Best gender…While Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, and men’s basketball all had their moments, it was the ladies that put their collective stamp on these games. From gymnastics to beach volleyball, the women stole the show. In comparing men and women, this was most apparent in soccer, where winning the most whistles by flopping and diving seems to be more of the object of the game than actually scoring in the men’s game. This isn’t really a new viewpoint, but I continue to grow more and more tired of watching a male player act as if he’s been shot in the face, get carted off, and then return to play minutes later. Can’t this crap be legislated against? Like if you have to be put on a gurney, you can’t return to the field the rest of the game or something. That’s in stark contrast to the women’s game, where if a player breaks her leg it appears as if it will take the rest of the team to drag her away to get her off of the field…big ups to women’s soccer.
Best recovery…This goes to McKayla Maroney, who had an “agony of defeat” moment in the individual vault event in women’s gymnastics. Maroney, who is considered far and away the best vaulter in the world, botched her 2nd vault, which resulted in her winning only the silver medal in the event. She was initially scorned for acting, for lack of a better word, b****y afterwards, snubbing hugs from her competitors and making a stank-face that immediately spawned a series of “McKayla’s not impressed” memes worldwide. Once again proving that self-deprecating humor is always the way to go though, Maroney posted a pic of herself and 2 of her Olympic teammates sporting the infamous face (obviously poking fun at herself) days later. So, Maroney gets a pass…not only is she a teenager who just had the most disappointing moment of her career in that moment, but she seems to not take herself too seriously as well.
Take that, Internet.
Best freak of nature…2 words: Usain Bolt. Bolt became the only man to ever go back-to-back in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. I’m not sure what else to say other than that he is disgustingly fast. Even facing doubters, he wins with ease, and he steps off the throttle the last 25 meters of these races just to wave to the crowd, shake hands, and kiss babies.
Best display of rugged masculinity…It doesn’t sound like water polo is that great of a live spectator sport from everything I’ve heard, but watching on TV from the comfort of my futon couch it was my favorite event to watch other than the more mainstream sports. It looks awkward and clumsy at times, but it’s basically trying to shoot at a goal while swimming nonstop with someone trying to drown you the entire time. I never thought I’d have an appreciation for a sport where the men wear banana-hammocks, but these guys are big, burly, hairy-chested dudes. I imagine them going ice-fishing and lumberjacking in their spare time. (If it sounds like I had a bit of a man-crush on some of them, guilty as charged I guess.) The girls are just as tough, and while I’m sure they probably are very feminine and lovely outside of the pool, I wouldn’t want to walk into a dark alley with them either.
Stellaaaaaaa!!!
Best chemistry…While the USA men’s basketball team played a bunch of teams from different countries who had played together for years, I believe the most in-sync duo actually belonged to the Americans. It was as much fun to watch LeBron James and Kevin Durant play together as anyone I can remember during Olympic play ever. For all their efforts to put together a true “team,” USA Basketball is still a glorified all-star squad compared to the teams put together by Spain, Argentina, and Lithuania. But from the 1st game it was clear that something special was brewing between LeBron and KD. It wasn’t just the hot-potato, your turn-my turn type of game we’re used to seeing…the 2 of them, while rivals in the NBA, seemed to set each other up, play off each other, and genuinely like each other. And unlike an all-star or summer league game, the results actually mattered, which made their coexistence that much more important. Their ability to feed of one another seemed to lead the way for the rest of the guys, and the rest of the team just kind of fell into place after that. As a fan of the game, it was something pretty cool (and, honestly, pretty unusual) to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment