Seeking flying cars

Vancouver Olympics closing ceremony: Oh, Canada!

2010-02-28T20:32:00.010-05:00

Vancouver Olympics close, with a pretend 'glitch' to the fourth torch leg, echoing what really happened opening night. Clown pretends to fix, then Katrina de Madone, who was really left without a leg on opening night, lights the full cauldron. Cool; nicely done.

With a record 15 golds, including in hockey over the U.S. today in OT, Canada is in a partying mood tonight. We wound up with a record 37 total medals, so not too shabby, either. Some weird thing with a bunch of teens up on stage jumping up and down to a band, with snowboards in hand. Hmmm, from up top when they bounce the boards against the floor looks kindof interesting, form a pattern around the flame.

They introduce the four Indian chiefs whose territories comprise Vancouver, then the PM and IOC head. Then the kids do a poppy version of "Oh Canada." Hmmm, not sure about that, one of the Mounties just looks stone-faced.

Flagbearers all walk in, spotlight the Chilean flag. Nordic combined competitor Bill Demong carries U.S.'s, and now the athletes all come running in together, Bob tells us they'll mingle more as the evening goes on.

Canadians come out last, to huge applause. Joannie Rochette, the figure skater whose mom died carries Canada's flag. Everyone wants to get their photo taken with her. Not sure how Russia is ever going to live up to these games, they wound up just about perfect. "Thank you, Canada" reads a sign in the stands.

They hold first of two medal ceremonies tonight; Norwegian Petter Northug won the 50K cross-country race by .3 seconds, salvaging what's been a pretty bad Olympics for Norway's legendary cross-country team. German took silver,
Swede took bronze. Norway won 22 medals, just behind Canada.

Olympic flag gets passed to the mayor of Sochi, Russia. Very stolid-looking man; good luck. The impressive, primal Russian anthem is sung by a choral group from Russia. It goes on forever, this is the full version. Wow, looking forward to four years from now.

They show the Sochi presentation, all CGI and attractive models, scattershot. Like a kid's idea of what would impress people; no meat or theme to it. In-person performance is random people in bubbles, Red Square, orchestra. Ballet dancers come out; all bombastic and impersonal.
I guess they haven't had the Olympics since the 1980 games that we boycotted after they invaded Afghanistan. It's literally a different world now; maybe not for the Afghanis so much....

Canadian official says good-bye, he again tells the people of Georgia how sorry they are for their loss, it's heartfelt and leads to a standing ovation. It's a very good speech, what seemed stiff at the opening now seems appropriately formal here. Bob Costas does a running translation of Jacques Rogges' address. He calls it "excellent and very friendly games." Closes the games, to a big groan.

And then out on the floor comes Neil Young, "Long May You Run." Song's lyrics fit well. Flame is extinguished, all is blue.

Back to all-yellow, 'birds' flocking about. Now famous Canadians will tell us what it means to them to be Canadians, cause now that the torch has been passed we care. William Shattner talks of lakes, sunsets, Montreal, etc. Catherine O'Hara, some comedian I guess, comes out with a curling spoof. It's like they're using the global audience to work out some issues. All the foreign athletes are just sitting there. Ugh, her routine just gets worse, jokes about the Swiss fans, litter, saying sorry.

Michael J. Fox comes up to huuuuge applause and a standing ovation. Yeah, he can say pretty much anything. "Canada is my home, and now it's your home too."

Michael Buble comes out dressed as a Mountie, sings with some fake Mounties in skirts as backup, then strips to his white tux. This is such a parochial, low-rent production. All-white, too.

'Made in Canada' parade kicks off with more Mounties. Yeah, if I'm an overseas investor I'm just rubbing my hands. Fake hockey players fake brawl, then some kid dressed as a puck comes out. Out come maple leafs; man, if the Russians had presented this as their tribute to Canada, there'd have been a riot. Out come giant inflatable beavers and moose, led by lumberjacks. It's like a country stuck in 1950.

There's a flash at the end, people applaud, and NBC fades to black. They'd run a promo for the summer games if they're smart, but don't.

Bobsled, Bode Miller, speedskating -- and some figure fun

2010-02-27T19:59:00.022-05:00

It's boys night at the Vancouver Winter Olympics last night of competition, with Bode Miller skiing, USA1 going for bobsled gold, the surprise mens team's speedskating pursuit, and the champions gala figure skating event.

Slalom's first run, literal Tim Ryan calling. Starting where the women did yesterday due to weather competition. Zurbriggen from Switzerland up first, men just bump the poles away. 66 gates down the course, two more than the women. Kostelic of Croatia next, his sister won 6 medals in her career. He's a natural, looks in good rhythm, like he's dancing. Into first, .4. Raich from Austria, powers his way through. Throwing a lot of snow though, bit out of control; but faster by .04. Wow.

Pranger of Austria next, looks gimpy at the start; recovers, then falls and is out. Slovakia's old man Valencic, quick feet; nice run, .11 in front. Wow, each guy keeps outdoing the others. Razzoli of Italy, he blocks the poles out of the way. Man, shredding the previous time, by .43. Amazing. Alberto Tomba likes him....

Ted Ligety next, not looking as fast; slides, and is out of the race. U.S. team does this a lot, gotta find a better line between aggressiveness and sloppiness; fact everyone does it on the team makes it seem okay, which builds upon itself. Coaches need to do something.

Next, Bode. And -- he's out right away, not even seven seconds in. Sheesh. Announcers make excuses, but it's indefensible. Team needs to get it together.

Next is snowboarding, men's parallel giant slalom. Jasey Jay Anderson of Canada, Austrian Benjamin Karl. Austrian wins the first race, .76 ahead; smooth, calm. France and Russia fight for bronze, Russian was supposed to start second, he tried to go too early, hit the gate. Frenchie coasts, takes bronze.

Karl extending his lead up top, Canadian making up time on the bottom, Karl messes up, missing a gate; and Canadian wins gold with an aggressive race.

Figure skating gala's tv part starts with Joannie Rochette in purple skating to Celine Dion's "Vole," (Fly) in French of course. Things can be cheesy yet still affecting, and this is. This is gonna be the top download in Canada tonight; maybe the U.S. too. There is power and grace in her voice in French that comes across as trite in English. You always wish we could see this type of exuberant performance in competition; we came close this year.

Yevgeny Plushenko next, "Je Suis Malade," in black. Let's see how many quads he tosses in. Was gonna do one to start, think he tripled it. Then nails another triple axel, then a third. I think it'd be funny if someone who got silvered one year did the winner's program, but better. He's literally throwing a fit out there, funny to watch, winds up crouched in a ball on the ice.

Back to bobsled, third heat, as we start 9 pm EST. U.S. up first, not a great start time though. 51.19, slower than yesterday, announcers say the track's slower. Well, we'll see. Relatively clean run.

Canada 1 next, slower up top, losing even more time; something's happened to the track; they finish in second, loses a bit of time overall. Germany 1, driver who's never lost in the Olympics. Very smooth, but stays in third. U.S. needs to not crash, and it's won gold.

Switzerland next, not a great start, losing a lot of time, finishes fourth still. Germany 2, they look and sound very smooth; and he moves up into fourth. Canada 2 moves up into fifth, Switzerland keeps getting pushed down. Wonder how come none of the Asian carmakers have gotten into bobsled, could totally change the sport. Germany 3, kindof a ragged piling into the sled. Bumpy ride, all over the place; into seventh. Steve Holcomb and his team are in position for gold, just no crashes!

Now, U.S. vs. Canada for speedskating team pursuit gold. Three skaters, eight laps, 3200M. Dan Hicks and Dan Jansen. Chad Hedrick leads the team, Brian Hansen and Jonathan Kuck. Canadians look very smooth. Hedrick not at full strength, U.S. is behind so far. U.S. just .39 behind, Chad's tongue out as always. .29 behind now. .58 now, U.S. looking pretty ragged, Hedrick in third. .35. .26 as we hit thfe final lap! Canada still looking in good synch -- and they win, by .20! Wow.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White, he's in jeans, she in a blue dress, in a slowed-down version of Billie Jean -- David Cook's version! It's a great choice, fits their style. They look exactly like what they are, two kids having the time of their lives. "I love everything they do," Scott says.

Kim Yu-Na, in a gray dress. Going home to meet her president after this. To Massine's "Meditations," she's swan-like, and flows. The difference between art and sport is the difference between this gala and the rest of the Olympics. Moves might be the same, even better in some cases -- but what's at stake and the goal are opposite, which gives it a wholly different feel. She's got the whole world in her hands; will be interesting to see what she does with it. "Truly a gift," says Scott. "She's everything a champion should be," says Sandra.

Back to men's slalom, Americans missing all the fun. Kostelic's second run, seizes the lead with an inspired run, sis and crowd go nuts. Tomba on scene, looks pretty much the same. Razzoli gets going, shredding the course, .16 in front to grab gold, bloated Tomba bellows his approval. Andre Myhrer of Sweden takes bronze.

Razzoli seems humble, "it's not possible to do like Alberto, but this is my little bit."

Evan Lysacek, in a tux, of course. "Rhapsody in Blue," which won him worlds. Scott says Evan told him he picked this routine because he felt "it was the date that brung me to the dance." So much in that one quote about Evan! Classy, traditional guy, Gregory Peck to Plushenko's James Dean. His willingness to do a hard program here is "an example of his respect for skating, his title, and the audience," Sandra says.

I'm telling you, between them Scott and Sandra are one of the greatest announcing pairs ever, they're totally appropriate and insightful and honest.

Just past 10 pm, and it's bobsleigh time. Or bobsled. Hmmm, Holcomb has an eye disease, in 2008 thought it'd force him to retire. Had an experimental surgery, essentially an artificial lens inserted in his eye. Made his driving worse for a while, he was trying too much rather than going by feel. Seems like a really interesting, thoughtful guy, not at all how I'd seen him.

Switzerland up first, they always win a medal in these 'sliding sports,' in danger of missing out here. 1964 the last time it happened. Into first, for now. Ha, U.S. and Canadians riding back up the hill inside a truck together.

Canada 2 next, doing well up top, a bit shakier in the bottom; into first, for now. Swiss looking worried, then disgusted. They show 1948, last time the U.S. won gold in this event, they all look normal. Germany 2, a bit criss-cross in the middle, .02 into first.

Germany 1, run by legend Andre Lange. Great start, four golds for him. Gaining speed, textbook run so far, blistering fast, .74 lead. Canada 1 next, as Andre soaks in the applause. Good start, but losing some time. Hmmm; into third, by .01, Germans go nuts.

Holcomb wearing a black hood over his head, hadn't seen this before. Getting the sled ready, wipes the sled with the hood. Good start, have a half second to play with; losing a bit of time, but so far, so good; cruising -- and the gold drought is over! USA! USA! 3:24:26, by .37 over Germany! Yeah! Team celebrates, crowd goes wild, Holcomb is just proud.

Afterwards he says this takes the program to the next level, whole team seems like a bunch of good guys. They get Holcomb to do the "Hokie dance," a shuffling of his feet basically, it's pretty funny.

U.S. has 36 medals overall, Canada has 13 gold medals, both tying the records. U.S. will break the record tomorrow, hopefully Canada doesn't. Very serious during the national anthem, Holcomb's obviously feeling strong emotions, at the end huge grins for all of them -- and the Canadian next to them seems pretty thrilled too, the one non-white guy on the podium.

Back to skating; Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, he's wearing a Canadian hockey jersey, she's in a little black cocktail dress. Playing a hockey player mocking the figure skater. It's pretty well-done, they have good chemistry. Part two is to, "Everybody Dance Now." Fun, if somehow lacking something. "Hard to believe they're this great, this young" Scott says. Not in the league of Torvill and Dean and the Russians, in my view.

Speed skating and cross-country skiing

2010-02-27T14:36:00.010-05:00

It's marathon Saturday at the Olympics, with women's team pursuit speed skating and women's cross-country skiing. The two top announcing tandems are in action as well -- Al Trautwig and Chad Salmela, and Dan Hicks and Dan Jansen.

U.S. women lost to Germany in the pursuit, Germans were up the whole way but their third skater got really tired, fell, and literally swam across the finish line, .2 seconds ahead of the U.S. Americans now go for bronze against Poland.

In 30K skiing, favored Polish and Norwegian skiers are 1-2, 3 miles to go. Norway's men's team has kindof flamed-out here, up to the women to pull through. 1.9 second lead for Norwegian at the moment, Bjoergen; Kowalczyk just drafting off her, both deliberate, neither all-out yet. "Out in the woods, it's just the two of them," Al says.

Seems like the bigger Pole is just biding her time. Saarnen of Finland was in a dogfight for third, stopped to change her skis, made up the time and is now pulling away.

Less than a mile away, Pole has now pulled in front, starting to sprint, she looks determined and in good shape, Norwegian looks desperate, she already has three golds and a bronze!

Total sprint at the finish, Norwegian is closing the gap, Pol still in front, Norwgian pulls past, side-by-side, total photo finish, but the Pole wins, Norwegian changed her stroke at the last moment, but wasn't enough. First ever-Polish woman to win gold! Kowalczyk, by .3! Sarrinen finishes third, about a minute behind. Wow!

American, who's a sprint specialist, finishes 24th. They show the skis of first and second crossing the line, it's starkly beautiful; white background, first one set then another set of red skis silently cross.

55 women started the marathon race; NBC stays with it, we watch the final ones power across the lines. Bjoergen totally carried the Norwegians, she had five medals, the rest of the team eight.

Hmmm, Americans both lost in snowboard parallel giant slalom, too bad.

Tom Brokaw does a long special report on the people of Gander, Newfoundland and how on 9/11 more than hundred planes were forced to land there, bringing 6,000 people to a town of under 10,000. It's an emotional, well-crafted piece; the best of people on one of the worst of days.

Back to speed skating, U.S. vs. Poland for bronze. Two huge Polish women, one small one. Poles keeping it close over the favored Americans. U.S. stretching out their lead a little, adding slightly to it each lap. Small Pole looks to be weakening; third American though falling waaaay back, Poles staying tight -- and the U.S. loses, ugh; all three Poles cross before even two Americans.

Germans vs. Japan for gold now. Japan all in gold, look like a machine, totally in synch. Germans bigger, bit more gangly. 2 laps left, Japan's lead is growing, nearly 2 seconds. Hmmmm, this would be a pretty big upset. Last lap, lead shrinking, still over a second... wow, Germans win by .03! Huge final lap.

Apolo Ohno, Lindsey Vonn and bobsled

2010-02-26T20:12:00.023-05:00

It's gonnna be Apolo Anton Ohno and Lindsey Vonn's nights, but they start with a boastful four-man USA 1 bobsled's first heat, blue-collarish driver says they wanna go fast right away to intimidate some people. You mean the two-time gold medalist Germans? All the other teams in an Olympic sport the U.S. traditionally flops in? Sheesh, holy Olympic spirit!

Wonder if they're gonna mention the domestic violence charge against the third U.S. team....

U.S. goes down fast, sets a track record; snow starts to fall afterwards which will slow the course. Russians wind up going, crash; one of the favorites out early. Canadians in second, three German sleds after that.

Wow, real intimidated.

Lindsey Vonn, broken finger and all, ready for the slalom, they illustrate all the parjavascript:void(0)ts of her body she's injured recently. A real competitor, I like her; switches to a mitten instead of a glove for today.

First off a Czech skiier, Zahrobska; fun event to watch. Susanne Riesch, younger sis of Linsdey's friend Marie; into second. They profile the friendship, how Lindsey spends Christmas with her in Germany; pretty cool, "fierce competitors and dear friends," from juniors.

Maria next, commentator likes how she skiis like a slinky, so contained; into first, unbecoming gray pants and all.

Marlies Schild of Austria next, few years ago won 7 of 9 slaloms, then a big injury; big turns though, into third.

Vonn misses a gate early, and her Olympics are over. She says after she's happy with her gold and bronze, her personality is to go for it.....

500M men's short track
Ohno, in his own words, compares short track to being on a motorcycle with other bikes inside a rink and trying to make constant tight turns. They replay his 500 in Torino, which he calls the perfect race. Look on his face at the end is of pure joy.

Canada's Charles Hamelin up in the first quarters, with 18-year-old American Simon Cho... who fails to make it out, Canadian and the South Korean too strong. They analyze Ohno's body position, what makes him so strong; good analysis, funny it's coming on the next-to-last night.

Oooh, Ohno in last coming out of the first turn; a crash, Ohno literally jumps over it, he's just easily through but wants first, gets second. Next quarters, the South Korean makes a great pass, but the Canadian comes back to nip him.

The world-record holder in this event couldn't even quality out of his own team, another South Korean -- who's friends with an American skater and yawns before his race ala Ohno -- is up next. Man, Canada's third skater is doing well too; tight race, South Korean winds up qualifying behind the Canadian.

Women's 1000M quarterfinals short track
Dutch skater false-starts, people in the crowd keep getting shushed. South Korean gets to the front, just cruises, Canadian follows behind her.

Hmmm, they show the long-time Australian short track ref Jim Hewish in the stands, he got death threats after DQing the South Korean women's team the other day. Some South Korean fans really are amazingly ugly when it comes to short track racing, like soccer hooligans.

Next quarters, Chinese woman controls it from the get-go pretty easily, Canadian in too. American next, Katherine Reutter, from Bonnie Blair's high school. Funny how personal elite athletics can be. 5 skaters in this one, gonna be a zoo. In second behind the South Korean, announcer says she panics a bit if she's in the back. They pull away from the pack, Reutter into first easily, and wins.

Last quarter, Wang Meng of China becomes most-decorated female short tracker if she gets a medal, six. Australian in a crazy camouflage green spidey outfit; Wang and she advance.

Speed skating team pursuit, Americans are Chad Hedrick and two kids against the hugely-favored Dutch -- and Shani Davis elected not to skate. Interesting event, you race with your two teammates in a row against the other team, take turns being breaking the way.

Wow, last lap, U.S. looking ragged but going for it, lead just over half-a-second, and they upset the Dutch!!! Wow, that's insane. Wonder why Shani didn't skate, the Dutch superstar, same one whose coach cost him a medal, yelling at him afterwards.

Back to Ohno's semifinals. That was exciting. Apolo's dad says it's gonna be just like a final, tough competition from two South Koreans; he's gotta start 4th too.

