Set, Hut – 1, Hut-2, Hike!

The 2008 college football season is finally here!  And I’m glad for a several reasons.

#1 – The Olympics are over, complete with a couple U.S. medal sweeps (fencing, track & field), team victories (football), surprising team upsets (water polo, softball), and all the gushing about China anyone can handle.  Yes, they put on a great show, and I enjoyed it all.  But I’m ready for a change, and for sports I can understand without the once-every-four-year commentators.

#2 – The 2008 Cubs season has been almost too good to be true.  The Cubbies continue to find ways to win, coming from behind (30-some times), getting calls to break their way (Lee to Samardzija after the bobble, anyone?), grand slams, small ball, etc.  And it has been beautiful.  But they are still the Cubs, and although they look poised to make a deep run in October, they can still break my heart.  I need to have something else to invest in, to either multiply the joy of a great baseball season, or ease the disappointment that so often defines Cubs fans…

#3 – Summer has flown by, and I’m not ready for it to end.  But college football gives me reason to be excited about fall. 

#4 – I’ve decided that I like vacations right around the beginning of the year.  Especially when they include several thousand of my closest orange-clad friends in some exciting location, like Pasadena, or Orlando, or Tampa or even San Antonio.  I’m looking forward to seeing where I could head in a few months…

#5 – College football is unpredictable (see: upsets of teams ranked #1 during 2007), and every game really matters. 

#6 - It’s easier to stay on top of one game a week that it is to follow 6 or 7 games a week.

#7 – I love seeing what players live up to the talking heads’ hype, who disappoints, and who surprises.

#8 – I now get the Big Ten Network.  And my first exposure (one night when the Olympics couldn’t hold my interest) was a classic Big Ten game — 1999 Illinois at Michigan.  I know where I was that day, and why I wasn’t able to watch the game.  And I couldn’t remember how my boys came back to shock the Wolverines.  But now I know.  Thank you, BTN.  You helped pump me up for college football.  And even though many of your shows are a bit cheesy, I’m glad I’ll be able to watch the Illini from the comfort of my living room. 

#9 – Remember the last “Arch Rivalry” game?  Mizzou beat Illinois to open the 2007 season, but their victory was threatened by an impressive comeback that fell just short with a goal-line interception with under a minute left.  Both teams went on to have impressive seasons.  Can’t wait to see what happens this year…

#10 – Since I got this far, I feel like I need to have 10.  Oh, wait — College Game Day and College Football Final.  Love them both.  They give me a reason to wake up and finally go to bed on fall Saturdays…

Olympic Dreams

Who doesn’t dream of the prestige of the Olympics every couple years?  I wanted to be a gymnast, a figure skater, a swimmer, a skier, a rhythmic gymnast (because it seemed like I would have a better chance there) and much more, depending on what I was watching.  I won’t ever live any of my dreams, but that’s fine.  I’ll just enjoy the stories of others. 

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Michael Phelps is living his dream, and even though the media hype around him is beyond obnoxious, his dedication and talent are impressive.  He handles the attention well.  The world records are impressive, although the record books do need to note the advent of the suit that is helping these athletes smash the records.  The coverage of Michael’s mom makes for great TV.  I am most looking forward to the medly relay.

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Thank you to host country China for providing much of the requisite Olympic controversy.  Their women’s gymnastics team is living their dream, as well.  But I loved listening to the Karolyis calling China out for cheating.  Bela and Martha are convinced that some members of China’s team are too young to legally compete.  Of course, their Chinese passports say they are old enough, but what else would you expect from China?  

Regardless, the U.S. media is making Shawn Johnson the favorite gymnast, and the cute girl from West Des Moines is living a dream.  The women may have been disappointed with their silver team medal, but there are lots of little girls across the U.S. and around the world that would love to be in their place one day.

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Compare the story on the women’s side to the men’s team.  The U.S. was ecstatic with their bronze.  After all, they were ready to go jump in the river, which is saying quite a bit, based on what I’ve heard about the cleanliness of rivers in China.  Without their leaders, the Hamm brothers, an inexperience U.S. team took the floor and turned in several performances of a lifetime (we won’t think too much about the pommel horse routines).  The guys were fun to watch in the team environment, as they lived their dreams.  Plus, I love the classic melting pot look of the U.S. team, and the fact that a former Illini gymnast and current Illini coach, Justin Spring, played a key role in the team. 

