Olympic Fever ....

.... is what I'm attributing to some of the most absurd commentating I've ever heard during these Games.

Several of these commentators must have a fever .... of some variation .... to say the things they've said.

Because really?? Saying that a gymnast's routine is "absolutely CATASTROPHIC!!" has got to be the result of a very high fever.

As someone who's experienced catastrophic, I think I can say .... with some degree of certainty .... that winning a silver medal rather than a gold is nothing close to "absolutely CATASTROPHIC!!"
Drama queen much?

And then there's the commentating (from the same person, I believe) who kept saying, over AND over, "She will definitely receive a ______ (place any number over 13 in the blank .... really more like 15) for that performance."

And sadly, she usually did not. She, being one of several gymnasts whose score he foretold with absolute certainty.
The funny thing was, he didn't stop doing it, even after he was wrong several times.
Gotta give him points for hanging in there, I suppose.

And then there's the swimming commentators. And the interviewing reporters.
Can they please make up their minds about whether or not they like Michael Phelps?
I mean, seriously?? One night he's the anchor that's weighing the whole team down .... and the next night he's the anchor (literally) who ..... all by himself ..... won the gold for the relay team.
Yes, relay.
As in .... more than one.
As in .... the previous THREE gave the anchor a huge lead.

Don't get me wrong. I like Phelps well enough and think he's done a great job. Even if he doesn't put in as much practice time as the other guys. Or so I've heard.
And kudos to him for getting that 19th medal. A huge accomplishment. Huge.
But when the relay team was interviewed after the race, the relay team was NOT interviewed. Phelps was interviewed while the other 3 were pretty much ignored.
Unbiased journalism in all its glory.

And THEN .... there's the women badminton players from S. Korea, China and Indonesia. You know, the ones who got kicked out of the Olympics for trying to lose.

SERIOUSLY??? You work hard for years (Well, as hard as one can work at badminton). And then you stand there and whiff the birdie into the net. Over and over again.
And you really think everyone's going to go for that? I think the crowd kept turning their thumbs down, hoping a gladiator would come in and end things swiftly.
And permanently.

(OK, if you want to know what's really sad .... and who doesn't? .... I was totally going to type the word "quaffle" instead of "birdie". In fact .... and I can't believe I'm admitting this .... I Googled the word "quaffle", just to make sure.
And found out that a quaffle is the name of the ball used in Quidditch. You know, that life-endangering, paraplegic-making game they played in all of the Harry Potter books. Where wizards-in-the-making fly hundreds of feet in the air on broomsticks and are sometimes (often times?) smashed to the ground when they fall/get knocked off of their broomsticks.
Yes .... I thought that a totally made up word, for a totally made up ball, in a totally made up game, in a totally made up book, was part of the Olympic games.
You now know how very important great literature is to me.)

Speaking of all things great and important .... have you seen where the athletes in the cycling time trials sit when they finish in 1st, 2nd and/or 3rd? And not just when the race is done, but during the race. As they finish, if a cycler is in one of the top three times, they sit there. Until they are booted to a lower seat. Or, until they are booted off the podium, if they were in third.
No?
Well it's a good thing I know how to Google!




Yes, that is a throne.
There are three of them.
At Hampton Court Palace.
I know, I wasn't familiar with that palace, either.
But you can read about it here.

Where you'll find that Bradley Wiggins (the throne usurper above) won the gold medal. He is, ironically, from Great Britain and reportedly hated that throne ... which was described thusly: "The chair was an obnoxious piece of Olympic stagecraft"

You might think that the word "obnoxious" is a bit harsh. 

You might want to look at that picture again.
Of course, that report comes from The Wall Street Journal, which can sometimes be somewhat .... oh, what's the word ..... stuffy.
But I happen to agree with them on this one.
Those thrones have to be three of the stupidest things I've seen at the Olympics.
So far.

Now go read all about it.
I need to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day for Olympic-watching.

And the fever rages on.

:)

Happy Friday, Peeps.