24th
Olympics highlights, Day 16
Top highlights: with not much competition left, there were still two. First, the Redeem Team (a name I said I refused to use - but, upon reflection, they earned the moniker) beat Spain for the gold medal in one of the more exciting basketball games I’ve seen in a long time. Spain ran with the US, shot the ball well, and - despite missing their starting point guard - was within 4 points with 2.5 minutes left. Why can’t NBA games be this fast-paced and fluid? Though Kobe’s 4-point play got the most press, I think Wade’s 3-pointer was the most crucial shot. The US can be proud of their gold medal: they earned it.
In addition, they were ambassadors of the game and of our country. Their support of other athletes and their general spirit throughout the Games has been well-documented, but they continued it in the aftermath of their victory - congratulating Doug Collins, putting their medals around Coach K’s neck, and so on. The difference between 2008 and 2000 (c.f. Vince Carter’s post-game interview) was stark: this is a program to be proud of.
Second highlight: the US men’s indoor volleyball gold medal in a 4-set win over Brazil. The emotion surrounding the team’s perfect run through the Olympics following the murder of the coach’s father-in-law at the beginning of the Games is well known, but also dramatic was the meaning of the victory for 4-time Olympian - but never medallist - Lloy Ball.
Other notes/highlights:
- The US men’s water polo team concluding their odyssey by falling short in the final against Hungary - a result they can still be very, very proud of.
- In keeping with the rest of the boxing competition, a screw-job against Irishman Kenny Egan. The boxing scoring system is completely broken, and has been since its Olympic debut in 1992. (The system it replaced was also broken, but seriously, folks - what we have now is terrible.) I remember watching the Olympic Trials in ‘92 and seeing a fighter win by a score of, say, 45-38 to make the team. That same fighter then went to Barcelona and won by a score of 5-4.
I think these Olympics have been generally fabulous (post-mortems to come later), but I’ve been somewhat disappointed with the closing ceremony. The whole initial segment, plus some of the later segments, felt like Cirque du Soleil meets Buck Rogers - I know the closing ceremony is supposed to 1) be informal and 2) look toward the future, but this was just weird. … and what was up with the London presentation - the unfolding double-decker bus, the weird dancers? About the only thing I can say for it is that it wasn’t as bad as the monster-trucks-and-cheerleaders in Atlanta 1996. The Memory Tower was cool, though (making it look like the torch, symbolizing both continuity and the notion that the Olympic spirit is composed of people? Nice…), and the fireworks were impressive. The Phelps piece from London was useless fluff.
Good coverage by NBC - commercials in the right places (more precisely, not in the wrong places), key highlights from the competition, and light on the content-free interviews of popular athletes. Strong grade for NBC overall in this Games.
As always, it’s sad to see the Olympics come to an end. I’ll probably have my usual post-Olympic blues for a couple of days. My consolation? Only 536 days until the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games start.
