Fucking A, the Olympics rule.
THIS is what sports are supposed to be. They’re supposed to be inspirational, and fun. And enlightening- I think sports at their best teach as well as entertain.
This time around I’ve been watching some new-to-me sports like BMX freestyle, surfing, rapid fire pistol, skateboarding, and a few others, and god damn, these sports fucking rule. I’m learning SO MUCH this time around. I’m seeing new things and it kicks ass.
Unfortunately this also means I had to miss out on some swimming. That sucks, although I’ll try to at least see the best parts of what I missed, even if it’s after the games are over.
There are some great things coming up, I know, so I will need to prioritize them. Like trampoline. Fucking A, trampoline rules. Or rhythmic gymnastics. Or the marathon.
Last night at the track was great, such wonderful sportsmanship and drama and talent. Just awesome. THIS is why I fucking watch.
And there wasn’t any of the reprehensible crap on display that you get from, say, the NBA or NFL or UFC with any of their embarrassing trash talk nonsense or whatever other infantile shit they do to stir up needless controversy. Those leagues seem to go out of their way to appeal to the lowest common denominator sometimes. Fuck ’em, they suck.
The Olympics do sports right, I think, not to mention their athletes are better athletes. The olympic rings are probably the best display of athleticism of any sport. They display not just strength, but endurance, balance, coordination, and concentration better than anything else I’ve ever seen. Pro gymnasts are the best athletes on the planet.
Other notes… the US anthem sounds the best instrumentally, I think, of all the national anthems. So glad we went with Star-Spangled Banner over America the Beautiful.
On a purely jingoistic front, I do kinda wish I had kept up with the swimming. US crushed everyone there. It was kinda amazing to see the last day of swimming (which I actually just finished up). US lost one gold, and there, only by a fraction of a second. Amazing.
Jade Carey kicks ass.
Other stuff…
Yeah these sports are inspirational, at least to me. They make me want to be a part of what’s going on, even if only tangentially.
Now that I think about it, I probably should have tweeted Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, like I did Nastia and Shawn. I’ll probably do that.
That was a nice shout out that Michael gave me during the start of the swimming program. Thanks bro.
Yeah, you know, this is some great stuff. It’s like the best parts of a party, an enlightening lecture, and… I guess a series of championship games, all rolled into one. And it’s great.
On the personal front, I’ve started doing TKD again, even if only in my house, with a couple of leg weights attached to each leg. 4 different weights in total. I also do pilates like this, now. Nice. My daily dumbbell routines have built up quite a bit of speed and endurance in my upper body. Neat, that’s what I wanted. I don’t work out for size, or honestly even for strength. Just balance, speed and endurance. I guess I lift differently than most, but it works well enough for me.
Speaking of TKD, wow, the sport sure has changed. Nobody punches anymore. Or even blocks or guards, it seems. Maybe I was just watching the wrong matches, but IDK. It’s… different. Do punches not count anymore?
I was always trained to keep my hands up at all times. Yeah, I don’t know.
This is fun. Yeah, I might actually watch some of this after the fact. I can see almost no way to fit all of this in, with all the other stuff coming up, and especially now, since I can see entire events uninterrupted. The primetime highlight reels I used to watch in years past skipped over quite a bit of stuff, it seems.
So yeah, cool.
This is good stuff. It “works” in that it does what sports are supposed to do. It’s not like the NFL, which seems to almost encourage sloth and mindless, empty consumerism.
Neat.