A couple weeks ago a friend mentioned an interest in his family history, and I said I would see if I could find something for him on the Internet. I took what data he was able to provide in the way of names, dates, and places, and although it was nowhere near in-depth research, I still came up with a great deal after only a few days. I was able to identify all his great-grandparents, plus 35 other ancestors, one line going back nine generations to his 7th-great-grandparents. I found a couple obituaries, a will or two, some military records, plus his family in census records from 1850 through 1940.
The best part was how much I enjoyed doing it. Since I've been working on my own family tree for over 30 years, finding anything new is like pulling teeth. This seemed easy by comparison, providing lots of instant gratification when I discovered things.
I began to wish somebody else would ask me to do some checking for them, and that led me to think that there was no reason I couldn't actually solicit clients. I could offer basic research to get somebody started on their family tree, nothing in-depth, just what's readily available on the Internet. I could do like the lawyers -- I don't get paid unless I find something -- but unlike the lawyers, my fees would be ridiculously cheap.
But I'd need to get the word out, and the best way to do that is to create a web site and then spread the URL all over the Internet. So, off I go to do that.
Meanwhile, any takers? If so, email me at janknez@comcast.net.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Sometimes I just have to
There are some topics I try to stay away from in this here blog thing, but I simply cannot ignore monumental stupidity.
First we had Missouri Republican Congressman Todd Akin who (a) doesn't know crap about reproduction and (b) is able to distinguish between "legitimate rape" and whatever would be its opposite. (What would that be? What is illegitimate rape like? Never mind.)
Now, however, this nincompoop is being defended by a Missouri State Republican Committee person named Sharon Barnes, who apparently agrees with him that few rapes result in pregnancy. As if that were not enough, she is quoted in the New York Times as saying that "if God has chosen to bless this person with a life, you don’t kill it."
If God chooses to bless the rape victim with a baby? Are you bleeping kidding me?
I'd like to see Sharon Barnes telling a 14-year-old girl who gets pregnant after being raped by her uncle how blessed she is. I'm sure it would be extremely enlightening for both of them.
First we had Missouri Republican Congressman Todd Akin who (a) doesn't know crap about reproduction and (b) is able to distinguish between "legitimate rape" and whatever would be its opposite. (What would that be? What is illegitimate rape like? Never mind.)
Now, however, this nincompoop is being defended by a Missouri State Republican Committee person named Sharon Barnes, who apparently agrees with him that few rapes result in pregnancy. As if that were not enough, she is quoted in the New York Times as saying that "if God has chosen to bless this person with a life, you don’t kill it."
If God chooses to bless the rape victim with a baby? Are you bleeping kidding me?
I'd like to see Sharon Barnes telling a 14-year-old girl who gets pregnant after being raped by her uncle how blessed she is. I'm sure it would be extremely enlightening for both of them.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Philla Dilla
Comic Phyllis Diller has died, aged 95. I remember first seeing her on television in the late 1960's; she always cracked me up. I have never forgotten one of her funniest lines -- she said she couldn't wear a mini-skirt because her legs didn't go all the way up.
She always wore outrageous clothes, apparently to hide her figure, which was actually quite shapely, so she could make fun of her appearance. I also remembered her wild, spiky blonde hair.
I went to YouTube to look at some videos of Diller, and I was amazed at how not wild her hair looked. It looked positively conservative compared to some heads we see nowadays. She was just 40 years ahead of everybody else.
She always wore outrageous clothes, apparently to hide her figure, which was actually quite shapely, so she could make fun of her appearance. I also remembered her wild, spiky blonde hair.
I went to YouTube to look at some videos of Diller, and I was amazed at how not wild her hair looked. It looked positively conservative compared to some heads we see nowadays. She was just 40 years ahead of everybody else.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Shades of '88
I've heard this summer's excessive heat and drought compared to 1988, which was the hottest summer I ever experienced, until this year.
We were living in a townhouse then, which precluded the possibility of a garden, but I decided I could grow tomato plants in a box on the little front stoop. Well, maybe I could have, had it not been so hot and dry all summer. Despite trying to keep them well watered, they shrivelled up and died in no time. I never tried that again.
