Thirteen Things Thursday: The Olympic Edition

1.  If you are among the many who can't stand the NBC Olympic commentary, particularly in prime time, the live streaming feeds are way better.   A lot of the live commentators are British so there is a lot less drama and it's not so USA centric.  It's nice to be able to watch everybody compete.

2.  The velodrome racers need to either wear dark colored racing suits or put on shorts after they got off their bikes.  Because, three words:  Sweaty.  Ass.  Cracks.

3.  I have absolutely no idea what is going on in fencing.  I was watching it live yesterday and they have zero commentary going on.  Only time I've missed the NBC commentary.   I think it's their helmets light up when they're hit and the floor lights on the piste light up when they get a point.  Maybe.  I have absolutely no idea.

4.  Well, I went to NBC's "all about fencing" page.  Still have absolutely no idea.

5.  I am really happy that baseball and softball are no longer Olympic sports.  I'm willing to keep soccer and water polo in if they'd get rid of basketball next.  And sailing.  Why the hell is sailing an Olympic sport?

6.  And don't even get me started on badminton.

7.  Then again, did you know that singing, painting, etching, and even city planning were all once Olympic sports?  I'll totally go with canoeing and kayaking over those.

8.  The swimming commentators today are Australian.  They're cracking me up.  I dare you not to giggle while listening to an enthusiastic Aussie. 

9.  More gold for the USA.  I won't spoil which sports and athletes. 

10.   Did you hear about how big archery is at the Games this year, thanks to The Hunger Games?  I think archery would be about the only summer Olympic sport I could do.  Although I have a pretty decent backstroke for someone who can barely swim.  But I can't swim in a straight line.

11.  Track and field starts tomorrow.  Are you excited?  I like the big events like the heptathlon and the decathalon.  The 1976 Olympics, when Bruce Jenner won gold, is the first Olympics I remember.  I don't really remember watching it, but I remember hearing about it.  Plus there was this after-school kind of special about his life not long after.  The jist of it was that he got to be so fast because he had to sprint home every day after school to pull in the bedsheets his mom hung out his window that morning.  Because Bruce Jenner wet his bed. 

12.  1976 was also when Nadia Comaneci won gold.  Again, don't really remember.  I think Lake Placid was (is?) the first Games I remember seeing.  Calgary in 1988 were the first Games I really watched.  I never really watched the Summer Games until 1996, which is the story I've told before. 

13.  Are you watching the Olympics?

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl