Looking for drama in Beijing

My evening starts with the end of the women's platform diving; Chinese diver wins, giving them 7 of 7 gold medals in diving. Last competition for Laura Wilkinson of the U.S., she finishes far down but gets a standing ovation from her teammates, is pretty emotional afterwards.

Rainy at the Bird's Nest, they rehash the crazy DQs in the 200M. Ato Bolton says he's never seen this at the Olympic level. Says something about Usain Bolt's presence, puts a lot of pressure on everyone.

Men's 400M final, three U.S. men hope to sweep. False start, than fair; wow, U.S. men running well, they are waaaaay out in front coming down the home straightaway; Lashawn Merritt totally kicks Jeremy Wariner, wins easily--wow, David Neville dives at the line to finish third, what a great effort; he's injured though. It's a great Olympic moment.

Wariner really got destroyed, they talk to him first. He's asked about his recent coaching change at the end, refuses to answer, walks away. Ato says it's a fair question, the system worked, why tamper with it and leave your coach. Merritt says he's been training for this, no surprise. Neville said he just made a sacrifice....

Next, hurdles; I'm rooting for the Cuban, Dayron Robles, despite two Americans in the field. A commercial break, Nike commercial prompts looking up the Youtube video of Marvin Gaye singing the national anthem before a Lakers-Supersonics game. It's an archetypical example of an artist holding an audience in the palm of his hand, and bringing them along for the ride; from the voice to the pace to the syncopation to the mirrored shades to the suit to the posture to the phrasing--wow.




Ato thinks the old school glasses-wearing Dayron Robles has a shot at a world record here. I hope so; he's Cuban, so it really is all about the race for him. He's an overwhelming favorite here, especially since the Chinese star Lu Shan is out with an injury.

18 wins for U.S. in previous 24 games... and a lot of silver/bronze too. Wow, Robles wins easily... smacking the sides of his head, a bit frustrated that he didn't get a WR, never really in doubt says Ato. David Payne wins silver, Darren Oliver takes bronze. David bizarrely tells the camera he's #1, babbling about 513 or something. Payne crazily goes on afterwards about his heart of the lion; he's talking as if beat Robles. Darren seems more normal, says he's elated, his mom's here too. Wow, he's only 21, his dad died when he was 11, says he thinks about him every time he's on the track.

Hmm, BMX finals. A crazy-looking course. Women up first, Jill Kinter. This is an Olympics event?! Wow, a wipeout already; more people crash; French vs. the favored Brit. Whoah, Brit wipes out, Frenchies take gold and silver; Kinter takes bronze. Wow, that was fast; replay totally needed. Kindof exciting; not sure how much skill....

Now, the men, two Americans. Mike Day of the U.S. top qualifier. Another crash here, U.S. in second, third; Latvian wins, we get silver and bronze.

And now, beach volleyball; Dalhausser/Rogers vs. Marcio/Fabio of Brazil. Nice and sunny here, unlike last night in the American women's win. U.S. falls behind big early, 6-1 for the Brazilians. Shameless Brazilian hits the net with his hand, keeps arguing that it was Rogers. Brazilian team is inconsistent, says Rogers; so far they've been excellent. 7-3, Americans waking up a bit.

Now 10-7, U.S. just grinding away. Great point as D/R both hustle, 10-8. Brazil's body language down a bit. 10-9, D blocks Brazil at the net, Brazil hit a weak spike too. They call a timeout.

Down the road a bit, 12-11 Brazilians. 16-16, as the Brazilians get a yellow card for delay of game. 17-16, U.S. has never led in this set. Now, 18-17, first lead of the match for the U.S., at the right time too. Oooh, serves out of bounds, bad timing. 19-18, U.S. 19-19, key point right here, set point for whoever wins it. Lazy serve from Brazil, U.S. 20-19. Rogers floats in a serve, Brazilians spike to win the point. Nice save from U.S., 21-20. Crowd chanting USA, somehow I'm just not as into it as last night. 21-21. Wow, U.S. winds up winning 23-21, as Brazil hits it into the net on a comical sequence.

I think the Brazilians will fold after that. They ran in front most of the first set, gave it away at the end. They talk to Waslh/May in the stands; May for some reason is wearing a Chinese peasant hat.

Nice serve from the U.S., now 5-5. This set is taking forever, U.S. down 8-6. Now U.S. up 9-8. 11-9, U.S. starting to roll a bit. Brazil gets an ace, still down 13-12. Key moments here; and another great serve by Brazil, 13-13. Brazil scores their 4th point in a row, 14-13. Now Brazil up 17-15, this is getting dangerous for the U.S. Now down 18-15, 8-2 run.

19-16, Brazil serving. Now set point for them. 20-17, U.S. serving. Dalhausser serves it into the net, and Brazil takes it. And now, the third set for gold. They miss the first point, at commercial. Sheesh. U.S. up 2-0. Daulhausser blocks Brazil at the net, 3-0; odd, on the serve by Rogers he was looking down, like not ready or low energy.

Wow, great point, Brazil biffs it into the net at the end after a great dig, and U.S. up 4-1. 5-1, another double contact on the Brazilians. 6-1, U.S. just dominating. U.S. has lost last 13 3-set matches, last lost in 2006. After a timeout, U.S. serves, Dalhausser blocks it again, 7-1. Good serves from Dalhausser, blocks Brazil at the net again, 8-1. Rinse, repeat--blocks Brazil again! 9-1. Dalhausser apparently quiet and unassuming off the court, likes to play video games--U.S. nearly a great serve, Rogers biffs it at the end. 9-2. Brazil service error, 10-2; Brazilians looking defeated. Another error from Brazil, 11-2, Fabio especially looking spent. 11-3. 12-3, Rogers going to his trademark little tappie, he's really very strategic; now, 13-4, U.S. serving. Another spike out of bounds, 14-4, gold medal point. And, appropriately, Dalhausser stuffs them at the net, before running over and toppling over Rogers in celebration. Not nearly as emotional as the women, so far. And they celebrate together more, hugging each other again after shaking hands with the Brazilians.

Now, 'breaking news' with Bob Costas; they say the IOC is going to investigate the Chinese gymnastic team for having underage athletes. This has been out since yesterday; Costas claims NBC's gymnastics team has been all over this investigation. Sure, if snide comments counts as investigating; none of the documents research has been done by NBC, they've basically just whined about it, with no proof or attempt, given their investment in the game, to find any. Where's Jim Gray when you need him?!

They talk to Rogers/Dalhausser afterwards, Rogers answers the first two questions, says Phil's the best player in the world; they're both pretty straightforward. Hmmm, no time for decathalon, after U.S.-Russia in men's volleyball they'll show it. China up 46-30 in gold medals, U.S. up 99-83 overall, picking up 13 medals today.