Olympics Live Blog

Alrighty, checking in at 9:00 on THursday, we'll see how long this goes for this morning...

Beginning on the TV with the women's semifinal game; the USA women are playing against Russia, were down for most of the first half, but now on a 13-2 run to begin the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 11 with 9 minutes to go.

9:44--Some thoughts from what I saw yesterday on the Olympics--Usain Bolt is absolutely crazy. He ran a 19.30 200 yesterday.

Let me break that down for you, hold your hand so you understand how fast that is. During that race, you could take a full-size basketball court and ANOTHER 3-point line and put them together, and he ran that distance at roughly 3.75 seconds. Re-donkulous.

I loved watching the indoor volleyball yesterday. The men's team's setter is named Loy Ball (appropriate, right?) He is on his 5th Olympic team and has had microfracture surgery on both knees, multiple tats and a full beard. I like all of those things about him. They downed a pesky Serbian team yesterday in a grueling 5-set match. I do declare, if you get a chance, watch the indoor game at some point during the next few days.

However, the color commentator for the indoor volleyball is a complete no-talent. They were talking about how disappointing (head shaking) the men's team has been during the past 2 Olympics, and he termed it a "Hurricane Katrina-level disaster". Maybe not the best choice of words....

The best Olympic commercial is the one where they have the 1980's pre-game National Anthem from a Laker game being sung while the men's basketball team is practicing. Straight cash. Close second is any commercial involving AT&T..."Instead, we're going to spend the weekend with the techno twins!!"

9:43--Post-game interview with Taurasi. Her quote about getting chippy with some of the Russian team--"If you're not wearing the USA uniform, I don't care". I like that about her.

9:37--Americans win 67-52. My girl Hammon struggled mightily from the field for the CCCP, going 1-6 from the floor, and then the head coach hit her in the head with the pile of rubles she took to play with Russia.

9:33--Consecutive shots to the face, one from each squad, with USA leading 64-50 with 64-50 with 2:20 left. My girl Taurasi just hit a 25-footer and then pointed at someone afterward. USA and Russia are the only 2 countries who have won the gold medal in women's basketball.

9:28--Mother Russia just 1-10 from 3's, USA 10-28 mid 4-th quarter. If you have good guards in women's basketball, you have a good team. And if you have Sue Bird on your team, well, I'm searching for a textbook to put on my lap.

9:24--Last two mornings, NBC has shown USA indoor volleyball quarterfinals LIVE (FINALLY!! LIVE EVENTS!!). We won both matches in 5 sets, very exciting action. I believe indoor volleyball has reached 4th place on my favorite Olympics events list, just behind basketball, handball, and anything that isn't swimming or gymnastics.

9:22--women's team now up 12 with 6:45 to go and beginning to pull away. I really like watching Taurasi play, but I slowly feel as though she is the Manu of the women's game, she is always starting crap with the other team, chirping at refs, and makes huge shots when her teams needs them.

9:16-Talking about Becky Hammon. SHe is a South Dakotan, played at Colorado State, and is playing fo rthe Russian Olympic team this year...she gained citizenship while playing in Moscow this past summer, as many players do. She was the MVP of the WNBA a few years ago, but wasn't even on the 24-person Olympic Trials roster for the USA, so decided to apply for Russian citizenship. She is now the starting point guard for the Russian team.

I'm not sure how to feel about this one. She makes a ton of money in Russia and said she has always dreamed of playing in the Olympics, but felt slighted by not even being on the expanded roster. The Russian women's program is always one of the strongest in the world and so she knew she would be going to a top team with a chance at a gold medal. She had a rather impassioned interview on ESPN about 2 months ago about the whole situation and I felt as though she brought up a number of good points; plus, she isn't the only person that does this kind of thing at this point...don't forget everyone favorite Tri-Unity ADD caveman, Chris Kaman, somehow showed up on the German team this year.