Worst Olympic Sport & What I Don't Like About These Olympics

The 2012 Olympics have not been as good as the last round of Olympics in 2008. There are several reasons why and I will tell you most of them. However, I will say that NBC's coverage of the Olympics has been pitiful. I would much rather the Olympics go to Fox Sports, ESPN, or even CBS. NBC is just not doing a good job. They are choosing the wrong sports to run on several occasions and their broadcasting team is not very good. They could have much better teams at the other networks. I know it will probably never happen, but I would love if another channel got the Olympics.

The positive about NBC and their broadcasting team is that they have Bob Costas. That guy actually has a lot of class unlike NBC and does a great job. Costas is seriously the only broadcaster that is likable on NBC for these games. Pretty sad state.

Obviously, the tape delay makes this slightly more difficult than Beijing, because its not live. While I think everyone would prefer live, we are ok with the taping. What I am not ok with is all the diving they have shown. Diving is on for an hr EVERY night. I have to tape it and skip right through the diving because it is always on. At least an hr every night of the Olympics. You know what else? Diving is BORING! It doesn't make any sense. Scores are randomly thrown out and it is just dumb. How many people would watch Diving by itself? Exactly.

Sports are supposed to have clear winners and losers. Diving does not, synchronized swimming does not, equestrian may, but it is not a human athlete, it is a horse, and rhythmic gymnastics does not. Oh ya, lets not forget trampoline. How the heck are these sports Olympic sports? Yet we decide to take out baseball and softball. Are you kidding me? Baseball and softball blow these sports out of the water.

The only sport that I can think of that breaks the rule of being judged and being a fun sport to watch is gymnastics. I really enjoyed watching Team USA's girls in the gymnastics competition. McKayla Maroney's vault in team competition was perhaps the best moment of these Olympics. That was perfect. However, even there the judges being there screwed it up because of all the deductions. Their jaws dropped and still deductions. Jordyn Wieber also got severely underscored in qualifying for the all-around competition which caused her to miss it. Well, what really caused her to miss it was politically correct BS which only allowed 2 competitors per country. Wieber was clearly a top 5 competitor, but because she was 3rd among Americans she couldn't compete. DUMB.

Aly Raisman was pretty cool too especially her tribute to the victims of the shooting in Munich. The Olympics and NBC were going to ignore the victims, but Raisman played a traditional Jewish song during her gold medal floor performance to make sure the victims weren't ignored. Bob Costas also provided tribute on the 40th anniversary of the terrible shootings. I absolutely am thrilled with Raisman and Costas on that move.

So, in summation I wish NBC would never show diving in primetime again. Show a more entertaining sport. They definitely need more track events. They did a good job showing swimming and gymnastics, but need better crews. Also men's floor exercise is pretty lame. Nobody wants to see that. Aly Raisman good, NBC and diving bad.

-Noland

Best of Olympics So Far

Yesterday, was not the best day for the United States. We lost our medal lead, both overall and in gold to China. Great Britain even looks like they could get in the mix. It should be interesting to see what happens from here on out. After an amazing day in the pool, the US no longer had the pool and had a really rough day. They only got two gold medals yesterday. This is not the last time they have to go against Bolt either. However, with badminton done that takes away some locks for China.

The United States even lost a "sure thing." McKayla Maroney was expected to deliver gold especially after her amazing vault in team finals that should have been #1! However, McKayla fell in her 2nd vault attempt. Now, I still think her 1st was good enough for her to win gold, but the judges disagreed.  That doesn't mark away what she did in the team finals though. Her performance and the judges reaction was my favorite part of the Olympics so far. If your face looks like that judge, this girl has to get a perfect score.

Nothing like leaving the judge speechless in Olympic competition. The women's gymnastics team did just that and deserve some more recognition. Another set of props for our girls. Jordyn Wieber got hosed and still came through in a big way. More on that later.

Ok, I lied earlier when I said that Maroney's vault was my favorite thing. My favorite part of the Olympics was when the amazing Gabby Douglas was in an interview. Yes, I actually liked what she said better than what she said. That is saying a lot when she was the 1st ever to win the all-around and team golds for the United States. However, as a devout Christian, I was super pumped when Douglas glorified God in her moment of glory.

I guess the only thing left is to sit here in amazement of Michael Phelps. 18 gold medals, 22 medals overall, both records. Phelps is the greatest of all-time and to think USA Swimming won't be missing something without him next time is incredibly foolish.

These athletes got Team USA off to a great start, now it is time to finish!

-Noland

Olympics: Medal Count Update

It is about 7:12 on the East Coast after the first full day of Olympic Games. Sounds like a good time to update the medal count.

The United States is currently tied for 2nd in most total medals and tied for 3rd in gold medals. The US only has one gold and that was behind a wonderful swim by Ryan Lochte. Phelps finished in 4th in the 400 IM (which he set the record for in 2008). Lochte's win was a big one for the US and he did it in dominating fashion. The United States has 5 total medals. Our country has 1 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze at this point.

Expect the United States to get much better as the games go on. I don't expect Michael Phelps to get shut out of medals. We should also pick up a ton of medals as we get deeper into swimming and gymnastics. In volleyball, basketball, and track we should also pick up a large portion of medals. Those 5 sports are where Team USA should pick up a lot of ground. Our fencers were looking pretty fierce yesterday too.

China leads everybody in the medal count, booooooo! They have 6 total medals right now including 4 golds. Make that 7 total medals and 5 golds as I am typing this. China has won the 10m Air Rifle, Men's 400m Freestyle, Women's 400m IM, Women's 48kg lift, and 10m Air Pistol Women. Right now we need to pick up the pace to catch the Chinese.

We need people like Lochte to close the gap and come through again. Congrats to Lochte for putting us on the board.

-Noland

Baseball and Softball at the Summer Olympics

From 1996 to 2008 Softball was an Olympic sport. Unfortunately, it was removed from the program for 2012 and 2016. This is an old story, but for those of you that have not heard it, it is an interesting one. The reason that softball was removed from the list of Olympic sports was that the United States was too dominant. The USA won 3 gold and 1 silver during that time frame and wasn't provided much competition especially towards the end, but I think it is incredibly dumb to remove the sport. We can't just drop the sport because the USA is winning all the time. Talk about taking your ball and going home, this is just an unwise decision.

No Jennie Finch gentlemen.

Not only was softball removed, but my favorite sport, baseball, was also removed. The best Olympic sport was removed for a different reason. There was no star power according to the IOC because of major league baseball. What? Do they realize we could have had Dylan Bundy this time around? Well, I guess they would have no idea since the decision was made in 2006, but it is still an unwise one. Baseball was one of the most competitively balanced sports in the Olympics. It is a worldwide game. Cuba won 3 of the 5 gold medals with the US and South Korea also winning. Australia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela are all competitive. I think they could have kept it, but what can you do. Davey Johnson wouldn't have been able to manage this time around because he has the Nasty Nats to worry about. The European bias of the IOC seemed to be in play here as well. The Netherlands and Italy were the only teams from Europe to participate in multiple Olympics and neither team had a medal winner.

The international softball federation and the international baseball federation are putting together a joint effort to revive these sports as Olympic Sports by 2020. Rugby 7s and Golf were added in their place. The best golfers better be there to make up for the loss of baseball. We want Bubba. Oh, but it won't happen until 2016 for these sports so for now we will have an Olympics with two fewer sports in 2012. Enjoy.

-Noland