McCain one smart man

McCain's surprise VP pick: Sarah Palin.

Choosing a woman: gets him Clinton moderates who feel Obama alienated them.

Choosing a social conservative: gets the religious right.

Choosing someone who has a son in the military: gets him the military families, the patriots and more. Not that he didn't already have those...

She's young, beautiful, smart and conservative.

Obama should have sucked it up and gone with Clinton for VP. He had a chance to create the dream team.

Instead he keeps talking about dreaming.

This is devastating for the Dems...

Controversy- proof?

Too tired to write- but basically the London Times came out with articles saying that a NY hacker proved He Kexin- the Chinese gymnast- is indeed 14.

MSNBC also has the story.

The IOC should have investigated this pre award ceremonies. There's no way this can end well,... either way everyone loses.

More later...

Obama- Kane VP to be?

Word on the street is that Obama is choosing Tim Kane.

Not a smart choice in my opinion.

He's already getting criticized for being young and inexperienced. If Kane is his choice, Obama is not really helping himself.

We'll find out what he choose soon enough.

The NYTimes, NBC, China, Gymnastics and more

Let me start out in a lighthearted tone. I'm going to kill the New York Times. (This is partially my own fault). Wanting to be an educated human being I receive news alerts- during the Olympics this has spoiled some of the fun. So when I saw that Shawn Johnson won gold on balance beam before I watched it I was frustrated. All that being said, when I was watching it I found myself less stressed knowing that she secured herself a gold in the Beijing Games.

NBC

I understand when they are playing programs late because we are
watching them live. But if it's not live- there is really no excuse.
Come on guys, anything after 8 is prime time... so move the
programming up from 11 pm to 8 or 9 p.m.- Especially on the west
Coast. What's really crazy about NBC's programming on the west coast is that they are playing everything on the same schedule as the East Coast. So when the Olympics went on until 1:30 in the morning last week on the East Coast (understandable since it was live)- was it really necessary to make California fans stay up until 1:30 to watch a tape?

See San Francisco Chronicle editorial.


Next topic: China

Anyone else getting really sick of hearing their national anthem? I
understand the home games are going to bring in more golds for the
home team. Not because of biased judging, but simply because teams
always do better at home. More cheers, more energy, home games are
always more fun. That all being said, let's discuss the Chinese and
gymnastics.

First, vault. Are you kidding me? Alicia Sacromone might not have done her best during the team competition, but she definitely deserved the bronze on her individual vault. Instead Cheng Fei won it, even after falling on her knees on her second vault. Fei is a talented gymnast- no doubt- AND she is one of the few Chinese gymnasts that looks of age, but that score was too high.
The same is true for the beam final. With more than three noticeable
balance checks she won bronze, beating out a better and less shaky Russian gymnast who had a near flawless routine. Start values differed, but still Fei scored too high in my opinion.

Last but not least bars. Can we please discuss…

One no way He Kexin is 16. That just irks me. All that aside, she had a great routine- so did Nastia. They tied. OK I'm going have to agree with Bella Kerolyi on this one, "give them both the gold." If swimmers can tie, why can't gymnasts? It's absurd. Instead they took away one of the protections that keeps the sport fair. The tiebreaker involved taking the lowest score and factoring it in, which is normally knocked out because the highest and lowest score are always knocked out in order to eliminate bias. Now your throwing
it back in? It just seems asinine.

In the end, I'm very proud of all the US gymnasts. Last night
with beam and high bar- in my opinion the two scariest events- our men and women walked away with 3 out of the 6 medals given (1 gold: Johnson (beam), 2 Silver: Liukin (beam) and Horton (high bar).

Also I’m very happy that Fabian Hamuechen of Germany won the bronze on high bar. He’s had a disappointing Olympics, but it’s good to see him walk away with a medal- especially when he’s so talented!

Lastly, I'm disappointed in some of the Jamaican runners who bragged before they even crossed the finish line... it's really disrespectful.

USA Men's Gymnastics

I ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED THIS ON FACEBOOK ON AUG. 12, 2008.

At 10:32 p.m. last night two people texted me and said, "did you see that?"

An amazing high bar routine by Justin Sprig. Huge release skills and a stuck landing. The second stick in a row. Almost anyone who knows me well knows— I did see it. As a huge Olympic fan, and even bigger gymnastics fan, I dedicate myself to the TV for two weeks once every four years.

