UConn James

Report: USC dealing with jock itch outbreak Okay. I'm going to try to keep a .... That didn't last long.

My response is amazingly similar to the one in this thread.

When JM is talking about a match at hand, he's great. Then again, he spends most of his time blathering on and on about the Davis Cup.

She's trying to be funny by playing the straight-man, only without a sidekick (unless you count Costas' lame-ass, old when Jesus heard it in the second grade not-going-to-eat-it retorts. I think her spots simply highlight how the composition of comedy should be left to the professionals, who themselves are only successful about half the time. This stuff is just a waste of airtime when they could be broadcasting actual sports (perish that thought I guess...) and it's giving her a very hokey image. She's one hell of a tennis color analyst; it's sad to see her being used like this.

Facts suck, huh? Joe, frankly, I wouldn't put my money on the word of Gary Hall Jr. There's a reason why he's a swimmer and an attention whore (during the USA team qualifying he wore a cape to the pool saying something like "Prince of the Pool"... and then finished near last), not a coach.

That's what they used to do time out of mind ago for all events (it was mostly track and field back in the day). No one wants to see that nowadays (except for some of the women -- i.e. Stephanie Rice). Imagine the flopping!?

Kind of like listening to John McEnroe spend almost every breath during the French Open and Wimbledon talking about Davis Cup (as if it matters anymore). Make no mistake, China's athletes are pretty damn good, and their committee has targeted events where they can increase their medal count. Their program has been streamlined for results. And again, this is the kind of attention that host countries historically get from the broadcaster. In the Sydney games, you couldn't tune out all of the coverage of the "Thorpedo" and their swimmers, their aboriginal (a population in that country that had been treated rather horribly) track runner, etc. In Torino, it was that downhill skier. In Athens, the talk was about the Acropolis and the pagentry of the Games returning to its birthplace and Greece bringing in players from other countries to fill their rosters (a girl I went to high school time out of mind ago played on their soccer team). In Lillehammer, Yolan Olof Kauss was the buzzword. In Atlanta it was Michael Johnson, the Russian and Romanian women's gymnastics. Here in China so far, it's all Michael Phelps all the time. Each Games has their different focuses on different stories. That's NBC's job --- to tell an overarching story.... China's display has been one of the major stories thus far b/c the meat of the event schedule hasn't really happened yet. NBC receives criticism from people who want to see USA athletes and also from people who want to see the best competition regardless of countries represented; as such, some events get major coverage, others are given such short shrift you can only read one sentence about online if you're really really looking for that event (such as the target shooting events). That's life. Your remote has buttons --- you can watch it, turn the sound off, or change the channel if it irks you enough. <shrug>

And watch as even more elderly immigrants come here in droves. There's a Polish guy down the street who came here at age 65, never put a dime into the system and he gets more from Social Security than my father does, who worked since he was in his mid-teens. You think other countries don't encourage their people to come here knowing they can fleece the Americans? Big reason why the system has as many stresses as it does (second only to all the times Congress raids it; maybe the only good idea to come from the Gore campaign was the concept of the "lock box"). At this point, privatized accounts seem to be the best option if we do have to have a system like this where a faceless govt decides it gets to hold onto my money for 40 years b/c I'm too irresponsible to do it myself.

No way was Phelps the weakest link. The third guy, the only holdover from the qualifying team, Jones, lost a lot of ground that the anchor had to make up.

My best friend is scheduled to swim the English Channel in September, which is ~21 miles in 63-degree water. Swims about 4 hours/day after 8 hrs. at work and has been trying to put on body fat b/c people typically lose 15-20 pounds during the swim. About twice the number of people have climbed Mt. Everest than have officially successfully swum the Channel.

No, I just think you're incredibly xenophobic and you must have a very thin skin to get bothered about something so trivial as an announcer encouraging athletes to do their best.

There's something about the anthem that I've been thinking about. In the accompanying music, why does the seem to sink when it reaches "... that our flag was still there"? It always sounds somber/mopey when that part is sung. Why not continue the crescendo buildup through the whole line? "... gave proof through the night... that our flag was still there!" I don't think I've ever heard it sung this way. It would really convey some extra meaning, especially now. The US might be facing some stiffer competition and challenges in this orbital sphere, but we ain't down for the count! We bounce back and we fight on and kick ass. On another note, the swimming events so far have been truly awesome. Always my favorite part of the Games, and isn't it sweet how we've been so dominant? Phelps is simply a freak.

As I said upthread, it was probably a reaction that he hoped it would be at least a halfway competitive game rather than a snooze-filled bore-fest that everyone predicted, and indeed what it turned out to be. And a competitive game wouldn't have been a bad thing for the "Redeem Team" either b/c complacency can set in if they think every game will be easy. He'd likely change his wording if given a chance to edit himself, but it was live teevee. But then again, I think everybody just likes seeing all of the athletes do their best, which forces all the other athletes to do their best, and that way yopu get the highest levels of the sport, which is what the Olympics is supposed to be. Here, Joe: China sucks!!! [Fistpumps] USA! USA! USA!

♫ And be sure to wear Some flowers in your hair. ♫

Better in the sense that they're not managed by Matt Millen.

Yep. And I didn't need to go back to view the tape. They said it was CGI as it was shown. The MSM really loves to bend over backward to find things to be offended about.

My grandfather always taught me not to match wits with unarmed people.... But against my better judgment, I'll ask again for a straight answer. What construes the "negative" that you'd like to be expressed about China?

