Olympic Overload!

Oh man, there is so much Olympics going on, I can't even say.

First off, we have an amazing entry into the field of sports journalism by Timothy Eagan, about Canada broadly and his fake ID specifically and national identity and all that good stuff.

And then we have some malfunctioning zambonis, that meant an intermission of about an hour for no good reason... but it gave us more time to ogle the speed skaters.

There's a good story in here somewhere about gender bias in the Olympics and why women aren't allowed to ski jump (spoiler alert: it's because they would beat all the men) but a Canadian curler could be competing while five months pregnant (awesome!!).

I've got to write more in-depth about the NBC coverage and the internet and twitter and Olympics Triple Play (and Dick Ebersol and Dick Ebersol's sweater) and why something like this can totally happen in this day and age:

Aaaaaand that's not even getting started on the incredible tales of athletic prowess, speed, precision, and artistry that are going on. So yes! I am going to get back to watching Shaun White beat the pants off everyone. In the meantime, here:

Enjoy your mind trip as you watch Quatchi watch himself WATCH YOU.

A look back, a look forward

Look both ways before you cross the time line!

Wow, it's been a while. Almost an entire year, in fact, since last we updated the blog, and a year to the day since the Opening Ceremonies (08/08/08!).

Happy Anniversary, little guys.

And there's been a year of international sports and excitement that we here at Mount Olympics have allowed to pass un-blogged. So much has happened, in fact, that it merits a bucket o' links! These are the stories we would have been following, had we, you know, been blogging.

Don't worry, China, not having the Olympics won't be terrible for your economy!
Don't worry, world, a terrible economy won't hurt the Olympics!
Sorry, Russia, the economy might hurt the Sochi 2014 Olympics.
Sorry, London Olympics, the economy might hurt you, too.
WAIT, by "hurt" we meant "the Olympics will save the British economy," right?

Poison + Milk = Scandal, but Olympics + Scandal = Chinese cover up...

OPRAH wants the 2016 Olympics in Chicago. OPRAH. WE MUST DO AS SHE SAYS.
OBAMA wants the 2016 Olympics in Chicago. OBAMA. (Remember: Bigger than Oprah.)
A BILLION DOLLARS wants the 2016 Olympics in Chicago.

Olympics has opened China to foreign media? WaPo says it is so.
Beijing brings back Olympic pollution control! Olympics make things greener, and not just in Canada!
Also, Olympics maybe helped China's human rights record!

Rugby is trying to get to the Olympics. BADASS.
Baseball too.
Also golf.

As a final sendoff to the summer games, FINA bans technical racing suits!

Phew, I feel refreshed, don't you?

In conclusion, look for this blog to be updated more often! Up next we have a shout-out to all you google searchers out there.

Corollary on Google

In answer to my own question from the other day, OF COURSE Google had a special logo for the Olympics. Google has had a special logo for ALL the Olympics. And I would love nothing more than to share them all with you, with commentary, right here on this blog, but the Google website expresses a "passionate" (no kidding) desire to maintain the sanctity of the Google Logo and associated Doodles by not having them posted all over the Internets, and getting sued by Google is one of the scarier things I think could happen to me.. I could probably come up with worse, but they would probably involve a clumsy weightlifter, 2,008 angry Chinese drummers*, and the uneven bars, and in general do not bear thinking about.

So I direct all interested parties to Google's specialty logo archives, where you can see just how much Google loves the Olympics. (Particular attention should go to the one for Athens in 2004, where Zeus appears to be lighting the torch with actual lightening.)

*I'm thinking that if China had come up with the Twelve Days of Christmas, it would have looked a lot like the Opening Ceremonies. Dear West, we see your twelve lords a-leaping and raise them a couple thousand tai chi artists in perfect rings. And we'll throw in a partridge just for good measure, but we haven't tested it for human growth hormone. Someone needs to write that song...