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Thursday, March 28

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Andrew / August 17, 2008 11:43 PM

Got a question for Fuel? Send it to inbox@gapersblock.com!

sb / August 17, 2008 11:55 PM

i like fencing. the masks are cool. but i haven't really been watching.

r / August 18, 2008 12:55 AM

I like to watch gymnastics for the failed routines. Sorry. It's all about honesty.

JJZ / August 18, 2008 8:23 AM

I just like the weird sports. Apparently they almost never air anything but a few events.

Greg / August 18, 2008 8:42 AM

I've seen very little. I prefer the winter games.

Sam / August 18, 2008 8:44 AM

I've got to admit... I'm getting pulled in to it. I never thought I liked it before!

Carrie / August 18, 2008 10:37 AM

I LOVE the Olympics, always have. When I was a kid I thought we should get time off of school to watch them. So, clearly I'm watching them now. Gymnastics has always fascinated me. Diving, swimming and running are fun for me, too. These athletes are so talented it just amazes me. (I know a ton of training goes into it, too)Since I don't think my dreams of being an Olympic gymnast will ever be met, I might focus my thoughts on the luge. Heck yeah!

Jill / August 18, 2008 10:40 AM

OH, do I have the OLYMPIC FEVER!!!!

I'm lucky my laptop is too old to support the NBC Olympic video player. Otherwise, I wouldn't get anything done during the day. However, I do make the Boy lug his laptop home from work so that I can have it going during the prime-time broadcast (I don't have cable, so the online coverage has been a godsend!).

I do like swimming, but I'm tired of Michael Phelps coverage. Am also sick of beach volleyball and synchronized diving. Was happy to see rowing, equestrian, fencing, and steeplechase on NBC.

Online, I've found a new love in watching archery (and annoying the Boy by repeating the score in Mandarin). Have also caught some weightlifting, shooting, judo, table tennis, and badminton.

Am getting geeked about decathlon, random track & field events, and trampoline. I'm also curious about the BMX biking and the open water swim.

CVAL / August 18, 2008 10:54 AM

Have been watching here in Richmond Upon Thames and all the U.K. is saluting 19-year-old Rebecca Adlington for being the first British female swimmer to win a gold for 48 years!!!!! They are loosing their minds here!!!!!

Mucky Fingers / August 18, 2008 11:25 AM

I'm watching it and enjoying it. I just wish NBC pursued expansive coverage to include events that don't include the U.S. (I'm sure I can watch that online, but I don't do web TV).

I like the weightlifing competitions. I especially love diving and synchronized diving the most. I'm sick of women's beach volleyball being broadcasted day and night just because they've got tan butts exposed by their outfits.

I'm glad for Michael Phelps, but I can't imagine a bigger dork setting an Olympic world record. I never cared at all about the Olympics before, I must be getting old.

Marlene / August 18, 2008 11:35 AM

I love love love the Olympics. The thing I love most, though, is watching small countries win gold. I wish NBC would air more medal ceremonies where the winner was someone other than the U.S. or China. I would have loved to see the Mongolian flag and anthem played.

Charles Bixx / August 18, 2008 11:41 AM

Love:
Badminton Mixed Doubles (who knew the regulation net was really so low)
Handball (Looks like a retardedly slow hockey/soccer, but with hands mashup)

Hate:
Synchronoized Diving (what kind of made up crap is this)
Lots of stuff trying to normalize Beijing by making it look like a palatable Western city.)

Gaigen / August 18, 2008 12:01 PM

Every time I turn the damn TV on I see Michael Phelps. Either he's splashing around in the water like an otter or they're interviewing him "up close and personal" style for the umpteenth time. I'm happy for the guy, but I've stopping watching because of the fawning they're doing over him (not his fault). Is the swimming part over yet?

annie / August 18, 2008 12:33 PM

I'm into them. Fastest woman and fastest man, that amazes me. Gymnastics is great..and I agree w "r", I like when they spill. Two things making me nuts 1) Mrs. Phelps..holy hell, could she be more of a media ho? OK, you're a single mom, get over it. and 2) Mary ? she reports to Bob Costas on some really dumb stuff, her voice makes me want to go into a seizure. (Like Kramer)

Caitlin / August 18, 2008 1:22 PM

Lows: I'm with Annie. Mary Carillo's Slice of Beijing Life pieces are intolerable/ridiculous with the lowest moment so far being her "hahaha! look at what they eat here!" package.

Highs: Shawn Johnson just being adorable. Nadal is as demure as ever. Any race that is won by one one-hundredth of a second is awesome.

