Bonjour.  Au revoir.  Oh, and Bonjour again and Hallo.

Bonjour.  Au revoir.  Oh, and Bonjour again and Hallo.

The Cast

By The Fillerbuster

8/16/2024

I filtered my overall notes and have WAY too much material for how much time I have, so we will have to compress yet again.  Sorry.  Life gets in the way.  I have to pack, but I also have some post-Olympic thoughts to get out before I get out of the country for a couple of weeks on my big trip of 2024.

Written mostly on 8/15.  Released on 8/16.  Not edited or even read through again, so forgive grammatical errors.  Enjoy.

OLYMPIC NOTES:

Wow, what a few weeks it was.  I can’t document everything obviously, but below are things that caught my eye, ear, or heart.

• OPENING CEREMONY:
  • Heavy Metal legends Gojira performed at the opening ceremony, and they were the first heavy metal musical group to perform at an opening ceremony.  We already know that Dre and Snoop will be leading the musical part of it, but I have a feeling there are a couple voicemails for someone from Metallica.
• BASKETBALL:
  • The men’s hoops Dream Team 2 should have lost to Serbia in the semifinals.  I was really surprised that they fell apart, was definitely rooting for Jokic, and it was nice to see the old folks taking the reigns when they needed it.  LeBron, Steph, and KD all had their legends grow a little by the end of the France final.
  • Steph in the last two games was epic, and the whole world found out what happens when he gets hot and a little pissed.
  • I wonder if Jokic just rode one of his horses back to Serbia to focus on really important stuff.
  • The women’s hoops squad is sort of like the UCLA prime time years for the guys.  They are literally unstoppable, and mainly we will just remember when they almost lost.  France gave them all they could handle.
  • To me though, the real stories of the basketball part of the Olympics were the Nigerian women and the South Sudan men.  Really great showings by both.
    • Side note:  the primary scorer for South Sudan went to UVA.
• GYMNASTICS:
  • The world caught a break with the calf of Simone Biles, but turns out that was just similar to Superman wearing a tuxedo.
  • The Pommel Horse guy!  I had no idea you could go to the Olympics for a single event, but he basically closed the team competition with his performance (awesome bronze for the team), and took the bronze on his own.  And, he looks NOT like a gymnast.
  • The Biles-Chiles sportsmanship after the women’s all around was epic, spontaneous, and made you remember what moves you during the Olympics.
  • The taking away of Chiles’s bronze is makes you remember the dumb stuff about the moving stuff.
• SOCCER:
  • Who had the “Canadian Drone Scandal” card in the pool?
  • The USWNT continued to dominate, and at least we got good at soccer in SOME way.
  • That men’s final was NUTS.  1-0, comeback to 3-1, then tie it at 3…then 5-3 in extra time???  That is crazy for soccer…
  • The men’s team really made us feel like the pipeline is strong for the World Cup in a few years.  They lost to Morocco EARLY.  If you care, Morocco is doing in the soccer world what WE are supposed to be doing…being dangerous and getting better.
  • But, at least we have a new coach.  Good luck to THAT guy.  This is going to be the inverted version of Ted Lasso…a soccer guy in a non-soccer country.
• VOLLEYBALL:
  • Man, I was rooting for Chase Budinger in beach volleyball.  If you are not aware of his dual career in the NBA and volleyball, it is quite the story.
  • Who had THIS plan?  Let’s put beach volleyball at the base of the Eiffel Tower and then have it late night with party music.  It was one of those events where I wished I was there.
• SWIMMING:
  • Ledecky most decorated woman ever, as she won her13^th gold in a relay.  Titmus got her on the lower end of her spectrum, but there is absolutely no touching her on any day that ends in a “Y” on the longer distances.
  • Caleb Dressel got gold in a relay, failed in solo events, and was not even IN the finals of the 50 free or 100 fly.  I hope the same person who had the Canadian Drone card didn’t also have this odd card.
  • The 100m backstroke for women had the four fastest times ever in that event…in the pool at the same time.  So cool.
  • You have to mesh heartfelt with heartbreak sometimes.  Lily King missed the podium by .01 in an event.
  • Ireland scored in the pool podiums, and it was really cool to watch.
  • Bobby Finke almost came back again in the 800, but the others had seen that before and were ready for it.  So, Bobby didn’t leave any doubt in the 1500 and just decided to break the WR and win gold.
  • Leon Marchand was the hometown kid and the closest thing to Phelps that we have seen in a minute.  What do you pick?  Him winning two golds over two WR holders in one single day was pretty cool.  Him getting the crowd to cheer on every breath in breaststroke was pretty stellar also.  Him coming back on Milak in the 200m fly was my personal favorite moment with him.  The dude owned the stage, deservedly.
  • The smile on the Swedish swimmer’s face when she unexpectedly won the 100m free was heartwarming and natural.
  • Lots of UVA kids in the Olympics.  Again, we sucked when I was there, and I could have easily made the team.  I chose to party instead, and it would have been a cool badge the last few weeks to say I swam for UVA.  Kate Douglass was masterful in winning her breaststroke event.
• TENNIS:
  • Some people may be surprised that two of the best ever tennis players can team up, and then lose.  But, doubles is totally a different ballgame.  I was one of the best doubles players in the state in high school, but definitely NOT in singles.  It takes chemistry, specialization, and experience playing together.  But, it was fun to see a Dream Team on the court from Spain.  Plus, you can’t help feel that this might be one of the last times we see Nadal on the court.
  • Djokovic got Alcaraz back from that butt-whipping at Wimbledon, AND gave Djokovic the one trophy he lacked after all of these years.  Epic.