This year we have four tomato plants in the flower bed under the bay window. We kept them watered, so they have survived and are now beginning to yield their fruit. Still, the heat seems to have stunted the growth of the tomatoes. Here's yesterday's harvest:
Not worthy of the name beefsteak, which is what these plants are supposed to be. The biggest one is about the size of a baseball, the littlest the size of a golf ball.
It has cooled off and rained a lot here lately. We're having temps in the mid-70's for a few days. It did the same thing in 1988, which I remember distinctly because I bought a new car that year. I was all excited about getting it because it had been 100 degrees all summer long and this was going to be the first car I ever owned that had air conditioning. On the day in August I went to the dealer to pick the car up, it was 70 degrees. I ran the air conditioner anyway.
We were living in a townhouse then, which precluded the possibility of a garden, but I decided I could grow tomato plants in a box on the little front stoop. Well, maybe I could have, had it not been so hot and dry all summer. Despite trying to keep them well watered, they shrivelled up and died in no time. I never tried that again.
This year we have four tomato plants in the flower bed under the bay window. We kept them watered, so they have survived and are now beginning to yield their fruit. Still, the heat seems to have stunted the growth of the tomatoes. Here's yesterday's harvest:
Not worthy of the name beefsteak, which is what these plants are supposed to be. The biggest one is about the size of a baseball, the littlest the size of a golf ball.
It has cooled off and rained a lot here lately. We're having temps in the mid-70's for a few days. It did the same thing in 1988, which I remember distinctly because I bought a new car that year. I was all excited about getting it because it had been 100 degrees all summer long and this was going to be the first car I ever owned that had air conditioning. On the day in August I went to the dealer to pick the car up, it was 70 degrees. I ran the air conditioner anyway.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Speaking of blobs and stripes
Once in the late 1960's on a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago with some friends, I ended up staring at a painting in the modern wing, only because it was right in front of the little bench I sat down on to rest. It was a huge canvas, probably 12 feet square, that was painted all black except for a large, perfectly round red circle in the middle. I muttered something like, "Even I could do that," and a nearby connoisseur of modern art who overheard gave me the old you're-an-ignorant-Philistine look and said meaningfully, "Yes, but would you?"
No, of course not. It is one of the bane's of my existence that I cannot draw, so if I could, I would not produce crap like that.
Sometimes I wish so desperately that I could draw, because I get these artistic inspirations that make me positively ache with creative impulses, but it's impossible because I can't draw anything that looks like what it's supposed to be. I can see it so clearly in my mind's eye, but if I try putting pencil to paper, I get something worse than a six-year-old can produce.
Right now, for instance, I see a picture that shows a king and a queen, both on horseback, both in robes of royal purple. Below them is an airplane, but its body is actually a banana with wings, with a slice of lemon for a tail, a half cherry for a cockpit, and a section of starfruit for a propeller.
I would title it "Purple Mounted Majesties Above a Fruity Plane."
No, of course not. It is one of the bane's of my existence that I cannot draw, so if I could, I would not produce crap like that.
Sometimes I wish so desperately that I could draw, because I get these artistic inspirations that make me positively ache with creative impulses, but it's impossible because I can't draw anything that looks like what it's supposed to be. I can see it so clearly in my mind's eye, but if I try putting pencil to paper, I get something worse than a six-year-old can produce.
Right now, for instance, I see a picture that shows a king and a queen, both on horseback, both in robes of royal purple. Below them is an airplane, but its body is actually a banana with wings, with a slice of lemon for a tail, a half cherry for a cockpit, and a section of starfruit for a propeller.
I would title it "Purple Mounted Majesties Above a Fruity Plane."
Monday, August 13, 2012
On to the Never-Ending Future
I wasn't able to post comments on the last couple days of the Olympics due to a computer malfunction, and now that I'm back in business, I find that I'm just as glad that the Games are over and I can get back to normal. But there is one thing I saw that I cannot let go unremarked.
At the Olympic stadium for track events, there were teams of what I presumed were volunteers whose job it was to provide each entrant in a race with a plastic bin for his or her personal items. The volunteer set the box down in the runner's lane, well behind the starting line, and the athletes would drop their warm-up clothes into it along with whatever other things they had with them that they would not carry or wear during the running of the race.
As far as I could tell, none of the runners paid the least bit of attention to these keepers of the plastic boxes who stood tranquil and solemn over the bins taking their custodial duties very seriously. When the athletes were introduced and about to take their marks and get set and go, the volunteers would pick up the plastic baskets and march off the track with them.
Before the start of the men's 200-meter dash, the cameras caught Usain Bolt as he took off his warm-up pants and jacket. The keeper of his plastic bin was a young man who looked to be about 20 years old and who was dutifully standing quiet and vigilant over the plastic bin, possibly ruminating on his great good luck in having been assigned to the famous sprinter. After tossing his clothes into the basket, Bolt held his fist out toward the young man, who hesitated just a moment, then reached out and bumped Bolt's fist with his own, grinning from ear to ear. Bolt turned away then, but the volunteer remained in the camera shot for a few more seconds. Twice his smile faded as he tried to regain his serious Official-Olympic-Runner's-Plastic-Bin-Protector attitude, and twice his face broke into a huge grin.
For the rest of his life, that young man is going to smile every time he thinks about his fist-bump with the legendary Jamaican champion who won that race at the London Olympics of 2012.
At the Olympic stadium for track events, there were teams of what I presumed were volunteers whose job it was to provide each entrant in a race with a plastic bin for his or her personal items. The volunteer set the box down in the runner's lane, well behind the starting line, and the athletes would drop their warm-up clothes into it along with whatever other things they had with them that they would not carry or wear during the running of the race.
As far as I could tell, none of the runners paid the least bit of attention to these keepers of the plastic boxes who stood tranquil and solemn over the bins taking their custodial duties very seriously. When the athletes were introduced and about to take their marks and get set and go, the volunteers would pick up the plastic baskets and march off the track with them.
Before the start of the men's 200-meter dash, the cameras caught Usain Bolt as he took off his warm-up pants and jacket. The keeper of his plastic bin was a young man who looked to be about 20 years old and who was dutifully standing quiet and vigilant over the plastic bin, possibly ruminating on his great good luck in having been assigned to the famous sprinter. After tossing his clothes into the basket, Bolt held his fist out toward the young man, who hesitated just a moment, then reached out and bumped Bolt's fist with his own, grinning from ear to ear. Bolt turned away then, but the volunteer remained in the camera shot for a few more seconds. Twice his smile faded as he tried to regain his serious Official-Olympic-Runner's-Plastic-Bin-Protector attitude, and twice his face broke into a huge grin.
For the rest of his life, that young man is going to smile every time he thinks about his fist-bump with the legendary Jamaican champion who won that race at the London Olympics of 2012.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Go Team(s) USA
Lots of finals yesterday and today to wind down the Games of the XXX Olympiad, several of them adding to the USA medal count, which always makes me happy.
Yesterday's highlight for me was the women's 4 x 100-m relay in which the U.S. sprinters (Tianna Madison, Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix, and Carmelita Jeter) won the gold going away and smashing the world record while they were at it, coming in 55 seconds under the previous world mark.
Jeneba Tarmoh and Lauryn Williams, who raced in the semifinals on Thursday, were replaced by Felix and Jeter, medalists in the sprints here, so that the fastest team would be out there and have a better shot at beating the Jamaicans. I thought that was a bit unfair to Tarmoh and Williams, since they are the ones who got the team into the gold-medal race, but it turns out that they get gold medals too, although they don't get to participate in the medal ceremony.
Today I'll be in front of the tube for the gold-medal games in women's volleyball and basketball. And then I'll probably be pretty much tired of it all.
Day 14 Quote of the Day (Zhang Xi of China, hearing later that Prince Harry had attended the bronze-medal beach volleyball match she and her teammate lost): "If I knew that, I would have won the game."
Yesterday's highlight for me was the women's 4 x 100-m relay in which the U.S. sprinters (Tianna Madison, Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix, and Carmelita Jeter) won the gold going away and smashing the world record while they were at it, coming in 55 seconds under the previous world mark.
