Holding somewhat true to their personae from the Games, it's amusing to note the perks coming the way of various gold-medal winners.
Misty May, fresh off her appearance with teammate Kerri Walsh on last night's Letterman show, will be trading her beach bikini for a tutu (or whatever) on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars . Is she up to the Olympian standards set by Kristi Yamaguchi and Apollo Ono? We'll see.
Meanwhile, freckle-faced gymnast Shawn Johnson will lead the "Pledge of Allegiance" tonight for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama at his mega-rally in Mile High Stadium. Johnson then heads off on a 40-city gym-stars tour, where she'll be blogging from the road and selling cute baubles in her online store.
Make hay while the sun shines, ladies.
August 28, 2008
August 21, 2008
I stand corrected
Alright, I stand corrected... Nastia Liukin has a busier and brighter future than I predicted in yesterday's post. According to the Associated Press, she plans on competing for the world gymnastics title in London next year. She's also in line for a US Weekly cover shoot, another magazine shoot with tennis ace Maria Sharapova, and possible TV show appearances and a modeling career. OK, so I was a little hasty... good for her!
August 20, 2008
Olympics observations
I understand that NBC is somewhat beholden to the schedule of events in Beijing, but after a week and a half of Olympics on our household’s schedule, it would seem as if the only events taking place in China are swimming, gymnastics, women’s beach volleyball, and boxing. Why? Because except for over the weekend, our only time to watch is during evening hours, and the network is covering the same set of events nearly every night. Yes, they’ve successfully built up the drama of Michael Phelps’ medal chase, and Shawn & Nastia vs. the Chinese Children, but it’s come at the expense of many other sports and other worth athletes getting their shot at primetime.
Sure, I’ve gotten to see Michael Phelps win all eight of his medals (it seems like even more, given all the replays), but, really, swimming isn’t THAT interesting.
Women’s volleyball has earned my respect, however. Looking way past the clothing questions (why is it that men can compete in t-shirts and shorts but women need bikinis?), it really is a fast and difficult sport. (For the most in-your-face example of why bikinis and beach volleyball are a match made in guy heaven, see the Cracking the Code photo gallery at NBC.com. No ifs, ands, or butts about it!)
Most impressive events that I’ve seen – badminton, women’s trampoline, steeplechase in the pouring rain, team handball.
What I have yet to catch a glimpse of – the Cuban baseball team, U.S. men’s basketball, table tennis, archery.
What I don’t need to see more of – cycling marathon, marathon running, boxing… oh, and swimming.
An equity question: The NBC anchors so blatantly love U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson, at the expense of Nastia Liukin, that it borders on rudeness and vaguely nationalistic. (The live commentators/analysts are better – they call the action as they see it.) A few nights ago, when both women were being interviewed by Bob Costas after the all-around finals, he did everything but elbow Liukin out of the way to lob flattering questions to Johnson – even though Liukin had won more and higher medals. And the camera operators are just as bad, doing frequent, adoring close-ups of All-American-pixie Johnson with her button nose and freckles.
By contrast, Liukin is so focused and steely – so stereotypically Russian – most of the time that she’s not instantly loveable. She also is a victim of bad political timing, now that the Putin Party is starting a new Cold War in Europe. Despite her own electric (though fleeting) smile and the fact that she’s won more big medals than her teammate, Nastia isn’t Apple Pie American enough to grab the spotlight away from Sweetheart Shawn.
You can already write the next chapter for both women – Liukin will follow in mom and dad’s footsteps, fading into obscurity (outside the elite gymnastics world) to become a coach to future athletes, while Johnson will get the product endorsements, the “Tonight Show” appearance, the profile on “Nightline,” the Gym Stars world tour…
Meanwhile, Michael Phelps’ face, geeky ears and all, already adorns ads for Omega watches, Visa, Speedo, and soon, Pizza Hut (huh?). I do like the fact that he’s endorsing Frosted Flakes instead of Wheaties. There’s, um, nothing like a hefty dose of sugar to help you fly through the water, I guess.
So, does that leave room for Misty May on the Wheaties box? Probably not in a bikini…
Sure, I’ve gotten to see Michael Phelps win all eight of his medals (it seems like even more, given all the replays), but, really, swimming isn’t THAT interesting.
Women’s volleyball has earned my respect, however. Looking way past the clothing questions (why is it that men can compete in t-shirts and shorts but women need bikinis?), it really is a fast and difficult sport. (For the most in-your-face example of why bikinis and beach volleyball are a match made in guy heaven, see the Cracking the Code photo gallery at NBC.com. No ifs, ands, or butts about it!)
Most impressive events that I’ve seen – badminton, women’s trampoline, steeplechase in the pouring rain, team handball.
What I have yet to catch a glimpse of – the Cuban baseball team, U.S. men’s basketball, table tennis, archery.
What I don’t need to see more of – cycling marathon, marathon running, boxing… oh, and swimming.
An equity question: The NBC anchors so blatantly love U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson, at the expense of Nastia Liukin, that it borders on rudeness and vaguely nationalistic. (The live commentators/analysts are better – they call the action as they see it.) A few nights ago, when both women were being interviewed by Bob Costas after the all-around finals, he did everything but elbow Liukin out of the way to lob flattering questions to Johnson – even though Liukin had won more and higher medals. And the camera operators are just as bad, doing frequent, adoring close-ups of All-American-pixie Johnson with her button nose and freckles.