Criticism = Postive? What's your definition of "negative" things about China? Do you want them to say the bathroom stalls in the "Water Bubble" are too small? That the opening ceremony was absolute garbage? The pollution (they have mentioned that lots in the lead-up to the Games)? Their possibly underage athletes (one of my examples above that they have voiced allegations of cheating)? What signifies "negative" if not criticisms?

Dude, it's kind of become the color analyst's job to root for both teams. And I think you need to give attribution for that exact quote to Randy Cross. Then, the Chinese team was grossly overmatched on paper by the US squad. The intent there was probably that he was hoping for a well-matched game... as blow-outs are kind of boring. If sportscasters could go back and edit their comments, I'm sure he'd change the wording, but it's live teevee. How many times in your day do you wish you could do the same?

You're laboring in misapprehension. I didn't say you were making those claims. Do you question loyalty when Steve Tasker says what a great play Tom Brady had? Seriously, you expect the announcers to be blatant homers? They typically gush/chide on equal terms about whoever is competing. Did you watch gymnastics last night? They were talking about Romania's once-dominant teams and the differences b/w then and now. They had the story of the 33-year-old German emmigre pummel vaulter and her son with leukemia who was treated there, then gushed when she qualified for the finals. They were talking about the Chinese and how their program has gotten very good, and they voiced that the US coaches were questioning the Chinese athletes' age (really, several of them for sure look under 14), saying that in Caroli's experience in "authoritarian states like China" (he once coached in an eastern bloc country) they routinely doctor passports/records. How is that lauding "our opponents"? Not to mention the Bush interview last night ~8:30 where Costas asked the president whether in the talks with China's prez, he'd brought up China's "atrocious human rights record," the Chinese decline of Joey Cheek's visa due to his Tibet support, etc. Is that an example of your stance there's been "[nothing] negative about China"? Perhaps you missed how everyone in the NBC studio was cheering like crazy at the end of the swimming relay last night? (BTW, that was just a brilliant display. Ten feet to go and the US anchor was behind by about an arm-length, he closes the gap and gets a WR by an unheard-of 4 seconds. Simply awesome!) That was just in a couple of hours that I saw. There's been plenty of criticism out there. It's been acknowledged. To mention it more than they do would be beating a dead horse... This is the Olympics, not a G-8 summit. You may be watching, but I don't think you're paying attention.

Well, let's put it this way. As a guest, do you walk into someone's home and say, "Pretty nice place you got here" or do you beat them over the head and tell them they should get all new appliances and coordinating cabinets and they need to paint the spare bedroom? It's called decorum. In case you didn't get whacked with the cluestick, this is tantamount to China's coming-out party, their moment to shine. Or would you just have the Games held in (pro)Western countries? They are an unbelievably fast-growing country with rising influence in the geopolitical and world economic sphere. If you don't like it, there's not much we can do about it, so we'd better get used to certain realities. Like several of our political leaders there have said, it's not a zero-sum relationship --- a growing China is a good thing for the US. And again, I don't know what coverage you've been watching, but there's been plenty of criticism re: human rights, political strong-arming vis-a-vis Tibet, etc. The important thing is to encourage them to change, not whack them over the head and hope they'll change. Finally, this is the Olympics. The Chinese have built a very nice venue. The Olympics always has been about promoting the city where they're held. From Athens to Salt Lake to Sydney to Atlanta. Do you get similarly chagrined when you see Rick Steeves gushing about Italy or Iran or South Korea? The Games aren't supposed to be about highlighting political differences, tho that's the tack some seem to have taken. Christ, people. Sit back and enjoy the competition.

I'd add the Jets to that list. In fact, b/w them, KC, and Minn (if Jackson continues to struggle) I could see JP on Gang Green next year. I think they're realizing Clemens isn't the answer, Pennington's gone, JP has a man-crush on Favre so they'd mesh well, JP'd get some tutelage, and then when Brett ends the soap opera and retires for real, he'll be the top competitor (doubt they will give him the job, considering). Further, JP knows the division (will have special knowledge of a team they'll play twice), will have a chip on his shoulder re: the Bills, and has played well vs. the Jets in the past, so Mangina might be thinking he can fix JP. I think he'd even take less money to go into that situation. A lot of stars align, but then, UFA is a phenomenon all to itself.

To put it a little bit plainer: No way in hell!

Better'n the Lions that's for sure. I wish him the best of luck except against the Bills.

Yeah, that kind of is what OTA signals are like for the digital transition right now. Digital is a finicky B word --- you either get a signal (might be pixelated/jumpy if it's ~50-55% (also, while you might get snow and not lose audio with analog, in digital audio is the first thing to go)) or you get nothing. It eases my mind a bit that even in the flatlandish WNY you're having similar problems as I am in the hills and valleys here. Put up two new deep fringe design antennas on my roof this spring to go with the converter box, and it's just perplexing at times what comes in and what doesn't. I might get Boston (~55 miles away) in at 4 p.m. in the middle of a thunderstorm, and won't get Providence (~35 miles). Sometimes I don't get Boston, but I do get Hartford (~30 miles) off of the back of the antenna. In the early mornings, I sometimes get a very strong signal on two strong-output channels out of Boston, but the rest of the day, it just does a wave back and forth from 0%-30%-80%, never locking in. Strong signal? Wait a few minutes --- it will change. To be sure, you get a great picture with digital... when it works. Most stations aren't done tinkering with their signals, tho. The technology for digital teevee has been around for 25 years now and we're just now doing a transition and we're still tinkering around with "tin can" tuners rather than good silicon ones that've been around for 10 years now, b/c companies want to get rid of their old stock before giving us something that works well.