Jeneba Tarmoh and Lauryn Williams, who raced in the semifinals on Thursday, were replaced by Felix and Jeter, medalists in the sprints here, so that the fastest team would be out there and have a better shot at beating the Jamaicans. I thought that was a bit unfair to Tarmoh and Williams, since they are the ones who got the team into the gold-medal race, but it turns out that they get gold medals too, although they don't get to participate in the medal ceremony.
Today I'll be in front of the tube for the gold-medal games in women's volleyball and basketball. And then I'll probably be pretty much tired of it all.
Day 14 Quote of the Day (Zhang Xi of China, hearing later that Prince Harry had attended the bronze-medal beach volleyball match she and her teammate lost): "If I knew that, I would have won the game."
Friday, August 10, 2012
More Goals and Gold
Any Olympic dreams I may have had are now completely satisfied since the U. S. women's soccer team won the gold medal in a very entertaining game with Japan. Whatever the United States has or will win, this one made the whole Olympics for me. I don't know why. I've never been a soccer fan, only watching it when the American women are in the world cup or the Olympics.
Tomorrow the American women's volleyball and basketball teams go for gold, luckily not at the same time, so I'll be able to see both games.
NBC's live online streaming of events can present challenges to one's patience, what with interrupted reception and cutting away for 15- or 30-second commercials right in the middle of someone's race or dive or throw, but I endured it all yesterday to watch a boxing match on my computer. I sort of get the manly art of self defense; I don't get the womanly art of punching another woman in the head, but I was curious enough about women's boxing to tune in. I was rewarded with a gold-medal win by Claressa Shields of Flint (practically a neighbor). Good for her, bringing another gold for the USA and Michigan. But why she does it, I'll never know.
Having seen a little of the rhythmic gymnastics, I'm rethinking whether or not synchronized swimming is the stupidest activity masquerading as a sport. Rhythmic gymnastics consists of routines that are sort of similar to the floor exercise part of regular ("artistic") gymnastics, only without tumbling and with props such as balls, hula hoops, Indian clubs, and long, narrow ribbons on a stick. All done to music, with leotards and makeup borrowed from synchro swim, and all having the general ambiance of a hallucination. I don't deny it takes some skill to throw a softball-size ball into the air, roll around on the floor, and catch the ball between your knees while flat on your back, but that belongs in a circus, not the Olympics.
I hate to be what Jane Austen called "severe upon my sex," but what does it tell us that only women participate in synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics? Can it be the glittery eyeshadow that turns men away?
Day 13 Quote of the Day (Usain Bolt of Jamaica, after becoming the only person to win both the 100- and 200-meter dashes in two successive Olympics): "I am now a legend. I'm also the greatest athlete to live."
And the least humble.
Tomorrow the American women's volleyball and basketball teams go for gold, luckily not at the same time, so I'll be able to see both games.
NBC's live online streaming of events can present challenges to one's patience, what with interrupted reception and cutting away for 15- or 30-second commercials right in the middle of someone's race or dive or throw, but I endured it all yesterday to watch a boxing match on my computer. I sort of get the manly art of self defense; I don't get the womanly art of punching another woman in the head, but I was curious enough about women's boxing to tune in. I was rewarded with a gold-medal win by Claressa Shields of Flint (practically a neighbor). Good for her, bringing another gold for the USA and Michigan. But why she does it, I'll never know.
Having seen a little of the rhythmic gymnastics, I'm rethinking whether or not synchronized swimming is the stupidest activity masquerading as a sport. Rhythmic gymnastics consists of routines that are sort of similar to the floor exercise part of regular ("artistic") gymnastics, only without tumbling and with props such as balls, hula hoops, Indian clubs, and long, narrow ribbons on a stick. All done to music, with leotards and makeup borrowed from synchro swim, and all having the general ambiance of a hallucination. I don't deny it takes some skill to throw a softball-size ball into the air, roll around on the floor, and catch the ball between your knees while flat on your back, but that belongs in a circus, not the Olympics.
