Stray Thoughts About the Olympics

Once every four years, I, like much of America, become interested in sports that I otherwise care little about. Like diving and swimming. For two weeks, I'm glued to the TV. Eight years ago, both kids were being homeschooled, so we did a fun unit study on Beijing and sports. This year, it's just me. (PWM is at a conference for educational stuff and Wild Man is working a lot.)

Here are some random observations from the first week.

• Rugby is like football with fewer rules. But, if you already know about rugby, then you already know that. Or there are rules, but I don't know them.
• The Fiji rugby team is very religious. A quick look at Wikipedia shows that 99% of people in Fiji are Christian, most of those Methodist, due to 19th century missionary work. The commentators said that the rugby players not only pray before and after matches, but before and after workouts. Individual players can be seen praying when they are on the sidelines during matches. As a Christian, I think this is cool.
• And, how about Katie Ledecki?! She is killing it this week!!!
• Michael Phelps is cool, too!
• I'm very glad that the commentators are finally talking more about Katinka Hosszu and her swimming than her husband. Yes, it's interesting that her husband is her coach and that she's improved since he became her coach and that he is a maniac at cheering her on, but SHE'S the one doing the swimming! Let's focus on the swimmer - like with all the other swimmers!
• What the heck is with the diving pools turning green? There are some interesting theories!
• It was actually cool enough the other night that the beach volleyball players wore clothes! More than bikinis!
• And, yes, the most amazing gymnast in the world was homeschooled! 
• Field hockey is an actual sport! I thought it was just something to keep us busy in middle school PE class.
• Olympic table tennis is serious, people! I watched some of it yesterday and those athletes were working. No more jokes about ping pong!
• Those "cupping" bruises look painful, but they're supposed to help.
• The kinesio-tape industry must be making a fortune off the Olympics!

That's all for the moment. There's more than a week left for more observations. What have you noticed?

CCM