The men pulled off a medal last night with all smiles. The tradition men's gymnastics has never been as well followed as women's, but they work just as hard. From a tradition on Blaine Wilson in the last 3 Olympic games, (Atlanta, Sydney and Athens) and the Hamm twins competing in both Sydney and Athens - USA men's gymnastics sought after their former selves of the 1984 games where they won gold. Clinching silver in 2004 finally giving Wilson an Olympic medal. That was an amazing story in and of itself. Except that- the 2004 team had Olympic veterans and star power.

The Hamm twins gained world attention in Sydney for their ability to remain calm under pressure, but it was not until Athens that their true talent really shined. Paul exercising huge release followed by huge release followed by huge release on the high bars and Morgan shined on floor. With Paul winning the all around gold medal, team USA never felt so good. That is until the controversy over scoring tainted Paul's win and ruined the perfect 10.0 for gymnastics.

With now a more complicated scoring system and both Hamm twins getting injured right before the game forcing two alternates to compete- the US 2008 men managed to pull off a medal against all odds. Stepping out of bounds on the floor and sitting on the pommel horse the only two major flaws. (If you call stepping out of bounds major, which it can often be at a competition at this level.) They held off the Germans. Japan never thought they would have to battle so hard for their silver and America never thought they would lose their two most accomplished gymnasts, but this is the world of gymnastics.

Every step counts and whether your tumbling to compete or tumbling to warm up- injuries happen. In a sport where balance and strength are key- injuries are often a deal breaker. The team held out though, perhaps none better than Jonathon Horton- who never faltered, cheered his teammates on (even when they didn't perform their best), and smiled at his bronze as if it were a gold.

Women's tonight- I'm never going to sleep.

The Olympics, Swimming, Gymnastics, President bush, etc...

I ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED THIS ON FACEBOOK AUG. 10, 2008

So what if our president is at the olympics?

Many people will say, "I'm glad he doesn't have more important things to do.."

I am and was tempted to say the exact same thing. I don't particularly like him either. But I'm glad he's there. These athletes have worked their entire lives for this/ these moments. And though they may only be 16, that's 16 years of not having a life other than their sport-- all for this moment. And I think it's important for the head of state to respect that.

Anyway, after watching gymnastics and their dreams come true/ get crushed in single events - it just reminds me how important it is to them.

Also in swimming having watched this relay-absolutely amazing. Caught myself cheering on the sofa all by myself...

Very exciting, and it only happens every 4 years.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed when radio stations chose to broadcast baseball games in the Sates instead of the olympics.

Fat Cat

Meant to post this yesterday...

The day after news breaks about the Republican Alaskan Senator being
indicted, the New York Post runs a fat cat on the front cover. Most
news junkies would be really appalled. But it's a different story for
me. I do have some problems with it, but I'm not as upset as most hard
core journalist.

Reasons being:

1. Obvious. Put a cute fat animal on the cover = sell more papers. Now
most people would say, that's not what the business is all about. I
agree, however, at a time when the economy is in the pits, especially
the news business, putting paper sales ahead might be looked down
upon, but it also might be necessary and smart.

2. People are sick of bad news. That's what papers like the post and
the Daily News are for. They are for entertainment and news. Honestly
a fat cat is pretty entertaining and it makes for a good cover vs. a
man who most people wouldnt recognize.

3. It's a regional paper, not a national. The New York Times sometimes
forgets that it covers New York, but that's OK because they are now
accepted as a National paper. (That and the Times now has specific
blogs and sections and New York emails to keep up with the scene.) All
that being said, papers like the Post rely on the nationals to cover
such serious and complicated matters and not to cover the humorous
silly real life stories that happen in New York.

4. My only beef would be that the Post ran the story as a small blurb,
placed at the bottom corner of page 17. Ironcially right next to an
add for CNN. Also the blurb is from the AP. They didn't even have a
stringer attempt to write it. All that being said, the Post did devote
a large spread on page 8 to Gov. Paterson's announcement to call an
"emergency session of the state Legislaturse" because the state is
approaching an "economic calamity."

Again, regional newspaper, regional news. People will probably
disagree with me, and I already know a former student of mine who was
appalled that the Times number one story the other week was about
chocolate chip cookes, but people need something that's news without
the bite. Call me weak, call me whatever, but it's true. Look deep
down and even those crazy news junkies will glance at a fun photo in a
feature story- even if they don't read it.

People need a break, and that's why my favorite story and quote of the
day come from "Fat Cat, No weigh! Proky kitty is 44 lbs."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07302008/news/regionalnews/fat_cat_122221.htm

By the way, even the Times ran this story... WITH A HUGE PIC.