I hate to be what Jane Austen called "severe upon my sex," but what does it tell us that only women participate in synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics? Can it be the glittery eyeshadow that turns men away?
Day 13 Quote of the Day (Usain Bolt of Jamaica, after becoming the only person to win both the 100- and 200-meter dashes in two successive Olympics): "I am now a legend. I'm also the greatest athlete to live."
And the least humble.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Gimme a Booch
Don't even get me started on synchronized swimming. I don't know if it's the heavy water-proof make-up and shellacked hair, or the sparkly swim suits, or if it is just too Esther Williams to be taken seriously, but there cannot be anything quite as ridiculous trying to pass itself off as a sport. And nobody can argue that the nose plugs contribute anything to the glamour.
Nevertheless, synchro swim got a big boost in attention yesterday when a duo from the Ukraine (Daria Iushko and Kysenia Sydorenko) kissed each other after their performance. Not the common, sisterly peck on the cheek. No, square on the mouth. Twitter was all a-twitter with it just about instantly, but it portends nothing Sapphic. Bussing of that sort is quite common in that part of the world. Men kissing each other on the lips is one of the more quaint Russian customs.
For excellent post-victory smooching you need look no further than our gold-medal-winning beach volleyballers. When they embrace after a win, Kerri Walsh Jennings always kisses Misty May Treanor on the cheek in a very caring, motherly sort of way. It warms my heart to see it.
And see it we did last night when they won the gold for the third time. I was happy, because it means I don't have to see any more beach volleyball. Oh, wait -- the men aren't done. Rats.
And speaking of heartwarming, there must have been a large contingent of Americans at the beach volleyball last night because during the medal ceremony, I heard a lot of people singing the national anthem. And speaking of that, I don't know where the Brits got the rendition of the Star Spangled Banner they have been using, but it is the worst arrangement I've ever heard. But at least we're hearing it often.
Day 12 Quote of the Day (Aries Merritt, perhaps feeling somewhat exuberant after winning the 110-meter hurdles): "I give honor to God! And all the glory and praise to Him, because -- oh, God!!"
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Get them while they glitter
American gymnast Aly Raisman won a bronze medal for the balance beam last night, but only because her coaches filed a protest. Her original scores put her in fourth place, but the American coaching contingent claimed she was scored too low. All gymnasts could say that, but in this case they thought she was not given enough credit for what she did, not how. The judges eventually agreed and amended her score, knocking Catalina Podor of Romania down to fourth.
I like it when Americans win medals, but it takes a little of the shine off them when they do it like that. Nevertheless, Raisman showed them all what she's made of by winning the floor exercise with a nearly flawless routine that left no doubt in anybody's mind as to who was best.
We have fielded some really good teams in the team sports. In basketball, both the men and women are undefeated, both the men's and women's water polo and volleyball squads are into the quarterfinals, and in soccer, the American women will play Japan tomorrow night for the gold.
Oh, yeah -- it can be safely predicted that the U.S. will win the gold medal for women's beach volleyball since the two two-person teams in the finals are both from the United States.
Day 11 Quote of the Day (Aly Raisman, with arms raised above her head in the standard salute to the judges at the conclusion of her spectacular floor exercise): "Wow."
Yes, it was.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
GOAL!
The women's soccer semi-final yesterday between the United States and Canada was one of the most exciting, thrilling, nail-biting games (of any kind of sport) I've ever seen. Apparently I'm not alone, as the New York Times reported this morning that "fans around the world who watched it declared it one of the best games, involving men or women, in memory." Of course, if we hadn't won, I might not feel the same. Nevertheless, it's on to the gold medal game Thursday.
Did you ever wonder how a discus thrower or shot putter gets his/her projectile back after throwing it? No, I never did either, but evidently somebody got tired of carrying them. British automaker BMC has provided the London Olympics with three 1/4-scale, remote-controlled cars (which they are calling Mini Mini Coopers) with open tops into which a discus, shot, javelin, or hammer can be placed and then steered back to the area of the throwing circle. I am not making this up.
