Tyler's Olympic Review

I am watching the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics right now, with just a twinge of sadness that the games are over. Normally I don't pay much attention to the summer Olympics because who wants to sit in front of the TV when it is so nice outside? But the story lines of these games have compelled me to carve out some time to watch. I decided to share some of my highlights of the 29th Olympiad, so here it goes:

Most Outstanding Athlete: Michael Phelps. Was there any doubt? Phelps earned 8 gold medals, more than any other Olympian ever.

Moment That Made Me Jump Out of My Chair: Usain Bolt in the 100 Meter Dash. He not only set a new world record, he SMASHED the old one. This graphic from the New York Times shows just how far from reality Bolt's run was. He ended up setting two more WRs in the games.

Coolest Venue: The Watercube. China really set the bar high with its venues this year. All of them were spectacular and will be remembered as some of the greatest venues of the modern Olympics. The Watercube was the best however. When it was illuminated at night it was breathtaking.

Favorite NBC Announcer Team: (You had to know I was going here) Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines. Their calls of the awesome swimming races were perfect. Just the right level of emotion and they let the races and performances speak for themselves.

Moment When I Felt Bad: When Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang had to withdraw because of a bad Achilles heal. He was the favorite in the event (which is rare for China in track) and the Bird's Nest was full to see him run. He was very upset for not being able to run for his country.

Best Smile: Shawn Johnson. I felt bad when she kept coming up short for gold medals, but she always kept her smile.

Sport I Gained the Most Respect For: Gymnastics. Those people were hands down the strongest athletes in the games.

Sport I Hated: Badminton. Dude, they are like 3 feet from the net. Boring.

Moment When I Almost Cried: When NBC interviewed the USA men's volleyball coach after his team won the gold. His father was killed in Beijing right before the games started. The coach was trying to fight back tears and showed great composure.

Best Commercials: The Visa Ads. Morgan Freeman is the man. I would jump in front of a bus if he told me to. The Visa ads that he narrated were awesome, and this one was my favorite:



Thing Angered Me: NBC wouldn't show those of us in the west events that got shown live on the east coast. Don't get me started on my east coast bias theory in sports and news.

Thing (Person) That Made Me Laugh: Bela Karolyi. He should get a spot in the Sunday Night Football booth with Al and John. He made Bob Costas so uncomfortable. Hilarious.

This blog post is way longer than it should be, sorry. All-in-all I thought the Olympics were great this year. China gets an A-, NBC gets a solid B.

Friday Flop

Drumroll please. Today I debut a weekly feature (hopefully weekly that is) called "Friday Flop." I will post a funny video clip, audio clip, or story so that we can all start the weekend on a high note.

Our first Friday Flop: Brian Collins and how not to anchor a sports cast.



Brutal. Have a great weekend!!

Credits: Fanhouse

A Theme Song is Born

One of the things I like best about sports on TV and radio is the theme music that is involved in the broadcasts. One of the best all-time theme songs is the music that opened the NBA on NBC broadcasts up until the network lost it's NBA rights to ABC. The song is called Roundball Rock and was written by none other than Yanni's cousin, John Tesh.

Well, thanks to the blog "Awful Announcing" (one of my favs) I discovered the story behind the song:



That video is both intriguing and uncomfortable at the same time. It is neat to see how the song came about, but OMG John Tesh cannot hum. Also, that hair and goatee coupled with his outfit make him look like a pirate. It is weird to see an orchestra jam out to a sports theme song, the violinists are way too into it.

Anyway, thought you might enjoy that. What are your favorite sports tv theme songs?

Disclaimer: This is the first and last John Tesh music video I watch on YouTube.

Legends of the Mic: Bill Walton

A newcomer to Courtside, Heather Elkinton, left a great suggestion in the comments section of my last post. Do a recurring post on Bill Walton, one of my favorite *sarcasm* basketball announcers. Heather suggested posting YouTube clips of Bill and giving my commentary on his work. I LOVE it Heather! But, I am going to make a small tweak: I am not going to limit it to Bill Walton, rather I will post clips from some of the best of the best in a recurring post called "Legends of the Mic."

