Silver and Gold

 

How many of you watched the women's gymnastics all-around finals tonight?

 

Holy cow!

 

Ken and I were getting very agitated at what seemed to be quite a scoring disparity for a while there. The Americans, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, seemed to be getting the short end of the stick, over and over. I know there's always home field advantage, but come on!

 

It came down to the floor exercise, and Johnson and Liukin were excellent. They totally nailed their routines, and it was incredibly exciting! Liukin got the gold, Johnson the silver, and the Chinese gymnast the bronze. After what seemed to be some unfair scoring (although I'm not a judge and I wasn't there...but even the analysts were saying it was bogus, although not in so many words), it was sweet vindication to get the top two spots.

 

A few observations....

 

While the Chinese are often technically flawless, they often appear somewhat gangly and awkward. Some of the older gymnasts--not just the U.S., but Romania and Russia--seemed to me to be more graceful and fluid. Technical excellence is important, but it's equally important to put together a smooth and elegant routine. These two were able to do that, and it was lovely.

 

What is up with the stupid glitter?! Some of them had it on their face, and some of them had it all over their hair. It's not disco night at the gymnasium, ladies, so ditch the sparkly stuff. Can you imagine getting a piece of that junk in your eye?

 

Same goes for the blue eyeshadow. Not a good look.

 

Is Béla Károlyi one of the funnest guys ever? It's been a long time since I've seen anyone so enthusiastic! I'd like to hang with him. I bet he's a hoot.

 

There were a couple of times that Ken made a comment about something that had just happened, only to have one of the announcers say almost the exact same thing a moment later. I asked him, "Have you thought about a career in gymnastics commentary?"

 

Does Bob Costas wear a toupee? If so, it's not a bad one, but it sure looks suspicious to me.

 

What a GREAT competition. Ken was glued, as was I, and he didn't get to bed until around 1 AM. I hope he does okay tomorrow!

 

A big night Friday! At 10:10, Michael Phelps will be trying to tie Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics. Can he do it? Yeah. I think he can.

 

Sad to say, it seems that Mark Spitz is being kind of pissy about not getting some sort of "formal invitation" (I think that translates roughly as "a free ride") to the Beijing Olympics. What a shame that he isn't exhibiting more grace. I guess he's a stockbroker and a motivational speaker now, so he shouldn't be hurting for money. What's the big deal, Mark? Suck it up and buy a ticket if you want to go.

 

A very different subject, real quick--but this is too cool to NOT write about tonight. As we were sitting here at the table, with the sliding glass door open, we heard a sort of yip and howl out in the  marsh. It was a coyote! A few years ago, I saw one out in the marsh--its bushy tail and tan coat were unmistakable--but we've never heard one howling before. It was really neat. They're notorious for going after fawns, though--I hope our little fellas will be okay. However, as hard as this is for me to say, I know that this is nature, and one of the reason the deer population has gotten so out of control in some places is because of the loss of natural predators. What will be, will be. I think it's kind of neat that we DO have a real live food chain going on here at Nutwood. Welcome to the jungle, baby! Ha! Now we need to get a cougar out here...just for good measure. Actually, people in the area (maybe a couple of miles away) swear that they have seen cougars.

 

If I were out walking in the marsh, or in our woods, and I came across a cougar...I'd probably pass out from holding my breath and trying not to move! Yikes!

 

 

 

 

Tags: Olympics, women's gymnastics, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson, Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz, Béla Károlyi, Bob Costas, coyotes, cougars