Canadian Charles Hamelin in the first semi, his girlfriend won a medal earlier. He looks like a lumberjack. Two Canadians in this one, Olivier Jean too. Canada now 1-2, South Korean in third; then at the end the South Korean takes advantage of a "massive" mistake by Jean to sneak in and grab second, Canadian may have kicked a block, skated wide....

They do a feature on Apolo and the South Koreans, he says they've been at the forefront of training for many years. He's very honest and up-front about how hard they work, it's cool. Starts third off the first turn, wow, what an amazing race, skater in front of Apolo wipes out, he goes around, then at the end accelerates and wins. Has that look of glee when he's competing that the best athletes always do.

Back to women's semis, Canadian and Zhou Yong. She and South Korean are 1-2, controlling the race, and they just pull away easily, crowd response is tepid. Second semis, Reutter and Wang. Third false start, you have to be still when the gun goes off. Reutter gets in front, Wang right behind her, then gets passed, announcer keeps saying she needs to pass back but isn't able to. Weird race, never seem to be all-out, Reutter able to fight off the Canadian at the end.

Joannie Rochette interview is next; hmmm, no interview with the actual champ, Kim Yu-Na? It's a great interview though, Bob Costas gives her the time and space to speak, he's a total pro. She's authentic and it's totally touching when she talks about her dad, and how they're going to cope afterwards, together. She says at the end her mom wanted her to learn English, forced her to "watch Scooby-Doo in English." What a great interview.

They should take a tape of this and show it to every TV sports executive -- this is why you hire the Bob Costases, this is the difference between a journalist and a talking head.

Short Track 'B' finals up, the two South Korean and a Brit and a German. Whoah, the one of the Koreans might be hurt or something, not really racing. Other Korean wins; weird, first guy may have just been saving himself for the relay, in which case that's not cool.

And now... the main event we've all been waiting for tonight. I remember this being the single most exciting moment four years ago; Apolo starts in third, two Canadians in one position and four, South Korean in two. Whoah, he's by himself won 7 of the U.S.' 10 short track medals ever!

Here it is, baby, the big moment. Crowd roars, quiets down gradually. Oooh, starts fourth.... Not a great race, he's in fourth the entire time. Oh no, he might be penalized, he finishes second, but it looks like he pushed a Canadian guy down, South Korean guy goes down on his own. Canadian Hamelin wins, crowd is going crazy. What a wild finish. Oh, and the Canadian guy who won looks like he pushed the South Korean a little!

Oh no, Ohno is disqualified, Canada gets gold and bronze. Ugh. They call Ohno's, but not Hamelin's?! That's stupid.

Back to women's slalom, Schlepper up; does her trademark lion's roar, in 9th. She doesn't ski with abandon, then gets in trouble toward the bottom and is pretty much out of it. "Oh, Schlepp..." says Vonna at the bottom, it apparently was a spot her coach had specifically warned her about.

Whoo, in an interview afterwards Ohno says he didn't think he should've been DQed, says the ref was Canadian, but adds with a smile he needed to have been faster. He's really good; gets his point across without looking like a jerk.

Riesch sis the younger, just motoring down the course, and misses a gate, is out right near the end. Vonn's reaction is priceless, a shriek, and "Susieeeee." She's sobbing on the snow.

Man, Schild up, just attacking, announcer has a good line, "her legs are at a rock concert and her upper body's at the opera." Nice, into first by almost a second, a really nice race.

Two racers left, Zahrobska first, Tim Ryan's partner really is very informative. Losing speed, oddly looks very slow, like she's tired. Into second, celebrates. Maria up last, Lindsey cheering her on, along with her folks. She is silky smooth, just looks better; a bit of trouble, pulls it back; and she wins! .43 seconds, fall to the ground in ecstasy, family goes nuts, and where's Lindsey?! Odd, NBC doesn't show her until well after, she's just clapping at the point. A screw-up. If you're gonna build up the friendship, you need to show that moment. No replay, either. Big, long hug between them a the end, two elite competitors sharing a great moment.

She says afterwards she normally "can't do this good" under these conditions. Then a huge hug for her crying sister afterwards; will be interesting to watch them in Sochi.

Women's 1000M short track finals, Reutter going for gold; U.S. hasn't won an individual women's medal in short track since 1994. Two great Chinese skaters; no country's ever swept all four short track events in the same Games, China trying to make history. And a South Korean. Reutter really being agressive, in fourth halfway through, then moves into second, second Chinese well back. In second, last lap, South Korean coming, Reutter finishes second! Even had a shot at the very end, but Wang Mang just too great, now most-decorated female ever. Reutter is totally in tears with flag, Chinese proud with their flag too.

And now, the men's 5000M relay final, 20 minutes after the 500M final. All the heavyweights -- U.S., South Korea, Canada, China, and then France. Extra team out there, gonna be crazy. J.R. Ceslki, Travis Jayner and Jordan Malone, with Apolo the anchor. U.S. starts last though, a million laps in this thing to move up.

Getting exciting, Koreans trying to move up, U.S. a bit farther back now, off top three. 25 laps to go. This is totally exciting. France now far back; Canada moves back out front, China, Koreans, U.S. We're consistently off the top three. Canada is really stretching it out, U.S. gap is increasing. 3 laps left, let's see what Ohno does, final 2 laps. Canada wins, Koreans second, U.S. gets bronze. 8th medal for Ohno.

Our 34th medal of the games, ties most-ever for us; Canada now has 10 golds, two more than us. We're guaranteed two more medals tomorrow, in speedskating pursuit and hockey, so we'll tie Germany's record of 36 medals in one games (Salt Lake) and with Bode Miller skiing and the bobsled guys going, could break it.

Back to bobsled to finish the night, U.S. sled #2. Still no mention of domestic violence. Oooh, sled crashes, it's over for them. Everyone seems okay.

Germany 2, decent run, second to Switzerland. Germany 1 now, sets a start record. They're so smooth, clean lines. Oooh, hits the wall a bit, recovers, decent run. Canada 1 next, currently in second. Not a great run, moving around quite a bit; Germans almost crashed though so they don't make that mistake, in first.

USA 1 finishes out the night. Good start, looks pretty clean; smoking fast, .40 ahead, with another track record. Nice; good racing by Steve Holcomb.

Bob Costas returns to talk about the medals table again, adding that the U.S. has a shot at the overall record. I forgot that the U.S. women's speedskaters also have a shot at a medal, in the team pursuit semis after a huge upset of Canada.

NBC closes with a tribute to Ohno through the years, it's awesome, holds up 8 with the relay team, then hugs his dad.

Ladies figure skating; and Nordic combined

2010-02-25T20:17:00.018-05:00

Nordic Combined, Large Hill
Big night for NBC with the ladies figure skating long program, so they start with a Turkish skater to get us in the mood, then of course kicks to Nordic Combined. U.S. has broken its historic record of futility in this discipline at this Olympics, oddly they don't recap the Americans for us at the start.

Todd Lodwick third up, an okay jump. Bill Demong next, the wind's too much in his favor, so he's gotta wait more. Back from break, Demong did fine; weather's really playing a role, getting worse for the best in the world. Americans among top ten as we go to the 10K cross-country race, entirely due to the luck of the draw in this case.

Women's Giant Slalom NBC's playing up Julia Mancuso's drama tale, which I'm sick of already -- she had to halt her run after teammate Lindsey Vonn crashed ahead of her, which is something that happens. She was fading and losing time even before the restart.

Second of two runs, she's going after it early, dedicated the race to a friend who died last night. Commentator says she hasn't seen this kind of skiing from her in a couple of years -- yup, that's why it was no biggie that she had to restart yesterday.

Sarah Schleper of the U.S. next, 4th team, became a mother in between; pays her own way along with her kid and husband, live in Austria during the season to save costs -- what a better story, unfortunately only in fourth, Julia in first....

As the better skiers come up, Mancuso gest pushed down; Suter, Rebensburg, then Elisabeth Goergl of Austria, who like the Austrian team always does is just going all out. Trailing the German Rebensburg at the top, Tim Ryan's not a great announcer, gives us little additional information -- and she's into third, he finds out as we do. Julia's winds up 8th, they show her crying again, go over again her two runs yesterday, dance around the obvious, she wasn't fast enough to win or medal either way. I really hate these manufactured U.S. dramas NBC specializes in, there are so many genuine stories -- do a follow-up on the Dutch speedskater whose coach's cost him not just a gold, but a world record on a notoriously slow course no less!

Canadian woman beat the U.S., again, for gold in hockey, NBC tells us, as they go back to figure skating.

After a while, back to Nordic Combined. Spillane, Demong and an Austrian way out in front with less than a kilometer to go, U.S. is ready to make history and win its first gold in this thing. Demong takes off, Spillane follows, and they're just exploding, Gruber left behind. Wow! Demong is just destroying the other two, here comes Spillane though. USA! USA! Demong is gonna do it; Spillane few seconds behind, and we're gold and silver! Drought is over, Spillane's 3rd silver in the 3 Nordic events. No Norwegians in sight.

Al Trautwig is, as ever, letter-perfect with the call; partner Chad Salmela is appropriately informative, they might be my favorite announcers at the games. What a great moment, glad NBC showcased it, 10:42 pm EST.

Olympics' crowning moment: Ladies figure skatingUnbelievable storylines in this one, building on an epic short program. U.S. has a looong medals streak in this event dating back to the 60s, may be snapped tonight.

Racheal Flatts was actually up late last night doing homework; how awesome. Everyone looks good in warmups, Scott tells us; this is gonna be one of those nights where multiple people will skate gold-worthy performances, I think.

Flatts up first, in road, looks very young -- but so did Tara Lipinski.... Nails her first jump, then her next two; totally nails her triple lutz, and she's past her toughest jump Scott tells us. Big smile, looks a bit clunky still and doesn't have the speed of the top, all too clearly choreographed and telegraphed. But she's clean so far; great music choice, she's just exulting, is landing her jumps so cleanly, big and effortless; "she is really doing it" says Sandra, nails her last jump.

Man, judges are going to have to leave room, but what a great start! Crowd goes wild, she's totally gleeful, and man, this is gonna be great.... Oooh, a low score, 117.85, only into second; Scott says the judge in charge of determining whether she made full rotations and things like that is being strict.

Miki Ando of Japan, in a garish green Egyptianish outfit, being Cleopatra. Lots of arm movements and stuff; doubles a triple to start, she just looks nervous and stiff. Hitting the jumps though. Nice long lines; not crazy about her for whatever reason, a bit self-indulgent as Simon Cowell would say. Easily hitting jumps though; second part is like more Indianish, she's just mixing everything. Scott says slow, not her usual energy; Sandra says not engaged in it, just going through the motions.

I think she was just petrified, at the end it's pure relief for her, and then a huge smile. Feel bad for her.... "Didn't feel an attack," says Scott. Jumps into first, though.

Kim Yu-Na on the ice for warm-up, Scott says his heart just started beating faster. In classic blue, has a regal look to her; coached by Canadian Brian Orser. She's seductive as hell, looks right at you. Hits her opening triples, next jump, piano music in the background, nice easy jumps, big smiles, and we're off! She looks so delicate and fragile, but is totally determined and precise. Feels like she's skating for us, hits her hardest combination, then vamps it up a bit. Just cruising now, having fun; this is a gold-worthy performance.

"Oh my goodness, this is glorious, it's one of the greatest Olympic performances I have ever seen," Sandra bursts out with right before she ends. She's so seductive, is smiling and in tears, crowd goes wild. "Wonderful combination of shyness with this fire, this competitive ability," says Sandra. They play up the Orser angle a bit, as if this is his gold medal.

Still gasping over in the kiss and cry, Sandra likes how during the performance she took moments to look into the crowd, feel the music; and... 150.06, destroying the old record, as Scott had said, "they're going to be huge."

Mao Asada up next, in red top and black skirt. Building's still abuzz of course. Could be epic.... Oooooh, very martial music; nails a triple axel, making history as the first woman to hit two in one competition; then nails another, Scott's shouting. Man, what a shoot-out.... She is powerful, totally fits the music, in some ways this is even more moving than Kim's. She's totally like a warrior; crowd is just roaring. Music is stirring, slight fumble on one of the jumps, but no mater, then a couple totally random errors on easy transitions. "What she has done is extraordinary," Sandra says. Fire and ice tonight, looks like ice has won, but man, fire rocked.

Big smile for her, not a huge ovation, actually, which is odd. Into second, but pretty far behind, of course. Next, Joannie Rochette, the Canadian who skated a day after her mom died. In turquoise; she's fighting for bronze, but what a story. Nails her openings; man, none of these final women have missed a jump! Then, she does, a step out. Nails her next one then; huge applause from the crowd. Another bobble, no fairy tale here but a great skate nevertheless.

Just a huge ovation for her at the end, Scott's choking up, breaks off mid-sentence a few times. Stays in third place, pretty darn close to silver, which is a bit ridiculous, but oh well.

16-year-old Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. closes the evening, to Carmen in red and black. Gets right to it, nice and easy jumps, Scott's chuckling and off we go again, it's really been an unbelievable night already. My god, huge jumps and great landings. Hmmmm.... Looks like such a composed pro, just wiped all that other stuff away. Amaaaazing spin has the crowd into it; she is gonna be great, and tonight is already world-class. Totally elegant and fearless, a natural. Looks like she's really enjoying her night, her jumps are just effortless. Man, she's won the crowd too. This is the definition of crowd-pleasing; huge smile at the end, crowd goes wild, and man, I think she deserves bronze!!!

She was in sixth coming in, so it'd have to be quite a jump; but that was the third-best program we saw tonight. Sandra says her program wasn't as sophisticated as the Canadians', or the depth; prob true, but that she's even in the discussion... and sure enough, she finishes fourth just two points back, is thrilled, as Scott says, everybody's happy.

Yeah, not sure when we've ever seen such an excellent night of skating; everyone did great, it was totally thrilling.

Great medal ceremony even; Kim has a plastic face like Audrey Hepburn, she's effortlessly charming. Tom Hammond in particular likes to keep talking about Asian athletes as feeling pressure and relief when they win; it's just as bad as talking about the natural skills of black athletes all the time, a bit silly.

Kim does look like the queen, like it's her natural place to be at the top of the podium. Confident but also gracious, she just keeps smiling. What a huge Olympics for the South Koreans, their first-ever medal in figure skating is the most important one there is. And she's just 19.... Looks very cat-like, singing along to her anthem, tearing up at the end but fiercely proud.

Back to back champs from Asia now; shifting of the guard, for sure. Wow, Hammond claims Joannie stole our hearts, but Kim won -- oh, really? Whose hearts? Joannie's story was great, but ultimately, I think everyone who watched tonight remember Kim and Asada.

Medals update: U.S. has 32, Germany 26, Norway 19. Most we ever had was 34 in Salt Lake; only time we ever topped the medals race was 1932!

Snowboarding, women's skiing, speedskating and short track

2010-02-17T20:00:00.011-05:00

Big Olympics night for NBC; Shaun White, Lindsay Vaughn, Shandi Davis, Apolo Anton Ohno... one of these things doesn't belong. Unfortunately, yet another delay for speedskating due to ice conditions for Davis.

Shows his qualifying run, he's not going all out but gets 45.8 out of a possible 50, the announcers, who are not professional in any way, are stoked. Next, Louie Vito, who bobbled his first try, rips off a nice second try; he's a small guy, like Shaun seemingly addicted to texting, 41.8, announcers are shouting. Jeez. Shaun's second run, messing around, bobbles and goes down, kicks it back in.

Back with speedskating, men's 1,000M, NBC having some audio problems so it's actually a nice first minute, just nat sound as an American and a Dutch get ready to skate. Alas, goes away all too soon....

Chad Hedrick, who won big in Torino, up against Mo Tae-Bum, one of the new stars here. Man, Mo is totally powerful at the start, looks totally loose and relaxed. Told the media after his 500M win, "I like scary stuff. I like dares." So smooth, focused; has a good look to him, but his speed is dropping, Chad is making up some time; 1-2 at the moment, good race for Mo. 1:09.12 time to beat.

Canadian versus Dutch; Shani has an apartment here, apparently, part of his unorthodox training methods -- he does it all on his own. Favored to win his second straight gold, getting comfortable with the venue seems pretty smart to me.

Shani warming up, looks totally thin, not super-muscular; he apparently gave Mo some advice the other day, he's well-respected and well-liked on the circuit. "Great natural talent," says the announcer, first time I've heard that said of anyone here. Hmm, also the first black competitor I've seen.... Mun Joon, another Korean, matched with him, doesn't seem like a threat. Based on the time they're airing this, I think Shani takes silver; but based on his rep, we're expecting gold. 8:40 EST.

He's almost running out there, totaly different than everyone else; on a good pace Dan says, looks a lot bigger on the ice. And he's totally focused. Barely behind, now on pace, now we'll see -- and he wins gold! Again!!!!! Awesome! Chad Hedrick gets bronze, nice; gold/silver/bronze in Torino too! Huge smile, 18/100s faster than Mo. 1:08.94.

Shaping up to be a huge night for the U.S.; Germany went past us in the overall medals total with 4 yesterday, we've got 2 already, with 3 more events to go.

Wow, bunch of urban kids in DC skate center thrilled watching Shani, it's fun to watch.

Short track now, Travis Jayner in the first qualifying heat, born to American parents in Canada, adopted by a club in Midland Michigan. Smooth inside pass, from third to first, cruising now, the Chinese competitor right behind him. Chinese guy passes him, Travis stumbles, Jayner finishes third! Lack of concentration says the analyst, somehow the British guy advances. Ugh.

Apolo's heat, hanging out in third for a while. 1000M. passes on the outside, into second, Chinese guy ahead, moves into first, just qualifies easily. What a pro, final 16 for the Saturday night race.

J.R. Celski's heat, with the Korean who won Saturday and talked trash against Apolo Ohno. He's trapped in back, moves to third, trying to get past, does at the last minute, qualifies; wow.

Men's figure skating short program

2010-02-16T22:35:00.011-05:00

10:30 -- Men's short program

Watched "American Idol" most of tonight, but back with the Olympics for the duration. Poor Brian Joubert of France, failed on his quad event, spiraled into a horrible program, just in 10th place now.

Daisuke Takahashi next; rocking out in patterned red top and black pants, just powering through his jumps. Somehow not quite connecting with the crowd, his facial expressions are a bit self-indulgent, as Simon would say. But well-choreographed, and well-executed.

Next, Italian who dresses up as a country boy in overalls and all, he looks ridiculous, this isn't what an Olympic champion looks like. Sure enough, wipes out early. Music's not great, a weird performance.

