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March 21st, 2008 — Beijing Olympics, China
Okay, after that ghost-assisted decision to make this blog about Olympians, here’s our first post on a certified Olympic star. Guys and gals (but especially gals), meet Liu Xiang.
We’re sure the Olympic enthusiasts among you already know who he is but for those of you who don’t, here are three things you should know about him.
March 21st, 2008 — Uncategorized
About one week after we started, this blog is still having an identity crisis. At the back of our mind we have the ghost of Darren Rowse saying, “What is your niche? What tone of voice will you use? What’s your focus? Niche. Niche. Niche. Do you really think you can blog everything, as in everything, about the Olympics? You can’t beat ESPN, you know.”
And we’re like, “Shut up, Darren. Get away, ghost. Get away from us!”
March 19th, 2008 — Beijing Olympics
As Olympic theme songs go, Forever Friends a.k.a the Beijing Olympic theme song is alright. It has all the right words to appeal to our desire for brotherhood/sisterhood, universal friendship, peace and unity, achieving the common dreams of humankind, etc. etc.
Simon Cowell might call it “sappy”, “kinda old fashioned”, and “weddingy” but that’s Simon Cowell. There ain’t no pleasing that man. Us? We are kinda okay with it. It’s “aiight” as Randy Jackson would say. It passes the grade. And we very much like the embedded Chinese sound too.
March 15th, 2008 — Beijing Olympics, Tibet
These days, Tibetan independence groups are doing a good job of publicizing the issue of China’s occupation of Tibet. Good for them, we must say.
Do protest actions like the one in the video embarrass the Chinese government? Definitely yes. But will they embarrass the Chinese government to the point that it’s left with no choice but to leave Tibet? Very unlikely.
March 15th, 2008 — United Kingdom
According to Australia’s ABC News, the United Kingdom may be spending around one billion dollars (we assume we’re talking Australian currency here) to land in fourth place during this upcoming Beijing Olympic Games.
They’re gonna spend that much money? We’re all for Olympic pride and glory but isn’t there such a thing as too much spending?
March 13th, 2008 — Beijing Olympics, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan
Do we really need a study to tell us that richer countries win more Olympic medals? My mom will tell you that such a study is a waste of resources because the answer will obviously be, “Of course richer countries win more Olympic medals.”
Now, the good folks at the Lingnan University in Hongkong obviously disagree with my mom (re: the usefulness of such study) so they set out to do an “econometric analysis of the Olympic Games“. They whipped out their calculators, pored over Olympic medal records, examined the different countries’ material wealth, did their statistical analysis thing, and came up with the following conclusion:
Continue reading →
March 13th, 2008 — Beijing Olympics
Okay, maybe the air in Beijing is really bad if this photo is an indication. Photo by Peter Parks via LA Times.
March 13th, 2008 — Athletics, Beijing Olympics, Ethiopia, Marathon
Are people complaining about Beijing’s pollution just a bunch of wimps? Or do they have a valid concern?
Because I live in a polluted city, I initially labeled them as wimpy whiners. So I was like, “Silly people. I eat pollution for breakfast. If you want to live in a pollution free world then let’s all walk/run/bike to work. Besides, how convenient for Westerners to be complaining about Beijing’s pollution when they benefit from it through cheaper goods. Silly, silly, nose up in the air , hypocritical, energy-guzzling people.”
March 13th, 2008 — Australia, Swimming
Australia predicts that it’s medal haul in swimming during the Beijing Olympics will not be as good as its previous results. The problem? Seems like the guys (but not the gals) have not been delivering in recent international events.
March 13th, 2008 — Tennis
Now that the International Olympic Committee has given permission to Olympic athletes to blog about the Games, who would you like to read?
For us it would be Dmitry Tursunov. He’s one entertaining blogger who knows how to dish out on his fellow athletes. Too bad he’s not been updating his ATP site. We’d like to read Roger Federer too, if ever he blogs, but we’d rather see him win a gold medal because he’s not been winning anything lately.
