Best. Race. Ever. + Olympics Update
Posted in News, Sports on August 11th, 2008 by Hyphen
If you missed the historic men’s 4×100 freestyle relay in the Olympics yesterday, you missed one of the best races ever. It was so dope, I actually had to post about swimming on TAOD. That’s unheard of.
Our oldest swimmer on the team, Jason Lezak, anchored the race and somehow erased almost a full body length deficit in the final 50 meters. On his very last stroke, he edged out France’s Alain Bernard at the wall and kept Michael Phelps’ dream of 8 gold medals alive. At the same time, he ethered the trash talking Bernard, who earlier said the heavily favored French team would “smash” the Americans. Ouch.
Since NBC’s being a bit egomaniacal about its Olympics coverage, I can’t embed the video. You can, however, watch the race in all its glory right here.
Other observations from the first 3 days of the Olympics:
- The opening ceremony was awesome. Kanye was definitely taking notes.
- Phelps won the 2 hardest events he’s in, so his quest for 8 looks possible.
- The Chinese male gymnasts are machines, it’s not even fair.
- There’s no way their female gymnasts are over the required age of 16. Even R. Kelly thinks they look young.
- Fencing is impossible to watch if you don’t know anything about the sport. They do wear cool Daft Punk style helmets though.
- Watching badminton just makes me want to play badminton. Same with handball. I miss PE.
- The ‘Redeem Team’ woke up after a slow first quarter to drill the Chinese, but I’m still not entirely comfortable. Tougher tests await in Greece and Spain, but not until after we demolish Angola.
- Our women b-baller’s are legit. Anything less than their 4th consecutive gold would shock me.
- Olympic boxing is boring. Sorry.
- Beach volleyball is surprisingly exciting, and way cooler than indoor. However, the indoor women > outdoor, despite the skimpy bikinis. Those uniforms are a little too small.
- Why can’t I find any judo or men’s soccer on any of the 5 channels airing the games, and why do table tennis and taekwondo start way after the other sports? Lame.
- It’s going to be great to watch the US and China fight it out over the medal count. China’s up 2 at the moment…let’s get it.
- Why am I up till 6 AM after an episode of Sound Session and posting on the blog?
Last night’s show and interview with Wyclef coming soon, but for now…*Outro*