And now, the main event -- 19-year-old Canadian Patrick Chan, who had a great interview a bit ago with Mary Carillo (who's one of my favorite journalists), totally down-to-earth and normal, yet charming.

Huuuuuge hand from the crowd, huge smile; he looks totally self-assured on home ice, with some mischief. All black, with sparklies up top. Classical music, covers big ice; hangs on to his opening jump. Nails the next two, fierce concentration on his face. Is just opening it up, great footwork sequences says Scott, "magnificent" quality to his skating. Totally in time to the music, very lithe, whoah, screws up an easier element a bit.

"Not perfect, not his best," says Scott. And finished after the music, which Sandra says could cost him a full point.... And his scores -- decent score, into 5th place.

Johnny Weir, who really is weird, next; black with pink accents. His coach speaks to him in Russian, very intense. Is nailing his judges, Sandra says he calls this program, 'I love you, I hate you,' makes the good point that as zany as he is he's a purist on the ice, his technique is refined. Crowd is into it, he connects in a way a lot of the other skaters don't.

He might be a bit nuts, but as Scott said, "he delivered the goods on the ice." Hmm, into fifth place. Plushenko and Takahashi on top at the moment.

Kevin Van Der Perren next, representing Belgium. Uh, okay; in this crazy skeleton outfit. Again, gimmicks don't win Olympic medals. He gets all set up to jump, doesn't flow. Has good body control though, and the costume is kindof striking. "Lacks finesse," says Scott, "lack of quality" in his sequences. Unlike Patrick. Big smile at the end, as Sandra says, "he's totally pleased with it, just not in the same league as the other men we've seen tonight."

Still, he did the best he could on this night, as Dick Button likes to say.

Thomas Verner of the Czech Republic next, looks like a cocky sailor. Sandra says he has lots of character, to Zorba the Greek, doubles his quad try; falls on his triple axel after that, it's turning into an adventure.

Evan Lysacek of the U.S., reigning world champion, looks like death in black and with a grim face; nursing a left foot injury. His coach looks glum too. Very dramatic, jerky, Johnny Deppish start; Scott says just get past the first jump; nails it. Whoah, almost skates into the wall, really close. His jumps are interesting, really quick, so they don't look like much. He's quite smooth, actually; like an assassin, efficient.

Very long, thin limbs, looks a bit like a spider out there. Timing is good; music is good too. Look of triumph at the end, crowd gives him a nice hand, Sandra is gushing about how hard he's worked to get to this point, he's really happy, letting it out now. Hmmm, last time a reigning world champ won the Olympics -- Scott Hamilton. Nice program; should be a heck of a battle in the long program.

Almost Sampras-like in his quiet intensity. Just sitting there waiting for the scores, a smile sneaks across his face. Seems like a really nice guy, Scott tells all the kids to work the way he does. 90.30, into second behind Pleshenko, his best
short program ever. "That's the way it's done," Scott says. Yeah!

Jeremy Abbott, who beat Evan the last two years at U.S. Nationals, in purple; used to suffer from nerves, new coach has him calmed down. To the Beatles, "A Day in the Life," wow, totally nails his opening combination. Looks nice and relaxed and fluid, totally biffs his big combination, singles it. Doubles his lutz, he's totally fallen apart, Scott and Sandra say, "he's done."

Finishes in 14th, Scott says, "he's so much better than that, so much." Final skater is Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic, in black and white, doing the tired old "Putting on the Ritz" thing, not sure why. Big opening triple axel though.... His jumps are pretty big, but there's not much artistry; such big jumps though.... Hmmm.

He has an interesting quality, it's almost like he's skating for his own perfection, not playing to the crowd; not cold eithe,r just concerned with something different. Big smile and exultation at the end; "another of these 19-year-olds who doesn't know how tough skating is yet." I liked him. Finishes 9th.

Weir in 6th, has a shot at fourth; Plushenko, Lysacek and Takahashi are way out in front.

Pairs figure skating finals, Men's downhill, snowboard cross and speed skating

2010-02-15T20:17:00.024-05:00

11:36 -- Chinese have arrived in figure skatingPang and Tong are up next, both in red, he's got black pants. Nail their first two jumps, and they're off and running, very profession. "To Dream The IMpossible Dream," wonder if their coach is sending a message.... First minute sees three jumps, then a nice lift; crowd is into it, wants to see someone perform well, they're just beaming -- and they're looking at each other!

Such good vibes right now. Castanets, the red fits well, speeding about together. Whoah, a nice lift/spin of her in the air, crowd oohs. Announcers totally silent, a good sign. Back to "Dream" music; coach must be thinking so many things right now. Whoah, huge throw, triple salchow; crowd roars. They're nearing the end; and it's a perfect throw triple loop, and wow, as Sandra says, "now they're savoring this performance." Crowd is roaring even before they finish, final huge lift, and the crowd stands for them, it's great!

"They've waited so long," says Scott. "They have worked so hard for this," says Sandra. Audience is still applauding, he's totally pumped. Start talking about the judges, basically the only thing that can stop them now. He kisses the ice afterwards, they're so happy sitting there. And they're into first!

And now... Shen and Zhao. 18 years together... he's 36, she's 31. They smile at each other beforehand, she's in red, he's in burgundy. Wedding celebration postponed to after the games. Nice artistry right away, they're telling a story. Nail the first jump, huge roar; and they're also looking at each other! Nails the second jumps, not bad on the third by him.

Music is powerful, so are they. Nice lifts, so high and strong. She smiles at him afterwards, now her death spiral. They're totally in synch, nice little trick of hooking each other with their feet. So fast, cover a ton of ice, and she slips on a simple lift, Sandra gasps, "huhhh!" Never seen that type of mistake before. Huge throw; this will be interesting; last throw, she holds on to the landing. Hmmm.... Some mistakes, but will overall strength of the program be enough? I was too nervous for them to really enjoy it as much as the other one; I think it's their time, though. Nice final lift and touch, and the crowd roars for them, too. "Knowing them, you want it for them," says Scott, perfectly.

Well, that's why you build a lead -- five points -- and a reputation. I think they'll win gold in their fourth Olympics. Sandra says there were lots of little errors.... Scott says they've been unbeaten all season. Yao Bin sits with them, an unimaginable moment for them. Sandra says the program was a little bit off, all the way through, loss of concentration on the basic lift. And they win gold, easily; with their best score of the season. They don't know yet, until the announcer says, "currently in first place," then they beam, hug, cry. Wow!

A storybook ending; not the most amazing performance individually, but in totality a great capper, with China going 1-2. He says "thank you" to the camera afterwards.

Not even close; Chinese 216 and 213 points, Germans 210 for bronze, Russians 194. Wow. Yao Bin has a look of "quiet compassion" about him backstage, as Dick Button says. Inside he's got to be ecstatic; to go from being laughed at, to gold and silver at the Olympics.

World changes.

Final hour -- all pairs figure skating Medal count, U.S. has eight to be well out in front, but Switzerland has three golds to our two. Dick Button is talking about the Chinese skaters, he really appreciates the great skating they're giving us. He kindof rambles a bit, but he knows a lot of stuff, so always worth listening. Until it's time to go to the rink....

Yuko Kavaguti and Smirnov first, Sandra tells us they were on fire in practice today. Both Yuko and Tamara have iron wills, Sandra tells us. She's in red, he's in gray. They emote joy, classical piece. She touches down on the first throw, not sure if it was a triple or a quad. Nails the second side-by-side jump; they're pretty fast, but not heavy at all. Total unison on their spins; not much of a sense of a couple, they just need to look at each other, you okay, I'm okay, kind of thing.

He steps out on the second part's first jump, just kindof a random thing. Danube Waltz, a mistake, so trite and expected; then he throws her and she falls, takes a second to get back into it. Their run of 12 straight Olympic pairs titles is over. Sandra says "they're like in shock, not prepared for a performance like this at all." Heh, heh, wait until their coach sees them.... Big finish, just pointless at this point. "Fine line between wanting it and wanting it too much, squeezing it too hard," Sandra says, they should've just trusted in themselves. It's what happens when you know your best may not be enough to win.

Yuko looks depressed in the kiss and cry, they're in first for now but are likely to not even win a medal. "Way below what they're capable of doing, obviously," says Scott.

Savchenko/Szolkowy of Germany, he's black by the way. Rough warmup, says Scott. She's in white, he's in white and burgundy pants. Start with backs to each other, then skate together. If they don't fall, they have a shot; side-by-side is tough for them, they nail it; she doubles the second one, but it's behind them now; huuuuge throw. Hmmm... Oh, he just randomly falls on their next jump, didn't seem that hard. All the artistry and chemistry in the world won't make up for that. Their lifts are pretty great though; music is really nice as well. They finish well, Scott says this helps them shake off a horrible season, which he says "was a nightmare covered in molasses."

In first, for the moment; may finish third though.... They look pretty darn grim.

11:00 -- Top pairs skaters up, Men's snowboard crossU.S. must've done well here for them to showcase it at 11, I smell gold and silver?! Seth Wescott and Nate Holland; Seth almost messed it up in qualifiers, spun around at some point.

USA! USA! Funny how they're just wearing jeans. Canadian out early, but Holland pushing the Canadian around. Oh, Nate spins out, back in it. Seth now in second, Canadian seems pretty far out front though, Seth making his move, now totally passes him, and just waxes him -- whooo!!!!! Wins gold again, a great run. Second gold of the Games for the U.S. Teammates and coaches come out to congratulate him. Really a veteran race by Seth, came out of last. Teammate Watanabe hugs him to the ground.

They interview Lindsey Jacobellis, who showboated and fell four years ago, settling for silver. She's talked about this a million times, "this is not the face of someone who won a silver medal, this is the face of someone who lost gold." She's pretty stand-up about the whole thing, then and now.

Here's what I wrote four years ago; glad to see her back with a chance at redemption. Although, really, that's life -- when you're young you do stupid things, but if you didn't, you might not be in position to compete at the Olympics.

Like last night, they go straight into finals. Also like last night, timing bodes pretty well for American. Swiss, Canadian 1, Canadian 2, Lindsey--in the bad last position where nobody's won yet. Will announcers mention that? Nope. Pretty tense here.

Gets out a bit slower than others, totally aggressive, she's into first! So close, wow. Whoah, more contact--Lindsey's way out front, other rider; total crash! She's gonna win, easily, wow, this is a lot of fun. Only 2 riders on the course right now. Oh she falls, no way! On the home stretch, unbelievable, in sight of the finish line. Announcers are in shock, she is too. Still gets silver... Swiss rider Tanja Frieden wins. Announcers say she may have fallen on an unnecessary showboat trick. Oh well, that's sports.

Nice replay, show one Canadian climbing back onto course to get bronze; ooh, other one getting medical attention. Wow, she's being taken off on a sled, all immobilized.

She claims she tried to stabilize, but it didn't work. Seems okay in post-race interview, at least talks about it. Feel bad for her; oh well, she'll be back in Vancouver. Funny shot at end, Wescott celebrating, cause his girlfriend won.

Announcer admits he'd probably have done same stylish move, but it costs Lindsey.

9:26 -- Snowboard Cross Semis
Seth and Nate versus the Austrians. They have this cool camera on their helmets; U.S. 2nd and 3rd at the moment, Nate farther out, now the leader Austrian goes down, Americans 1-2, they're just cruising, finish 1-2. Nice!

Second semi has two Canadians, a German and a Frenchie. it's really fun watching these races, they have a good head-to-head format. German and Canadian go down, now one of the Canadians way out in front, and the Frenchie finishes second.

Meanwhile, a delay at the speedskating oval for the men's 500M, none of the three machines could do a good enough job laying down the ice. An hour delay... sheesh. Coaches are pretty irate, surface is too rough. Dan Jansen said "quite frankly it was an embarrassing situation, the athletes prepare their whole lives for this, the crews need to do the same." Shani Davis of the U.S. is shown briefly, he's not expected to do anything at this distance and didn't in the first heat; withdraws from his second heat. Hmmm, not good all around.

Second American pair, Evora and Ladwig, in turquoise (again, I think). Again, she seems to be having a ball, it makes her likeable, albeit not a contender's look. I liked the other Americans' program better, but they were enjoyable too. Great scores, by far the best they've ever gotten, into first for now....

A Russian pair up, Vera Barizova and Yuri Larionov; he's in gray, she's in red. They're really nice together; unfortunately seh falls on a throw. Ah, they're still young, going for 2014. in Russia. Doing all their jumps in the second part, get a bonus but also more tired, so.... She pats the side of her head afterwards; yesterday he was looking all Frodo after falling, today I guess it's her turn. Hmmm, into second; not bad.

Funny, backstage one of the Chinese skaters, Zhao Hongbo, and one of his coaches are throwing a football back and forth. Zhao's got decent form. Back, profiles the Chinese coach, Yao Bin; 1980, world championships, the first time they went abroad, they fell a lot, embarrassing he says. And now -- ha!

He's missed a lot of his family, breaks down crying talking about it. You need people like this to do the near-impossible. He's very patriotic; I like him a lot. Scott says he was there in 1980, we can all learn how to turn life's failures into success.

Next, Canadians, Annabelle Langlois and Cody Hay, Aaron Copland's Grand Canyon Suite; he's in blue, she has pinkish hue on top. She falls on a throw; gets right bak into it. Carrying a decent amount of speed, nice lift, she has a big smile on her face, nails the next throw; they're relaxing a bit. Side-by-side jumps, she hangs on to hers. Sandra says they were tighter here, lack of experience hurt. Looks like they mess up the ending a bit; big hand from the crowd anyway.

They show the disasterous fall in Torino for Dang Zhang/ Hao Zhang, she tore ligaments, yet they got up after a few minutes, and won silver. That was truly amazing; in fifth at the moment, in black. Sheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, great piece of music. They're really fast. Oh, and he falls on his combination near the start; ugh. Very precise after that though, she's playing to the audience a bit. Sortof all for nought....

Amazing that they're the third-best Chinese team; much more muscle than all the other teams to this point, although there's no sense of unity between them. Nice throws late, really impressive; lacks passion or something though. Wonder why more skaters don't have the sense of this is my last time on Olympic ice, doing what I love, let me leave it all out there; they're obviously tired, though. "Lack of elegance, lack of finish," says Sandra, "lack of musicality" says Scott. They're into first with the scores for now, six pairs left, including two Chinese.

Here's what I wrote about them four years ago; note the prescient gauge of the Chinese's strength in four years:

The Chinese arrive
Zhang/Zhang--who will attempt a throw quad sowchow, which has never been landed in competition. Apparently they've made it about half the time in practice. Better uniforms tonight, light whiteish/blue.

The throw is their first move--and wow, she totally falls, hits the ice hard, unable to protect her body. I've never seen anyone fall like this before in competition--oddly enough, Chinese coach is impassive, doesn't rush to their aid like any American coach would've done.

He immediately goes to her aid, and slowly brings her off the ice. And now--it looks like they're going to try and skate again! Announcer asks what happens next... answer is they continue from where they stop, if the referee allows it. And they're going to continue! My gosh.

He's holding her very tenderly; announcer rightly says this isn't about a medal, it's about fulfilling a dream. So they start up again... and do a difficult double axel/triple toe loop!

Wow, a huge throw; then a nice lift. This is amazing. Most people would've given up, and rightly so. But they're not just skating, they're skating well. Almost like nothing happened. They're gonna get one heck of a standing ovation. Talk about the Olympic spirit. And mind over matter. She's a little shaky, but who knows, maybe they'll even get enough points for a medal.

The music is beautiful. Man, ice skating gives you more moments like this than all the other sports combined for some reason. It's one reason why we all love it so.

I'm so glad I don't know what happens here. A little out of unison on their final spins--but who cares. And the standing ovation goes on and on, and the announcers let us soak it up. It's really amazing; especially on replay, which NBC only shows at the end.

The most amazing thing--they get the silver! With their teammates taking bronze, and fourth. The Russians, as they always do, take the gold. Unusually, she tears up. I think the torch has been passed though; the Chinese know they could have won gold here, and the judges do too. The Times notes in its article that landing the jump may have been the only way they could've knocked off the big red machine--in four years, I think the playing surface will be even.

Mukhartova/Trankov, skating to "Love Story," she in red, he in white and black; she falls early, on a side-by-side. So no drama here, either. Wow, he just fliiings her on a throw; effortlessly for him, she fights for the landing. These Rooskies are tough. Cheesy music, but good to skate to. They're not bad; funny, Jami Salé and David Pelletier, who used this music two Olympics ago, are commentators for Canadian TV, they're just sitting there stone-faced afterwards. Not sure why they aren't speaking.

Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison from Canada, "The Way We Were" -- wow, holy cheesy 70s music night, she's in brown, he's in white and brown. They nail their openings, crowd is roaring. But they seem nervous or tentative at the moment, like they're tense, not feeding off the crowd. Oh, and she falls, right after Sandra says "her weakness, the triple salchow." They should loosen up and skate better now that they're out of it. Gorgeous death spiral; odd, they're performing as if they're not a couple; she falls again as he throws her. Ah, chemistry, so elusive but so crucial. They finish up well, good-night Canada; she looks like she's going to cry, Scott likes how they didn't give up this time, unlike in the short program.

Here's what I wrote about them the last time out, note Dick Button was commentating then:

Next, Dube/Davison from Canada, both in black, with silver collars. They look like prom king and queen, she's just 19. Interesting how in pairs the women tend to be older than in individual. Nice jumps to open. Good music. Their hand/arm movements seem so choreographed, though. Nice throw; good side-by-side spins. Surprisingly good performance so far, if they do gaze into each others' eyes a bit much. Hammond says it's her first year in senior competition; this team could be quite good back home in four years. Small bobble on a lift; she seems to be getting tired; then he biffs the final lift--they're young. Bezic notes they really fell apart down the stretch; Button says they'll be worth watching.

9:12 -- Pairs figure skating, free skate
Medal night, with Dennny and Barrett up first, in 14th place; she in purple, he in black. Phantom of the Opera... sheesh. They're doing really well, not my cup of tea, but Scott says their "meteoric rise" is because of their consistency; I like passion and risk more. Sandra says it's another personal best performance, crowd really loves it. Wow, she's just 16; he's 25. She looks older than that. 158.33 points, a good score; she seems super-sweet.

8:00 -- Men's downhill and snowboard-cross
Bode Miller's featured at the start of the night in the men's downhill, I already know the result so am watching to get to pairs figure skating. He seems to have matured; which is good, because previously he was a huge waste of talent. He does win bronze, he's happy too.

