Olympics, Part V

The Mancino's here in Sturgis has potentially the greatest lunch special ever--Mon-Fri, 11-2, any 8 inch sandwich and drink, 4.95 OTD. I went chicken cordon bleu with extra honey mustard. Extra-solid work by the Mancino.

12:58--Halftime of the handball game. Korea leads Norway 15-14 at the half. Another good aspect of this sport--there are penalties and power plays, but shorthanded scoring happens somewhat regularly. Another good thing--much like water polo (and basketball, for that matter) contact is encouraged, necessary, and frequent.

Just did some Bryan Clay (officially my new man-crush) work. Of course, the first round of the decathlon was showed tape-delay...he struggled a bit in the last 2 events, finishing 10th in the high jump and 11th in the 400. But he still holds first place heading into the 2nd day of events, leading Andrei Krauchnuka by 88 points, and American Trey Hardee is in third.

The 2nd day of events begins at 9:00 EST tonite with the 110 hurdles, followed by the discus and pole vault tonite, then the javelin at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning, and then culminating with the 1,500 at 9:45 tomorrow morning. If they don't show the hurdles and discus tonight, I'm going to take Cris Collinsworth hostage.

Here's the larger question--Traditionally, the winner of the 100M dash is called the "Fastest Man Alive". The winner of the decathlon is referred to as the "Best Athlete Alive". Does that mean the Michael Phelps-fest would come to an end if Clay wins, since for some unexplaninable reason, NBC suddenly believes Phelps is comparable to Michael Jordan for all-time athletes. Or would Phelps' one-dimensional act still trump Clay's victory?

Also--I like how the "Best Athlete Alive" is crowned without stepping foot into a pool. All track and field events. No speedos, hairnets, or breastroking involved.

1:11-Norway leads 19-16 9 minutes into 2nd half and is dominating play at both ends. I know this only because Korea cannot even get a shot off, and Norway is sprinting past them up and down the floor.

Norway, much like the Netherlands in water polo, didn't even qualify for their respective Olympic tourney 4 years ago...now they stand to possibly win a gold medal. I can't imagine the amount of planning, coaching, and dedication it must take to go from completely outside the tourney to winning it within that 4-year cycle, especially in a sport that had no previous success in their country.

1:21-Halfway into 2nd half, Korea down 4. Announcer--"Everything going Norway's way". That sounded awkward. And apparently Korea needs to "step up their defense"...which to me would seem as though they need to grab, hack, and slap more...or play defense more like John Starks and Anthony Mason.