10 Things to Miss (or maybe not) About the 2008 Olympics
Posted 25th August, 2008 in by Andrea
Just as I promised at the beginning of my Olympic Fever, we managed to watch nearly every aired Olympic event on NBC for two weeks straight. Our couches are well worn and the end table is nice and cluttered with glasses, snack crumbs and empty bowls of ice cream to prove it.
We concluded the two-week long binge with the closing ceremonies last night, and I admit to being a little sad it was over. I felt sort of like I'd been through all the events and visited Beijing right along with the athletes (but of course without four years of intense training under my belt).
So, now that they're over, here's what we'll miss (or maybe not) about the 2008 Olympics:
10. running to the TV at 6 p.m. every night to see what was on the lineup, even though we had both already checked online hours ahead of time.9. realizing how young, determined, and focused all those athletes are and wondering if in the end, they all think the time and sacrifice was worth it. I imagine they felt it was. As for me, I dunno if it would be. I'll bet they all wake up before 7am on a daily basis--I don't (and won't). So that probably counts me out of the running in the "determined and focused" category.8. the diving competition's lady commentator's incessantly negative and demeaning comments. She got the mute button at our house.7. calculating the height of the building needed to train for the trampoline-ing events. An airplane hanger might not be tall enough....seriously.6. Morgan Freeman's voice-overs in daily-changing VISA commercials, based on event results. He must have made 20 different voice-overs for the ads before the Olympics even started.5. trying to figure out what Misty May-Treanor's roman numeral 5 tattoo was all about...is she really THAT obsessed with Jason Kidd?4. eating Chinese food in honor of Beijing...chinese food we were able to get at the grocery store in the US...not scorpions on a stick thank-you-very-much.3. Ayla pointing at the TV and asking to eat dinner in front of it so she can watch the "wimpics".2. seeing Nastia Liukin shoot dagger eyes at her competitors throughout the competition. I've never seen anyone so set on winning. The girl might want to expand her horizons a little bit now that she's got the "queen" status. I'm proud she won, but she was a little intense.1. slow motion replays of Michael Phelps' gorilla-style victory yell.
I could go on and on (about Usain Bolt, the relay races, marathon water-bottle throwing insanities, and more), but either you watched it and know it all, or you didn't and this means nothing to you.
So, here's to London 2012, and to hoping for a HDTV mega screen to watch it all on!
3 comments so far:
mariahcharles said:
Totally with you on #8.... I mean seriously!!!! I couldn't do any of those tricks, and the commentator probably couldn't as well. Even on the replay I couldn't see what they did wrong!
We did enjoy the Olympics at our household too. Eric was on a detail, straight evenings, 10 hour shifts, so I enjoyed most of the games, except we did stop to sleep around 10pm!
marisanokes said:
I would have to say the best part of the entire 2 week competition is sharing it with a group of 3,4 & 5yr olds who have never seen anything like it before. To top it off, have my bosses mom who is from Thailand yell at the TV at the swimmers to go faster and if they didnt win she would make comments like they could have heard her. I didnt watch it as much as you and the family did, but Jake and Isa managed to watch a good amount of it at home. She LOVED the floor exercises (she would try to imitate them which reminded me of when I was little) and the diving (she would also imitate this too). As for 2012..... I hope and pray that they DO NOT come to Chicago. I am sure you could imagine how bad it would be here, the traffic is already horrible as it is....I couldnt deal with it being any worse. Thanks for the Letterman-like count down.... it was a good laugh. What about the Chinease underage scandal???? That happened to be one of the ones I did watch and they favored China after all those mistakes they made.
Any who.... now back to your regular scheduled programming....
=)
acmickelson said:
Oh, I know! That commentator for the women's diving drove me crazy too! I thought I was the only one who thought she was a total witch! Thank you! I think I missed the marathon water bottle throwing - what happened?
But speaking of Nastia Liukin, I have to say how impressed I was with her for not crying or even looking terribly upset when she got the silver instead of the gold she really earned on the bars. But you are right about the dagger eyes - she is quite the competitor.
Too bad we couldn't watch the Olympics with you - it sounds like you have the fever as bad as we do!
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