As of last night, China went ahead of the United States in the medal count again, but it has been pointed out that we have won more medals per capita than they have. They've won one medal per 22 million residents, whereas we've won one medal per 5.2 million people. The winner is Slovenia (population 2 million) which has won four medals, or one medal for every 500,000 folks.
Who comes up with this stuff?
Day 10 Quote of the Day (Bruno Bini, coach of the French women's soccer team, prior to their semi-final match with Japan): "I don't want to go home with a medal made of chocolate."
Actually, I wouldn't mind having one of those.
Monday, August 6, 2012
O-Lump It Time Again
McKayla Maroney was chosen for the U. S. women's gymnastics team because she can vault. It was all she was asked to do, and in the team competition, she did her job. She is so good at it that she was expected to win the gold medal in that event when it was contested last night.
Well, she didn't. She got the silver instead. Her first vault was excellent, but on the second one she landed on her butt. A Romanian gymnast named Sandra Izbasa, who qualified for the vaulting finals in eighth (last) place, landed on her feet on both her vaults and won by a very slim margin.
I was extremely disappointed in Maroney, not because she lost but because she was decidedly ungracious about it. She tolerated an embrace from the winner with unconcealed disdain and barely acknowledged the congratulations of the bronze medalist. Although I didn't see the medal ceremony, the New York Times reported that as the Romanian anthem played, Maroney "narrowed her eyes into a killer gaze and pursed her lips tightly," and that she never looked at the gold medalist.
Maybe she was being stoic. And yes, I know she failed to achieve something she has dreamed of all her life (all 16 years of it), but if one cannot accept defeat with grace, perhaps one is not ready to be a champion.
Day 9 Quote of the Day (McKayla Maroney after her loss in the vault competition): "I just messed up."
That's better.
Well, she didn't. She got the silver instead. Her first vault was excellent, but on the second one she landed on her butt. A Romanian gymnast named Sandra Izbasa, who qualified for the vaulting finals in eighth (last) place, landed on her feet on both her vaults and won by a very slim margin.
I was extremely disappointed in Maroney, not because she lost but because she was decidedly ungracious about it. She tolerated an embrace from the winner with unconcealed disdain and barely acknowledged the congratulations of the bronze medalist. Although I didn't see the medal ceremony, the New York Times reported that as the Romanian anthem played, Maroney "narrowed her eyes into a killer gaze and pursed her lips tightly," and that she never looked at the gold medalist.
Maybe she was being stoic. And yes, I know she failed to achieve something she has dreamed of all her life (all 16 years of it), but if one cannot accept defeat with grace, perhaps one is not ready to be a champion.
Day 9 Quote of the Day (McKayla Maroney after her loss in the vault competition): "I just messed up."
That's better.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
On to Track and Field
Well, I'm glad the swimming is finally over at the Olympics. And I have to say I am over Michael Phelps already.
He certainly has achieved a great deal for which he deserves praise, but does winning more medals than anybody else in history make him "the greatest Olympian of all time"? I don't know. If he was a wrestler, he would be able to compete for only one medal by competing in just one event -- wrestling in his weight class, period. He just happens to be good at a sport that has lots of events he can enter. The strokes and the distances are different, but swimming is swimming. And since the Olympics no longer require participants to be amateurs, he has been able to earn money from his swimming (or, more accurately, his endorsements), giving him the time and the wherewithal to train for three Olympics. Would he have come back after the 2004 Games if he had had to get a job?
All right, I'm done griping about that. Congratulations to him. Now let's get on with the rest of it.
Day 8 Quote of the Day (Serena Williams, on the American flag falling to the ground whilst being hoisted during the medal ceremony where she received the gold for women's tennis): "It was probably flying to come hug me because it was so happy."
Oh, puke.
He certainly has achieved a great deal for which he deserves praise, but does winning more medals than anybody else in history make him "the greatest Olympian of all time"? I don't know. If he was a wrestler, he would be able to compete for only one medal by competing in just one event -- wrestling in his weight class, period. He just happens to be good at a sport that has lots of events he can enter. The strokes and the distances are different, but swimming is swimming. And since the Olympics no longer require participants to be amateurs, he has been able to earn money from his swimming (or, more accurately, his endorsements), giving him the time and the wherewithal to train for three Olympics. Would he have come back after the 2004 Games if he had had to get a job?