  • Coco Gauff unfortunately went from flag bearer to early exit.
  • Taylor Fritz played three matches…in a day
• TRACK AND FIELD:
  • The USA got a WR in the semis and then lost in the finals of the 4×100 Mixed Relay.
  • If you missed the Cole Hocker comeback, I can’t recreate it happening IN the moment and the feelings I felt, but you can Google it and try and ballpark it.  And that was AFTER we had a USA man get the first MEDAL in long distance in 56 years.  What a great run (no pun intended) of events.
  • Noah Lyles had a mixed bag.  He came back from the dead and won the 100m (hero), and then got bronze in the 200m, when it was revealed he had COVID (controversial).
  • The pole vaulter who knocked over the bar with his junk didn’t win a medal, but throw him in that group with Ken Jeong and the Turkish shooter guy.
  • Watching Duplantis try and get the WR after he already won gold brought back memories of watching Mr. Bubka when I was a kid.
  • The US women owned the 4×100 and Ms. Richardson provided one of the images of the whole games.  The men, on the other hand, need some more classes on the baton pass.
  • Quincy Hall, Kenneth Brooks, McLaughlin-Levrone, Grant Holloway all made me smile.
  • Watching the high jump is a really fun experience, when knowing nothing about how to do it, but watching the various styles everyone has work for them.  And, if they tie, I love the quick conversation about a jump-off or share.
• MISCELLANEOUS:
  • I must have missed the memo that Snoop and Flavor Flav would be at ALL of the events going into this.  Flavor Flav and water polo?  With Snoop, I assume 80% was natural curiosity, and the other part was NBC promoting him being on The Voice next season.  I also didn’t know that Billie Jean King and Snoop were both Long Beach homies.
  • The USA beat Italy in the fencing team foil, and apparently that is a big thing.
    • How the HECK did fencing survive without instant replay?  It is SO fast and both fencers say they won each time.
  • Table tennis is mesmerizing with the speed on that tiny table. Sweden stopped China from getting the Gold AND Silver for the first time in a minute.  And, watching it makes me less confident about my bar table tennis skills.
  • The Seine River was too dirty for the triathletes to swim in.  Not sure who the brain trust was that thought a river by a major city should have an event in it, but they not only had to delay the event, but they flubbed the start to the delayed event too.
  • I will let you field the boxing controversy on your own.
  • Synchronized swimming and diving are so cool to watch, and I have no idea how one would get into either.  I saw an X post that had China a) perfectly doing a dive together and b) having a single diver make NO splash. 
    • How do they hear the music under the pool surface?  Are there speakers?
  • The women’s rugby team getting bronze on the last play of the match was epic and got me a little.
  • The Turkish shooter was so epic that other athletes (Armando Duplantis, who won gold in the pole vault) were imitating him by the end of the games.  I compare that guy to Ken Jeong, who became a legend the moment he jumped out of the trunk in The Hangover and has never had to look for work again.
  • I didn’t catch the canoe slalom, skeet, street skateboarding, and many other sports.
  • The five rings within the Eiffel Tower, and the surfer photo were epic.
  • 3×3 basketball takes a lot of chemistry and no real jobs that occupy your time with your teammates, and that showed, as the USA pretty much sucked.  Bringing back Jimmer was a stroke of genius, but expecting him to not get injured after being out of the game for a time was naïve.
  • Olympics handball is weird and just soccer-hoops combo.
  • I think that if I had picked up one of these off the beaten path sports, it easily would have been water polo.  I would have been a machine.
  • Trampolining is a fun sport to watch.
  • The 58 year old woman from Chile playing table tennis was cool.
  • I couldn’t figure out why they made breaking so late in the games, and then they didn’t show it, and then the clips they did show, were bad.  Poor sport wasn’t even given a chance.
  • Glad to see Olympic golf is SO different and Scottie Scheffler doesn’t win it like everything else…what?  What was that you said???  Oh….
  • I watched it on delay when eating at a restaurant, but the men’s archery final was awesome, with both getting 10’s for three turns, and then going to sudden death.
  • The USA-Brazil men’s indoor volleyball match was pretty epic.  I caught some of that luckily.
  • Amit Elor wasn’t very well known before the games, but the games end with her being known as the most unstoppable force in wrestling like ever.
  • Glad we got to see what the crocheting diver was actually making.
  • I can’t believe that it had been 40 years since the USA won a weightlifting medal at ALL.
  • It must be hard to play for the bronze medal/third place.
• CLOSING CEREMONY:
  • It made sense that it reminded me of a Cirque de Soleil.
  • Marchand was in a suit instead of a swimsuit, and looked like he owned the place, which he kind of does.
  • Katie Ledecky will think hard about the next games.  She would probably retire, but since it is in Los Angeles…hmmmm.
  • Of course, Tom Cruise came into the stadium like Mission Impossible, especially since we already KNOW there will be two more coming (Part 1 lol…).
  • We learned after his beach performance that Dr. Dre will be attempting to compete in archery in the LA Olympics.
  • Dr. Dre will try archery for Olympics in 2028
  • And if you want a fun article looking ahead on the next games, here you go:
  • https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/40800470/2024-paris-olympics-2028-olympics-los-angeles-simone-biles-noah-lyles

(Shoot, the Olympic roundup took longer than I thought.  I only have time for one thought on each sport for the rest.