By contrast, Liukin is so focused and steely – so stereotypically Russian – most of the time that she’s not instantly loveable. She also is a victim of bad political timing, now that the Putin Party is starting a new Cold War in Europe. Despite her own electric (though fleeting) smile and the fact that she’s won more big medals than her teammate, Nastia isn’t Apple Pie American enough to grab the spotlight away from Sweetheart Shawn.
You can already write the next chapter for both women – Liukin will follow in mom and dad’s footsteps, fading into obscurity (outside the elite gymnastics world) to become a coach to future athletes, while Johnson will get the product endorsements, the “Tonight Show” appearance, the profile on “Nightline,” the Gym Stars world tour…
Meanwhile, Michael Phelps’ face, geeky ears and all, already adorns ads for Omega watches, Visa, Speedo, and soon, Pizza Hut (huh?). I do like the fact that he’s endorsing Frosted Flakes instead of Wheaties. There’s, um, nothing like a hefty dose of sugar to help you fly through the water, I guess.
So, does that leave room for Misty May on the Wheaties box? Probably not in a bikini…
August 6, 2008
Summer homework, or not
My son—for better or worse—falls in the camp of kids whose school requires a certain level of homework during the summer vacation months. (His buddy Conor, from the next town over, has no such burden, Nick reminds me. Cheap!) It’s not such an overwhelming load—a dozen pages of math review problems from the past year plus three books to read. Oh, and a science project.
The math is almost done. Two and a half pages to go, and apparently it was no heavy lifting (though my wife and I have yet to check his calculations.)
The science project isn’t so bad either—an expanded version of a water-cycle write-up and drawing that his class did this past year. I can’t say I get the point of it, but that’s another matter.
And the reading has been happily consumed. Nick’s on the third of his required books (Fever 1793, Tangerine, and King Arthur), and has finished at least three of his own choosing as well, and there’s still a month of summer left. He’s supposed to write a short comment about each required book on his English teacher’s blog, plus he’s been keeping a blog of his own that chronicles his summer exploits in includes full-length book reviews of everything he’s read. That’s his summer writing “assignment,” concocted by task-master dad, though he’s proud of the blog and (mostly) a willing author.
My wish for him is that he finishes his math and science work by this weekend—the book will be no problem. Then he can live every kid’s summer dream of no schoolwork.
Apparently that dream is a hot topic, at least as laid out in yesterday’s Washington Post. The article goes into great detail on educators’ opinions pro and con about piling on the schoolwork to keep young minds sharp and minimize backsliding over the summer. I have mixed feelings about this. On one side, I too fear that, left to their own devices (i.e., total slack-off), kids risk losing much of what they gained during the previous school year. This hinders the learning process at a time when our schools already are falling short of the mark, and adds stress for kids when they have to re-immerse themselves in intellectual activity after two months of goofing off. That doesn’t mean resorting to 6 hours a day of lessons while their friends head off to the beach, but it does require some small amount of effort in each of the primary subject areas. On the flip side, however, I believe kids need time to rejuvenate. And that means run around, get fresh air, veg out in front of the TV or PS2, laugh, play, etc. I know from my own experience that, after intense practice at something, I often make the biggest leap in learning by then NOT doing that thing for a while. Somehow it seeps in deeper than banging my head against the wall again and again.
And that is why I hope Nick finishes his summer schoolwork soon, so he has a couple weeks to not think about it. School time will come soon enough, and summer is supposed to be time off. He earned the break; he should get to enjoy it.
The math is almost done. Two and a half pages to go, and apparently it was no heavy lifting (though my wife and I have yet to check his calculations.)
The science project isn’t so bad either—an expanded version of a water-cycle write-up and drawing that his class did this past year. I can’t say I get the point of it, but that’s another matter.
And the reading has been happily consumed. Nick’s on the third of his required books (Fever 1793, Tangerine, and King Arthur), and has finished at least three of his own choosing as well, and there’s still a month of summer left. He’s supposed to write a short comment about each required book on his English teacher’s blog, plus he’s been keeping a blog of his own that chronicles his summer exploits in includes full-length book reviews of everything he’s read. That’s his summer writing “assignment,” concocted by task-master dad, though he’s proud of the blog and (mostly) a willing author.
My wish for him is that he finishes his math and science work by this weekend—the book will be no problem. Then he can live every kid’s summer dream of no schoolwork.
Apparently that dream is a hot topic, at least as laid out in yesterday’s Washington Post. The article goes into great detail on educators’ opinions pro and con about piling on the schoolwork to keep young minds sharp and minimize backsliding over the summer. I have mixed feelings about this. On one side, I too fear that, left to their own devices (i.e., total slack-off), kids risk losing much of what they gained during the previous school year. This hinders the learning process at a time when our schools already are falling short of the mark, and adds stress for kids when they have to re-immerse themselves in intellectual activity after two months of goofing off. That doesn’t mean resorting to 6 hours a day of lessons while their friends head off to the beach, but it does require some small amount of effort in each of the primary subject areas. On the flip side, however, I believe kids need time to rejuvenate. And that means run around, get fresh air, veg out in front of the TV or PS2, laugh, play, etc. I know from my own experience that, after intense practice at something, I often make the biggest leap in learning by then NOT doing that thing for a while. Somehow it seeps in deeper than banging my head against the wall again and again.
And that is why I hope Nick finishes his summer schoolwork soon, so he has a couple weeks to not think about it. School time will come soon enough, and summer is supposed to be time off. He earned the break; he should get to enjoy it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)