Olympic Ring Toss

Wouldn't ring toss be a fun Olympic event to watch??
I thought I would be remiss if I didn't discuss the Olympics with you all. Every four years, the world's greatest athletes (and some folks who excel at games) gather in a large city for shiny pieces of metal and the adoration (or shame of their country.
I've made my opinions of the Olympics obvious before. I really enjoy the country versus country aspect... maybe because Team USA is the one team I cheer for that isn't terrible or stuck in mediocrity. I don't remember any Olympics prior to Barcelona '92, so I didn't experience much of the "us vs. them" drama during the Cold War with the USSR (and even at that point Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were splitting up). I still want the USA to win everything they possibly can. I want to see all the US athletes compete, especially when there is medal at stake. Also, there are a few sports (basketball, track, soccer, volleyball) that I really want to follow closely. That being said, here are my thoughts on London 2012 so far:

- London??? Really? Ok, I can come to terms with the time difference... and at least our athletes are in a country that doesn't hate us (thank God the Olympics will probably never be in Tehran). But I am seriously looking forward to Rio '16... no more tape delays.
- The Olympics always have several storylines that end up being no big deal, and several storylines come out of nowhere. The Phelps/Lochte rivalry is nothing to write about, but the success of the Chinese female swimmers is a surprise.
- I started out being REALLY mad at NBC for their coverage and the lack of excitement because of athletes and reporters Tweeting/Facebooking results in real-time, ruining the surprise and drama on TV. Now, I've begun to forgive them. I'm the one following people on Twitter and checking status updates like a hawk; NBC is just trying to have something to run in prime time so their coverage can sell ads. They've moved the time consuming team sports to NBC Sports and MSNBC, which sucks if you don't have NBC Sports (I haven't seen a second of men's basketball or women's soccer). At least it's not terrible coverage, and they have quality broadcasters (Al Michaels to Dan Patrick to Brian Williams to Bob Costas is a solid line up).
- Let's talk Phelps vs. Lochte... it seems like heading into this Olympics, most people were fed up with Phelps and really excited about the results Lochte was producing. Phelps had turned into the "villian" and Lochte was the likeable hero. So far, while Phelps has not been up to his standard (or our ridiculously high expectations), he was not the one that got passed on the final lap of the 400 Free relay, giving France revenge for the US upset in '08. Ease up on Phelps... and Lochte for that matter. They are on the same team and appear to be great friends. We can't win EVERY medal.
- Speaking of "disappointments"... our gymnastics teams were both expected to win several medals (and favorites to get gold), and we had the defending individual all-around World Champion Jordyn Weiber. Well, a funny thing happened during qualifying... Weiber had too many mistakes and missed out on the individual all-around because, even though she had the 4th-best score, you can only have 2 athletes per country. Then the men seemed to have the same issues and finished 5th in the team competition (at least Danel Leyva made up for it last night with that great come back and the women won team gold). Gymnasts rarely make two Olympics, unless they are VERY young in the first one or stay really good into their 20s. We need to give these kids a break... they are KIDS remember. Poor Jordyn Weiber couldn't even talk to the press after she missed out on the all-around because of a technicality. Some of the deductions the judges are taking off can't even be seen by a normal person. If they haven't been in the Olympics before, there is no way to train for the pressure they will feel while throwing and contorting their body around the gym.

Some US surprises so far...
- Men's archery beat South Korea in the semi-finals... they lost the gold-medal match, but they ousted the top ranked team to get silver.
- We have 4 good beach volleyball teams. How awesome would it be to win 2 golds AND 2 silvers.
- John Isner made the quarterfinals of the men's tennis tournament.
- The women's soccer team has played stellar defense since giving up two goals in the first twenty minutes to France. Also, the three teams that can beat them (Brazil, Japan and Sweden) are on the other side of the bracket (but watch out for UK, they beat Brazil).
- Gabby Douglas filled in nicely for Jordyn Weiber in the all-around winning gold.
- Missy Elliott and Allison Schmidt... nuff said.

Some US "concerns"...
- The Women's basketball team has seemed sluggish to start games off. The second team of Whalen, McCoughtry, Augustus, Moore, and Cash has been playing better defense and with more energy.
- There is no men's soccer team... let that sink in for a little.
- China maintains the medal count lead into today... it's time to kick it in high gear.

I'll post some final thoughts when the events are completed... hopefully a comprehensive review of how the USA dominated down the stretch.