All right, I'm done griping about that. Congratulations to him. Now let's get on with the rest of it.
Day 8 Quote of the Day (Serena Williams, on the American flag falling to the ground whilst being hoisted during the medal ceremony where she received the gold for women's tennis): "It was probably flying to come hug me because it was so happy."
Oh, puke.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
More gold medals
After a full week of Olympic competition, I have made some breathtakingly penetrating observations:
Volleyball (the real kind, in a gym with six players on a side) has a referee who stands on a ladder at the net and runs the game by blowing a whistle and making extremely stiff, formal arm gestures. I am glad they take their work seriously, but I have never seen a more cheerless bunch of people. Even the referees in soccer matches smile once in a while.
I wish somebody would invent something a little more high-tech and sophisticated for attaching those numbers the athletes wear on their backs. Safety pins look so primitive somehow.
The color of choice for running shoes this year seems to be yellow, and no sallow shade either, but a bright, lemony Day-Glo. Those runners wearing shoes of another color must feel distinctly out of it.
It's bad enough that sports-speak has turned "medal" into a verb ("He hopes to medal in this event"), but now reaching the finals of an event turns that into a verb, as in "He failed to final in that race." Cripes.
Day 7 Quote of the Day (Anastasia Zueva, Russian swimmer who won the silver in the 200-m backstroke, having observed Americans Missy Franklin and Elizabeth Beisel, the eventual gold and bronze winners, laughing and joking with each other in the ready-room before the race): "We didn't have such great fun on the Russian team."
No, I imagine not.
Volleyball (the real kind, in a gym with six players on a side) has a referee who stands on a ladder at the net and runs the game by blowing a whistle and making extremely stiff, formal arm gestures. I am glad they take their work seriously, but I have never seen a more cheerless bunch of people. Even the referees in soccer matches smile once in a while.
I wish somebody would invent something a little more high-tech and sophisticated for attaching those numbers the athletes wear on their backs. Safety pins look so primitive somehow.
The color of choice for running shoes this year seems to be yellow, and no sallow shade either, but a bright, lemony Day-Glo. Those runners wearing shoes of another color must feel distinctly out of it.
It's bad enough that sports-speak has turned "medal" into a verb ("He hopes to medal in this event"), but now reaching the finals of an event turns that into a verb, as in "He failed to final in that race." Cripes.
Day 7 Quote of the Day (Anastasia Zueva, Russian swimmer who won the silver in the 200-m backstroke, having observed Americans Missy Franklin and Elizabeth Beisel, the eventual gold and bronze winners, laughing and joking with each other in the ready-room before the race): "We didn't have such great fun on the Russian team."
No, I imagine not.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Yu Ess Ay !
According to the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, the important thing is not winning but taking part. In that spirit, therefore, I am pleased to point out that the United States of America has now taken part in the medal presentations more than any other country, finally overtaking China in the total medal count (37-34), although both countries have the same number of gold medals (18). I love it when the home-town team gives me plenty to cheer about.
I have watched a few minutes of some water polo matches, and even a few minutes was enough to convince me it is an extremely silly game. I also think somebody needs to invent a strap of some sort for securing the headgear. It already looks like a baby bonnet, and the bow under the chin does nothing to dispel that.
There were myriad emotional reactions to losing (brooding, pouting, weeping) and winning (screaming, thrusting the arms over the head, jumping up and down) on display yesterday, but the really big one was perpetrated by the notoriously undemonstrative Rebecca Soni of the United States after winning the 200-meter breaststroke in world record time. She actually pumped her fist -- twice. Her coach said, "I'm probably more excited about that than the time."
For those of us who might actually be getting a little tired of swimming, competition begins today in track and field, or what the Brits call athletics. I especially like the field events -- jumping and throwing.
Day 6 Quote of the Day (Colombian weight lifter Jackelina Heredia Cuesta on why she grins when she lifts the weight over her head): "I can't cry, so I smile."
A good choice.