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The 1992 U.S. “Dream Team” dominated and lived the typical U.S. Olympic dream.  In 2008, the U.S. “Redeem Team” hopes to recreate that moment.  I’m not a huge fan of the number of pros in the Olympics, but since the even the amateurs are really more like pros, I can’t say too much.  But in general, I like the attitude of the men’s basketball team.  I wonder how the superstars are doing under Coach K and how Coach K is handling the superstars.  But really, I’m just excited that Deron Williams is on the team.  Seeing him in the U.S. contingent was one of the highlights of the parade of nations last week.  I love my Illini.

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We will see many more Olympic dreams over the next week plus.  And we won’t hear the stories of many whose dreams were fulfilled just by making it to Beijing.  Or those whose dreams are dashed when they miss the podium.  But for a couple weeks, we will savor the dreams and feel the disappointments of athletes from around the world. 

And then college football season will be upon us, and I can begin dreaming of a bowl trip…  And the baseball post-season will be just around the corner…

Bring on the Drama

So I confess, I’m a nerd.  I love the Olympics.  I love:

• The formal ceremony – how long can we build suspense to lighting the flame?
• The heart-rending stories – Oksana as a German gymnast at 33 with a cancer-surviving son, anyone?
• The intense competition - Phelps as he realized Jason won the relay for them
• The cheesy scripts for the daily wrap-ups over overly dramatic music
• The lame play-by-play commentary by people we see only once every 4 years – the diving lady who can find problems with anything that no normal person could notice at full speed, Karch at the sand volleyball court, Rowdy at the pool, etc.
• The Today show broadcasts – is it possible for a morning “news” show to be cheesier?
• The medal ceremonies – although I don’t like the rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner being used this year
• The fact that for 2 weeks I care about sports that I don’t care about any other time (whitewater, sculling, diving, etc.)

I freely admit that I know much of this drama is manufactured.  But that doesn’t keep me from eagerly tuning in.  As I said, I’m a nerd.

Preliminary Olympic Thoughts

The Opening Ceremonies, fascinating as this year’s was, makes me secretly long for the days of repressive hegemonies when there was like 5 countries in the world and thus the Parade of Nations took something less than 46,000 years.

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NBC’s “Beijing” logo seems innocuous enough when it’s used a graphic on my TV. However, I think the decision to applique it on the front of all their anchors’ shirts was somewhat ill advised. It looks like a Marlboro pack hanging out from a breast pocket. Check it out.

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I may be biased as a former swimmer, but I think it’s one of the most difficult sports out there. It takes a tremendous combination of muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, and precise technique. Swimming will kick the crap out of you if you don’t watch it. Thus, if Michael Phelps does manage to haul gold in all eight of his events—heck, even if he wins eight medals of any color—I think this may stand as the single greatest athletic achievement of all time. Top three, at least.

Plus, he dominates the competition with an ease that I, in my lifetime, have only seen from the oft-cited duo of Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. And perhaps a tennis star or two, maybe Pete Sampras in his heyday—at least if I gave a rip about tennis.

Never a Dull Moment

The baseball season, with games nearly every day, requires quite a bit of effort if you want to stay on top of it.  But I have learned to keep up pretty well, as baseball provides great entertainment through summer. 

But, with the Olympics starting tomorrow, I will have to make choices.  I love the Olympics.  The sports you don’t care about except once every 4 years.  The sappy stories of “amateur” athletes.  National pride.  I must confess that although I have political opinions, I really don’t let them affect my love of the Games.  I’m not thrilled that Beijing has the 2008 Games, and I’m sure the envionment there isn’t perfect.  But with swimming, diving, gymnastics, volleyball, beach volleyball, rhythmic gymnastics, equestrian, track and field, soccer, baseball, diving, synchronized swimming, weightlifting, wrestling, judo, fencing, and much, much more…why let the other issues take away from the fun?

And if that’s not enough, tonight I turned on ESPN to see football.  And not just the 24-hour Farve watch reporting the addresses his new realtor has provided for Jersey-area homes.  Football!  As in running and passing and tackling.  I mean, didn’t August just start?  I feel like they are taking summer away from me.  Not that I don’t like football — I really enjoy it (especially college games), but I’m just not ready for it yet.  The Cubs continue to lead the NL Central, the Olympics are about to get underway with Michael Phelps chasing history, and I’m supposed to find time to see how Devin does in pre-season and decide which QB option I want to see in the regular season?  I do have a day job, you know.

On a completely unrelated note, I love Wrigley (as I’ve said before) and watching a grand slam and a player’s first curtain call is really quite fabulous.  For baseball stat buffs, here’s a special one:  DeRosa is batting .875 in August games vs. divisional foes when I am in the stands at Wrigley.  Plus a walk and a grand slam.  Like I said, never a dull moment.