Kissing the London Games Goodbye

It's all over but the partying at the Closing Ceremonies. What great Games!  There really is something special about the Olympics despite all their problems and issues and the fact that colorful kinesio tape seems to be the current athletic equivalent of duct tape (put that stuff on everything!). So what is MM is going to remember?  Oh, there's so much!  

Olympic Architecture

Cool!

Quote of the Day: Olympics and Achievement

Heh:

The Olympics were an unapologetic festival of competitiveness, pursuit of individual excellence, almost superhuman self-discipline, and uncompromising reward for merit. They were, in other words, a celebration of all those aspects of the human condition which the political fashion and educational ideology of the past 40 years has attempted to denigrate. And the country loved it. Indeed, it was ecstatically untroubled by the fact that some people – who were exceptionally talented and phenomenally dedicated – won, and some other people, with considerable courage and no dishonour, lost.

Friday Fun Video: Olympic Ticket Scalper

The Olympic Ticket Scalper with Sir Patrick Stewart, Ryan Lochte, Simon Pegg & Maisie Williams from Patrick Stewart

LOL: Usain Bolt, Photographer

And a pretty good one too!  All hail the world's greatest sprinter, by the way, complete with irrepressible antics. Some people don't like the showboating, but I don't care - give the man his moment!  More here and here.  Maybe it's because the Cine-Sib and I are such avid shutterbugs ourselves that I just adore this news item.

Geek/Nerd Fun: In Honor of the Mars Rover

The Curiosity Rover landed, and everybody partied!  So did the Internet, and I give you just two hilarious examples out of many:

LOL: Cranky Irish Sports Commentary

I don't care if it's almost certainly not real.  It's hilarious.  Slight language warning.

The Michael Phelps Photographic Medal Timeline

Look at medal by medal through his incredible career as the great Michael Phelps retires on a golden note.  I'm going to miss him in Rio.

A Thought on the London Games

My opinion hasn't changed in the slightest.

Disgustingly Cute: Candid Photos from the Games

Adorable couple is adorable.  This is just too cute, especially at the end.  Awwww.

Awesome: Oscar Pistorius Makes History in London

Alessandra and I have been following the South African athlete's career with great interest.  What a story!  I watched him run  the 400 meters this morning and qualify for semifinals, and it was awesome.  In case you've been living under a rock for a while and don't know who Oscar Pistorius is, here's the scoop.  

UPDATE: Pistorius didn't make it out of semis, but it doesn't matter.  He is still victorious as far as everyone is concerned.  The crowd roared, my buddies and I cheered, and the defending 400 meter Olympic champion exchanged bibs with him in a charming gesture. Pistorius gets the heroes tag.

Awesome: Olympic Moon and Tower Bridge

Apparently I'm Not the Only One Enjoying the Olympics

Heh.  By the way, ladies, I think our equivalent is men's water polo.  Or swimming.  Definitely swimming.  UPDATE: Um, yeah!  While we're talking, note this caveat, girls.

Congrats on Winning a Medal. Now Pay Tax On It.

Oh, come on!  UPDATE: Someone's doing something about it.  Well, good.

Olympic Overload

Blogging will be light until the Games are over, because your humble hostess is too busy obsessing about them and trying to do nerd work at the same time!  (Get your London 2012 app yet?)  The NBC coverage during primetime has been mostly - let's be honest - bad when it's not silly and crammed with some of the most idiotic "commentary" I've heard.  How bad is it?  Sometimes even the logo placement elicits guffaws from the audience, and this unfortunate placement of the graphic makes the entire scene seems a lot naughtier than it really is.  The daytime live coverage is less awful, at least - I suspect because of the conspicuous absence of annoying people like Ryan Seacrest.  Really, NBC, the snarky satirists at the Onion are doing a better job of "covering" the Games.  I mostly watch NBC with the sound turned off.  I'm not kidding.

If you're watching the primetime coverage, do have actor Samuel L. Jackson's Twitter feed available too, because he's a sports addict who is utterly laugh-out-loud funny in his no-holds-barred running real-time commentary.  (Language warning, obviously.)

For other awesome perspectives on the Games, you can always follow some of the athletes' Twitter feeds (like Michael Phelps' or Lolo Jones's ... and Lolo is hilarious) or maybe watch the BBC's streaming coverage.

As for the Games, they're full of stories of all types, which brings me to the dirtbag du jour, Olympic edition.  Nope, that's too depressing.  Let's focus instead on Phelps making glorious history by winning his 19th medal, shall we?  Congratulations, sir!

I Can't Stop Watching This

Remembering Munich. Or Not.

Shame on the IOC, but I am not at all surprised.

A Little Olympic Humor

The mascots for these Games are horrifically bad.  In fact, the only decent thing to do with them is mock them into oblivion.  And QUICKLY, before they reveal their true intentions to destroy us all.

What if Gotham hosted the Games?  It would include some new events.

The US Olympic swim team + this summer's most irritating (and addictive) song = this hilarious video.

Hmmmm:

LOL: the Olympic Opening Ceremonies Drinking Game

Click to enlarge.

Legally Blind South Korean Archer Smashes First World Record of the London Games

The opening ceremonies haven't even assaulted our eyes yet, and already world records are falling in London.  Congratulations to Im Dong-hyun!  (This also sounds like a glorious sports movie.)