Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Swimming As much as I hate to, I feel obliged to begin the last of my Swimming commentaries on a sour note: I led the chorus of those questioning the remarkable improvement that enabled 16-year-old Chinese Ye Shiwen to blow away the field in the women’s 400m individual medley on Day 1. In the interest… Read more.
Archery Today was the final day of competition in this sport, which turned out to be far more thrilling to watch than I ever imagined. Only four medals were awarded but every qualifying round provided excitement and suspense worthy of The Hunger Games. Apropos of which, I actually saw Khatuna Lorig – the archer who famously… Read more.
Basketball I appreciate inquiries about why I’m not commenting on the way the USA men and women’s Basketball teams are routing their opponents. But, truth be told, I simply cannot get too excited about sports like Basketball and Tennis at the Olympics that enjoy perennial popularity. In fact, I rather like the Olympian reordering of things,… Read more.
I interrupt my commentaries on the London Olympics to share this one on the death of Gore Vidal. He was that important. Indeed, to give you a sense of just how important, mere hours before the New York Times posted his obituary yesterday, I was bonding with a tech-support woman over our mutual fondness for… Read more.
Badminton Can somebody explain the appeal of Badminton, which seems to defy gravity by having players use what looks like a squash racket to swat at what looks like a cluster of chicken feathers over what looks like a mini Volleyball net? (“London Olympics: Day 1,” The iPINIONS Journal, July 28, 2012) I was actually… Read more.
Here is what I published within hours after Ye Shiwen of China blew away the field in the women’s 400 individual medley on Day 1: [T]houghts of juiced-up East Germans came to mind when Sun Yang’s first-ever win for a Chinese male swimmer in the men’s 400m freestyle (shattering the Olympic record) was followed in… Read more.
It’s not as if the London organizers were not aware that this might be the case. It boggles the mind, therefore, that they did not enlist tens of thousands of volunteers (from pensioners to school kids) to show up at a moment’s notice to fill seats if ticket holders do not show up. They could… Read more.
Cycling Despite my cynical comments about the men’s road race yesterday, I was positively captivatedby the women’s today; no, not that. It helped though that the women have not been caught in nearly as many doping scandals, which meant that one could be fairly impressed by their remarkable form. What made this race so captivating was the way the 87 miles… Read more.
Over the next 16 days, Olympic competition will be held in 32 sports – from Archery to Wrestling. But even though I shall be indiscriminate in my viewing (on TV and the Internet), I shall be very discriminating in my commenting here. (Incidentally, can somebody explain the appeal of Badminton, which seems to defy gravity by… Read more.
The technological wizardry, choreographed precision and sheer grandeur of everything on display during last night’s Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games kept me in such shock and awe that I was staring at the TV even during commercials. (“Opening Ceremony of Beijing Olympics,” The iPINIONS Journal, August 9, 2008) Granted, expecting London 2012 to… Read more.
