Trampoline...Really?!

So as most of the country is swept up in the latest patriotic craze...the Olympics....I'm finding myself getting bored with it - but despite the boredom, I still manage to tune in just to see what's going on. I've noticed that swimming and gymnastics - usually two of the more popular Olympic sports, takes up the first full week and the highlight of the second week is usually the track and field.

One of my favorites, volleyball (both team and beach), runs throughout the two weeks as it's more of a tournament type of play and I get really excited when I'm able to catch a Team USA game. But I'm at the mercy of the broadcasting stations to schedule it in...thankfully Misty May and Kerri Walsh are the top women's team in the world so their games are pretty much guaranteed to be on.

But after Michael Phelps dominates the swimming competition, gymnastics winds down to the individual contests and track/field is just getting started with their preliminary races, what sports do you show to fill in those gaps? Trampoline...Really.

I didn't even know it was an Olympic sport..it's not listed under the Sports section for the Yahoo! Olympics coverage. But sure enough - there it was, on NBC, the other night....women in leotards, jumping and twisting their way into the hearts of millions. Did they win me over? Not quite.

There didn't seem to be anyone from the US competing...surprised? Not really. The world trampoline champion comes from China...no surprise there either. The idea behind it is that there is a rectangle outlined within a rectangle trampoline with a big '+' in the middle - that's the target - it is where the person (would they be a trampolinist?) should always aspire to land between their "tricks" in the air, while trying not to land outside of the rectangle border or the trampoline itself. For the most part, everyone stayed within the rectangles. The champion from China did great until the end, where the commentators said she "lost control." Where do these commentators come from and are they trampoline experts, by chance?


I thought that these trampoline people were gymnastic rejects - sure they could do all the twist and turns in the air but perhaps they had trouble with landing. It's not like they have to dismount off the trampoline. In fact, the end of a routine is pretty anti-climactic....they just stop. My husband seemed to think that they might also be diving rejects....maybe they're afraid of water.

In any case - I just wanted to open your eyes to the world of trampoline-ing. With all the trampolines that I see in people's back yards, you would think that any kid could aspire to get to the Olympics to compete in that sport...maybe in time, the US will have an influx of trampoline athletes trying to "go for the gold!"

Journalism At Its Finest

Now that swimming is over and I've just watched two American gymnasts get robbed in the event finals (I'm not biased, I swear - how can a woman who lands on her knees in a vault knock poor team finals choke artist Alicia Sacramone off the podium - I mean how bad can that poor girl's week get anyway?), my interest in the Olympics is starting to wane. For some reason, after former fantasy boyfriend Dan O'Brien got too old for the competition (I was inexplicably drawn to that gap of his), I lost some interest in track and field (okay, the whole Marion Jones scandal certainly didn't help matters - disgraceful!). So in reflection, I thought I would revisit Michael Phel . . . err . . . I mean swimming.

So at this point, you're probably thinking that I'm about to go off on another rant. And ding-ding! You are correct. I would never take anything away from Michael Phelps, and believe me - I was just as excited as anyone else when he out-touched that poor dude to win the 100 meter butterfly by one one-hundredth of a second! The guy is amazing, and he deserved every single one of those gold medals.

What bothered me was the failure of a certain journalist to appreciate the efforts of some of his teammates as individual athletes instead of simply supporting characters in Michael Phelps' quest for Olympic history. Now, I am sure the other swimmers knew that their efforts in the Cube would be overshadowed to a certain extent by the phenomenon that is Michael Phelps. They probably had a special support group just to prepare them for that. But what really got me was when a journalist interviewed Jason Lezak about his clutch performance in securing that gold medal in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay. Jason Lezak, who not only redeemed himself for a previously disappointing performance in the 4 x 100 relay in Athens but who came from behind against the world record holder, beating his personal best by one and a half seconds.

So, as a journalist with a prime two minutes of Jason Lezak's valuable time, what would you say to him? Here's what our friendly correspondent for NBC decided to go with: "I bet the fact that you were helping Michael Phelps keep alive his quest for eight gold medals in a single Olympics helped motivate you for that strong finish." Okay, I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point. Are you kidding me? Yes, random NBC correspondent who apparently graduated from the University of Disrespect, even though Jason Lezak was born a decade before Michael Phelps, he has trained for his whole life, all thirty-two years, with the hope that one day, one day, he could play a small part in someone else's dream. It was not besting his own personal record that helped him edge out the trash talking Frenchie. It was not helping his relay team (which included four people). It was all for the cause of one single American.

Jason Lezak - just in case you're reading this, I want you to know that I thought you handled that embarrassing question with as much dignity and grace as humanly possible. And I thank you for gently reminding our friendly reporter that, in fact, the dreams of Michael Phelps were not what drove you to reach that wall first. What drove you was your own passion for swimming and your desire to win for your teammates.

Yes, as in plural.

Where Are Those Guys....

...that sing and dance and just put a big smile on your face when you watch them. I'm talking, in particular, about the men from 'Singin' In the Rain' - Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Yesterday, on TCM, they ran a whole documentary about the 'Anatomy' of Gene Kelly - one of the greatest performers of all time. And then they followed it up with most of Gene's movies...the one I was waiting for, of course, was 'Singin' In the Rain.' It has been touted as the best musical ever. I can't say that I don't agree.


Whenever that movie comes on, I find myself totally entranced. I wonder how cool it was back then that there are these men that sing, dance and act and aren't afraid to break out into song, tap dance a little and have a grand old time. If any guy did that now, they would think he was a complete looney. But not only did they sing and dance, they were dressed impeccably and didn't even break a sweat! The guys back then looked so debonair with their two-tone tap shoes and who else but Gene Kelly could pull off a tweed suit with a belt-like closure, tweed hat, brown tap shoes and get completely drenched while singing and dancing to 'Singin' In the Rain' - and still look dashing?!

Watching Gene and Donald tear it up in that movie is amazing to me. And when you throw in Debbie Reynolds for the 'Good Morning' number, you just want to get up, find two people to sing and jump on couches with. The whole movie is outstanding - I could watch it all day long for weeks at a time. I don't *totally* understand why they would want to end the 'Dancing Cavalier' with the 'Gotta Dance' number but I'll tell you, when Cyd Charisse puffs out a whole mess of cigarette smoke, it may have been attractive back then, but certainly not now. She kind of reminded me of a dragon.

I was so exhausted yesterday from a whole weekend of fun and could not wait to get to bed, but when 'Singin' In the Rain' is on, sleep can wait - and I ended up staying up until almost midnight just watching it. My husband, who is not a musical type of guy, even enjoys the ending where Lina Lamont lip syncs to 'Singin' In the Rain' with her ridiculous hand motions....' And every so often, when he knows the movie is on, he'll quote Lina and her 'And I can't stand 'em' with her annoying, child-like voice. When it was all over, I looked over at my husband and asked him why we don't break out into song every once in awhile like Gene and Debbie did at the end of the movie. He looked at me like I was crazy and told me to 'Stop being weird.'