• London Olympics – US 4×1, 40.82 WR

    Busy busy day. Watched the Games online then had to head out to get real life business taken care of. Almost waited until tomorrow to close out the last two days of the Games, because I missed much of the field events, and I need another look at that UGLY women’s 1500 meters. I’ll get to see that later tonight, and will include it with tomorrow’s discussion. But this relay run needed it’s own space, because it was as significant as anything that’s happened so far at the Games. So let me talk about today’s two relay finals, then finish up tomorrow – because both relays were very significant. First…

  • London Olympics – Rudisha 1:40.91!

    Today may have been the most exciting and memorable day in Olympic history. Once again we only had four finals on the day – but oh what finals they were! So let’s get right to it. Yes there was qualifying – women’s 800 semis, women’s 4×1 semis, and men’s 4×4 semis – with everyone expected to move through moving through. The big news being 1.) The US women screamed 41.63 in the relay which was the only mark under 42.00; 2.) The US men were led off by Manteo Mitchell who broke his fibula  during the race yet completed his leg as the US moved on with the equal fastest…

  • London Olympics – The US Finds Its Stride

    We’re roughly half way through with the track and field portion of the Games and though there has been a medal here and there,US troops haven’t really gotten untracked – until today. The team that’s expected to leave with the most medals in t&f, had struggled a bit to this point, as several athletes didn’t quite hit the mark. That happens in big time meets as we’ve seen with athletes from many countries, but you had to figure that at some point things would change – today was that day. I knew it would be a good day when I looked at the schedule and saw that the morning would…

  • London Olympics – THAT Was Exciting !

    OK, my feed was working all day, and it was a great day to watch live track and field at the Olympics. I’m a day behind, but so much happened not enough time or room to catch up on everything. I will say an outstanding win in the pole vault for Jenn Suhr (USA). Primarily because Yelena Isinbayeva was in the field and finished with the bronze. A great win for Jenn who upgraded from silver in Beijing, but more so the signal of change in the event, as “Isi’s” best days are clearly behind her. Remember a couple of weeks ago I said this was going to be a…

  • London Olympics 100 Meters – Execution

    Good news, bad news. The good news is that I got to see the final of the men’s 100 meters last night. The bad news is that once again I had no luck seeing any of today’s evening session online. I saw the morning session just fine, but didn’t see one complete event of the evening session. The feed kept freezing, dropping, and was blurry when it was up. The interesting thing is that it was only on the track and field feeds. My feeds for everything else were crystal clear! I almost felt like there was a conspiracy afloat because I’ve complained about NBC’s coverage. I’ll have another night…

  • London Olympics – Bolt Repeats

    Another exciting day of track and field, though I’ve missed most of it. The feed on my tablet was only clear for about 30 minutes, and froze completely at the introductions for the men’s 100 final! Knowing from the start of the morning that the app on my tablet was having trouble, I turned on my trusty lap top, and believe it or not, I never got NBCOlympics.com to work. The site wouldn’t let me log on and never showed a single minute of video! So I struggled for three hours trying to watch track and field today – and saw only a bit. But, if I wait for NBC…

  • London Olympics – Track Hot on Fri / Sat

    The athletes finally got to do their thing on Olympic Stadium, and of the first two days are any indication this is gonna be one humdinger of a meet. So double up on the popcorn and drink, because the athletes have come here ready to compete! That was clear when Jessica Ennis started things off by blazing 12.54 in the 100H in the heptathlon! Setting a heptathlon WR and indicating that Mondo did it’s job well when it laid this track – because it’s fast! That race set the stage for a fast and competitive first half of the weekend. Friday only had two finals as most of the action…

  • London 2012 – Track and Field is Here

    Finally, the wait is over, track and field starts tomorrow – or later today depending on your point of view. Either way, things get crackin in a big way as some of the biggest names in the sport take center stage during this opening weekend. Take a look at this weekend’s line up of finals:   Friday, finals in the men’s shot and women’s 10,000 Saturday, finals in the 20k race walk, women’s discus, heptathlon, men’s long jump, men’s 10,000, and women’s 100 Sunday, finals in women’s triple jump, men’s hammer, women’s 400, men’s steeple, and men’s 100 We’re talking Jeter, Felix, Gay, Gatlin, Bolt, Blake, Campbell Brown, Fraser Pryce…

  • Televising the Games – #NBCFail

    The Olympic Games, the ultimate sporting event. Citius, Altius, Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger. The Games are about the athletes, and the people of the world sharing in their attempt at the ultimate in achievements. Or at least that was the original intent of the Olympic Games – to be a global gathering of the world to celebrate peace through athletics. That was the intent. That’s how it started. Ah, but the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry – and so it’s been with the Olympic Games. As I’ve become convinced through the first week of these Games that they are no longer about the athletes,…

  • Must See London Events

    The Games are well under way, and I’m bored out of my mind! With the time difference between here (West Coast) and London, there is nothing going on after early afternoon West Coast time. Plenty of time to review the day’s activities and get ready for action on "the big screen". Except that in spite of having a full day to prepare, the Prime Time package that’s been put together by NBC so far has been less than inspiring. I can only hope that the events of track and field are exciting enough on their own to translate better to the screen than have Olympic staples swimming and gymnastics have…