NFL:

• Many people were surprised by the less than impressive preseason debut of Justin Fields.  Moments of high ceiling, moments of turnovers.  Wasn’t that glorified practice simply a microcosm of his entire career?  Listen, I am tired of hearing about the competition and I am a Steelers fan.  I feel bad for the rest of you who are not.  ANYWAY, says here by Week 8, Russell will be in the MVP conversation, and he will be the starter for the WHOLE year unless he gets injured.

NBA:

• Yes, I am elated that one of my favorite current players, Russell Westbrook, is now a Nugget.  Love this.  But, I want to talk about Joe Harris, who just retired from the NBA after a 10 year career.  He was a solid SG for his entire career, won the 2019 three point competition, and it was never a bad decision that he went pro.  BUT, he went ONE year too early.  HAD he come back, the starting lineup would have been Malcolm Brogdon, Harris, Shayok (yes, the one who led South Sudan in the Olympics), Mike Tobey, and Justin Anderson.  London Perrantes and Jack Salt would have been the first two guys off the bench.  That team would have RAKED.

MLB:

• There are lots of trades I could touch on, but I will stick to James McCann.  Dude got hit by a 95 MPH fastball which wrecked his nose and face, and he stayed IN the game.  Moments after pouring blood was coming out, he stuffed gauze up his nose, and trotted out to the base paths.  If he isn’t your favorite player that is not on your team, then you are wrong.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL:

• Deion Sanders was one of my favorite people last year.  I loved his fun approach, his fun pressers, and how he started turning around the local team.  BUT, he has now crossed the line at media events.  He is picking on local guys from CBS even though the national scene was who wrote an article.  He is keeping receipts on TOO many media members, and not allowing them to do their job.  He is basically making it them vs. the world.  That won’t work.  He needs the media, no matter how unique he is, and his players will too.  Back off, Prime.  Win some games, and then feel free to show your swagger again to media people.  Remember, you are on the sidelines.  When you were cocky as a player, you could personally back it up.

GOLF:

• Keegan Bradley was named the FOURTH Assistant Captain for the Presidents Cup.  Anyone have an idea on why they need FOUR of those?

MISCELLANEOUS:

• I have not seen The Instigators yet, but plan to.
• No Despicable Me yet either.
• My next show is the latest season of Cobra Kai, and if you haven’t been watching, then YOU are not stuck in 1984 like I am.
• I am finally on season 4 of Curb, so the catchup is moving along.
• I won’t comment on politics except that I am glad that we have someone relatively young or normal in the race.
• Sad that Aerosmith had to cancel their tour and might be done.  I will always cherish the 10 seconds when I talked with Steven Tyler backstage at Woodstock ’94.
• Twisters
  • Just an entertaining movie, not going to win any awards
  • Riveting beginning and end though
• Wish:  good mushroom movie.
• D-Bar closed in Uptown, and another one of my favorite burgers is gone again, until they open at the airport.
• I don’t watch Hard Knocks at all, and that is probably weird to some people.
• I don’t watch Receiver, but I like the Insane Pools show.
• Wayfair changed their theme song, but not really.  My wife knows I am addicted to breaking down good commercial jingles, and wish I would have gone that route.  I had all of the clues I needed by my favorite show back then being Two and a Half Men.
• Didn’t make Sammy Hagar Red Rocker at Red Rocks.  Embarrassed actually, but we have a big trip about to happen.  Red Rocker at Red Rocks though…
• Didn’t make I Prevail August 13^th.  I have an easy time listening to my workout bands, but I don’t need to see them live.
• Banksy hits London Zoo, and I find his story SO interesting.  You should Google it.  He painted pics of animals randomly through town, and then posted one on the zoo entrance showing a gorilla letting everyone out.
• Can’t believe I will be missing the golf stars in Castle Rock next week.  But, I will be on a beach.
• My sobriety:
  • I have had one glass of wine with my wife in three weeks.
  • NA beer list is happening, and I am doing rankings.
  • I started this at 218 pounds.  I now weigh 204, with the goal being 195 by end of September.

That’s it.  I have to jet, no pun intended.  Remember, if you can’t spot the sucker at the table in the first 30 minutes, then you are the sucker.  As one shepherd said to the other shepherd, let’s get the flock out of here.  Talk to you after St. John and St. Martin, which is why I said hello to France, goodbye to France, and then hello again to France and hallo to The Netherlands.  Peace, y’all. I will be here if you need me.