What are you watching on TV these days? Though it may sound like a stupid question with the Olympics going on these days, we just thought we’d throw in the question just for fun.
Every time the Olympic Games takes place, it has become a top priority TV spectacle for us ever since we were kids. While this may be a reflection that we’re getting older in age, it also illustrates the richness in history and tradition for which the Olympics has been known. There is certainly no shortage in the volume of international sports activities each time an Olympiad takes place and here we are feasting on everything we can get our eyes on. So what are you watching?
For starters, the TV coverage of the Beijing Olympics is a good opportunity to open up our sports horizon to beyond basketball and boxing. With the NBA season over, the stage is set for the biggest sports event to dominate the airwaves even if this also happens to include a lot of basketball action. Let’s take advantage of this every four-year event to learn a lot about the other sports which don’t get as much airtime as our favorite events.
For starters, we can always learn to appreciate the grace and athleticism that swimmers show as they splash their way through the pool. Did you know that swimming is one of the most recommended forms of exercise if you’re looking for a total body work-out? Many even add that swimmers are one of the most well-conditioned athletes in the world. Have you ever tried doing the butterfly and finishing a whole lap without losing your breath?
Gymnastics anyone? Height is might doesn’t apply here now, does it? Not when you have those little girls (or ladies) displaying a unique combination of poise, strength, speed and elegance. They may be small, but followers of gymnastics will vouch for how strong they are. Have you ever tried doing the “rings” and relying solely on your arms to twirl yourself around. Can you even manage to lift yourself? If we have great difficulty doing push-ups, you can imagine how hard it is to hang on the rings or moving around the pummel horse with our arms as our main tool of support.
It’s officially called Athletics but many know it more as track and field whose events kicked off on Friday. One of the best ways to appreciate how fast the sprinters are is by watching them in their preliminary heats. It’s hard to visualize the word “fast” when reading through the sports pages. But when you see them on TV, it’s a totally different story. How fast is fast? Did you see Usain Bolt in his preliminary heats? The world record holder burst out of the starting blocks to leave everyone behind only to “slow down” in the end and still run a sub-10 second time. Whoa! He even managed to look around both sides to see who was behind him. Now I know how a .04 second difference in time can be clearly seen on TV when it doesn’t seem possible at all (if reading through the news).
While the huge and bulked up bodies of the sprinters walked calmly towards the end of the track, their smaller and more slender colleagues took their gallant long strides in middle distance running. This was like a slow-mo version of an F1 race but this time much closer and more competitive. Jostling and fighting for position was common and lead changes took place almost every lap. And when the bell rang for the last lap, it was like an “all hell breaks lose” scenario where all runners shifted to high gear and held on to it for the last quarter mile.
The only time I learned that a snatch, clean and jerk were terms used in weightlifting was when I watched the sport on TV during the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Weightlifters are definitely no jerks and they’re as strong as they are clean even if some are reportedly not so “clean.” Lifting weights is serious stuff that weightlifters seem to be in a trance when attempting to go for their heaviest “loads.” If you’re looking for the definition of “focus” when coaches ask their athletes to do so, watch weightlifting and you’ll see what I mean.
And then there’s basketball and the “redeem team.” But you don’t want to hear anymore about them now, do you? Boxing and judging may rhyme but certainly don’t make any sense when made to “work together” to determine a winner.
The Olympics are here again, and for a moment, televised games of the UAAP, NCAA and even the PBA might have to take a back seat, but then again this happens only every four years.
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Time-out: Sure looks like Mayor Avel Gungob’s “yours in public” billboards along the Cebu North Road in Pitogo will be staying for quite some time with neither the national government nor Lacion’s local officials doing something. And it’s us road users, commuters and travelers who’ll suffer most. That’s public service for you.
>>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com