There’s a new song at our house (sung to the tune of the Angry Birds theme song): “The Olympics! The Olympics! We really like to watch the Olympics!” Even though the Games have been over for almost two weeks, you can still hear Lily sing this catchy refrain if you hang around long enough.
I’m not sure why, but Matt and I have been big Olympics fans since we’ve lived together. During the Winter Games in 2006, we had bad reception with our TV’s rabbit ears unless one of us touched one of the antennae, a problem we solved by sitting a full gallon of water on top of a stool to touch the antenna instead. This year, we did away with the rabbit ears altogether. After almost 8 years of marriage, did the previously unthinkable and ordered cable. We didn’t want to miss any Olympic action, and we knew that we couldn’t keep the kids up until 11 pm every night watching the primetime broadcast. Enter DVR.
It is particularly funny that I like the Olympics since I was not athletic growing up, and even now, when I am getting into decent shape, I have never participated in an Olympic sport. Matt at least runs marathons and played soccer in childhood. Of course, during the two weeks of the Games, neither of us did much working out. That’s great irony, isn’t it? We both sat on the couch every night for 17 nights so that we could watch feats of athletic excellence. Oh yeah-- and we ate some homemade American apple pie for several of those nights too...
What is it about the Olympics that is so appealing? Maybe it’s just the thrill of competition mixed with non-martial patriotism. Maybe it’s the high level of strength and skill on display. Maybe it’s the “purity” of the sport as opposed to more routine and highly paid professional leagues-- not that some of the athletes at the Olympics aren’t very well paid, but we see them comparatively rarely, and they compete alongside hundreds of others who we’ve never seen before and may never see again. It’s absorbing to see representatives from so many different places and to hear their stories. We had a few favorites:
* Hiroshi Hoketsu- A 71-year-old Japanese man who competed in the equestrian dressage. Apparently, when asked about his plans for Rio 2016, he said that age might be a factor...for his horse.
* Epke Zonderland- Won the Netherlands’ first ever gymnastics medal with an incredible high bar routine- all while looking somewhat like Napoleon Dynamite. (And Chile’s Tomas Gonzalez looks like he could be Kip...)
* The US Women’s 400 IM Team- When your medley team has an individual gold medalist for every stroke, you know it’s been a good meet.
* Mo Farah- Had the best “I-just-won-the-Olympics” facial expressions of the Games. The last lap of his 5000 meter race, in which he had apparently been conspired against by some other runners, was thrilling.
* Kirani James- Won Grenada’s first ever Olympic medal, period, and did so with humility and sportsmanship. Trading his bib with our number 1 athlete (see below) during the 400M semifinal was one of our favorite moments.
* Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings- They’re so good, they actually made one of their opponents cry. For real. They weren’t supposed to win this time- coming out of semi-retirement and not having won a big tournament in a while- but, apparently, they just own Olympic Beach Volleyball.
* Oscar Pistorius- Because he’s awesome. Awesome in the literal sense of inspiring awe. The cliche phrase for baby health is “ten fingers and ten toes,” but apparently, you don’t need any toes- or lower legs period- to be a world class runner. I will remember seeing him compete as a milestone moment in sports. The only sad part about his story was seeing the archive footage of him running in ’04 and ’08 Paralympics and noticing how few people were in the stands. Do they show the Paralympics on TV? I want to watch.
Our other favorite Olympic personality was the one right in our living room. The London Games had the slogan “Inspire a Generation,” and it definitely worked for Lily. As recently as this Wednesday, she was telling me that she wanted to “strong up her muscles” to do more things at the Little Gym, that she wanted to jump in the pool with goggles “like on the Olympics”--even though she normally refuses to get her face wet-- and that “she was going to win a gold medal.” “In what?” I asked. “In the Olympics,” she replied with a “duh” sort of voice. We had a few tears as she attempted gymnastics moves at home and bumped her head. After that, she just tried different moves and asked me to hold my legs straight off of the sofa so that Marabelle could use me as uneven bars. And gymnastics were not even her favorite event. She liked swimming and volleyball, both indoor and “beach ball,” and she--along with Corin--was riveted by the horse jumping. But I think that her favorite event, unexpectedly, was the women’s track and field steeplechase. She saw it one day during the afternoon broadcast and then asked at every subsequent track and field event, “are they going to do a water jump?”
