August 13, 2004

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  I spend entirely too much time at work today, I'm itching to get home so I don't miss the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I get an East Coast feed of NBC, so the show begins at 5pm even though I 'm in L.A. (Thank you DirecTV) The drive home is uneventful, which is good, because, of course it's Friday the 13th, as already noted. I've been checking the Reuters feeds on my computer at work, so I already know that the Opening Ceremony went off without a hitch, and was, by all accounts, a spectacular show. I get home, turn on the Tivo, make sure I'm recording it in case my roommate wants to see it later, (he doesn't, it's a big bore for him) and begin the show. It's been on about an hour, but I just put it on pause with these thoughts. They haven't mentioned the fact that the show is delayed, since Greece is half way around the world from here, and failed to say that nothing "bad" happened. The highly edited "show" has Bob Costas and Katie Couric again, for the third time. Wasn't it only yesterday that the Games were on ABC? Bring Back Jim McKay! Please! The "show" is fairly spectacular, when they finally get to it. First we have to hear about the billions of dollars worth of security measures to make sure the 597 or so American Athletes are okay. We don't want any repeat of 1972, let alone 2001. We're safe as can be, Tom Brokaw assures us. The presence of Bob and Katie made me remember Bob Tesh as the Gymnastics commentator. It all came rushing back. The Olympics aren't a sports contest anymore. They are a "reality show". Katie reads from the prepared press brochure telling us what I'm seeing on my 60" screen. "There's a little boy in a large paper boat" she exclaims, as we see a little boy sail across the inside of the track field, dressed as a lake for this performance, in a reasonable facsimile of one of those folded paper boats. In Greece I guess they don't use newspapers like in America, however, because there was no large newsprint on the boat. "Look" Katie croons, "He probably practiced for hours to do this, and now he's really doing it." Gee, Katie. I see him. Look.

  
  

  I'm really beginning to groan, thinking about what the Olympics have become. Every few moments there are commercials, which of course I pause. I've seen the better part of the first Act of "Fate is the Hunter" on Now Playing, recorded from TCM earlier, while I pause the TV. Well, I think I'll go back to watching. Bob and Katie showed us the history of Greek Art, with a "spectacular spectacular" kind of production number which concludes with a big greek statue head splitiing apart into many smaller break apart statues, and a guy balancing on a block 25 feet in the air. "This different pieces of the statue as the fall into the water symbolize the many Greek islands", Katie purrs. I think I've seen this show somewhere. Somewhere in the middle of the Nevada desert in a city with a lot of neon lights. I'm now itching to go back to the casino after the show. But of course this isn't Vegas. It's Athens.

  
  

  Next is a pageant of "Greek History" with a bunch of people dressed as statuary and paintings. Lots of colorful costumes, and neat floats. Bob and Katie tell me what I'm seeing, in case I was blinded by the lights and flames when the Olympic Circles ignited on the field, er, lake, earlier. I'm beginning to get a little bored, and a bit angry with our hosts, who don't seem to make a difference, and actually ruin any perception that I might be seeing a nice pageant.

  
  

  After numerous commercials, the endless parade of athletes from the competing counries enter the stadium, and walk around in circles, eventually collecting in the center of the now drained infield. They are all dressed colorfully. Lots of fresh faced kids with videocameras aiming at the audience (which includes me on the other side of the TV screen.) Joel comes home and groans. He isn't interested. I keep watching, as the teams are parading past NBC's cameras, mugging and aiming their videocameras. A lot of these athletes are impossibly good looking. Aren't there any "ugly" athletes in the world? Professional American Basketball players show up on other countries' squads. Didn't this used to be an amateur competition? The athletes are marching according to the Greek alphabet, you know, the one used for Fraternity and Sorority titles back in college. I know Omega is last, but can't think of any "O" countires. The United States isn't booed. We're cheered fairly loudly. That's a good sign. Israel passes in front of the cameras with no cheers, although I couldn't hear boos. Palestine is cheered. Some of the best looking people are from Italy, Nigeria, Sweden, and Canada. I fell in love with one of the Australian swimmers.

  
  

  The pageantry goes on forever, and Joel reads a book. Finally, somewhere around Omron, which starts with "O" so should be one of the last countries entering the stadium, I hear Bob tell us that there are at least 20 more countries left. I turn the channel over to Comedy Central for Joel, and go into the media room to watch a movie. Tonight's entry is Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pumping Iron (1977). More athletes. Arnold is a very young looking 28.

  
  

  The Opening Ceremonies were fantastic. The fact that the show went on without a hitch is pretty nice, considering Greece is situated in a fairly volatile area in the world. I can hardly wait for the swimming, gymnastics, and track and field events. I don't watch football and basketball too much anymore. I do like to see a live baseball game every now and then, and I used to be "into" drag racing in California, but sort of lost interest when my friend Bob died. I did follow the Basketball finals a few months ago and just got depressed when the Lakers were pummelled by the Detroit Pistons, although to tell the truth, I noticed that the Pistons were the better team, even with all the "stars" on the Lakers. (Only two of them, the quarrelsome Shaq and Kobe show, seemed to even be playing!) I do get a nice dose of sporting spirit with the Olympics, and end up watching quite a few hours. Tivo even has a feature where I can check on the medal count, although that feature is also in the newspaper the next morning, not to mention the internet news feeds.

  
  

   

  • 9:07 pm
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