After that Mary Carillo does the mandatory report on Churchill, the town in the north where the polar bears live; and then it's the quarters of snowboard-cross. Defending champ Seth Wescott and contender Nate Holland, both Americans, win their matchup against two other pretty easily when one of them fall. It's a fun sport to watch, and in the second quarters two Austrians make it out, one of them in a photo finish.

Speed skating, Moguls -- and Pairs skating

2010-02-14T19:25:00.024-05:00

7:00 pm -- Women's speed skating 3,000M
Big favorite Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic goes off in the first pairing they're showing. With Dan Jansen, one of my favorite commentators, not just because of his epic personal story, but because he really knows his stuff obviously and communicates it to us. Say she has the best ability to skate consistent lap times of all the females he's seen. Paired with Hozumi of Japan.

Blows into the finish, speeds it up, 32:01, Dan goes "wow... what a fantastic last lap." Weirdly, an American is currently in third, but they didn't show her. I know it's early, but why not kick off the coverage with an American?!

Canadian Kristina Groves has a good shot at a medal, paired with a German, Stephanie Beckert, who's a contender. Donald Sutherland hanging out in the stands. Home ice advantage definitely a plus here, but maybe more so in the shorter distances. Dan thinks one of these two could steal the gold. I love watching the times for these things, so far both are slightly below the Czech at the first lap. With three laps left, both have totally fallen off, can visibly see them tiring. The crowd is really carrying her as she comes toward the end, German turns it on, both are speeding it up, Groves is in bronze position.

Ireen Wust of the Netherlands, defending champ; with another German are the final two pairs. Both are ahead of her pace after the first lap, Jansen says a bit of concern for the Czech but not much. Dutch looks really smooth, now she's dying, the German sneaks ahead of her but just into fourth. So Czech, German, Canadian, crowd goes wild; Sablikova does too, goes running out with her flag, pure joy.

7:30 -- Pairs short
They feature the favorites from China, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, who when they started were part of a bad Chinese team that's now a powerhouse, of course. He ruptured his Achilles right before Torino.

Interesting, NBC is actually playing this up as a love story on Valentine's Day. They should be past their skating prime, Tom Hammond says, but aren't. They're a great couple, he says if they won't win there are no regrets, she says, in English, "we skated with heart."

Ah, the 'real' Olympics are about to begin, with ice skating. They gotta go first; fist bump as they go out on Chinese new year. He's in grey with pink stripes, she's in reddish dress; Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever." Beautiful opening... then he tosses her effortlessly, they just look like winners. It's a perfect program, Scott Hamilton just laughs afterwards. "So late in their career, and to skate like that -- it's a miracle," Hamilton says.

Scoring system is really unreliable though, cautions Hammond. Sandra Bezic says some of their jumps were the best she's seen; and they get a 76.66, the highest ever in an international performance!

7:47 -- Men's luge final run
Russian Demtschienko up first, moves to top of leaderboard with only three left to go with a good lower run, just ahead of a German. Armin Zoeggeler next, hasn't had a great Olympics so far. Hits the wall a couple of times, commentators are shocked; idiot commentators says he can't do it, but he does beat the Russian, a bronze at least.

German David Moeller next, big lead over Zoeggeler; maintains it to stay in line for silver, .6 seconds ahead. Felix Loch last, gold is his to grab. So quiet and still, just looks better than anyone else; dominant, .6 ahead of his teammate, "absolutely top to bottom dominating performance."

8:00 -- Pairs
Americans Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, she's in bright red he's all black. Slight bobble on the opening move but pretty good; she turns her triple toe loop into a double. They definitely set up for their elements, not as smooth as the Chinese. So far it's a good performance, nothing to stand up and shout about though. Second part is better, like they're more relaxed now.

Big hand from the crowd at the end. Goal was top eight here, we'll see. Hamilton says he's never seen them miss an element like that, "great accomplishment to be here" -- and they're the U.S. champs! Coach is all positive to them. It really is a super-difficult sport; "first of probably many Olympics" Sandra says, they've only
been paired up since the spring of 2008.

8:15 -- Men's moguls qualifiers
They dwell on Jenn Heil's disappointing silver for Canada yesterday; oh well, it's why the Olympics are so great, the stories aren't manufactured, they're real.

From 30 to the top 20 for the finals. World champ Patrick Deneen of the U.S. up first, totally motoring, knees tight, huge jump, a bit off on the landing; 24.39 -- weird, they're not totally hyping him, I mean, they start with a look back at Heil and the promos have been about the Aussie who won last time out. 23.35 the fastest so far.

Michael Morse next, excels on the turns not the jumps; pretty good first jump. Huge second jump; didn't look as perfect as Patrick but good. 26.06. Hard to keep the upper body over the feet, Johnny Mosley says, he did it well.

Bryon Wilson, US's best jumper -- gymnastics background. Starts a bit tentative, good first jump but backed off his practiced one; an amazingly huuuge second jump, 24.01 too. Wow. "More in the bag" Johnny says. "That was a great run," still in second.

Alexandre Bilodeau of Canada, big hand of course. Not quite all-out on the middle, big last jump, nice run. 24.22; runs into second.

American Nate Roberts next, this is all about getting all the Americans into the finals, Johnny says he needs to not get too wild in the middle; he seems a
bit awkward, not a great first jump but does well in middle, and a huuuuge last jump, 24.23.

Australia Dale Begg-Smith, born in Vancouver originally. Wow, looks like a total pro, goes huuge on the second jump, sits down a bit on the bottom 24.65. Not a great performance though, Johnny tells us.

Hannah Kearney gets interviewed by Bob, she's straightforward and steely -- said she came to win, not to let Jen win on her home court. Says she feels terrible that Jen's great silver has been tainted by the pressure to win Canada's first home soil gold. She's totally honest, I really like her; talks about how crushed she was after Torino. Strong mentally. Has a bit of the drama in her, as she takes us through the run. This is really a great interview; turns out her mom was Canadian, she has "huge respect" for the country, looking forward to watching ice skating and hockey. Huge Red Sox fan, had Jacoby Ellsbury t-shirt on underneath at the Opening.

8:45 -- Pairs
Vera Barizova and Yuri Larionov from Russia, she's in pale pink, he's in black; messes up the first element, out of unision; music is great, Dr. Zhivagoish quality to it.
They're so young, could be really good -- she has a really delicate, classic quality to her, despite her struggles with jumping.
Crowd is kindof in love with them, despite their early struggle. Lines are really precise and elegant. End slightly out of synch too.

Americans Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig; like a lot of other skaters he's had to work a lot of odd jobs to make ends meet, was a volunteer at Salt Lake City. His Asian American partner, who's Filipino, is involved with another of the American pairs; in a pinkish redish dress, he's in a blue shirt, black pants. Nice piano music, again nobody tells us what it is. Nice side-by-sides; they look less like a unit than the Russians, whose scores we never got. She's really good, vibrant with a big smile. Nice performance, "as good as they could've hoped for," Sandra says -- she's just beaming at the end, big applause. Into second, Sandra says "wow," crowd goes wild. Her mom's crying, it's really cool, "oh my god" says his wife.

Annabelle Langlois and Cody Hay of Canada next, both in turquoise. Beautiful opening; they're very quiet and still on the ice. Second move is downgraded to a double. Huge throw, you can tell they're a bit nervous but gaining confidence. Scores are met with big cheers, into second; Scott goes, "wow." Everyone's waaaay behind the Chinese at the moment.

9:10 -- Men's moguls finals
Michael Morse up first, huge first jump, a few mistakes; big second too, almost sits down; 24.45 -- Johnny says you can't make these mistakes and get on the podium.

Nate Roberts next, in 7th now; looks totally normal so far, then screws up -- and is out of it, gets back in to finish, going way too fast. Oh well. Patrick Deneen next, is just motoring through the middle, a mistake, then falls, crashes into the sign, and is out. Ouch! May very well be a night without any medals for the U.S.; one guy left in moguls.

Are you kidding, NBC?! Canadian Jason Marquis does great, into first, and we missed it?! Another Canadian sitting in second right now. Third Canadian goes, not as great Johnny tells us, into 6th. Jesper Bjoernlund of Sweden, who we haven't seen yet. Very controlled but not fast, huge second jump, and he's slow at the finish.

Dale Begg-Smith, big first jump, huuuge second jump, 23.72, blistering time, "smoking fast run." Shoves into first. Bryon Wilson up, tough act to follow; nails huge first trick, announcers say it's a great jump; not as fast as the Aussie -- 24.0 at the end, 23.10 the fastest. Has a shot at silver, I'd say. Into second! big celebration from him and the crowd. Two competitors left...

Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau up, one more after him, he's going soooo fast down the middle; huge second, 23.17; totally impressive! His brother has cerebal palsy, what a great story. Nice; I think he'll be first. He's in first, crowd goes nuts.

Last one, Frenchie, Guilbaut Colas; secretly hoping he falls, although France has had a heck of a day. Doesn't have the jumps, gonna have to go faaaaast. Not looking great -- but an unbelievable 22.90 time! Well, no medal for the U.S.; let's see if Canada can hold on for gold. Misses the grab on the eggroll jump, Johnny says that could be the difference. Whoah, in 6th! Holy cow, and the drought is over for Canada, the country goes nuts.

And another medal for the U.S.! Six total now. Bilodeau is so happy afterwards, thanks everyone. Talks about his brother, he learned, "don't complain, my brother never complains, he has every right to complain."

They profile Apolo Anton Ohno; he's probably my favorite individual athlete here. 20 pounds lighter than in Torino; just seems like a great guy.

10:00 -- Pairs
Lithe Russians again, Oleg Mukhortova and Trankov and apparently they are anything but a couple off the ice, have worked with a sports psychologist on their relationship. Nice classical music; both in pastels, pinkish and brownish. He falls, that's pretty much it for them, everyone else has been perfect. It's a hard sport; either one can screw it up, and when they do, you just have to power through it, and try not to think about it -- or hate the other person. Too bad about the fall, I liked them afterwards. He's got his face in his hands, is crying; she just skates away from him, before coming back for their second bow.

Wow, they look depressed at the kiss and cry, no talking or anything. Now she hugs him, his eyes are still wide in shock like Frodo; and... they're still in 3rd! Wow, ahead of the Americans. Sandra says she's surprised, Scott quietly adds, "me too."

Volosozhar and Morozov from Ukraine, in matching electric blue outfits. Oh, he touches down; his weakest element. Hmm, sounds goes out on NBC's broadcast, that's not good. Huge throws, maybe it's not all over if you go by the Russians. Weird technoish music; they're kind of mesmerizing to watch, interesting costumes. Scott flat-out says he holds them back, not nearly as strong a skater as she is. He's dejected at the end. Sandra says not much life and energy the rest of the way. Hmm, at break, Visa already has up a commercial with Morgan Freeman, congratulating Johnny Spillane for his silver.

Kavaguti and Smirnov, with the famous short Russian coach, Tamara Moskvina, she faxed her when she was 16 saying she wanted to be coached by her. She's Japanese originally. Beautiful Dreamer, she's in white, he's in black. I like them right away. Tom says some in Japan called her a traitor, Sandra gently later says there is no figure skating legacy in Japan, she had to make this move to follow her dream. I agree, even though the reigning ladies singles champ is Japanese.... They're really classic and elegant, Hamilton sighs at the niceness of their routine so far, as they land their jumps. She's got a mouth agape elfin quality to her. Sandra says "Tamara is such a brilliant and calculating coach," everything is pre-planned. Totally in synch, it lacks something though that would make me really want to cheer, maybe we'll see it in the long. They'll be in second; Sandra says not nearly the level of Shen and Zhao.

"How many people actually defect to Russia," Hamilton says. Tamara is happy with them; she's totally tiny. "Careful and calculated performance," Sandra says. This really is the A announcing team here; Hammond does what he should, which is stay out of the way; Sandra and Scott are great together, insightful yet different.

He kisses Tamara's hand, she calls out greetings in both Russian and Japanese; and they're into second place, personal bests, just 2.5 points out of first. Americans now down in fifth. Last group comes out, crowd roars.

Costas talks about Spillane's silver, adds that it was the closest finish ever in Nordic Combined; interesting, don't remember the announcers at the time saying that.

Dick Button talks about the pairs, says the Chinese were "superb," and "stunningly marvelous," decries that they were first and the audience was still coming in. Ha, idiots who came late really missed out. Button says pairs is the hardest of the skating event, you have to master it as well as the skating; mentions the tough factor of hoping your partner maintains his/her interest, he's obviously talking about in years of competing not during the actual competition itself, Costas says, "let's hope they maintain it, it's the Olympics after all."

Canadians next, Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison; very dramatic music, he's in black and silver, she too; they almost hit the camera along the side, and she falls on a jump. Sandra says sometimes it's like the ice becomes heavy, Scott says "when you make a mistake, sometimes it takes the will out." Holy cow, they still get third place; Scott and Sandra are both speechless, the two skaters are as well.

Chinese Pang and Tong in blue, "truly special" when the music starts Scott says, "most improved pair" says Sandra as she praises their program; perfect jumps during a lull in the music, very dramatic. I like them a lot. Strong, effortless so far. Nice, huge throw; audience is totally watching, very quiet. They're miles ahead of the other recent competitors; you just have to keep watching them; applause starts even before they're totally finished. "Seemless, beautifully delivered," says Scott; "free and joyful," says Sandra. Into third, awesome.

Final Chinese pairs, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, silver in Torino despite the fall Visa just showed us. In white and black, not great costumes. Very fast though, "tend to make sloppy mistakes, but they have huge throws," says Sandra. They're good, not magical like the others. Should be in fourth; they're good, not electric. Sandra makes a good point, they get the job done, but "they don't present their work as if it were special." Scott echoes, not the passion you see with the others. Indeed, into fourth.

Final pair are the Germans, dressed like clowns, she in white he in black, Savchenko and Szolkowy; "Send in the Clowns." Very theatrical, huge triple flip throw opens, they nail their jumps; wow, this could be magical, pleasing music, they've struggled all year, may be back. I like watching them, good timing, audience loving it, they stop their rotations on a dime. Sandra points out the footwork is really slow, doesn't cover much ice; audience really likes it though. Third, I predict.

Wow, and they jump into second; top three are so bunched up, Russian coach has gotta be furious. The graphic NBC shows for the standings has all the flags screwed up; whoops!

11:00 -- Medal ceremony for Hannah Kearney
Chris Collinsworth is totally excited for Hannah to get her moguls medal; this is pretty cool. Her teammate Shannon is totally crying as the anthem starts, she got bronze. Huge smiles from both of them as the anthem ends, it's a great moment. And that's it for tonight.... what a great day of Olympics watching.

Nordic combined, biathlon at the Olympics

2010-02-14T13:01:00.033-05:00

4:45 pm -- Nordic combined, cross-country skiing
Two American in top four, three in top ten -- here comes our shot to end the medal drought. Todd Lodwick starts 34 seconds behind the Finnish leader who's not a great skier, Spillane 44 seconds. It's straight pursuit; first person at the end wins. Bill Demong about 1 minute 20 seconds behind.

They talk about the importance of having the right wax on your skis. Todd's gained 10 seconds already; then Spillane and everyone else, as the coaches bark out instructions. Group is catching up to Lodwick, with Spillane leading that group. Oh, Finn leader falls down on the turn, 20 seconds at least announcer says. Lodwick going very careful, group is right behind him.

15 skiers within 26 seconds of the leader, Lodwick's been caught by the pack which is now the leader; Demong making a charge, now just 17 seconds back after being more than a minute back, announcers very impressed with him.

Easy race to follow, bib numbers are the order in which they started. Halfway through, U.S. is 1-2, Italy, then the Frenchie who's really an American. And now Demong comes in by himself at the top of a group of three, three Americans in the top eight. Announcers points out the Frenchie is really an American.

Less than three miles to determine the winners. Back from commercial, this is live so it's just a mile left. Lodwick still leads, Spillane close, Demong just 8.5 seconds off. About 18 minutes in; Demong about to join the lead pack. This bodes really well for the team race; "phenomenal" what Demong has done -- his bib of 24 is ridiculous, everyoe else up front is in single digits. They're coming up on the final lap. This is totally exciting. Demong is like 10 yards off the lead, 8 skiers in all to decide the medals, nobody else anywhere close.

"Pins and needles moment now." Chappuis from France in third, ugh. Announcer thinks Lodwick is either cruising, or not having a great day. Waiting for someone to make a move. Kobayashi makig his move, out front, and he's really opening up a bit of distance, Americans are second and third, Spillane moves up, Lodwick may be tired; now it's Spillane and Kobayashi out front, Spillane caches him, passes, in the lead!

And he opens his own gap! Pulling away, keeps looking back. Spillane! Spillane! Final climb, then the final turn, he's really going all out. He's exhausted, but is just cruising. 20 yards up, a bit to go; Chappius is closing, Lodwick is coming in too; man, this is amazing; Spillane is being caught by the Frenchie; he's passed.

Chappius first, ranked tops in the world, mom is American, moved to France. Spillane silver, Italian third, Lodwick just barely fourth by 7/10ths of a second, Demong sixth. An amazing race. Good day for France, two golds.

But "a breakthrough day for the United States," Al signs off with. Five U.S. medals already.

Al comes back, talks to J.R. Celski, he's a really nice guy, soft-spoken, calls Al "sir." Later Spillane talks, total down-to-earth guy, "amazing" how the U.S. finished, "we've worked really, really hard for many years."

They're wasting time at luge, showing the guys ranked way down.

4:00 pm -- Men's single luge, 3rd heat

German machine stars with our leader, 20-year-old Felix Loch, whose father coaches the team, another start record. He's just so perfect, good run, his dad's happy. Teammate David Moeller next, finishes second.

Armin Zoeggeler next, not a great start, a bit rocky up top and he's off-line, not a good run at all, 1 second behind. Legend falling.... "Terrible Olympic run" one of the announcers says. Russian Albert Demtschenko, bad start but an aggressive slider; he's way back too, stays in 4th. Cool camera technology shows him superimposed on Loch, they should use that more. Andi Langenhan, another German, next. A little wild, stays in fifth.

Daniel Pfister from Austria is next, not as far back as some of the others at the top, losing time near the bottom, but the announcers are talking about the track, not him at all. One of my pet peeves; don't ignore the Olympian in front of you.

