More Reflections on the London Olympics

*Michael Phelps ended up with 22 medals with 18 of them gold medals.  That is ridiculous.  He medaled in 22 of 24 Olympic finals.  That is a pretty good percentage right there.  Some compared his finish to that of Michael Jordan retiring (the 1998 retirement).  The crazy thing is that Ryan Lochte is older than Phelps and will be at the Rio Olympics in 2016.  So honestly, if Phelps wanted to, he could add to that total.  But given his comments, I don't think he'll go back on saying he's retiring.  There are Olympic athletes that dominate a generation.  Phelps is definitely one of those athletes.

*Usain Bolt is fast.  Anyone who watched the final of the 100m race can attest to that.  And that final had some big time names in it:  besides Bolt, there was his teammate and fellow countryman Yohan Blake, who beat Bolt at the Jamaican Olympic qualifiers and also is the reigning World Champion at 100m, Justin Gatlin, USA runner who won the gold back 2004 & was coming off of suspension, Tyson Gay another USA runner who won the World Championships in 2007.  So it was a big time race.  And Bolt came through with an Olympic record time & 2nd fastest time in the world only to himself.  It was one of those blink and you'll miss it.

A cool side story.  After the race, Bolt was being interviewed by a Spanish network.  The reporter was trying to ask questions just as the national anthem was being played for the medal ceremony for the winner of the women's 400m, American Sanya Richards-Ross.  Bolt politely stopped the interview and pointed to the medal podium and paused while the American anthem was played.  Afterwards, he finished the interview with the reporter.  Classy move and one that deserves props.

*On the flip side of that, the USA women's soccer team.  This tournament has seen them win every match so far (though there were some scares against France & recently in their semifinal matchup against Canada).  Along with that, there has been some antics they've done which has been disappointing.  After some of their goals (particularly against New Zealand) there were over the top in their celebrations.  Now I'm all for celebrations, in the heat of the moment, excited spontaneous celebrations are great.  But if you're choreographing them (especially the worm one) that's a bit too much, especially in the Olympics.  I haven't seen the women's basketball team do things like that (and they're the best in the world), neither has the women's volleyball team either (and they're undefeated so far in these games as well).  I think the soccer team should take a page from those teams and win without losing respect of other teams.

*Speaking of the USA volleyball teams (both men's and women's) both sides look dominating.  They both won their groups and are in line for a chance to both get gold.  Beach volleyball could have a USA gold medal final on the women's side with Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh Jennings vs. Jen Kessy & April Ross.  Unfortunately, on the men's side both US teams got bounced so no medals there.  That'll have to be rectified in 4 years in Rio.

*Hopefully in 4 years as well, NBC will have better coverage of the games.  This has been a bad summer games for the network as they have gotten a lot of things wrong.  Part of it I think is not updating with the times & part of it is having London be a 5 hour time difference from the East Coast.  Next summer games, it will be in Rio, which is only a 1 hour time difference.  So hopefully more live prime time events will help out.  They can get a jump start on this in 2 years with the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, which is an 8 hour time difference.

Reflections on Michael Phelps

Yesterday Michael Phelps, swimmer for Team USA, became the winningest Olympian with 19 medals.  He tied the mark for most at 18 with a silver in the 200 fly .  He broke the record with a gold in the 4x200 IM relay.  Starting in the 2004 Athens games up to this point, Phelps has 15 gold medals, 2 silver and 2 bronze (he also raced in the 2000 Sydney games but did not medal).  He still has a few more races left in London so he could add to his medal count.

The record that he broke had stood since 1964 with Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina.  I will admit, as much of a Olympic geek as I am, I hadn't heard of her prior to Phelps being on the brink of breaking the record.  Latynina won 9 gold medals (still the only woman to hold that honor) and competed until she was 30, which is unheard of today in gymnastics.  She was on hand to watch Phelps break the record and was happy for him.

These London Olympics haven't been the best swan song for Phelps (finishing 4th in one final, not getting gold in his best event) but he has accomplished something that no Olympian has ever accomplished.  He broke a record that stood for 48 years.  It's moments like that which make sports so great to watch.  So congrats Michael Phelps, arguably the best swimmer and one of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time.

Fan Appreciation Night...Ninth Royals Game of 2009 in Review

Last Saturday, I went to my ninth Royals game of the 2009 season. It was also Fan Appreciation Night along with a giveaway involving a George Brett figurine. Aside from getting the figurine and a tentative calender for next season, that was it. I didn't win any of the giveaways nor the scratchoff for the jerseys off the players backs. That was a bummer.

As far as the game itself, there were two highlights. First was the back to back homers by Alberto Callaspo and Branyan Pena. The second was seeing Billy Butler getting his 50th double. With that, he became one of five players to post a 20 homer, 50 double season before the age of 24 (joining Hank Greenberg, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera).

Aside from that, the game wasn't so good. The Twins (whom the Royals were facing) ended up scoring 11 runs and won the game 11-6.

The Royals ended the year 5-4 in games that I attended. Overall, not bad, it is a winning record. Hopefully, they will have a better year next year.

Record Breaking Night...Eighth Royals Game in Review

Yesterday, I took in my eighth Royals game in review. It was also the fourth time seeing the Royals vs. the Cleveland Indians and the third time seeing Zack Grienke match up against the Indians (the fourth time seeing him pitch was against the A's). It was also T-Shirt Tuesday which meant a free t-shirt as well :)

Anytime Zack takes the mound, it is the chance to see something special and last night was no exception. He ended up breaking the team record for strikeouts in a game with 15 through 8 innings.

The team helped out by scoring 6 runs and ended up winning the game 6-2. The Royals are now 5-3 in games I've attended this season. Given how that looks compared to the record when I don't attend, they might think about giving me free season tickets or something :)