Where Have I Been? Where Have YOU Been?

Hey you! Yeah, you. The guy who likes to write about basketball. Yeah, you. You know, there's a little tournament going on right now in this gym in Beijing that you might be a little interested in.

Ok, so I know it's been a minute or two since I last wrote anything. In case you didn't know, there are sports in existence other than basketball (I was as shocked to find this out as you are). The Olympics has been a joy to watch. Not just because I enjoy sports or for all of the normal reasons. Because NBC.com has the best Olympic coverage EVER! Now this is not to say that other networks didn't do great jobs in their own rights. But the technology that NBC has at its disposal is so far advanced compared to just four years ago, it's astounding. My main problem with the Olympics has always been that during the opening ceremony, we see all of these different countries and cultures coming together to compete. Then we see two weeks of America and it's over. This year's coverage has been unparalleled for several reasons:

First of all, this year, NBC has 5 different channels covering the Olympics, some of which are minimally interactive, all of which are recording and broadcasting every jump, hurl, stroke, sprint dive and toss in beautiful High Definition. In the past, it was unnecessary because not too many people had High Definition televisions in 2000 and in 2004, it was still too expensive to broadcast that much HD programing. Maybe one channel would have been in HD in 2004 with the rest in standard definition.

But that doesn't solve my main problem, because, even with 5 different channels, the only event I have been able to watch thus far that did not directly involve at least one American has been the Women's Beach Volleyball match up between Russia and Georgia yesterday (Georgia beat Russia 2 sets to 1, while being outscored 47-53, if you're interested). Evidently, the NBC Execs thought that the burgeoning war between the two countries provided enough drama to justify televising the two countries' volleyball match. So while the five channels does allow me to watch everything from Badminton to women's weightlifting, if I want to watch the finals in Greco-Wrestling, or Group B in Womens and Men's Basketball, for that matter, I'm out of luck.

In steps the internet! In 2004, the technology existed for streaming video to be fed over the internet. In fact, it was widely used. I had a 3 mbps download speed back then and all the capability of using the technology. But 3 was fast for the time and still is a far cry from the most common speed today - 6! Now, in 2008, EVERYBODY has broadband internet. It's as common as the telephone - many of which are run through broadband internet services now. And NBC is taking full advantage of this fact. You can literally watch every single second of every single sport, whenever you want.

You can even watch up to four sports at once right from your browser! To give you an idea of what this can do to someone, just take a look at what it has done to me. We are on day 6 of the Olympics and I have not gotten a full 3 hours of consecutive sleep in 1 week. In that time, I have found time Around my 3 jobs to watch:

Women's Basketball (haven't missed an American game yet)
Women's Table-Tennis
Men's Basketball (Watched two replays online, but seen each game)
Men's Badminton
Women's Fencing
Men's Fencing
Women's Cycling
Men's Cycling
Women's Weightlifting
Men's Weightlifting
Women's Team Gymnastics
Men's Team Gymnastics
Women's individual Gymnastics
Men's Individual Gymnastics
Women's Rowing (team of 4)
Men's Rowing (team of 4)
Women's Rowing (team of 2)
Men's Rowing (team of 2)
Women's Indoor Volleyball (Oooh, those Brazilian women!!!)
Men's Indoor Volleyball
Women's Beach Volleyball
Men's Beach Volleyball
Women's Soccer
Men's Soccer
Women's Field Hockey
Men's Boxing
Women's Softball
Men's Baseball
Women's Swimming
Men's Swimming
Women's Team Archery
Men's Team Archery
Women's Individual Archery
Men's Individual Archery
Women's Judo
Men's Judo
Men's Greco-Wrestling
Men's Kayaking
Men's Taekwondo
Women's Shooting (Air Rifles, I think)
Men's Shooting (Air Rifles, I think)
Women's Handball (That was weird. I had never seen it and it's like soccer mixed with basketball... Just weird)
Women's Equestrian (can't we just call it cowgirl?)
Men's Water Polo

I think that might be it for now, but keep in mind that it's only day 6 and I'm about to wet myself just thinking about the next week. So that explains why I haven't been writing, right? Before the Olympics started, I was watching the prelims and trials. How could I be expected to do things like Blog, and sleep when there are so many sports to watch?

Anyway, about the Basketball teams:

First the women. I Know I've said it before, but Candace Parker is Amazing. I just want to see her dunk on Margo Dydek! That would cap off a perfect summer for her so far. And speaking of Candace Parker, how bad do you feel for Anthony Parker? Probably the only NBA player who knows deep down that his little sister could beat him in a pickup game. Yesterday, I was thinking about how cool it will be to see the US women win Gold again (Four times in a row after this Olympics is over) and know that they are only the second - or maybe even third most dominate American Women's team. And not far from fourth. Here's how I have it ranked:

#1 - Women's Softball: Haven't gotten anything less than gold in any international competition (World Championships, Pan-Am games, Olympics, etc.) since International competition in the sport began back in the mid-eighties. In their opening game of the Olympics this year, they set a record for most runs scored in the Olympics by ANY team by the fourth inning... and at the same time, they threw a shared no-hitter. The game was stopped early on the "Mercy Rule". So far, they have not given up a hit in the Olympics.

#2 - Women's Basketball: Lisa, Candace, Seimone and company are going for their fourth straight Olympic Gold Medal. The US Women have not lost a single Olympic game since 1992 semifinal game and ended up 8-1 that year. Since then, they are a staggering 27-0 in Olympic competition. So far, they are winning their games this year by an average of 47 points per game including a 56 point win against Mali. Now let's put that in perspective. The 1992 "Dream Team", which included Magic Johnson, Micheal Jordan, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Stockton to Malone, David Robinson and about 5 other Hall of Fame players (and Christian Laettner) but contained ZERO opposition from any other teams, won their games by an average margin of about 41 points. Their Largest margin of Victory? 50 Vs. Angola. I'd say this team is good, but that would be giving the word "Good" too much credit.

#3 - Women's Beach VolleyBall: Every once in a while, we get to see a pair of truly dominant individuals who come together to become so much more than their individual selves. Micheal Jordan and Phil Jackson in 1996, Mohammad Ali and Howard Cossel in the 1970s, Serena and Venus Williams during the Wimbledon Doubles competition in 2002, Snoop and Dr. Dre in the early nineties, Mario and Luigi in 1986, Chaz Micheal Micheals and Jimmy McElroy during the 2007 ice skating doubles at the winter Olympics. What I'm trying to stress is that the teaming of Misty May-Treanor and Keri Walsh has created a duo of historic proportions. They have now won about 100 straight matches. No, that is not a typo. They simply do not lose. Period. Watch them play. Just watch them. It's like losing is against their religion. You'll see Jews and Muslims gathered 'round a table pork chops and hamhocks together before you see them submit to losing. I'm convinced. The only reason they aren't higher on this list is because the two teams above them win in such demoralizingly perfect fashion. Still, neither of the teams above can claim the kind of winning streak that Treanor-Walsh can. And most people never will. Not even the '72 Lakers could boast such a long list of consecutive losers in their path.

#4 - Women's Fencing: It's Hard to rank this women's fencing team 4th on ANY list. Individually, they just swept with three medals, and now they're fighting on the same team. Need I say more? Well then let me repeat that. Individually, US Women took home the Gold, Silver AND Bronze, and now they will compete together against a bunch of people who couldn't beat any of them apart.



I know that wasn't all about the Women's Basketball team, but... whatever. Sue me. I'll post on the Men's Basketball team tomorrow.

Until then, sports fans,