have to say that all three of the medalists were gracious, happy and obviously moved. The Slovakian lady who won the bronze just kept touching the medal and her chest. She could scarcely believe it. The Chinese silver medalist was a little more composed but you could see the quiet pride in her hint of a smile. And our dear American handled herself with class. She shook both of the other medalists hands before receiving her own medal and then called them into a huddle when it came for picture time. THAT'S what I'm talking about! THAT is what it's all about.

I posted this on my FB but as all of you are not on here, check it out. Here are examples of extreme GOOD and BAD sportsmanship. Forgive the awful quality of the video. I didn't record these or upload them. I just found them on Youtube.

The BAD, is the Colombian soccer player attacking Abby Wambach. Grrr

The very good and some of my favorites are the Independent Olympic Athletes who are not representing a country for various reasons. They look just thrilled to be there. I LOVE these guys!

 

[bandit]

Keep watching and keep posting guys! Support your teams, whoever they may be. ^_^ Show that spirit!

 

[mr3urious]

The volleyball match between USA and Australia was pretty intense near the end, I must say! May-Treanor and Walsh-Jennings remain undefeated!

 

[bandit]

OH! That was a tremendous last rally wasn't it?! I was right at the edge of my seat with that. The game as a whole was great but those last few minutes were just awesome!

 

[Vincent L]

My favorite song from the Isles of Wonder album: "Tubular Bells / In Dulci Jubilo"