Tony Benshoof of the U.S. up next. Same story every Olympics for the Americans -- good enough to stick around, but barring a perfect run, always out of medal contention. Way back up top; finishes with 7th-best time, stays exactly where he is.

Manuel Pfister of Austria, whose brother already wet; way back at the start, like everyone else, okay run. Canadian Sam Edney, currently in 10th. Nobody's start has been within like a second of Loch. Good run, moves up to 8th. Marins Rubenis of Latvia, as we get to the people with no chance of medaling; won a bronze in Torino, but nothing since then. Analyst says this team does more with less than anyone. Not great run, his wife or someone is shaking her head. Viktor Kneib of Russia next, mediocre run.

Chris Mazdzer, fans have his letters painted on their stomachs. Looks very slow up top, 1.33 back already; 12th best time, ranks 13. Announcers are impressed with his driving, think his sled setup may have hurt him. Huge smile on his face afterwards, as his fans keep screaming and blowing horns. Jeff Christie from Canada next; bad start, too over to one side. "Attention to detail is where the Germans have the edge," one of the announcers says.

Ben Walden of the U.S., not a great run, in 14th place.

Men's Biathlon sprint

Norwegians top, then Russians, Germans and Americans the strongest teams Al Trautwig and his partner Chad Salmela tells us, they leave at 10 second intervals. Some of the skiers say the course is too easy, Chad says maybe, but there's no place to rest. Emil Hegle Svendson first from Norway, huge roar from the crowd, the "prince" of biathlon, ski a few weeks ago. The king, of course, is Ole Einar Bjørndalen; who Al tells us can become the most-decorated winter Olympian ever.

They ski for 3.5 kilometers before stopping to shoot. 25-seconds or so penalty loop if you miss, Chad says you can't miss with this fast course. Two of the favorites have already missed, and are out as Chad says. Canadian Leguellec makes all of his, crowd roars, and he's in first -- with a bunch of favorites surprisingly missing.

NBC needs to do a better job of identifying skiers when they're on the screen, why not just put their name under them? Tim Burke of the U.S. starts, has a real shot at the medals. 62.5% of all Olympic gold medalists didn't miss, Chad says; most-ever misses to win was two.

Fourcade of France, one of the favorites, takes a while to set up with his rifle; taking his time and totally misses on the last. "A nightmare for France." Second shooting range is standing, ecstatic guy, not sure of the name.

Bjørndalen shooting now, just looks deadly, oh and he misses three times, crowd roars; Chad says, "this is unbelievable, never have I seen him miss three penalties at the Olympic games." Maybe the course is so easy that they're pushing themselves too much? Wow.

Weather is getting worse, Svnedsen of Norway nails the standing, announcer says he can move into first. Burke has to go clean, Chad says, one miss, puts him out of the running for now. Greis nails all but the last one. It's just chaos out here, favorites missing left and right.

Snow beginning to really come down, big advantage for the people who started earlier. Ustyugov of Russia misses two standig, another favorite falters. Jay of France in first, "amazing," Chad says. Svendsen coming in, won't beat Jay but into second right now, Fak of Croatia in third. Burke misses twice standing, so his day's over; and hurts his chances in the upcoming pursuit event, too.

All the big names have faltered today, Chad tells us. Bjørndalen in at 13th for now, Eder of Austria goes clean but way behind because he started so late. Top 3 all started in the top 10.

Top American is Jeremy Tella, in ninth at the finish, would be the U.S.'s best finish ever in this sport. Hmmm, France has never won a medal in this event either. Tella does finish ninth; after that, a bunch of features as we wait for the skiing part of Nordic Combined.

1:00 p.m. -- Nordic combined

Watching the 'worst' of the Nordic combined jumpers, the announcers tell us they go first. Nevertheless, the daytime weekend coverage of combined and the biathalon are some of my favorite Olympic moments, particularly looking forward to Al Trautwig announcing biathalon, he always brings out the epic nature of the event.

Schmid brothers, both born in Norway to Swiss parents -- oddly, announcer said the older one "defected" to compete for Norway; it seems to me the younger one is the one who defected, I guess the color analyst, Jeff Hastings, is going by the racist European notion of it's not who you are that matters but the blood of your parents.

U.S. jumper Brett Camerota is sitting in first, has had the longest jump for a while -- ironically, there's been very little coverage of him, three of his teammates have been getting all the pub. He must not be a great skier; not that the announcers would tell us.

The U.S. has never won a medal in this event, but pundits are touting the Americans as having a strong shot this time.

Hastings is actually a pretty good announcer, just has difficulty finishing -- for example, tells us that you can become a good jumper pretty quickly, but it takes longer to become a good cross-country skier; no explanation why, or which athletes this would apply to, aside from the Frenchie who just pushed the American back.

Each extra jumping point gives you a 4-second advantage when it comes to the skiiig part. 26 of the 48 medals given out in this sport have been won by the Norwegians; unfortunately for play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian, he brings that up thinking a Czech athlete is Norwegian; Hastings corrects him.

Hasting tells us the Japanese have only taken part in 8 of the 16 events this season in a different strategy, to try and rest up. Seems kindof dumb; Hastings says they seem to be a bit off the mark so far. Then Vasgersian says many of the top skiers have tried to do the same, undercutting Hastings; who agrees.

Older brother Jan Schmid up, again, Hastings calls him a Swiss skier who made the Norwegian team. Famed Hannu Manninen, out of retirement, the legend; "gentle giant" calls Hastings, a great cross-country skier. Only into 12th at this point.

Todd Lodwick the first of the strong Americans up, lays down a great jump, into secod to Janie Rynaemen, 101.5 M; 34 seconds head start. Anssi Koivurata from Finland, medaled at Torino at 17, Hastings tells us he's not a great skier. Alessandro Pittin of Italy, with the flag painted on his helmet, good-looking form; into 4th.

Hastings says there's a pack strategy now in the cross-country now, like the Tour de France. Bill Demong of the U.S., fractured his skull diving into a shallow pool in Germany, not a great jump, Hastings says he got a bit mixed up in the air, got off the jump late. Googling, not the announcers, reveals what their 'Bibgate' reference was about -- he misplaced his bib at the World Championships, which lead to his DQ; later it was found in the leg of his jumping suit, it had just fallen down after he put it inside the chest part to keep it dry (why didn't he take off his suit?)

Johnny Spillane of the U.S. next, not great jump at first but Hastings says he "found the air," his arm is moving around though. Into 4th, "in the hunt." Pavel Churavy of the Czech Republic next, after waiting for the wind; yellow light, then red, he gets pulled off the bar. At the moment three Americans are in the top ten.

Magnus Moan of Norway, one of the favorites; a really short jump, just 91.5M. They never tell us what happens with the Czechie; Hastings says Moan ca't make this deficit up. Erik Frenzel, good jump from the German. Felix Gottwald of Austria, most-decorated in this event, 6 medals in his last 6 Olympic events; not a great jump either, "no chance" says Hastings.

Jason Lamy Chappuis, born in the U.S. but competing for France, boo, dominant this year. Great technique, not his greatest ever says Hastings but given the conditions, air moving around, a good one. And that's it....

Hmmm, some random NBC analyst says Americans are in position for two medals in cross-country. Weird that it wasn't Hastings talking to Al Michaels, who by the way suddenly seems ancient and bloated.

Olympics night two: Apolo Anton Ohno goes for broke, J.R. Celski too

2010-02-13T21:06:00.021-05:00

11:50 -- Apolo Anton Ohno and J.R. Celski

Andrea Kramer asks Ohno if he thought he'd been interfered with, he says, "yeah." As J.R. is beig interviewed Anton grabs him, whoops, then goes off. Kindof an odd interview, I don't like Kramer much so I pin it on her disjointed style.

Back with Hannah Kearney, who said her trainer gave her a card this morning showing how many practice jumps and runs she's done, gave her a ton of confidence; great idea. She's really good, like her. "If I can set the tone for team USA, that is a dream come true."

And that's it for a great first night, where the U.S. exceeded expectations and Canada fell flat.

11:35: Men's luge singles, 2nd run
Andi Langenham is in first as Russian Albert Demtschenko starts the televised part of the second run. He finishes the heat first. Italian Armin Zoeggeler next, ot the legend of old the announcer tell us; into first for now.

David Moeller of Germany next, like a machine, of course, into first. One of the luge announcers isn't very good, not sure of his name yet -- keeps interjecting odd and uneven thoughts. Duncan Kennedy is really good though. Tony Benshoof of the U.S. is up next, way behind halfway through, moving around a lot, is in 6th now -- idiot announcer says he moves up to 6th, he started 7th. Uh, actually, there are more lugers to come, so actually he moved down to 6th.

Felix Loch next, they keep saying they're going from the women's start -- well, actually, now that they're going from there, doesn't that make it the men's start? German, goes into first; then Stefan Hoehner of Switzerland, wipes out.... Somehow holds onto his sled, finishes. "There is no way you practice for what he just did," the bad announcer says.

Chris Mazdzer next, Duncan says he's a star of the future. He really does move up to ninth.

10:44: Women's moguls finals

Snow and rain coming down, Tae Satoya of Japan up first; fog becoming an issue the announcers say -- it looks pretty bad. Wow, a wild, dark night, bright evergreen against the gray sky. Oh, totally biffs off the second jump, then falls again after the finish line. Nikola Sudova of the Czech Republic, Weird, camera stays fixed on the start after she's already left. Nearly sits down on the second jump.

Arisa Murata of Japan debuting at 19. Screws up early, odd first jump but maybe that's on purpose, recovers nicely. Ekaterina Stolyarova, Russian from near Siberia, with pigtails hanging down, totally smooth off the first jump, relaxed off the second too, just has a good vibe to her for some reason. Eight competitors left; Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Canada, big roar, 18, doing some warm-ups. Nice big first jump, a big herky jerky, huge second run, crowd goes nuts. 29.87 down the hill, in first of course. She could be Canada's new sweetheart....

Funny, competitors have huge, comfy chairs to wait in afterwards. Michelle Roark of the U.S. next, in white polka dots on blue outfit. Ooooh, and she wipes out.... Keeps going though. Good announcer, said she tried to do a big trick to make it to the medals, finished it but just caught an edge. Ranked 13th out of 20.

Shannon Bahrke, next American; to be married on 10/10/10, will be Mrs. Happy. Big first jump, she's motoring. Huge second jump, iron cross, and 27.90, blistering. Jumps into first, goes nuts. Aiko Uemura of Japan next, not bad first jump, leaning a bit back; nice second jump, 28.88; her fourth Olympics. 30 is a perfect score, in second. Funny, I wonder if they sit at the bottom in the order of finish. Kristi Richards of Canada, a bit awkward I think, goes down.... Gets up eventually, finishes the route.

Heather McPhee, the third American; is just zooming down the course; oooh, and she wipes out too! Well, Shannon's guaranteed a medal, but no U.S. sweep.... Big hug from her teammate though. Jenn Heil, defending gold medalist and Canadian, suppose to be the first ever to win gold on home soil. Looks good so far, is speeding; 27.91, great run. I think judges will give her first, home court advantage.

And yeah, she's in first, big smile from her. Again, Hannah Kearney I think is gonna have to be clearly better to win. Huge jump, just speeding, 27.86, and the announcers keep talking about her tight hands, celebrates with her teammate.

Two more medals for the U.S., bronze and -- gooooooooooooooooold! First of the games for us, she's ecstatic, hugs from everyoe else, gets the flag out, hugs her peeps.

U.S. atop the medal table at this point, 4 to 2 for South Korea. 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze. U.S.A.!

10:26: Men's short track 1500 finals
B Final up first in short track; why is there one? Just six skaters in the final, this one gets you two others, since the Olympics like to award up to eighth place. Just in case there's a, you know, huge doping scandal or something. Charles Amlin takes the lead to huge applause, winds up winning to a standing ovation.

13 1/2 laps to gold for Apolo Anton Ohno. J.R. Celski the other American; three South Koreans with them, and the Chinese skater too. Oh, Canadian Olivier Jean advanced into the finals, refs decided he was blocked in a semi. Let's go Ohno! And Celski! Goes from near the end to first in one amazingingly smooth pass. Wow, Koreans were 1-2-3, but then two of them crash, and Ohno and Celski finish second and third. Lee Jun Sook of South Korea won the gold.

Sixth Olympic medal for Ohno, ties Bonnie Blair. Wow, medals in three Olympics... Picks up his teammate.

10:00 pm: Men's luge singles, first run
Men's luge... day after the Georgian competitor died. Cowardly official report blamed him, but as the president of Georgia said, "the price of an athletic mistake shouldn't be death," and as Bob Costas points out, the world's best luger crashed on his first run. And they build a wood wall, men start from the women's spot and the women even lower, part of the fatal turn was shaved down and they wrapped the steel pole that took his life -- any other questions?

Chris Mazdzer up first for the U.S., first of four runs; no hope of a medal of course, U.S. traditionally has trouble in the individual part of luge. Really good run, though. Without acknowledgment they fast forward to Felix Loch of Germany, skipping over the Swiss guy who's in the lead. Talk about how the Germans are focused on foot position, he destroys the Swiss guy, over 91 mph at the finish. The best Olympic moments are when someone comes out of nowhere, don't think we're gonna have that here.

Tony Benshoff of the U.S., nursing an injured back. Not a great start, moving around. Finishes in second, but like half a second behind. David Moeller of Germany next, goes into second. And now, Armin Zoeggeler, the Italian who's a legend; very Zen sled position. Kindof a ragged run, in third. Albert Demtschenko of Russia, won silver last time, bigger than everyone else seems like; into fifth.

Andi Langenham of Germany, starting to snow more, later in the run; slower track; finishes in sixth. Bengt Walden, from Sweden, now an American. A lot of movement at the start, peeking with his head too. Whoah, totally skids, very ragged; hits the curve, way back; head coach shaking his head. Sam Edney of Calgary gets a huge roar; like his look, think he'll be good. Seems a bit nervous, tentative, but very still; in 10th. Another Canadian, Jeff Christie, looks all bug-eyed; into 13th.

9:00 pm -- Men's short track, 1500 semis

Four American women qualify in the top seven for the moguls finals as we hit 9 pm on the East Coast, first full night of Olympic competition. Big event tonight is in short track speed skating, Apolo Anton Ohno trying to tie speed skater Bonnie Blair for most medals by an American in the winter games, six. He's got two golds, one in Salt Lake City, one in Torino.

He tells Cris Collinsworth, "symbolism is very important to me," from Seattle, started his career in Vancouver, is ending it here.

Apolo's in the first semi of the 1500s, first two of seven make the finals. He's wearig a glove with gold tips on his left hand, made by a knife maker in Salt Lake City. Wow, Ohno was in last at the beginning, then towards the end makes his way to the front, passes the Canadian guy, wins up in second, qualifying. He slightly bumps the South Korean that won tying an Olympic record, but no biggie. Ah, what a great, exciting sport!

Second semi, Lee Ho-Suk of South Korea the favorite. He wins with a super pass lateish that the announcer calls a "patented Korean move," Chinese skater in too, another Canadian fails to advance.

Third semi, with J.R. Celski of the U.S., who fell at the U.S. trials and was cut by his skate blade; his mom's Asian. Gotta root for him. Another Korean favorite in this one, Sung Si-Bak. Wow, and in a great race J.R. stays out front, holds off some late charges, and finishes second! He eases up at the second, almost gets passed actually....

Exciting race; hope it's Ohno 1, Celski 2....

Vancouver Olympics opening ceremony, torch malfunction and all

2010-02-12T20:48:00.017-05:00

-World premiere of the remade 'We Are the World' video for Haiti, a month after the earthquake and hours after a competitor in luge died during a practice round. Oddly, Justin Bieber starts the video.

9:00 pm
-Opening ceremony dedicated to Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died. Everything, of course, is in French and then English. Totally low-tech, homemade feel in indoors stadium, in contrast to Beijing. Video of a snowboarder carving down the side of a huge mountain, huge maple leaf traced out by Canadians holding lit torches, he jumps into the arena -- not quite a seamless transition.

-Games being held on territory of four of Canada's 'first nations groups,' Queen Elizabeth isn't coming Michaelle Jean, a black woman, presiding in her place as Governor General. Only 33 million people.

-Everything is looking very white and blue indoors, snowish everywhere. 16-year-old 'jazz phenom' sings the anthem, her voice is silky-smooth, slows it waaaay down, in a bright red strapless dress, as the flag slowly rises, switches into French, alone on a huge stage way above the floor, jutting out into space. Like everything else so far it's very pleasant.

-First peoples give an official blessing and welcome, the outfits, miking, overprojection and the acoustics make it seem like a Miss Universe pageant. Aborigines pour into the arena from all four directions. Ceremony is sparsely populated, given a sense of mass by light projections on the floor, and four tall, skinny, totems. Graphics are really sharp; all a bit random.

9:21
-Parade of Nations starts, Greece first like always. "Winter Games feel more intimate than the Summer Games," says Bob Costas, our indefatigable host, along with Matt Laurer.

-Then Albania, Algeria, both with just one athlete. Andorra, 1/6th the size of Rhode Island. Argentina -- no South American team has ever won a medal in the Winter Olympics. Three siblings on the team. Armenia, Australia.

-Powerhouse Austria, Linger brothers carry the flag together, the first time in Olympics history, fourth on the all-time list of medal winners -- Norway first, then Soviets, then U.S. Azerbaijan, they've got crazy paisley slacks. Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, wearing shorts.

-Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cayman Islands; Matt notes some athletes wearing black armbands. Chile, then China.

-During Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic and North Korea marched, back with Denmark -- which has only won one medal, which is insane compared to its neighbor to the northern Norway, which has won 280. That's just astonishing; how can those two countries be so different?!

-Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Macedonia, France. And then Georgia. They get a huge hand ad standing ovation, look very somber. Germany next, huge contingent, on top in Torino for the third straight time. Ghana, one guy by himself, first Winter Olympian for the country. Great Britain, big hand for the motherland.

-Hong Kong, Hungary, medal-less Iceland, India, Iran -- hats with I.R. Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran I assume. Denmark by the way has 5 million people, Norway has 4.8; man, how shameful is that -- Finland and Sweden are also among top ten medal winners. Ireland, then Israel. Italy, Jamaica, Japan -- another underachiever, just 32 medals.

-Kazakhstan, flagbearer is 16; youngest is an Aussie, at 15. South Korea. Break, missing Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco (one of five African countries here), Nepal, Netherlands -- Matt tells us his wife is Dutch, I think he mentioned that two summers ago as well. New Zealand.

