I Am Officially An Olympics Geek

Yes, I'm once again a bad blogger. I should have warned y'all before - I so love the Olympics that I've been staying up way too late, watching pretty much any sport NBC is putting in front of my face, and loving every minute of it. I'd like to say I'll try to be better about blogging this week, but truth is, I'll probably spend most of my late nights jumping up and down in front of the TV cheering somebody on to a gold medal in something. I don't care what. Heck, I spent half an hour today watching the women's badminton final. Trust me, check it out - you'll duck just watching them knock the snot out of that shuttlecock.

If you want to experience my Olympic dorkiness in real time, head on over to Twitter and follow me - I'm MistieT over there. I'm sure anyone following me Thursday night during the women's gymnastics all-around was laughing - if it's possible to hyperventilate on Twitter, I was doing it. Can you tell by now I'm not above personal humiliation just to entertain you people?

Anyhoo, here are my favorite moments from the Games so far. If I was smarter, I'd know how to link the videos of all these moments for you, but this is the best I can do - a quick search will pull up any of the moments I've chosen.

• Michael Phelps' mom at the end of the 100m butterfly - honest to goodness, I thought she'd passed out.
• Every game Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have played - they just rock.
• Of course, the women's all-around gymnastics finals - yes, I bawled like a baby at the sight of uber-poised Nastia Liuken struggling to hold it together during the medal ceremony. That was a well-deserved gold medal, and Shawn Johnson winning the silver was just icing on the cake. What wonderful young ladies representing the USA - makes me proud.
• Dara Torres enjoying life with her daughter Tessa and proving that life doesn't have to get boring once you hit 30 - or 35 - or 40.
• A 38-year-old Romanian winning the women's marathon...yeah baby, 38-year-0lds rule.

Y'all chime in with your favorites - are you enjoying the Olympics as much as I am?

Bring On The Gold Medals

Yes, I'm an Olympics junkie - a rabid fan - someone who actually watches every event I possibly can. We're talking even synchronized swimming and badminton. I love it so much I even went to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, even though I absolutely detest being cold and would never normally go on a winter ski kind of vacation. I just have no desire to ever strap on a pair of skis and go hurtling down a mountain of ice. It's one of those activities I don't see the allure of - right up there with drinking to excess. Someone please explain to me why it's fun to drink a bunch of foul-tasting liquid, lose the ability to fully control your actions or your words usually resulting in a number of embarrassing situations now routinely caught on camera for worldwide online distribution, possibly pass out, and end up worshipping the porcelain god the next morning.

But I digress. My point is, everyone should experience the Olympics at least once - it was just amazing, and we had a ball (except for the whole thing with my all-time favorite athlete, Michelle Kwan, winning bronze instead of gold and me sobbing all the way from the competition to our room - that kind of sucked). You're probably a smidge late to go to Beijing - and you probably want an actual porcelain god to worship if you get likkered up on your Olympic trip, rather than just a hole in the ground - so consider the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver or the 2012 Summer Olympics (but only if they change that horrifying logo) in my all-time favorite city, London. (If I start saving now, and plan to swim over, I might be able to afford London - did I mention it's a rather expensive vacation option?)

Anyhoo, to celebrate the upcoming Olympics and close out my series on gorgeous Olympic athletes, here are a few images of Team USA (love it that Ralph Lauren designed Team USA's clothes this year!). If you need me for the next two weeks, I'll be in front of the TV, trying to decide which events I should start training the Princesses on now for a 2016 Olympic appearance. (Kidding! Sort of.)

Olympic Oh-Wow Woman Vol. 3

Sticking with the gymnastics theme, I'm choosing U.S. Women's Team member Alicia Sacramone this week, just because she's got a real body - not some freaky prepubescent stick figure - and she just seems like a sweet gal from all the interviews I've seen with her. Of course, when I say "real body" I actually mean a body I will never actually achieve, but one I completely admire. Nice to know those kind of calves are possible. :-P

Olympic Oh-My Man Vol. 3

Gotta give this week's edition to Paul Hamm, who overcame a broken hand to make the the U.S. Men's Gymnastics Team this weekend and get the chance to defend his 2004 Olympic all-around gold medal. Besides, isn't he just an All-American cutie?

