greek holiday
with only 30 days until Athens 2004, t.s.o.a. is coming down with a mild case of Olympic fever, though it could simply be the effects of 2 days of baseball withdrawal. though there's no US representation in the football or baseball tournaments, there's still plenty to see and - unlike many previous Olympiads - plenty of chances to see it as some sort of programming or another will be on around the clock, with much of it being broadcast live despite the 7-hour time difference between Athens and the East Coast.
i'm not huge into track and field - well the track part anyway - but i have discovered a rooting interest in triple jumper Tiombe Hurd. not only is she legally blind due to a retinal condition which leaves her with little depth perception, but she attended t.s.o.a. alma mater James Madison University. and on Monday she broke the American record at 47'5". a medal sport for women only since 1996, this event has been dominated by Eastern Europeans, so let's go Tiombe!
one bothersome thing is the flak that Greece is taking for the blackout in Athens the other day. now granted, the planning and execution of the Games has been spotty at best as officials scramble to get stadiums finished, build infrastructure and keep terrorist threats at bay. but i think this power outage is being a bit overblown, especially considering the massive blackout suffered less than a year ago round these parts, which was more widespread and lasted much longer. seeing Selena Roberts (the most loathsome of the hacks that the Times deems worthy of sports columns) rip into Athens officials, even intoning the BALCO scandal (and "other drug stories in other countries" - very vague, nice work) as if that were anyone's fault except the athletes involved, set me to rooting even harder for the Games to go off without a hitch.
i should expect that Olympics fan Bile & Venom will have some things to say as we get closer to the starting gun.
Comments
The things is, the Olympics are going to put a lot of additional pressure on that country's electrical grid (apparently blackouts aren't that uncommon there). Plus, it's going to be 105 degrees everyday in Athens from now through September, and who's going to keep their AC off in that heat? Athens needs to be graded on a big curve as an Olympic host, so "without a hitch" means ridiculous traffic snarls, embarrassing ticket sales, event delays and complaints about the facilities, but no deaths. That's the goal for Athens: no deaths at the Olympics.
And what's up with referring to soccer as football? Been watching too much SkySports on the telly?
Posted by: David | July 14, 2004 06:51 PM
i was just using the terminology from the Olympic website. and i have indeed been watching a bit of soccer, including the Copa America on Univision. it's a hell of a lot better than bullshit NFL mini-camp drama.
and yeah, i think "with no fatalities" is a fine substitute for "without a hitch". but as a world-class procrastinator myself, i'm rooting for them to get their shit together in short order and completely blow everyone away with how well things go. ahh, pipe dreams.
Posted by: jamie | July 15, 2004 10:50 AM
when i look at the term "pipe dreams" i can only think of snowboarding. and that makes me long for the winter olympics. the italians will have their shit together, i'm sure of it.
Posted by: marc | July 15, 2004 02:41 PM