10:00 pm
-Powerhouse Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia -- which wants to win 40 medals, 9 gold, after taking 22 in Torino, 8 gold. Break, missing San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, one of the 30 countries here that has never won a medal at the Winter Games, Spain.

-Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, as Matt/Bob note the aborigines have been continuously dancing in welcome for more than an hour now.

-United States! Big hand, of course. Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden there. Uzbekistan comes in after, we'll see if we ever see them. And now... Canada! Huge roar.

-Parade over, 'Bang Your Drums' sung by Nelly Furtado and Ryan Williams. Back from break, it's been an okay ceremony so far, nothing everyone's gonna be talking about tomorrow. Starts 'snowing' indoors, some sort of metaphorical journey through Canada's many cultures.

-So far based on this show, I'd think Canada is all Indians. Shaman-like guy pounds the floor with his staff, it looks like it's sending a shockwave across the vast floor, pretty cool.

-Prettiest part so far, performers with lights on their clothes run around a giant lit-up bear as the audience waves glowsticks, floor then 'splits, to resemble ice floes, pretty realistic-looking. Audience wearing white ponchos, special effects on them too -- then 'whales' swim across the floor, it's pretty cool.

-Wow, salmon 'swim' up from floor, giant ribbons of cloth, up to triple 'clouds', turns into totem poles, then turn into trees, brown and green on top -- it's pretty stuning, visually. Pretty well-done, if derivative from what Beijing did.

-Sarah McLachlan sings at a white piano, her amazing voice floats out, "Ordinary Miracle." All very pleasant and enjoyable as dancers frolic among the tree trunks. Whereas Beijing was an awesome show of force, this is sparser, more insubstantial but also ethereal.

-Back from break, from winter to autumn -- leaves on the group, huge harvest moon, fiddler. Another break, this time spring? The praire, gold square in the midst of a sea of blue. It's an astonishing visual image, performer walks, looks like the prairie is rippling below him, starts running, then lifted up into the air, all to the haunting "Both Sides" by Joni Mitchell.

This is probably my favorite part of the night, it's totally magical; simple but effective, and it conveys something about Canada -- the huge space, the individuality, the languid pace, how nature is central to all. Now the gold spreads up to the audience -- hey, there's a bloc of empty seats up in the top! Now the whole floor is golden, audience too; it's pretty darn cool; back down to one rectangle of gold.

11:00

-Giant 'iceberg' rises out of the floor; it all looks great on television, Donald Sutherland's reading excerpts from Canadian writings before each segment in that great voice of his. Athletes are pretty 'transfixed' as Bob puts it.

-Vancouver is nicknamed the 'city of glass' Bob tells us, as performers recreate Winter Olympics events. Why?! Some big Canadian white guy discovered on YouTube goes on a rant about what Canada is, gets big hands for saying, "we are please and thank you," and "yes, we call it zed." Weird, so far tonight you'd have no idea Vancouver is more than 30% Asian. "We are the true north, strong and free." And part of the Commonwealth.

-Jacques Rogge starts speaking, with the luger's death. Canadian host next, he says, "through the magic of television... we invite the people of the world to experience, if only for a few moments, what it feels like to be a proud Canadian." Hmmm, I thought this was more about world citizens? He seems like an earnest nice guy, but is wooden and uninspiring, pauses for applause then plows on. He seems obsessed with how many people may be watching this, keeps talking about it. Like many Canadians, he veers between bland niceness and an almost paranoid patriotism; it's labored and uneven, well-meaning but ultimately it's like he wants to make sure to hit all the notes, and at the same time be true to himself. Instead of just letting it flow and being in touch with the moment.

-Rogge is back and babbling in French, to the accompaniment of peals of drumming, apparently someone thought it'd be a good idea to hand out drumsticks. Games declared open, and now K.D. Lang sings "Hallelujah," on the elevated stage alone i the middle of the floor with a sea of fake candles waving all around her.

-Flag brought in by famous Canadians -- Betty Fox, mom of a famous cancer victim, Donald Sutherland, race car driver Jacques Villenuvue, ex-figure skater Barbara Ann Scott-King, Anne Murray, ex-UN official Romeo Dalliare, Bobby Orr, astronaut Julie Payette. An interesting crew. I wonder if Peter Jennings were alive what role he'd have had. Probably MC.

-Some opera singer is singing; I'm listening to Joni, again. Wonder if Neil Young will sing tonight.

-Flag lowered to half-mast, as we observe a minute of silence for the luger, vast place is absolutely silent. Athletes' oath next.

-Who's gonna light the flame? Uh, Wayne Gretzky. How's he gonna do it? Uh, shoot a puck at a net.

-Flame comes in, paraolympian in his wheelchair brings it in, backlit, huge smile on his face. Catriona Lemay Doan, great speed skater with a even better name, next. To Steve Nash! Man, I hope Mike Meyers is part of this! To Canada's female athlete of the 20th century, cross-country skier, now a senator. To Wayne Gretzky, for the last lap. He's now just standing in the middle of the floor, waiting -- for... hmmm, this is going on for a while. The others are staying and waiting too. Kindof weird. Okay, it's been like a minute now. Bob says there may be some sort of a mechanical cauldron; three chutes are open, one more is stuck. Oh-oh....

-Hope the crowd does something to break the tension; music even stops, now it restarts. Three of the four bases rising, the fourth one -- nope, still nothing there. Oh, Canada! Looks like the plan was for all of them to light the thing at the same time; and three of them do.

-It shouldn't mar what's been a memorable opening ceremony; but it does, of course, if only a little. It's the Olympics, after all, where hundredths of a seconds mean the difference between gold and nothing.

-Now Wayne goes off to light the cauldron that's outside; back from break, he's riding in the back of a truck carrying the torch, crowds of Canadians running alongside. Stops, lights the giant outdoors blue replica (with four legs).

And that's it. Overall, a good opening ceremony -- no arrow like in Barcelona, thousands of drums like in Beijing; then again, no bizarre new age artists like in Albertville or backpack bombing like in Atlanta.

Totally looking forward to these Olympics, like all Olympics; by the end of the 16 days it'll be the athletes that shine brightest in memory, not failing hydraulics.

Music that lingers

2009-12-30T18:15:00.010-05:00

Checking out Rolling Stone's 100 Best songs of the decade list -- non-definitive, but fun; and interesting how one-of-a-kind most of the top ones were. Threw in some random, recent picks of my own:

Beyoncé - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

Shakira - She Wolf

M.I.A. - Paper Planes
#5 on Rolling Stones' decade list; this version with Maya Arulpragasam herself is better, but the Slumdog Millionaire one is fuller.

White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
Simply hypnotic... and the anthem of soccer hooligans everywhere

Kanye West - Gold Digger
Music and a moral!

Coldplay - Yellow
It has a timeless quality to it; reminds me of 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up." Like the Chinese version as well.

Worst of Times, and best

2009-08-04T20:59:00.003-04:00

I've never liked the Times' TV critic, Alessandra Stanley; too often I feel like she was watching a different program than me, and inattentively at that.

So I wasn't surprised to reach this by the Times' public editor, Clark Hoyt:

THE TIMES published an especially embarrassing correction on July 22, fixing seven errors in a single article — an appraisal of Walter Cronkite, the CBS anchorman famed for his meticulous reporting. The newspaper had wrong dates for historic events; gave incorrect information about Cronkite’s work, his colleagues and his program’s ratings; misstated the name of a news agency, and misspelled the name of a satellite.

“Wow,” said Arthur Cooper, a reader from Manhattan. “How did this happen?”

The short answer is that a television critic with a history of errors wrote hastily and failed to double-check her work, and editors who should have been vigilant were not.

Hoyt doesn't mention Stanley's name until the seventh paragraph; I guess his point is it was an institutional failure, but I don't think it is, based on years of reading Stanley.

She has a singular disregard for the facts, getting things consistently wrong in both small details (the order of events in an episode, the interpretation of a character's words) and the overall big picture.

The full article, "Cronkite's Signature: Approachable Authority," is worth a read just for the kicker... which in the online version consists of:

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 22, 2009
An appraisal on Saturday about Walter Cronkite’s career included a number of errors. In some copies, it misstated the date that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed and referred incorrectly to Mr. Cronkite’s coverage of D-Day. Dr. King was killed on April 4, 1968, not April 30. Mr. Cronkite covered the D-Day landing from a warplane; he did not storm the beaches. In addition, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, not July 26. “The CBS Evening News” overtook “The Huntley-Brinkley Report” on NBC in the ratings during the 1967-68 television season, not after Chet Huntley retired in 1970. A communications satellite used to relay correspondents’ reports from around the world was Telstar, not Telestar. Howard K. Smith was not one of the CBS correspondents Mr. Cronkite would turn to for reports from the field after he became anchor of “The CBS Evening News” in 1962; he left CBS before Mr. Cronkite was the anchor. Because of an editing error, the appraisal also misstated the name of the news agency for which Mr. Cronkite was Moscow bureau chief after World War II. At that time it was United Press, not United Press International.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: August 1, 2009
An appraisal on July 18 about Walter Cronkite’s career misstated the name of the ABC evening news broadcast. While the program was called “World News Tonight” when Charles Gibson became anchor in May 2006, it is now “World News With Charles Gibson,” not “World News Tonight With Charles Gibson.”

Two Michael Jackson memorial moments

2009-07-07T19:50:00.001-04:00

Rahm's drive

2009-06-07T11:09:00.003-04:00

An interesting if possibly over-long profile by the Times' Matt Bai, "Taking the Hill," illuminates President Obama's strategy for pushing comprehensive health care reform through Congress.

Of course it's the personalitites that jump through, most notably Rahm Emanuel; it seems like there's an endless supply of stories about him, and the piece does its part to burnish the legend:

OBAMA’S AGGRESSIVE COURTSHIP of Congress is plotted and directed by Emanuel, who despite his legendary personality flaws — his penchant for profane mockery is now so well documented that you sometimes have the sense he’s cursing at you so as not to disappoint — is freakishly well suited to the job. Emanuel served as a senior aide in Clinton’s White House before running for Congress and then overseeing the Democrats’ successful drive to take back the House, which means he is that rare politician who feels equally at home on both ends of the avenue. “Rahm is family to all of us,” Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, told me recently. ...

When I asked Emanuel if he would prefer that the president have someone around while negotiating with individual lawmakers, he smiled tightly. “I prefer whatever he prefers,” the chief of staff said, sounding uncharacteristically diplomatic.

Obama's gonna get health care reform passed; some network should document it all, it'd make a heck of a movie or TV series.

Christianity gone wrong

2009-05-03T21:00:00.002-04:00

It's an art form to write a good web headline and teaser that gets someone to click and read a story they might not otherwise think they have an interest in. The Washington Post has a great example: "How the Faithful Justify Torture," The more you go to church, the more you approve of torture.

The essay, by Professor Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, is interesting:

The more often you go to church, the more you approve of torture. This is a troubling finding of a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Shouldn't it be the opposite? After all, who would Jesus torture? Since Jesus wouldn't even let Peter use a sword and defend him from arrest, it would seem that those who follow Jesus would strenuously oppose the violence of torture. But, not so in America today.

Instead, more than half of people who attend worship at least once a week, or 54%, said that using torture on suspected terrorists was "often" or "sometimes" justified. White evangelical Protestants were the church-going group most likely to approve of torture. By contrast, those who are unaffiliated with a religious organization and didn't attend worship were most opposed to torture -- only 42% of those people approved of using torture.

One possible way to interpret this extraordinary Pew data is cultural. White evangelical Protestants tend to be culturally conservative and they make up a large percentage of the so-called Republican "base". Does the approval of torture by this group demonstrate their continuing support for the previous administration? That may be.

But I think it is possible, even likely, that this finding has a theological root. The UN Convention Against Torture defines torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person..." White Evangelical theology bases its view of Christian salvation on the severe pain and suffering undergone by Jesus in his flogging and crucifixion by the Romans. This is called the "penal theory of the atonement"--that is, the way Jesus paid for our sins is by this extreme torture inflicted on him.

I'm not sure I agree that Christians are okay with torture because Jesus was tortured--but I think it's a pretty big problem that Christianity seems to have evolved to a point where its staunchest adherents don't think it gets in the way of supporting torture.

That's kind of a big tent, by any measure; with some problematic tent poles.

I'm curious if the very Christians who are so eager to flog Islam, regardless of their degree of knowledge or sincerity, will look in the mirror.

Binghamton tragedy, doubled

2009-04-05T19:54:00.003-04:00

There's an astonishing response by the Binghamton chief of police, and city DA, after this week's massacre.

The first 911 calls came in at 10:30 a.m., Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said at a news conference. The callers spoke broken English, and it took dispatchers two minutes to sort out what was happening, he said.

The first patrol cars arrived at 10:33 a.m.

Officers were on the scene five minutes before a wounded receptionist called police to report a gunman in the building, Zikuski said. Police had earlier said it was that call that brought them to the immigration center.

A SWAT team entered the building 43 minutes after the first call to police.

When police got there, the gunfire had stopped, so they believed there was no ''active gunman'' in the center and decided to wait for the SWAT team to arrive, Zikuski said.

He compared the scene with the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, in which 15 people died, including the two teenage gunmen.

''At Columbine, there were numerous shots ringing out and law enforcement stood by,'' he said. ''I was quite frankly horrified when I knew that.''

Zikuski said his officers would have gone into the building if shots had still been flying.

''If you arrive on the scene -- the first two to four guys -- and there's an active shooter, they enter,'' he said.

Pressed on why police didn't go into building, Zikuski said information they were getting from the receptionist was still uncertain enough to warrant caution.

''He was dead. We didn't know it,'' Zikuski said. ''If there's a bunch of cops laying on the floor shot trying to rescue somebody else, it's not going to help anybody.''

When reporters repeated the line of questioning, Mollen jumped in to defend the police chief.

''I don't think it's fair to ask Chief Zikuski to respond to hypotheticals,'' he said, adding that there would be a full review and report on the shooting, including the police response.

"If there's a bunch of cops laying on the floor shot trying to rescue somebody else, it's not going to help anybody."

For cops to wait outside a building because they don't hear gunshots, not knowing if people are bleeding to death or if a shooter is still on the loose, is ridiculous.

It's precisely the job of cops to risk their lives every day trying to rescue other. That's why we honor them.

Michelle Obama vs. Diana vs. Jackie

2009-04-05T15:21:00.005-04:00

I never understood why people were gaga over Diana; maybe because I have no conception of nor do I care about how different she was from past British royalty.

For me, that always seemed more a deficiency in her predecessors than any notable distinction in her.

Besides which, Diana always seemed so much more about herself, her clothes, her loveless marriage, then any sort of real issues.

Unlike Michelle Obama, as the Guardian's Carole Cadwalladr pointed out this week:

There was a strange stillness last week in Islington's Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Language College on the last day of term. It wasn't just that the school had finished a day early and it was a training day for staff and a revision day for pupils soon to take their GCSEs. Nor even that the sun had finally decided to shine for the start of the Easter holidays.

It was that, 24 hours earlier, an event so surprising and extraordinary had happened in this very ordinary-looking London school that the few people milling around its lobby had the air of having experienced some freak natural phenomenon - a hurricane, perhaps, or a tidal wave or, as actually happened, a visit by the first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.

At the culmination of the Obamas' first visit to Britain, she visited the school on Thursday and, the next day, staff and students all seemed to be suffering some sort of post-traumatic international celebrity icon syndrome. In the hallway, I met Nuria Afonso, 15, and Shereka Phipps, 15, both wearing the dazed expressions of people who still can't quite believe what has just happened.

"She hugged us!" said Nuria. "Can you believe that? She. Hugged. Us! It was amazing. Amazing." ...

Newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic endlessly commented on her clothes, her shoes, her fashion choices, the "controversial" blue plaid cardigan that she wore to visit the school, even though the only remotely "controversial" aspect of it was that certain female, waspish fashion writers decided not to like it and, which, according to Google, has so far drawn 1,925 news articles all its own, including one from the Huffington Post, which gave it the inevitable moniker "Argyle-gate".

And yet, what the fashion commentators nearly missed was that the visit to the school not only produced the most emotional moments of her entire visit, but that the speech was also a profoundly moving, very personal statement of her political purpose and the new role that she is still in the process of creating as the president's wife.

It was the only speech she made during her trip, and the school had, apparently, been deliberately chosen: girls-only, inner-city, its pupils, of whom 20% are the children of refugees or asylum seekers, speak a total of 55 different languages and 92% of whom are from a black or minority background. It was her first speech, she pointed out, as first lady on a foreign visit; she mentioned it several times, in fact, as if she was having problems believing it herself. And then, carefully, using personal stories and anecdotes, she drew parallels between her life and those of the girls in front of her, at times appearing close to tears.

"I want you to know that we have very much in common. For nothing in my life's path would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first lady of the United States of America. There was nothing in my story that would land me here. I wasn't raised with wealth or resources of any social standing to speak of...

"If you want to know the reason why I'm standing here, it's because of education. I never cut class. Sorry I don't know if anybody here is cutting class. I never did. I loved getting As. I liked being smart. I loved being on time. I loved getting my work done. I thought being smart was cooler than anything in the world." ...

Both Nuria and Shereka closely followed the US presidential election and said that, even before her visit, Michelle Obama had inspired them both, girls born thousands of miles away, personally.

"You can relate to her story. She said, 'I'm a working-class girl.' And more or less all of us are working-class. She made it. And it made me think: if she can do it, so can I."

For a lesson in how to empower young women, you could do no better than to listen to Michelle Obama's speech in its entirety. The news bulletins picked up its highlights, the point where, very close to tears, she said: "When I look at a performance like this, it just reminds me that there are diamonds like this all over the world. All of you are jewels. You are precious and you touch my heart. And it's important for the world to know that there are wonderful girls like you all over the world." ...

But for all the hugs, Michelle Obama is no Diana and it was her visit to the school, and more particularly the speech that she delivered there, that thwarted the attempt by the Anglo-American press to reduce her Democratic politics and feminist principles into nothing more than a fashion cypher whose sole purpose is to have her clothing choices beatified by their mutual consent.

She's as much an ideologue as her husband and, while Barack Obama is having to make hard choices in an ever-worsening economic climate, what the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson speech demonstrated is how Michelle Obama has become the political yin to his yang; the up to his down.