Steeplechase deserves more coverage.

p / August 18, 2008 4:02 PM

Opening ceremony was terrifying. "Today i bring my Drum. Tommorow my Sword."

I love the olympics. to feel any other way is, truly, uncivilized.

that swedish sprinter is walk-into-the-wall hot.

i propose to "Lezak" something become a verb. to describe somebody going above their own natural abilities and beyond all logical explanation to achieve victory. or just to describe disproportionate attractiveness in couples- replacing "that dude out-kicked his coverage."

Gaigen / August 18, 2008 5:03 PM

Oh, and I forgot the announcing, especially the gynmastics. It's hilarous/aggravating to hear those "experts" they drag out every four years, i.e. the former US gold medalist to give their expert analysys. They know what they want to say, but not being professional announcers, they don't know how to say it.They are so bad sometimes it's hilarous. Like that Tim Dagget guy commenting on gymnastics. He was "Faaaaaabulossssss!" LOL

charlie / August 18, 2008 5:19 PM

I watch the Olympics. I'm surprised at how fast those Jamaicans are. Shouldn't they be really good at hacky sac er sumthing? I mean they are clearly on drugs but i woulda figured weed not speed!

Leelah / August 18, 2008 7:05 PM

I love the Olympics, but only the events that have clear winners (like swimming and track). I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer until I was about 14, and I love Michael Phelps.

I was also pretty interested in the women's marathon this year since I'm doing my first in October. The winner beat my HALF marathon time... awesome!

Steven / August 18, 2008 8:34 PM

Not a single minute. Completely uninterested. HOWEVER, I recently discovered a few Youtube clips of a type of wrestling popular in Pakistan and India where beefy menz in skimpy speedo-sized shorts grapple each other covered in red clay. THAT I would watch. I would even record it.

JasonB / August 18, 2008 9:20 PM

I'm patiently awaiting the USA Men's Basketball team's demise.

Carlotta / August 19, 2008 3:15 AM

I love the gymnastics, esp. the men. Watching competitive races (e.g. swimming, track) while exercising really speeds up my own effort.

I also enjoy studying the athletes' bodies -- the women's so I can emulate their healthy bodies, the men's so I can dream about getting my hands on their muscular, hard bodies!!

Lene Dalsgaard / August 19, 2008 6:37 AM

Yes I have, and I paticular got high from the danish fortyniner crew, they showed sportsmanship in the best olympic spirit, and they won the gold

Angie / August 19, 2008 10:27 AM

I agree with Marlene, I want to see the ceremony for other countries, not just US, like the Tunisian guy that won a swimming gold medal.

jen / August 19, 2008 11:09 AM

@ JasonB -- what a shitty comment.
i am all for both the US Mens and Womens Basketball teams - it seems like this year they're both very together and they're very supportive of each other which is nice to see. even heard Kobe / (i forget) / LeBron went to see Michael Phelps swim. i think that's an important part of these games too, is the comraderie across all sports.

also, Phelps is a huge dork, so what? i'm a fan of the dork winning in the end. the story he told in the interview i saw, of some kid who was a bully congratulating him when he made the olympics at 15, was priceless.

i also realized yesterday the only good thing about if the olympics were to be in chicago in 2016 would be that we'd get to watch it in real time. =)

Spook / August 19, 2008 11:21 AM

nope, I'm too busy smacking the back of this bottle of summer, trying to get it's last dregs

JasonB / August 19, 2008 2:28 PM

@jen

Good for you, but being an American citizen doesn't mean you have to root for them.

Go Spain Basketball!

Jill / August 19, 2008 4:05 PM

I'm with Jason--can't stand the "Redeem Team" (even that name makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little). It's no fun to watch blowout after blowout even when your team wins. Having a full line-up of professionals vs. countries that can't have an entire team of huge pros doesn't really seem fair.

The blowout reason is also why I'm glad softball will be off the Olympic schedule in 2012. Not that I want the US team to lose, but the fact that no other team can touch them doesn't make it feel like a true Olympic sport. Shouldn't there be some competition somewhere?

Gaigen / August 19, 2008 4:15 PM

Go Spain Basketball!

Think they'll do that Chinese-eye thing on the victory stand if they win?

feel / August 19, 2008 6:41 PM

Some of the coverage carries an air of arrogance that I find mildly embarrassing. I've seen commentators stick up they're noses at Chinese cuisine, accuse their athletes of cheating, and scoff at China's human rights record.... and all this between Wal-Mart commercials and special reports on Phelps' ipod.

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