Positive Energy - Olympics highlights, Day 14

I'm Erik Stuart, a 30-something married guy living in San Mateo, CA. I'm in eBay's corporate strategy group, and I lead eBay's efforts to look at & develop relationships with internet startups. (Posts about Web 2.0, the internet, and anything else are my fault and don't reflect on my employer, except to the extent that they hired me and continue to keep me around.) I'll also blog about sports, games, musical theater, economics/physics/other science stuff, and whatever else strikes my fancy.

Olympics highlights, Day 14

Top highlight: American Brian Clay winning gold to extend a strong US tradition in the decathlon. His performance in the first 9 events was so dominant (building a lead of more than 500 points) that even a last-place finish in the concluding 1500m still left him 200 points ahead of the silver medalist.

Other highlights, most of which involve US teams:

Jamaican men winning the 4x100 relay and absolutely shattering the world record in the process, even after some poor passes. (The Jamaican women fell victim to the ridiculous stick-dropping epidemic that’s swept these Games and failed to complete their final handoff.)
US winning bronze in baseball. As with softball, I sincerely hope that the sport returns in 2016. Hockey has figured out how to let the best players in the world participate in the Olympics; why can’t baseball do the same?
A red-hot first quarter for the US against Argentina in men’s basketball. The Argentines fought back gamely and cut the lead to six late in the first half, but the US was never really threatened in the second half. It’s a shame Ginobli was injured in the first quarter.
A gritty win by the US men’s indoor volleyball team in 5 sets against Russia. One test remains, against Brazil.
A respect-demanding 10-5 destruction of Serbia by the US men’s water polo team, after the Serbians intentionally lost their final preliminary game so that they could face the US in the semis. Be careful what you wish for! The US men face Hungary in the final, in what might be the best Cinderella run among any Olympics team sport.

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