I have watched a few minutes of some water polo matches, and even a few minutes was enough to convince me it is an extremely silly game. I also think somebody needs to invent a strap of some sort for securing the headgear. It already looks like a baby bonnet, and the bow under the chin does nothing to dispel that.
There were myriad emotional reactions to losing (brooding, pouting, weeping) and winning (screaming, thrusting the arms over the head, jumping up and down) on display yesterday, but the really big one was perpetrated by the notoriously undemonstrative Rebecca Soni of the United States after winning the 200-meter breaststroke in world record time. She actually pumped her fist -- twice. Her coach said, "I'm probably more excited about that than the time."
For those of us who might actually be getting a little tired of swimming, competition begins today in track and field, or what the Brits call athletics. I especially like the field events -- jumping and throwing.
Day 6 Quote of the Day (Colombian weight lifter Jackelina Heredia Cuesta on why she grins when she lifts the weight over her head): "I can't cry, so I smile."
A good choice.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
More 'Lympics
If you were going to lose on purpose, wouldn't you at least pretend to be trying to win? I saw video of those badminton players who were ousted from the Olympics, and they need some lessons in how to throw a match. Weakly serving the shuttlecock directly into the net is a dead give-away, kids.
Yes, it was nice that Lebron James was in the stands to cheer on the American women's basketball team yesterday in their game with Turkey. It might have been really heart-warming, in fact, if he had not been busily texting on his smart phone whenever the camera showed him.
The events I watched in prime time last night burned two images into my brain: swimmers continually fiddling with their goggles, and male gymnasts' hairy armpits. I'm tired of seeing both.
Day 5 Quote of the Day (Jake Gibb, U.S. beach volleyballer, on competing in the Olympics): "It's not as cool when you lose."
No kidding?
Yes, it was nice that Lebron James was in the stands to cheer on the American women's basketball team yesterday in their game with Turkey. It might have been really heart-warming, in fact, if he had not been busily texting on his smart phone whenever the camera showed him.
The events I watched in prime time last night burned two images into my brain: swimmers continually fiddling with their goggles, and male gymnasts' hairy armpits. I'm tired of seeing both.
Day 5 Quote of the Day (Jake Gibb, U.S. beach volleyballer, on competing in the Olympics): "It's not as cool when you lose."
No kidding?
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Gold, after all
In London yesterday Michael Phelps finally surpassed the 18 medals won by Russian gymnast Larissa Latynina ('56, '60, '64). She was there to see it, and she was extremely gracious about it, even joking that it was about time a man did what a woman accomplished 48 years ago.
I've become a soccer fan. Well, at least as long as the American women are playing. They won their group by winning all three of their matches and are on to the quarter finals. I only got to see the first half of their game yesterday, but later I enjoyed seeing Great Britain beat Brazil. I would enjoy seeing anybody beat Brazil. And, of course, I would have to cheer for G.B. because they speak English.
After the wheels came off for the U.S. men's gymnastic team the night before, plus the flap over Jordyn Wieber not making the all-around final, I was a bit worried about the women. I need not have been. Team USA took the gold yesterday by the biggest winning margin since 1960. Wieber came through for the team, and I really believe they couldn't have done it without her. I hope she realizes that.
Day 4 Quote of the Day (Michael Phelps on his training regimen and personal expectations): "The decisions I've made over the past four years are the decisions I've made."
Okay. Got it.
I've become a soccer fan. Well, at least as long as the American women are playing. They won their group by winning all three of their matches and are on to the quarter finals. I only got to see the first half of their game yesterday, but later I enjoyed seeing Great Britain beat Brazil. I would enjoy seeing anybody beat Brazil. And, of course, I would have to cheer for G.B. because they speak English.
After the wheels came off for the U.S. men's gymnastic team the night before, plus the flap over Jordyn Wieber not making the all-around final, I was a bit worried about the women. I need not have been. Team USA took the gold yesterday by the biggest winning margin since 1960. Wieber came through for the team, and I really believe they couldn't have done it without her. I hope she realizes that.
Day 4 Quote of the Day (Michael Phelps on his training regimen and personal expectations): "The decisions I've made over the past four years are the decisions I've made."
Okay. Got it.
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