Olympics

Yes this is an edited post, get over it Hez, I'm giving you more words :)

Before I go onto my discussion of the Olympic games, I'd just like to say that at 9:00PM tonight in Rocklin the temperature was 91 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah, I don't know how I'm still alive.

Anyways, I love the Olympics. I always have, and this year I get to view having a years worth of study on Chinese culture with the Humanities Chinese specialist. I took a whole class on Beijing (literally called Beijing) and I'm loving the familiarity of the landscape that NBC throws in with the Olympic theme. The level of exoticism is much lower and I enjoy knowing more about the hosty city

Seriously, when the President of the IOC states (as in the current commercial for some cell phone) in dramatic french accent, "I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Beijing"...seriously guys. A call to action, to competition, and to camaraderie.

I love that even though there are rivalries between individuals, the rivalries of nations do not mean as much in these competitions. In fact, some of the national problems are put aside between the individual competitors. There is a great respect for each other (of course not the rule, there have been issues in the Olympics but they are the exception) and their ability to compete.

There's always a good reason to root for everyone and if nothing else, I love how we rally around the seriously dominant teams or individuals? Why? I think its because the Olympics are at test of the capabilities of humans. Yes the competition is generally highly physical but there's also a healthy dose of psychological factors. Gymnastics proves that every time. You make a mistake and know you get deductions you have to mental battle to have confidence in your ability to complete the next trick.

How much are we loving the competitions of Michael Phelps, as much of a douche as he is reported to be in person, watching his swimming events is among the most enthralling and you cant help but smile when in the last half of his race he shows everyone he was reserving energy while everyone else was sprinting and is all of a sudden, not only a body length in front of all the competition, but ahead of his previous world record. He is absolutely dominant, as is Misty May-Treanor and Carrie Walsh of Beach Volleyball, before their Olympic competition is over they will likely pass the first anniversary of their last loss. Yeah, they last lost a game back in August 2007. And they make winning look easy.

Watching the Mens Gymnastics team pull out a Bronze when their medal contention was supposed to be for the bronze with three other countries when they had their stars, the Hamm twins. Their replacements, the alternates, had the final two routines to seal the bronze medal for them. How's that naysayers? And Jonathan Horton, a serious contender for the Mens all around is a fantastic gymnast. He plays the game my style. Gymnastics is all about power, especially with the men. Jonathan Horton was solid in the team competition he did not have a major screw ups and he stuck every single one of his landings, and not like land with a little hop up to present your completion. He he landed his feet slammed into the ground with a very audible thud, as if someone was hammering a steel bar into the ground. His feet didn't move after he landed, just bend to stand up straight and present. It was awe inspiring.

And is it just me or are there a lot of attractive men in this years olympics? I think there are.

I'm just really enjoying this competition, its a lot of fun and there's a lot to feel happy about.