The Olympics Conclude....Some Thoughts

For all I know, the closing Ceremonies of the London Olympics are no doubt already taking place, but why wait until the torch goes out to clean out the Mental In-Box, Olympics Edition....

• I actually didn't watch as much of the Games as I anticipated that I would going into it.   I blame that on a couple of things, including interest in the Pirates taking precedence, knowing the results of many of the events before NBC chose to show them, and the fact that it seemed that every time I tuned to NBC in prime time, either gymnastics or diving was on.
• This morning, I did see the one event live, as it was happening, that I most wanted to see - the Men's Gold Medal Basketball game this morning.  USA 107 - Spain 100.  A terrific game that would have been much, much better had the refs not called so many fouls.  Of course, if they weren't slowing the game down with so many fouls, the margin of victory would have been a lot more than seven points.
• Kevin Durant was tremendous with 30 points in the game, but when it was really down to crunch time in the fourth quarter, it was LeBron James who took over and sealed the deal for the USA.
• I also saw a lot of Women's basketball games during the Games, and that really was a walkover for the USA.  I enjoyed seeing their Gold Medal victory win over France yesterday, but what was with head coach Gino Auriemma?  During the final quarter of that game yesterday, he looked about as happy as a guy going through the prep work for a colonoscopy.  Geez, Coach, can't you at least pretend that you're having a good time?
• I really found myself getting completely caught up in the Women's semi-final soccer game on Wednesday between the USA and Canada.  The fact that there were actually seven, count 'em seven, goals scored in this game probably revolted the soccer purists, but, hey, call me an Ugly American, seeing teams actually take shots and score goals, coupled with what was at stake, made this one of the more exciting events of the Games for me.  And good for the USA ladies that they avenged last year's World Cup final by defeating Japan for the Gold Medal.
• Another memorable Olympic moment for me was watching the Men's 10,000 Meter Final, won by the home country gent from Great Britain, live last Saturday afternoon in the Grill Room at the Pittsburgh National Golf Club with friend, Dan Bonk.
• Unfortunately, I missed Usain Bolt's victory in the 100 Meter race, but I did see him win the 200 on Friday night.  It wasn't live, but I didn't know the result ahead of time.  The guy is amazing.
• I also saw very little swimming and that disappointed me, because I do enjoy those events once every four years.
• Speaking of swimming, we here in Stonebrook Village were quite excited over the performances of Allison Schmitt (2 Golds, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze) as her great-aunt Barb Meyer is one of our residents.  Yeah, Allison!!!
• It seemed that I watched more events live four years ago in Beijing with a 12 hour time difference - and while I was working -  that I did this year with a five hour time difference.  Not sure how that could be.
• I am a big fan of the Trib's Dejan Kovacevic, but early on I got so tired of his complaining about the "news embargo" that the Olympics and/or NBC was putting on him and his fellow journalists, that I pretty much stopped reading him about halfway through the first week.   Hey, DK, it's not like were on the front line in Afghanistan.
• Not sure how your cable TV system set it up, but Verizon FiOS had two separate channels that NBC dedicated to basketball and soccer, and that was great.  Today, the Gold Medal game was on both the Basketball channel and the main NBC network over the air channel.  If you watched on the dedicated channel, there were no commercials!
• Even with all the fouls, the USA - Spain game was played in two hours of real time.  Why does a 40 minute college basketball game seem to last about seven hours?  I think I heard that there is a rule in International ball that prevents coaches from calling times out whenever they please.  I didn't get all the nuances of that rule, but it is surely one that the NCAA should consider adopting.  Today.

That's about it for now.  Two more years until the winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and you know what that means.  CURLING, BABY, CURLING!!!!!

NBA Finals Preview: Heat vs. Thunder

Admittedly, while my knowledge of the NBA is pretty much confined to what I hear Tony and Wilbon discuss on Pardon the Interruption, plus watching the fourth quarter of Game 7 between the Heat and the Celtics the other night, I have to admit that I am somewhat looking forward to avidly watching (OK, avidly may be too strong a word for it) this series between Miami and Oklahoma City.

By all accounts, OKC is an up and coming power in the NBA led by youthful stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and everyone knows that Miami is led by their own Big Three, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and the Other Guy.  (I know, I know...it's Chris Bosh, but I couldn't resist the cheap joke.)   The Thunder went through a tougher road here get to the Finals beating Dallas, the LA Lakers, and San Antonio.  On the other hand, the Heat seemed to defeat some old demons with that seven game triumph over Boston, and in LeBron James, the Heat has unquestionably the best basketball player on the face of the earth. (I base this assertion on info gleaned from PTI and David Aldridge on the Tony Kornheiser podcast.)  Plus, I have actually watched the Heat play on TV, and I have yet to see the Thunder play.

So, on that very shaky and uninformed basis, I am going to go with the Heat to take the Larry O'Brien Trophy home with them to South Beach after a hard fought seven game series.

There you have it: Incisive and Cutting Edge NBA analysis from The Grandstander.  As always, watch, but don't bet!

One final LeBron James comment.  I think it's time to bury the hatchet with LeBron in regards to the now infamous hoopla and hype surrounding "The Decision" of a few years back.  Yes, it was self-serving and narcissistic to the nth degree, and yes, he should have let the Cavaliers know about his choice to leave in advance, but almost everyone around him, including James himself, acknowledge that the whole Decision-hype nonsense was a mistake, so it's time for everyone else to let it go.  I say that knowing that folks and fans in Cleveland, some of whom read this blog, will never be able to forgive and forget, and I totally get that, but it should be remembered that James was within his rights to leave Cleveland as a free agent.  He fulfilled the contract he had with them, took the Cavs to the Playoffs several times, and filled the coffers of Dan Gilbert in the years he was there.  He owed them nothing beyond that, except maybe the courtesy of letting them know ahead of time that he was leaving for Miami.  

It should also be noted that since "The Decision" we haven't heard much from Jim Gray, so maybe we should all be grateful to James for that!

As for me, I am looking forward to watching James and Durant go head-to-head over the next ten days or so.