But since Heather requested Bill, Bill she shall have. The clip I have selected for this post is perhaps his best work. Working with Mike Tirico for LA-Phoenix, I give you Bill Walton on Beethoven and Boris Diaw:



Where do I begin? First of all drawing a parallel between an 18th century German composer and a French NBA player is sheer brilliance, something the audience would never expect. When I think of the world's oldest music, I think of Boris Babacar Diaw-Riffiod. The way he carves through a defense is reminiscent of the way Beethoven sliced his baton through the air while conducting a sonata.

That just makes my brain hurt. My favorite part of that clip is when Tirico goes "Geesh" when Walton starts in on the Beethoven comparison. He knows it is coming and just wants to punch Bill right in the kisser. Bill goes so over the top on everything, but I really don't get too annoyed with him until the 4th quarter of a game. He has become a caricature of himself and you have to wonder if he is so melodramatic in real life.

Here is my advice to Bill to make his broadcasts even more awesome:

1. Dress in the appropriate costume for the story you plan to tell for that game. Maybe a powdered wig and 18th century knickers for your Diaw piece.

2. Make all of your commentary rhyme.

3. End all of your comments with "that's what she said."

Feel free to leave your Bill Walton comments in the comments section. Stay tuned for more "Legends of the Mic" I might even drag in an Olympics legend for the next post!

Tip of the Cap: Wilsall, MT- Great turnout for the annual Ranch Rodeo this weekend. One of the best wild cow milking contests I have witnessed.

Wag of the Finger: Brett Favre- You should have stayed retired. A Jet? Come on.

Disappointments

Well, I am back at it after a delay in blog posts. I wish I had an excuse like "I have been very busy at work," or "my life has been crazy," but the truth is I have been loafing it lately: spending lots of time at the lake and just got back from some vacay up in the Flathead Valley.

Anyway, I got back from a week of no TV and wi-fi to discover that my Rockies went 2-5 in a 7 game home series with Washington and San Diego, the two teams with the worst records in the NL. Follow that up by going 1-2 versus the division leading D-Bags (I mean D-Backs) and I am ready to call the Rox out of the pennant race for 2008. What a major disappointment. After a run to the World Series and only losing our second baseman in the offseason, I was sure the Rox were going to take it all this year. Oh well, maybe next year. (Buy some pitching Dan O'Dowd!!!)

In honor of the disappointment I feel over the Rockies, I thought I would give you a list of the top five sports disappointments in my life. Feel free to add your own in the comments section.

5. Little League 1994. We were the Shields Valley Marlins. My Dad was the coach. I was the slugging right fielder. We won one game. 'Nuff said.

4. Bobcats vs. Appalachian State 2006 NCAA 1-AA playoffs. The Cats had App State on their heels. A trick pass by WR Michael Jefferson is intercepted and App State gets the mo back. We coulda had them.

3. 2007 World Series: Rockies vs Red Sox. Rockies= everything that is right about baseball: small market team, great run to end the season, players no one outside of Denver(except me and my pal Joel Schumacher) has heard of. Sox= everything that is wrong about baseball: East coast bias, bandwagon fans, each player makes more than the GDP of Mongolia. Well you know the result: bad guys win in four.

2. 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Regional Semis and Finals. Gus Johnson is not included in CBS's announcer lineup.

1. 1998 Minnesota Vikings. Kicker hadn't missed a field goal all year, blows one in the waning moments of the NFC championship. Falcons win in overtime. 15-1 regular season wasted.

I know this post has been depressing and I will try to be more upbeat in the next one. Only 15 days to the start of MSU football!

Tip of the Cap: Justin Scanson- Thanks for mentioning my blog in your favs!
Wag of the Finger: The People's Republic of China- The host country cheats by letting underage girls compete in gymnastics. Try to stay classy Beijing.