The Rings are Out, the Torch is Lit!



All right everyone, I don't know if I'd admitted this before, but I am an Olympics addict. No really, I am. What's even weirder about this? I couldn't care less about sports most of the time. However, when the little doo-doo-doo-doo theme comes on, I just get excited. I think it's because I like the more obscure sports. Anyways, I'm really excited about these games. I can tell you what's going on in them at most anytime, give you the update on a fairly recent medal count and explain details about different athletes. I'm INSANE about the Olympics.

So, I root for mostly the US athletes. Of course I'm rooting for Michael Phelps (because who isn't?), I'm quite pumped up for Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and excited about the Redeem Team (somewhat...I don't really like basketball), but I shall share my less-well-known rootings and fascinations.

Non-Americans!

-I was rooting for the Ukrainian Men's Archery team (Viktor Ruban,Markiyan Ivashko and Oleksandr Serdyuk), but they missed out on the Bronze after China beat them. Darn. (The US never played Ukraine in archery, so my loyalties were not challenged at all).

-I am still rooting for the Latvian Men's Beach Volleyball team (Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Somoilovs). Yes, I even rooted for them when they were going against Rogers and Dalhausser (the Americans). I just kind of liked them, and the NBC announcers were being so rude to them. So I rooted for them, and I just keep rooting for them. However, today when Rogers/Dalhausser went up against the Swiss today, I rooted for them. Lenseless sunglasses and all. I'm still going for the Latvians, but unfortunately the beating the Americans was a one-time thing. They lost to Argentina.


-I am rooting for the British diver, Thomas Daley. Why? The guy's only fourteen. That's cool. And he's cute--in the cute little fourteen-year-old sense of the word. He only achieved 8th in the synchronized diving event, but hopefully he'll have better luck in the individuals.


-I was rooting for Denmark in Badmitton, but that didn't quite work out too well. Singapore has beat their bunnies so far.

Lesser-known Americans!

-I was rooting for the ladies in foil fencing all the way. Unfortunately, all three of our competitors didn't make it passed the second elimination round, but nicely done gals.

-I'm completely rooting for American Equestrians. After dressage, the US was in 3rd. Unfortunately, the cross-country event didn't go so well. One unseated rider, and two disobedient horses. OUCH USA! Now we're in 7th. But hopefully, we'll make it up in the show-jumping event.




-Rooted for Corey Cogdell in trap shooting. Nobody knows who she is. Well USA, she won us bronze, so say thank-you. Probably the only sharpshooting medal we're a-getting.



-Rooted for the ladies sabre fencing. Nice job gals. You rule that podium! Gold, silver and bronze.

-Rooting for the ladies epee fencing too. COME ON TEAM!

-Rooting for all the men's fencing, but the details aren't coming to me as well.


-I'm in all ways rooting for Alexandr Artemev in the men's gymnastics. He's a last minute alternate, the NBC announcers were being very rude to him at the qualifying round, and he's one of our two who made it to the all-around individuals and the only one to make pommel horse, and quite possibly saved our little American hineys when it came to qualifying for teams, so shut your faces NBC announcers.


So there are my current loyalties. I hope that the Olympics should continue in loving splendor. GO USA!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Over-analyzing Disney Movies: The Little Mermaid--Why Eric is White.

Image
I have recently noticed a trend of just purely over-analyzing Disney movies.  In this category, I also include the fascination with photoshopping Disney characters to swap genders, races, or eras, as well as making princesses have "realistic" body shapes (which is something I could write a whole other post about, and it wouldn't be pretty.  Spoiler alert:  I find it to be one of the most unempowering trends of recent years).  However, I sometimes wonder at how much people are reading into Disney movies.  Today, I'm going to over-analyze their over-analysis. I recently read that the fact that Eric is a white prince is a representation of how we white-wash racial expectations for our children.  I'm not even sure what that sentence means.  It seems to have a lot of buzz words.  But I'm going to show you today, using evidence from the film, why Prince Eric is, in fact, the correct color. (I will, however, say that Eric is the only Disney prince wh...
Read more

Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!

James Joyce is my kind of guy. He made puzzles that I like to think are just for me. He was a great lover of languages, and he is sometimes called the father of a literary technique called polyglotism. This is when you insert other languages in there. Just 'cuz. So, in James Joyce's wonderful story, "Eveline" there is a phrase that nobody knows what it is. Even to this day. "Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!" Many people believe it to be corrupted Irish Gaelic. Needing a break from homework, I have approached this by taking the words and then transliterating them into Irish Gaelic, trying to create Irish Gaelic that would be spoken by someone of this status in this time in Ireland. Nationalist, but not educated enough to actually understand all the ins and outs of the language. I came up with two possible phrases that I find very probable. And I'm not pretending to solve the mystery. If Joyce experts over the years have not discovered the mean...
Read more

What does it mean to be a Russell?

Image
As many know, most European families (not all, but most) have a coat of arms, a crest, a motto, all that good stuff. So, I decided to look a bit into what being a Russell means. And maybe I'll do the same for Hatches, because I am a Hatch too. The last name Russell is Scottish and means "Red-headed" and derives from the Norman name of Roussel. The Russells are a well-respected Highland Scot clan, complete with Scottish crest and tartan: The motto on the crest "virtus sine macula" means "Virtue without blemish." As Scotland incorporated more and more into England, the Russells became nobility in that world as well, and were thus presented with a coat of arms: And yes, the motto written on that one is "che sara sara." You've got to admit, that's pretty gosh-darn cool. It really does mean "Whatever will be, will be." And in honor of that:
Read more