Olympic Tidbits

I've found that there are a few sports I can't watch without cringing, simply because it always seems as if someone's about to get hurt. Jumping and twirling on a 4-inch slab of wood, known as the balance beam, or running as fast as you can then jumping over a 4-foot high wooden barrier, known as the hurdles, both strike me as bone-breaking disasters waiting to happen. And, no, this isn't another post about Rafalca, but it's also hard for me to watch horse jumping. I know the horses are really big, strong animals, but their legs seem so fragile and as they jump over the barriers the words "broken leg" and "humanely destroyed" are never far from my mind.

Ann Curry had a piece on the Today show this morning and based on the icy politeness between her and Matt Lauer, I'd say she's still pissed about the way her recent change in professional status was handled.

There was also a piece on synchronized swimming, and if I was in the mood to be politically correct, I'd bang on about how strong the swimmers are, how well trained they are, their endurance and coordination, blah, blah, blah, but, you know, screw that. Here's what I really think:  OMG - the make-up. The sparkly spangly swimming costumes. The la-de-da waving and swishing and strutting. (No, really, this isn't a post about Rafalca.) Yowza. I love the upside-down, underwater, holding your breath swirling corkscrew maneuver, but overall the whole thing struck me as an elaborate excuse to have one more event where the athletes (and yes, it's the female athletes) wear the skimpiest outfits possible.

Finally, NBC is reporting that today "might" be the day Mitt Romney announces his VP pick. Possible, I suppose, but if he wants to get the biggest political bang for his buck, I'm guessing he'll wait until the Olympics are over.