Light The Cauldron

The Main Blurb The floor routine in gymnastics: It seems to be a bane for the men, but a joy for the women. Think about it: When you watch the men do a floor routine, they look like a robot when they are not leaping in the air. When they land and move around the floor, their legs are as straight as tree trunks. “Dance” to male gymnasts is a four letter word that should never be uttered. There is no music in men’s gymnastics. The goal is to do as many tumbling passes as possible in the allotted time and get off that thing. On the other hand, music is heard throughout the arena when the women are performing. It can almost be annoying when you’re trying to watch another apparatus because someone else is dancing their floor routine to some weird little piece of music. But they shimmy, they shake, they…smile! They almost seem to be enjoying themselves – for some of them, they actually are enjoying themselves! Normally when I am watching someone’s floor routine, it is fun

The Main Blurb If anyone assumes that men’s gymnastics is exactly like women’s gymnastics, they can’t be more further from the truth. Although both sports require power, strength, and finesse, both emphasize different aspects. The women’s area requires much more finesse. Ladies are usually very small (which is usually why most gymnasts are under the age of 20), and their tumbling and leaping skills are important for all four of their events. Men, on the other hand, is all about power. There are six apparatus for the men, and most of them are about the upper body strength. Still rings, pommel horse, and parallel bars all demand holding up your body by your hands. You’ll rarely find a men’s gymnast with a small frame. Normally they are all upper body. I actually enjoy watching men’s gymnastics more than women’s – but not just because I’m a woman. I can’t get over the raw strength and power that these men show!   Could you do a handstand as you’re suspended eight feet in

The Internet streaming worked well this afternoon. I got to watch a bunch of swimming without very many issues. I just hope that it works well tomorrow morning, when I’m going to want to watch the men’s gymnastics team final. There’s no way I’m going to wait till tomorrow evening to find out who won. The Main Blurb All right, Team USA swimming. I have not been impressed. After all the uproar I’d heard about this team, I was expecting more golds. The women get bronze in the 4x100. Allison Schmitt gets silver in the 400 free. Michael Phelps doesn’t even medal in the 400IM. Elizabeth Beisel, very sharp in the preliminaries, loses out on gold and ends up with silver in the 400IM. And the men’s 4x100 relay, namely Ryan Lochte, surrenders the gold in the last 25 meters to – of all countries – France. It had to be France. Remember what I said yesterday about this relay in 2008? Well, pretty much the opposite happened. The first half of the US team – Nathan Adrian and Michael

Wimbledon has a bit of color on its courts, which fascinates me for some reason (they normally are required by the tennis club to wear white in its championship). The Main Blurb This was my first day of experiencing the Olympics on two different pieces of technology: my television (with DVR) and my computer (with live streaming). I made sure my computer was going to be able to broadcast the streaming video (as long as your cable subscription gets MSNBC and CNBC, it’s all good), and I was all set to go! My day, as a result, was a giant blob of Olympics. I watched cycling, fencing, tennis, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, badminton, table tennis, swimming, volleyball, boxing, gymnastics, rowing, and beach volleyball! *phew!* Unfortunately, my computer was purchased way back in 2009, so it’s a little older. It’s probably a little dirty on the inside with random viruses that Avast! cannot find or kill. So as I was watching the live streaming of the men’s 400 IM, right