Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
I declared on Friday that television coverage of these Olympic Games had jumped the shark. And NBC showed just why last night. For, instead of beginning its tape-delayed, prime-time broadcast by showing the Olympic events it knew people wanted to see, NBC interposed a further delay to air a one-hour documentary on the events of World… Read more.
To be honest, folks, I’m pooped. Watching (or staring at) as much streaming video as I have over the past two weeks is probably not good for my health … to say nothing of my already failing eyesight. Never mind the irony inherent in the cause for this being my addictive interest in watching the healthiest… Read more.
Triathlon Truth be told, the most interesting thing about this event was taking in all of the tourist sites along the very scenic route where it was staged – from the Serpentine Lake, around Hyde Park, along Constitution Hill, to the Queen Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace. I felt no affinity with any of the competitors… 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.
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.
Instead of turning their cities into Orwellian fortresses, government officials should be recruiting individuals to infiltrate these terrorist organizations and using any means necessary to disabuse would-be terrorists of their jihadist ambitions. After all, no country has been on a more heightened terror alert since 9/11 than the United Kingdom. Yet, despite its labyrinth of… Read more.