Olympic Oh-My Man Vol. 2

Ah, Tyson Gay. Yes, his world record pace in the 100 meter at the U.S. Championships was wind-aided, but who cares? He's the guy to beat in Beijing for the title of "World's Fastest Man." Oh, and did I mention he's a Razorback? That's right, he's a U of A grad and an alumnus of the greatest college track program ever - and he'll be joined in the Olympic Track & Field competition by a number of Razorbacks. Don't be surprised if you hear the Hog Call during the Opening Ceremonies. :-)

Olympic Oh-Wow Woman Vol. 2

How could I feature anyone this week but U.S. swimmer Dara Torres? She sets a new American record in the 50-meter freestyle at age 41 - a record she originally broke at age 15 - that's just amazing. What's also amazing is her physique - this New York Times article details the extensive team of people Torres has assembled to help get her ready for the Olympics, and not only are they good for her swim times, they're also apparently doing a bang-up job giving her a body to die for. (FYI - photo below courtesy NYT - don't sue me - other than an old breast pump and an extensive princess dress-up collection, I got nothin'.)

Did I mention she's also a mom to a two-year-old? Which for me totally explains why she'd want to spend so much time underwater - it muffles the ear-splitting screams of two-year-old temper tantrums so well.

Count me in as a Dara Torres fan. I'm breaking out my old pom-pons for this chick come August - if for no other reason than to stuff them in my ears and pretend I'm underwater while wrestling the TV remote from Princess G to try to actually watch the Olympics rather than "The Doodlebops." That purple chick really freaks me out.

Olympic Oh-Wow Woman Vol. 1

As an astute - but anonymous - male reader pointed out, it would be quite sexist of me to only provide photos...ahem, knowledge-building information...on male Olympic athletes. How rude of me - I apologize!

To rectify that situation, I'm happy to introduce the second part of this Olympic blog post series. I give you USA Track & Field team member Allyson Felix, who'll be running the 200 meter. Men - enjoy. Women - be very, very jealous.

Olympic Oh-My Man Vol. 1

For all you people out there who think this is just going to be a purely superficial, lusting-over-gorgeous-hunks series of entries, you are so wrong. It's going to introduce you to athletes and sports you might not normally watch, even during the Olympics. This is going to be educational, people - be prepared for the quiz at the end.

Having said that, it's really mostly about lusting over gorgeous hunks.

Ladies, I give you USA Rowing team member Giuseppe Lanzone. Please tell me they row sans shirts.

Y'all Are So Bad

Here I've been struggling to come up with topics that would really pull all my lurkers out of the shadows and get the comments flowing in - and come to find out all I had to do was put up some slightly nekkid photos of Olympic hotties.

You naughty, naughty readers.

Never let it be said that I don't listen to y'all and give you what you want. Later this week, I'll kick off a very special recurring Olympic-themed entry you won't see on NBC - the first official edition of "Olympic Oh-My Man!"

And I hereby declare myself not responsible if your keyboard is ruined due to excessive drooling.

Eye Candy Olympics

8.8.08 - the beginning of a couple of weeks of really great TV programming for the ladies. Now, if you're not a sports fan, you may be wondering what I'm talking about. Why would you want to watch the Olympics if you're not really into sports?

Exhibit A - Troy Dumais, USA Diving

Exhibit B - Sean Scott, USA Beach Volleyball

There's also the entire USA men's water polo team, and just to show I'm not biased towards American men, there's the Australian men's swim team.

Ladies, I'll supply the popcorn and drinks for the watch party. Who's bringing the ice? We're going to need lots of ice.