Really, the dumbing-down of our society occurs when blogs like the Huffington Post and papers like the Washington Post choose to feature breathless pieces on Michelle Obama's outfits or lack thereof, rather than pay real attention to what she says and does while wearing clothes.

One of the great things about the Obamas is how focused they are on substance; aware of style and symbols, but always more interested in reality.

I think it's slowly starting to dawn on people around the world that they're a once-in-a-lifetime political phenomenon, not because of the glitz or celebrity-like coverage, but because of who they really are.

They're no Kennedys--they're much better.

AP photo

Obama's America vs. Old Europe

2009-04-05T15:08:00.003-04:00

A.A. Gill has a pitch-perfect piece in the Times that captures what President Obama's visit to Europe has been all about.

IT’S invariably the little things, the unconsidered, off the cuff, in passing, unrehearsed things that snag our attention, and seem to be telling of the bigger things. In the case of Barack Obama’s first visit to London and the Group of 20 conference to save the endangered habitat of bankers and real estate salesmen, it was the handshake with the bobby that seemed to be emblematic. In a forest of waving palms, this handshake meant more.

As the president stepped up to 10 Downing Street, he leant over, made eye contact, said something courteous, and shook the hand of the police officer standing guard. There’s always a police officer there; he is a tourist logo in his ridiculous helmet. He tells you that this is London, and the late 19th century. No one has ever shaken the hand of the policeman before, and like everyone else who has his palm touched by Barack Obama, he was visibly transported and briefly forgot himself. He offered the hand to Gordon Brown, the prime minister, who was scuttling behind.

It was ignored. He was left empty-handed. It isn’t that Mr. Brown snubbed the police officer; he just didn’t see him. To a British politician, a police officer is as invisible as the railings.

But the rest of us noticed. Because in this country that still feels the class system like a phantom limb, being overtly kind to servants is the very height of manners, the mark of true nobility. Being nice to the staff is second only to being nice to dogs as a pinnacle of civilization. Remember: a butler’s not just for Christmas. Apparently, the Obamas searched every cupboard and closet in Downing Street to personally thank all the servants for looking after them. That’s classlessly classy. ...

The Obamas were likely also surprised at how black the old white colonial country is. Ethnic diversity is shamelessly and embarrassingly pushed to the front of every publicity shot. Michelle Obama went to a girls school where a gospel song was performed and where she made a surprisingly moving speech. All the world leaders’ wives are herded together in cultural outings of excruciatingly bland probity, but Mrs. Obama rose above it, and seemed to really inspire this group of young girls. It was noticed. The rest of the women grinned and clutched their handbags, apparently wondering when they could get away to Harrods.

Reading into Obama

2009-04-05T14:38:00.002-04:00

One of the worst-headlined Times article of all time, "Obama Calls on Security Council to Punish North" -- it's about President Barack Obama's comments about North Korea's rocket launch today during his speech in Prague -- has a great kicker from one of the thousands of Czechs in the crowd.

Not all were effusive about Mr. Obama’s appearance. Miloslava Krulova, 76, who worked in a bank before she retired, said she was worried that Mr. Obama’s disarmament drive could prove detrimental to global peace.

“I came here today because I admire Obama’s intelligence. He is also a good husband and father. But I am skeptical of his words because trying to get the world to disarm might have the opposite effect.” Noting the throngs of mesmerized youth, she added: “I was shocked that I seemed to be the only elderly lady here. Maybe people of my generation are afraid, that they might not understand Obama and his policies.”

I love how she says he's a "good husband and father"!

American Idol's final semifinal

2009-03-04T17:11:00.015-05:00

It's the final semifinal for American Idol; watching it on tape delay the next day.

Von Smith up first, no real opinion about him so far -- nothing memorable, except Simon saying his Hollywood song choice was "indulgent nonsense." He seems happy just to be here, so not sure how he'll do. Ugh, song right away is bad, totally wrong for his voice; Marvin Gaye's "You're All I Need." Hmm, as it goes on, a bit better; his voice is still too thin for this, but he's really into it, and is performing it well. I'm liking this a lot more than I thought I would.

Randy says a hot performance, you're finding yourself here. Kara says you seem to know what you're doing out there, it had meaning. Paula says a memorable first, calls him a seasoned showman. Simon says you remind me of Clay Aiken, "spicier" says Paula. "You look appalling, but actually you sang quite well." I like him, hope people remember him by the end of this. "Finally, to have done something right, somewhat, is amazing," he says.

Taylor Vaifanua, doing "I've Got You," interesting dress--white and black on top, grayish skirt, high, high black boots. Ugh, not good; bad choice, song doesn't fit her voice, it's jerky and just doesn't build to anything. She can definitely sing, belts out the chorus; just not crazy about the choice. Outfit was cool, though.

She's emotional as the judges start talking to her, Kara wanted more of her personality in her song, performance was a bit cold. She's exactly right; there was distance there, unlike in Von's. Paula says you sang this already in Hollywood, why not do something new. Simon makes fun of Kara's "wanna see what it's like to go shopping with you," then says generic, not memorable, bland. Don't try to be older than 17. Randy says great voice, but you didn't tell us anything special about you.

Alex Wagner-Trugman up next, he talks to Ryan, says he's been reading people think he's dorky, so he's been trying to go to the gym to be more like Simon. He's hilarious. In the clip Randy calls him "Joe Cocker," Simon says more like "cocker spaniel." Then Simon says his voice is a 3, Alex says to the camera, "I can only assume that's on a scale of 3."

Doing "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues," he's really got a great personality. Not the greatest singer, but sincere, and totally likeable. A weird song choice vocally, guess he was going for the whole thematic thing. Kicks away the mike stand, it's great, actually. I really like him.

Lots of girls screaming, Paula says you certainly are the showman as he says he didn't mean to knock over the stand. Simon laughs at him, "you're like a hamster trying to be a tiger," "ridiculous growling," calls it "a bit stupid." Randy says a bit crazy in a "buck-wild style kind of way," didn't like the vocals tonight, song kind of screamed. "At least you do you," says Kara, as the audience screams.

He's really nice talking to Ryan, "I was just trying to have fun, throughout this whole process we sometimes forget about that." Yup, he's now officially my favorite contestant of this season.

Arianna Afsar doing ABBA, first time ever on Idol Ryan says. Says she's glad during Hollywood they didn't say anything about her being cute or anything, after beforehand that's all they said. I like her because of that.

"The Winner Takes It All," tricky pick, ABBA's version is so iconic. She's trying to put her own stamp on it, not that great at the start; cool blue dress though. Out of tune, languid performance. I really wanted to like her, she's just butchering this song though. It may be the worst thing this year, she's totally off-key and is trying to make it too weird. Has a big voice, but ugh, so out of tune. Even her parents looked pained.

"Absolutely terrible in most parts," says Simon, song was way too big for you, dreary arrangement, awful. Randy says just not good, Kara says you were like a beam of sunshine, but dark and depressing tonight; "be young, touch people." You know, Kara is really right on with some of her comments. Paula says you should've just stuck to the melody.

Ryan says "you wanted to be un-buttoned," makes me laugh. So far this is my favorite show of the season, everyone's been really likeable if not great at singing.

Back with Ju'not Joyner, who I really like from before. Doing "Hey There, Delilah," again, which from Hollywood snippet may have been my single favorite performance of the year. Slows it way down, all in black with a pair of handcuffs off his belt?! It's soulful, electrifying. So smooth, passionate; nice vocal range. Very still during the performance. My favorite vocal of the night, although no real personality; and I may actually have liked the Hollywood snippet better.

Randy likes how he pulled back, good interpretation. Kara liked his fluid, smooth spin on the song, next time just bust it out, go for it, "I know you got ridiculous pipes," he says "that's what's up." Paula says same song, but you changed it up, nice vocal. Simon says that was better than I thought it was going to be, wish you'd stripped it down, you could've had a moment, a bit safe but you're nervous and I know how much this means to you. Simon's right, this could've been amazing, but it was just good.

Ju'not explains he had to take a cortisone shot, had reaction to all the smog out in Hollywood he says.

Kristen McNamara, who's actually a karaoke host?! She seems a bit dumb; they revisit the drama from Hollywood, again portraying her as a victim of a mad black woman -- when actually a lot of that was her fault. Big, bold, red dress; nice smoky country voice, actually. A bit subdued rendition of "Give Me One Reason," and it's just the same thing the whole song through, getting boring. Ugh by the end; just nothing memorable, not a great voice. And no personality.

Kara actually says you are a great singer, but not a great pick; should've done something more rock-edge. Paula with the great memory says you sang a Kelly Clarkson song in Hollywood, should've done something more like that, less safe. Paula is in some ways the most professional of all of them, she remembers everything and the show is actually really important to her. Simon says you don't seem quite comfortable, not sure quite who you are. Randy dittos, easy song but you tried to do too much, karaoke thing. Up close she has too much makeup on, looks a bit haggard.

Nathaniel Marshall, who could totally flame-out or be really good. I've hated him, liked him, just hopes he does his best; wants us to see "goofy, good-natured, humble Nate," a great video intro. Doing "I Will Do Anything for Love," claims nobody's ever done it before on the show, I'm not so sure.

Oh my god, it's a crazy slowed-down, light jazz version, so weird. Crazy spiked hair, weird tattoos or something all over his body. This is like a bad parody, it's not good.

"I think you probably would," quips Simon at the end. Most people will think it was verging on excruciating, almost uncomfortable, and a weird song choice. At least people will remember you. Randy says curious about the song choice, turns out he and his mom danced around to it. Randy's not sure what kind of record he could make, "a keep fit video," says Simon. Kara says if you wanna be taken seriously, pick something that shows your good voice. They talk to his grandmother, then Paula says, "not to be the historian here," but in Hollywood you were cool, bold and relevant. But this song was more the Boy George version, took away your coolness. Hmm, good comment from Paula.

Ryan brings Nate over to Simon to "make him feel comfortable," it's so forced, he takes off his headband for him to put on, Simon keeps shaking his finger at Ryan.

Felicia Barton next, who's the fill-in for the one who got DQed. I like her based on the interview, really sweet. "No One," by Alicia Keys, hope she does well. All in black, shiny top; a bit uncomforable/nervousish at the start. But very passionate, and she can totally sing. Not really connecting with the audience for some reason; her style is a bit jerky, and weird, she's so intense. A bit off-key too.

Paula praises her in general terms, nothing about the song at all. Simon liked the first part more, a bit copycat, not as enthused as Paula. Randy says great voice, go with your different tone. Kara says great look, attitude, presence, a few problems with some of the notes, noticed you though.

Scott MacIntyre, who gets shrieks during his video. Oh no, actually doing "Mandolin Rain," so cheesy, but a great melody. He's sitting, mostly in black. A brilliant pick, I think, fits his tone so well; you can see his experience performing and singing coming through. It's a bit too smooth for me, he's also over-singing; it's okay, but not great.

Randy says not great vocal, but good story; Kara totally sells out, says who cares about the vocal, your passion goes through; Paula says nothing really. Simon didn't like the song, says he's growing on him though, you're starting to believe in himself. There are better singers, you're memorable, will be amazed if you don't sail through. I'm not really a big fan, he keeps talking about how he can't wait to get back on the piano, that's when he'll really shine. Gets Ryan to give him a high five.

Randy plays Ryan as they come back, Kendall Beard up next. I think she could be a wild card, has a great look, that traditional Southern girl demographic. Doing "This One if For the Girls," great yellow scrunchy dress. I like her passion; she looks old, all dolled-up; very sincere song choice. Not a great voice, lost at times. Gets better as it goes on, I just like her even though she's out of tune.

Kara starts with the positives, big personality and all that; but flat. Paula says best outfit of the night, she says her mom put it together; calls her adorable. Simon says you did the right thing tonight, you are what you are. A bit kind of shrilly, says Simon, not a great choice. Randy says not great vocally, bit of nerves, not bad.

Jorge Nunez, says the judges said he needed to work on his accent, so he did. I like him, doing "Don't Let the Song Go Down on Me." Classic sportcoat/jeans look. Nice voice, slow and controlled, very sincere. Wow, great song choice; totally soulful; big voice too. So passionate; purely vocally not great maybe, but performance-wise and overall, hard not to keep watching.

Paula says you've worked so hard on your accent, sounded so good, just wants to squeeze him. Simon says we were wrong to say you shouldn't sing with an accent, why not; be who you are, you're a very, very good singer. "Actually, I don't think I have an accent, but if you think I do," he says. Not the perfect vocal says Randy, but really good. Kara says you're a singer, born to sing, you have that gift of touching people. He starts crying, "this is so amazing to me." Wow, he just sealed up a spot in the finals. The audience loves him, it's really a very special moment, he has a huge smile, is so obviously happy. This is what Idol is all about.

Critic's favorite Lil Rounds is last, I totally like her. "Be Without You," great yellow top to her black dress. Man, she is great; just a pro from the get-go, really authentic and comfortable. Totally in control, smooth. The other contestants are totally into it. She's on a different level than everyone else tonight, yo. Audience goes nuts at the end.

"Brilliant," says Simon, my favorite by a mile. Too much like the original, but you have great, great prospects. Randy loved it, great vocals and you know who you are. Kara says you're a powerhouse, you are great, have been yourself the whole time. Paula calls her first-class, we're going to see you for many more little rounds.

It's been a great semifinals, the best of the the three. Not merely vocally-wise, just interesting people giving good performances.

Alex Wagner-Trugman
Jorge Nunez
Lil Rounds
Ju'not Joyner
Von Smith
Kendall Beard
Scott MacIntyre
Felicia Barton
Arianna Afsar
Taylor Vaifanua
Nathaniel Marshall
Kristen McNamara

Slumdog Millionaire's night at the Oscars (with some NASCAR too)

2009-02-22T21:19:00.032-05:00

-And the winner is... Slumdog Millionaire! A bunch of people come up on stage, after some initial hesitation, including the kids from the slum. Wow, what great television, the cute little kid is right up behind the podium. Christian Colson, producer, speaks for them all--"when we started out we had no stars, we had no power or muscle... but we had a script that inspired mad love."

A movie that almost went straight to DVD... doesn't exactly inspire confidence in Hollywood's ability to tell good stories, especially when the stories aren't filled with the same-old characters and faces.

And that's it, awards are all given out, 5 minutes shy of the clock striking midnight. Only appropriate that in the year of Barack Obama "Slumdog Millionaire" wins -- and of course, there is a connection.

Interesting, the montage at the end over credits is of upcoming releases; a great idea; makes me wish summer would hurry up and get here.

-Stephen Spielberg comes out, solo, to introduce a montage of past best pictures alongside this year's nominees. Wow, they do something really clever, using past best pictures intercut with clips from each of this year's nominees, like they're using documentary footage. Hardest with Slumdog.

-Best actor is next. The presenters get the standing O, all the old lions are there. I hope Frank Langella wins for Frost/Nixon, I saw him on stage and he was great. Robert De Niro says, "being a movie star can get in the way of acting; but not for Sean Penn." It's a great line, and captures Penn exactly--he wants to make films, not be a star.

Sean Penn wins, to big applause. Speech should be interesting. "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns!" is how he starts. At the end he tells those who voted for the ban on gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and those of their kids and grandkids if they continue in that way....

"I'm very proud to live in a country that's willing to elect an elegant man president," and a country that in all it's toughness creates the kind of artists it does, with a shout-out to Mickey Rourke, "who is my brother."

-Wow, Sophia Loren, among others, on stage to present best Actress. They all get a standing ovation, as well they should. Loren looks regal. I like this personalized presentation where each nominee gets a little speech from a previous winner; can be a bit cheesy and over-the-top, but is also just interesting to watch.

Loren does Meryl Streep; she doesn't look very good, too made up and too much surgery; but you have to keep watching, she has presence. Nicole Kidman does Angelina Jolie, who's wearing emeralds apparently.

And Kate Winslet wins, which is cool; I like how she's grown over the years. It's her first win after 6 nominations. Tells her dad to whistle so she can see where he's sitting, and he does, to loud applause; it's a great moment.

Thanks a lot of people, is a pro at this; but the emotion shows through, a little shriek at the end even.

-Reese Witherspoon oddly enough is presenting the Best Director award. Man, hope Danny Boyle wins, very curious to hear him speak. And he does win, jumps up and down on stage, in the spirit of Tigger he says. Thanks his kids and his wife, his dad and sister, bunch of execs; thanks the guy who choreographed the dance at the end of the film who was left off the film's credits.

And thanks Mumbai, "you dwarf even this guy," referring to Oscar. 7 for Slumdog.

-Queen Latifa sings "I'll Be Seeing You" as they roll the notable deaths from the year; ah, how times do change, she has a pretty good voice for this. Hate how they show the people on screens inside the auditorium, it's such a self-conscious technique. And you can barely see some of the names as the camera moves around.

Charlton Heston doesn't seem to get either extra time or applause, which is a crime given his place in Hollywood history; Paul Newman appropriately does, they end with him. Heath Ledger was in there I guess, I didn't notice.

-Japanese movie wins best foreign language film, Departures. "I am here because of films... and we will be back, I hope," says director Yojiro Takita.

-Wow, a bunch of Indian dancers all in pink run up on stage to perform the first of two original songs from Slumdog, Rahman takes the mike and sings. It's an amazingly powerful and important moment. Wall-E's song is next, sung by John Legend; it's pretty cool too, with African dancers and chorus. Curious what the majority of white Americans who voted for John McCain are thinking and saying watching all this.

They sing the second Slumdog song; it just busts out through the stage, as John Legend and Rahman mesh their songs into a duet.

And the winner is... Jai Ho! 6 for Slumdog tonight, how great is that. Rahman's just been on stage continuously for the last 10 mintues. Thanks everyone from Mumbai, as an emotional Danny Boyle looks on; "all my life I've had a choice between hate and love -- I chose love, and here I am."

L.A. Times' blog, of course, is still writing about Bob Hope..... Classy Hugh Jackman gives the performers another hand.

-Alicia Keys looks resplendent in a purple gown, sounds regal in reading the nominees--properly pronouncing A.R. Rahman--for best original score. And he wins! 5 for Slumdog. He's one of my favorite composers today; says God is great at the end.

-Eddie Murphy presents a special humanitarian award to Jerry Lewis, whose work with the muscular dystrophy telethon will outlive everything everyone in the audience tonight has ever done. He comes out to a standing ovation; really, who cares about Heath, this should be the signature moment from tonight. What a great guy; gives a heartfelt speech, classy words from a throwback to another era.