Now that the Games are over, we’re all having some withdrawals. We still have a few things left to watch on DVR before we discontinue the cable, but after that, I guess it’s time to bust out Cool Runnings, Chariots of Fire, and Miracle...
I’m not sure why, but Matt and I have been big Olympics fans since we’ve lived together. During the Winter Games in 2006, we had bad reception with our TV’s rabbit ears unless one of us touched one of the antennae, a problem we solved by sitting a full gallon of water on top of a stool to touch the antenna instead. This year, we did away with the rabbit ears altogether. After almost 8 years of marriage, did the previously unthinkable and ordered cable. We didn’t want to miss any Olympic action, and we knew that we couldn’t keep the kids up until 11 pm every night watching the primetime broadcast. Enter DVR.
It is particularly funny that I like the Olympics since I was not athletic growing up, and even now, when I am getting into decent shape, I have never participated in an Olympic sport. Matt at least runs marathons and played soccer in childhood. Of course, during the two weeks of the Games, neither of us did much working out. That’s great irony, isn’t it? We both sat on the couch every night for 17 nights so that we could watch feats of athletic excellence. Oh yeah-- and we ate some homemade American apple pie for several of those nights too...
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| U-S-A! U-S-A! |
* Hiroshi Hoketsu- A 71-year-old Japanese man who competed in the equestrian dressage. Apparently, when asked about his plans for Rio 2016, he said that age might be a factor...for his horse.
* Epke Zonderland- Won the Netherlands’ first ever gymnastics medal with an incredible high bar routine- all while looking somewhat like Napoleon Dynamite. (And Chile’s Tomas Gonzalez looks like he could be Kip...)
* The US Women’s 400 IM Team- When your medley team has an individual gold medalist for every stroke, you know it’s been a good meet.
* Mo Farah- Had the best “I-just-won-the-Olympics” facial expressions of the Games. The last lap of his 5000 meter race, in which he had apparently been conspired against by some other runners, was thrilling.
* Kirani James- Won Grenada’s first ever Olympic medal, period, and did so with humility and sportsmanship. Trading his bib with our number 1 athlete (see below) during the 400M semifinal was one of our favorite moments.
* Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings- They’re so good, they actually made one of their opponents cry. For real. They weren’t supposed to win this time- coming out of semi-retirement and not having won a big tournament in a while- but, apparently, they just own Olympic Beach Volleyball.
* Oscar Pistorius- Because he’s awesome. Awesome in the literal sense of inspiring awe. The cliche phrase for baby health is “ten fingers and ten toes,” but apparently, you don’t need any toes- or lower legs period- to be a world class runner. I will remember seeing him compete as a milestone moment in sports. The only sad part about his story was seeing the archive footage of him running in ’04 and ’08 Paralympics and noticing how few people were in the stands. Do they show the Paralympics on TV? I want to watch.
Our other favorite Olympic personality was the one right in our living room. The London Games had the slogan “Inspire a Generation,” and it definitely worked for Lily. As recently as this Wednesday, she was telling me that she wanted to “strong up her muscles” to do more things at the Little Gym, that she wanted to jump in the pool with goggles “like on the Olympics”--even though she normally refuses to get her face wet-- and that “she was going to win a gold medal.” “In what?” I asked. “In the Olympics,” she replied with a “duh” sort of voice. We had a few tears as she attempted gymnastics moves at home and bumped her head. After that, she just tried different moves and asked me to hold my legs straight off of the sofa so that Marabelle could use me as uneven bars. And gymnastics were not even her favorite event. She liked swimming and volleyball, both indoor and “beach ball,” and she--along with Corin--was riveted by the horse jumping. But I think that her favorite event, unexpectedly, was the women’s track and field steeplechase. She saw it one day during the afternoon broadcast and then asked at every subsequent track and field event, “are they going to do a water jump?”
Now that the Games are over, we’re all having some withdrawals. We still have a few things left to watch on DVR before we discontinue the cable, but after that, I guess it’s time to bust out Cool Runnings, Chariots of Fire, and Miracle...
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