Béla Károlyi (Gymnastics Coach and Commentator) Is Awesome

OK, I’m sorta taking a little break from politics (although I’ve got a story I’m working on for tomorrow), and just watching the Olympics.

As I’ve been watching gymnastics, I’ve come to love Béla Károlyi, former American coach who is now a commentator for NBC.

He was so happy and excited when Nastia Liukin finished her floor exercise and won the women’s all around gold.

And then when she (unfairly) got silver (instead of gold) in the women’s uneven bars, he expressed extreme disappointment in the way that ties are broken in the Olympics.

Overall, he’s just a fun guy to listen to, and he’s a great coach when it comes to gymnastics.

I’ll try to find the video of him after Nastia Liukin performed her floor routine.

Done Admiring,

Ranting Republican
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Congratulations to Michael Phelps for His Seventh Gold Medal

OK, so I saw the video of the 100 meter butterfly event live at a sports bar, and when he won, the entire place erupted in a cheer.  This was the closest, and most amazing race I’ve seen in my entire life (it even beat the NASCAR races, and I’ve seen some NASCAR races that a pretty good).  The margin that Phelps won by was .01 seconds.  Here’s a video:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=0816_hd_swb_hl_l0673

It was so close, you really have to see the slow motion replays.  It was purely amazing.  I’m still just in awe of how close it was.  Congrats to Phelps, he’s now tied with Mark Spitz for 7 gold medals won at a single Olympic games, and Phelps is expected to win his eighth tomorrow.

Good luck Michael!

Done Admiring,

Ranting Republican
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So the Chinese Screwed Up Our National Anthem

OK, I watched this late last week, and NBC FINALLY posted the video on their website.  It’s the National Anthem playing while Michael Phelps is winning his gold medal for the 400 meter something (I’d look it up, but my computer is a little slow right now).  I don’t remember if this shows it, but I loved President Bush’s face when the anthem just cut off: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=0810_hd_swb_me_l0127&channelcode=sportsw.

Well, it looks like the Chinese still have some hard feelings against us Democracy-believing countries!

Oh, wow, it’s a slow news day, (I never got around to discussing John Edwards’ affair, but it’s a little late for that now).  I’ll go find a real news story.

Done Laughing,

Ranting Republican
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Congratulations to Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson for the All Around Gymnastics Gold and Silver!

OK, well due to some technical difficulties, this is getting posted a LOT later than I’d hoped.  Orignially, this was going to be directly after the medal ceremony, but that didn’t work out:

Gymnastics has always been a sport that I’ve admired (and completely sucked at), due to the fact that in order to do well, you have to be able to do a LOT of stuff – uneven bars, balance beam, floor routines, etc… (perhaps I just admire athletes in sports I competely fail in: gymanstics and hockey).

So I just got done watching the women’s all-around competition for the Beijing Olympics, and I wanted to congratulate Nastia Liukin (middle) on her gold medal, and Shawn Johnson (right) on her silver medal.  I guess I should congratulate Michael Phelps for all of his medals too.  And congrats to all the American Olympists!

So, again, congrats to Nastia and Shawn (and Nastia is from TEXAS so that makes her awesome)!  The only thing that would make me a bigger fan of these 2 is if they were Republicans (and if anybody can find out whether they are or not [Shawn isn't of voting age, so I doubt she's too involved], you become my favorite reader of the week!).

Done Congratulating,

Ranting Republican
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