Roger Federer is on the decline. First, he loses to Rafael Nadal in the finals at Wimbledon. ANd now, in Beijing, he loses to James Blake in the quarterfinals. What is up with Roger? This guy, who once was in the company of Tiger and Thierry, has been on the downswing as of late. If he gets the top seed at Flushing Meadows, I will be crying foul. That honor should go to Rafael Nadal.
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With China due for gold in badminton, judo and weightlifting, they are going to gain some ground back on us in the total medals and golds. Wonder how long they will keep it up.
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Canada is looking for some payback in soccer after we pasted them in softball (much to their own undoing). I am not putting my money on that happening, though.
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We barely did better than the Chinese in the Team Sprint today. We finished 8th, they finished 9th, we got in, they didn't.
Whew.
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Our USA men's quadruple sculls side saved our skins. We finished in the top three to qualify for the final. Not as good as Italy, but better than France. And I just found out that we got a little payback for what Cuba's baseball side did to us (although to be honest, it's our fault for not getting out best team [i.e. committed MLB players] out there).
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While I'm steaming at our lack of punch in baseball and archery, the Chinese supporters are coming after the men's soccer team for their suckitude the same way we are for our USA side.
The irony is this: both women's sides are still in the tournament. We face Canada, they face Japan.
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Okay, maybe we didn't have it as bad. They had two losses and a draw; we had one of each (W, D, L). We still got eliminated, though.
Unfortunately for the ladies, Mother Nature intervened again, with the ladies 1-0 up on Canada in the 20th minute. Good thing USA softball team finished their games already. A possible serendipity of a blessing.
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As the Williams sisters took out Sugiyama and Morita, the match between James Blake and Chile's Fernando Gonzalez was nothing short of entertaining. It was one of those classics you couldn't get out of your head, albeit it was just a mere best-of-three.
Both players made the most of it. Ultimately, it was the Chilean, who looked to improve on his bronze-medal finish in Athens, getting a shot at perhaps Rafael Nadal (unless Novak Djokovic spoils the party), 4-6, 7-5, and 11-9.
Something about the poor choice of music for Beijing at the tennis courts is being talked about on NBCOlympics.com. Looks like the Parade of Nations wasn't the only miss for the committee soundtrack-wise. I take it most of the home fans haven't been to the All England Club their entire lives.
Figures.
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Texas's Leonel Manzano finished outside the top 5 in his heat. He was sixth. There can be no solace from finishing sixth if your time is not the top four among those outside the top five in any of the heats. He's going to have to play the waiting game.
His countrymen Lopez LOmon and Bernard Lagat move on to the next round. He also move on with one of the four best times outside of the top five in each heat. Not bad.
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With the women's volleyball game against China going on at the same time as the basketball game against Spain, I flip a coin in a best-of-seven to see which one I should check first.
It's basketball in a clean sweep. However, Matt Vasgersian on the USA Network says that "For those of you wanting the see the USA women's basketball take on Spain, we can only be on one place at one time, so we will show you the soccer first..."
That effectively made my coin flip moot. I am resigned to the volleyball.
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MIdway through the first game, MSNBC also decides to cut to another press conference regarding the situation in Georgia. I thought they were not supposed to mix sport with politics. I believe this justifies the futility of that premise.
So I switch back to the soccer, only to see Canada tie the match up.
Luckily for me, Dubya had only a few words to say, before heading off. Thanks for gutting the best part of the game, you GOP asshole! And now back to the volleyball.
The USA fails to hold off China in Game 1, losing 25-23. I hurl an empty water bottle at the screen in disgust.
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Meanwhile, I check online the women's basketball team, and even they are struggling. 31-25 lead over Spain with 5:19 to go in the second. I'm thinking: what the bloody hell is going on with the USA women today?
I mean, the basketball team is bouncing back to end up trouncing them, but the soccer and especially volleyball teams are looking flat-out awful and need top ask themselves the question, "Is it in you?".
I need some Gatorade.
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Christian Cantwell give the USA their first track and field medal at these games, and it's a silver in the shot put. POland's Tomasz Majewski took home the first gold. Shalane Flanagan brought home bronze in the women's 10,000 meters as Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba brough home the gold.
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To my sheer relief, the women's volleyball team ended up stunning the Chinese team and the home crowd, 23-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11. They went on a tear late in the fourth, and they never looked back.
You're good, Jennifer Lang Ping. You're good.
Also, the USA's women's soccer team rode on Natasha Kai's heroics in the 101st minute to beat Canada 2-1 in extra time. Au revoir, Even Pellerud. To my surprise, the Chinese women also failed to deliver, losing to Japan 2-0. Uh oh...Now the home folks there deserve to be displeased.
But what about Jenny and Pia's girls. I mean, I knew that they had to stop the bleeding fast, and make it an all-or-nothing deal if they want to contend for some shiny pendants. So I was quite pleased that they finally got the job done, a testament of their resilincy. I was thinking, "Torrent, baby."