-My god, 10:30 already and we haven't even gotten to the big 6 yet. "Slum dog Millionaire" wins again, its fourth, for Film Editing. Chris Dickens says he had a great time working on this film; and thanks his sisters -- Sally, Allie, Lizzy.

-Best Sound Editing, "Slumdog Millionaire" is up for it, "Dark Knight" wins. Hmm, interesting. Sound Mixing, "Slumdog Millionaire" wins for this. Nice to see some non-white faces speaking; Resul Pookutty. Is clearly overwhelmed, mentions the two others up there with him. Dedicates it to India, "sincere and deepest gratitude" to those he worked with on the film, and all the sound mixers.

-They do a super-long montage of, no kidding, car crashes and chases. Really, it's just pointless. "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" wins for best Visual Effects, beating out "Dark Knight." Uh, okay. Cause making one guy seem old is more impressive than creating Gotham.

-"Smile Pinki" wins best documentary short, the filmmaker Megan Mylan, all in red, seems like a real person, is all out of breath after running up there. I like her right away; the film is about kids with cleft lips, she talks about the subjects of her film, including Pinki Kumari.

-Documentary filmmakers get a video montage where they talk to the camera, which is appropriate. Hmm, the video was made by Albert Maisles, Bill Maher tells us afterwards. Documentaries are our "windows to the world" Maher tells us, while promoting his own; hmm, odd thing to say, considering theoretically we live in the world--why would we only see it when framed through small holes cut by others?

"Man on Wire" wins, which is great, since I actually saw and liked it. And up runs Philippe Petit, who the film's about; the shortest speech in Oscars history "Yesss." Then he keeps on talking, amkes a coin disappear, balances the Oscar on his chin, makes it bow; the man's frenetic, and absolutely unique.

-The winner of Heath Ledger's award, Best Supporting Actor, is about to be revealed. I didn't see the film so no idea how much of this is sentiment, but he wins, of course. Everyone stands as his parents and sister come up. Hmmm, no wife? Let's see if they dedicate it to the fire victims in Australia.

Audience is pitch-quiet as his dad thanks people. It's a classy speech by the dad, Kim; now his mom says they're choosing to celebrate; and his sister says they accept the award on behalf of his daughter.

It could've been a moment for the ages--his death reminds us of the death of hundeds in Australia... but nothing like that.

-Somehow Cuba Gooding Jr. is allowed back on stage, makes fun of Robert Downey Jr. for playing Tropic Thunder in blackface.

-Matt Kenseth takes the Auto Club 500, 3rd driver in history to win Daytona and the next race. Nice job.

-4 to go, Gordon's right front tire is smoking announcers say. They've been on top of that for a while; NASCAR announcers are great, entertaining and knowledgable.

-6 laps to go, Kenseth and Gordon are about to lap some of the slower-cars, again....

-10 laps to go, Kenseth's lead looks to have expanded even more. Announcers think Gordon has one more run in it, Busch now 6 seconds back. Now just hope some idiot back in the pack doesn't crash for nothing.

-Oscars are doing some idiot musical spoof with Jackman and Beyonce, so I'm still watching NASCAR.

-Kenseth and Gordon are waaaay out in front of the rest of the pack, 3.5 seconds ahead of Busch. 19 laps to go. Wow, with 15 to go Kenseth has really put down the hammer, his lead is up.

-Toyland wins best live action short, continuing the well-known rule that if you wanna win an Oscar, make something about the Holocaust. Wow, the director says he spent "4 years of my life on this 14 minute movie."

-There's some sort of skit with white stoner guys making fun of a bunch of films, it's probably funny to certain frat boys but kindof weird given that the films are all up for Best Picture. It goes on waaaay too long and is just dumb; yup, they have time for this, but cut off Oscar winners halfway through their speeches.

-Oscars take a second to thank the winners of the Academy's Scientific and Technical awards, handed out two weeks ago without TV coverage.

-36 laps to go, still under yello; Kyle Busch trying to win his third race of the weekend, which would be historic, Matt Kenseth leading though, after taking Daytona; folowed by Jeff Gordon. Lots of big names in the top 10....

-Anthony Dod Mantle wins best cinematography for Slum Dog Millionaire; it was shot really well, he takes a wry British shot at Natalie and Ben, "I found that really inspiring". The audience at least has stopped laughing. I like Mantle, seems like a normal guy; thanks his "ma and pa".

-Whoah, Natalie Portman comes out with a Phoenixish Ben Stiller, with the wild hair and crazy beard and shades. She looks great in a purple dress. It totally detracts from the cinematography intro, the audience is just cackling. "You look like you work in a Hasidic meth lab," she says. It's really quite stupid and insulting as she starts cracking up and the audience too as Stiller wanders the stage as each of the nominated films is described.

-Hugh Jackman's been a boring host so far; it's like an extended presentation slot.

-Flip out of the Oscars' cheesy romantic montage or something back to NASCAR on Fox; the race is down the road from the theater in Hollywood, there's another yellow, lots of little rain delays tonight. Nice counter-programming.

-Domo Arrigato, Mr. Robot says Japanese filmmaker Kunio Kato after winning the best animated short for "La Maison En Peitits Cubes." (Of course the LATime's snarky blog, The Envelope, doesn't mention Kato's name or even the full name of the short--it only quotes a voter dumping on the film. Hollywood; where the establishment speaks for the rest of the world).

-Simon Beaufoy of "Slumdog Millionaire" wins Best Adapted Screenplay; hopefully this is a good sign for the film. Although my nightmare would be all the whites involved with the film winning and speaking, while the South Asians get shut out.

-Penelope Cruz wins for best supporting actress; she's one of my favorite actors, thanks Woody Allen in her speech for writing good roles for women.

Spinning racism as conservation

2009-02-22T14:04:00.004-05:00

The New York Times has a startling article centering around a shuttering ice cream shop, The Great Divide, that unflinchingly presents the racist views of some residents of a rapidly-changing Queens community as some latter-day version of Jane Jacobs:

The closing of the beloved neighborhood spot strikes many residents as simply the latest sign of the death of old Bellerose. The bowling alley, another local hangout that some considered the beating heart of Bellerose, closed a few years back, to eventually be replaced by a Staples, among other stores. Several years ago, the nearby movie theater closed, and the building now houses a martial arts supply business.

There have been other changes, even more unsettling to some residents in this neighborhood, long a mostly white enclave of families of Irish, Italian and German stock. ...

The transformation has come as a shock to many of the neighborhood’s earlier settlers, some of whom say they wonder whether magazines tucked into seatbacks on flights between Mumbai and Kennedy Airport advertise homes in Bellerose.

And many residents are not surprised that the developers who plan to tear down the Frozen Cup are Indian immigrants. Some of the same developers recently opened a Quality Inn down the road in Floral Park, an establishment, Mr. Augugliaro said, that “stands out like the Taj Mahal.”

Nice start; nevermind that the shuttering of long-time neighborhood institutions is normal in all neighborhoods -- where was the Times when the bowling alley and movie theater closed. Or was that not a story because it wasn't bought by the same people who created the Taj Mahal?

And yeah, let's call it a divide and morally equate the people on either side; nevermind that one side is racist against the other. Let's just call it a he said, she said thing.

While New York is often praised as a gorgeous mosaic, ethnic tensions are hardly unknown in the city, especially in neighborhoods that undergo rapid demographic shifts. Sometimes tensions are expressed overtly; other times, they lurk under the surface, revealing themselves in conversations that can be heard in local bars and living rooms.

That is the case in Bellerose.

Yeah, racism is presented as two-sided ethnic tensions! And note the understated language -- "ethnic tensions are hardly unknown in the city". Ha! The killing of black kids by whites, the killing of Sikhs by whites, the killing of hipsanic kids by whites -- just tensions that are hardly unknown.

Harshad Patel, who lives with his family in Floral Park, immigrated to the United States in 1981. Before entering the hotel business, he worked as a restaurateur, a metal lathe operator, a water plant operator and a sewage treatment worker. He also ran an electroplating business.

He said he was perplexed by the veneration of the Frozen Cup.

“If they have so much feeling,” he said of the establishment’s devotees, “let them buy it. Let them run the Frozen Cup if they want to.”

But the business would not survive, he insisted. “Nowadays,” Mr. Patel said, “there are so many flavors on the market and so many places to go.”

To drive home his point, he made a public offer. If someone wanted to run the Frozen Cup for the next 10 years, he promised to sell the place at a $100,000 loss.

“Let me see,” he said with a grin. “Who is coming forward?”

See, Patel's views aren't the centerpiece of the article, because it's what some white residents think that really matter. So there's no response to what Patel says in the piece, the Times just quotes him and moves on.

As officers of the Queens Colony Civic Association and members of other community groups, Angela and Michael Augugliaro have been among the most vocal opponents of the plan to replace the Frozen Cup with a hotel.

But as they sat in their living room, they expressed unhappiness with what they see as other undesirable changes in the neighborhood: street vendors selling halal gyros; traffic congestion near the Indian and Pakistani grocery stores on Hillside Avenue; newly created mini-mansions, many of them occupied by extended South Asian families.

“They’re turning the neighborhood into a third-world country,” Mr. Augugliaro said. “We don’t want it over here to look like Richmond Hill or Jackson Heights,” he added, speaking of Queens neighborhoods with sizable South Asian populations.

As he spoke, Ms. Augugliaro shook her head in disapproval at some of his remarks, and he seemed to pick up on her unspoken criticism.

“I’m not a racist,” Mr. Augugliaro quickly added. In fact, he said, he was tired of the subject of race coming up so often. “What does race have to do with it?” he asked.

The couple later recalled a morning years ago when they saw an old man in an orange turban walking on the sidewalk with a curved sword slung from his waist like the one they remembered from the Ali Baba cartoons.

The man was a Sikh, and the object was a Kirpan, a sword carrying religious symbolism and worn by some adherents of the faith, though often a smaller version of the Kirpan is worn on a necklace under a shirt. The couple laughed as they recalled the scene.

“It was like a total shock,” Ms. Augugliaro said.

Yup, he's no racist.

Many of the South Asians who live in Bellerose have only good things to say about the neighborhood. On a snowy Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Francis Thomas, the Indian-born owner of India Kitchen, a restaurant on Braddock Avenue, stood at the counter and said relations between the races in Bellerose were good. “They’re tolerant,” Mr. Thomas said of the people of Bellerose.

Yes, because tolerance is the highest value we aspire to here in America; it's weird for the Times to insert this paragraph, when so much of the article shows the residents aren't tolerant, and that'd it'd be weird for any South Asians to think that.

Instead the Times takes ordinary politeness, an unwillingness on the part of South Asians to speak ill to a newspaper about their neighbors, as a 'there's nothing here to see, move along' sentiment.

Next door to the India Kitchen, however, at a pub called Fuzzy’s Bar, where a grill called Wolf Dawg serves burgers and “hot dawgs,” patrons griped about their immigrant neighbors as “Jeopardy!” played on two small television sets.

“Everybody wants to bring their country here,” said Bruce Holloway, one patron who lives in Bayside, Queens. “They don’t want to look like Americans, they don’t want to dress like Americans, and they don’t want to speak English.”

“But they do come for the benefits,” volunteered his drinking buddy, who gave his name as Franco and said he grew up in Bellerose and used to go to the Frozen Cup for strawberry ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. And of the South Asian grocery stores, he added, one of which opened a month earlier down the block and had the word “bazaar” in its name, “It’s not the kind of store an American goes into.”

Of the newcomers, a group he describes simply as “the Indians,” he said, “They change everything that’s been here.” And he wondered aloud, “Where the hell do they get the money from?”

This is one of the things that drives me crazy about the Times -- they habitually think it's okay to use white as an euphemism for American. So the article is structured so that quotes about how no 'American' would go into a store, that South Asians don't want to look like 'Americans', aren't juxtaposed by a different view, they just float by.

Imagine if the guy was saying Jews aren't Americans or no American would go into a Jewish deli; it wouldn't be buried in the midst of a paragraph, there'd be an expert talking about how this kind of anti-Semitism is engrained among certain subcultures -- there'd be some sort of overt recognition that this statement isn't normal or correct.

But for the Times, apparently it's normal and no cause for alarm that an established, declining ethnic group is racist toward neighbors who are saving their community.

Heck, maybe racism really is just the new family values!

Bush shoed out of Iraq

2008-12-15T18:28:00.002-05:00

If you ever need to explain the impact of the Iraq war to someone in the space of a few paragraphs, you could do a lot worse than these:

Shoe-Hurling Iraqi Becomes a Folk Hero: An Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush and called him a dog became a huge celebrity in the Arab world and beyond on Monday, with many supporters exalting him for what they called a courageous act in the face of American arrogance about the war.

Barely 24 hours after the journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi, was tackled and arrested for his actions at a Baghdad news conference, the shoe-throwing incident was generating front-page headlines and continuing television news coverage. A thinly veiled glee could be discerned in much of the reporting, especially in the places where anti-American sentiment runs deepest. ...

As of Monday night, no apology from the station was forthcoming. Instead, the network posted an image of Mr. Zaidi, 29, in the corner of the screen for much of the day. Viewers were invited to phone in their opinions, and the vast majority said they approved of his actions.

Opponents of the continued American presence in Iraq turned Mr. Zaidi’s detention Monday into a rallying cry. Support for the detained journalist crossed religious, ethnic and class lines in Iraq — vaulting him to near folk hero status. ...

“This is unsuitable action by an Iraqi journalist,” said Kamal Wahbi, a 49-year-old engineer in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya, where pro-American sentiment is strong. “His action served terrorism and radical national extremism. I think he could send the same message by asking Bush embarrassing questions.”

I'll buy one

2008-11-17T21:53:00.002-05:00

Does the NYTimes.com not have copy editors?

Obama Team Anything but Shy and Retiring: Dan Gerstein, a Democratic communications consultant, said that while Mr. Emanuel had a reputation for clashing with others, he also got things done. “He wasn’t able to round up votes for Nafta by being a bullying, hyperpartisan ideologue,” Mr. Gerstein said of Mr. Emanuel’s role at the Clinton White House, where he helped to secure passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. “This caricature of Rahm as this raging bull in a China shop is wrong.”

Looking back on Barack

2008-11-09T18:11:00.004-05:00

You wonder what Abraham Lincoln would've made of Barack Obama and the 2008 presidential race.... Here, at least, is what I made of it:

June 18, 2006: Seed Corn

How great is Obama? I like him a lot--but you know, shouldn't every politician be like him? Inspiring, straight-forward, optimistic and connected to the people. It doesn't seem too much to ask, but I guess it is.

As for Obama in '08--sure, if the Democrats want to commit suicide. He's not ready for the job, especially in this day and age. It'd be a miracle if he was.

I'm sure Republicans are praying that a fit of insanity among Democratic voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will propel Obama to the nomination. They can then run McCain--GOP primary voters would rather him than a black man win!--and legitimately play the experience/real adult card, making Obama look foolish and hampering his chances for when he should really run, in 2012.

Besides which, many voters disgusted with Bush and looking for anyone but will draw the line at voting for black man for president. The same prejudice makes me worry that literally the only person who can keep the Democrats out of the White House in 2008 is Hillary. Gore, Kerry, heck, even bring back Jimmy Carter.

So don't do it, Barack, not yet. The Democratic party isn't so bereft it needs to eat its children, neither is it so strong it can make history.

Well, in my defense, I did recognize Obama's extraordinary qualities; and that McCain would be the GOP nominee against Obama. This was before the Democrats won back the House in 2006, it just goes to show how quickly things change in politics.

January 17, 2007: Running for history

It's interesting because four years ago at this time, Democrats were watching pretty much the same race between Howard Dean and John Kerry.

Yet Dean wound up with both the energy and the money, before Kerry outwitted him in Iowa and fed his self-destruction. Obama's a much more disciplined candidate than Dean; Clinton's got more star power than Kerry.

To the extent any argument you can make about Obama was also made about Dean--inexperience being the chief one--the fact that Dean overcame and indeed took advantage of all the rhetoric to become the overwhelming Democratic front-runner at one point bodes well for Obama.

That, plus the fact that all of Obama's forthcoming screw-ups will only feed into his image as an ordinary, likeable guy. Obama's about as close to bullet-proof as any candidate has been in recent years; well, except of course for the name-thing and the race-thing.

Just one sign of his popularity is his announcement of his candidacy, via his website, became--in just one day--one of the most popular items this month on Digg.

Hillary's chief danger is she is going to seem like old news compare to Obama; that everything she does or says, no matter its merits, can be tuned out by an electorate that may have hit historically high levels of cynicism when it comes to attitudes toward politicians.

Her top assets are she has a ton of money, and knows everybody there is to know. And a nearly-fanatically loyal and top-notch staff that's been helping her lay the groundwork for this run for the past decade.

Throw in the mantle of history both carry, and it's shaping up to be one heck of a race. With their contrasting styles, it may even turn out to be the most riveting thing on television this fall.

I don't see how this can be good for Republicans in any way--the country's gonna be riveted by all Democrats, all the time, for the next year-and-a-half. Whomever winds up being the nominee is going to have had a lot more free media on which to spread their message than anyone on the Republican side.

Then again, given the GOP's message is essentially whatever Bush says it is at this point, maybe it's not such a bad idea for them to lay low until they can sort things out.

Well, this turned out to be the 2008 primary race in a nutshell, laid out at the outset of 2007. Not bad!

March 24, 2007: From Illinois to Hawai'i

There's a fascinating Times look at Barack Obama's time growing up in Hawai'i, A Search for Self in Obama’s Hawaii Childhood, that gives you a glimpse into why he's so at ease with America circa 2007, in contrast with all the white male Americas running around as if it's 1957.

Unlike those carefully-constructed empty suits, Obama is an absolutely natural politician, totally relaxed in front of people and able to communicate his ideas and principles in a straightforward, understandable style. He has the gift of distilling the complex down to its essentials without patronizing his audience or himself.

Yet for all his ease with his fellow Americans, he's a uniquely complicated person--the more I find out, the more amazed I am at all the interesting little items in his background. His path has been harder and more meandering than I expected, based on his golden boy public image that's quickly taken on aspects of the mythic.

In a very specific way he reminds me of Lincoln--the optimism about America, intertwined with a dead seriousness about his personal mission; that same quick wit and easy sense of humor, overlaying both a prodigious intellect and a deeper, darker strain that comes from atypical levels of thought and personal experiences.

And, like Lincoln, shaped by the frontier, Obama, shaped by Hawai'i, knows America needs everyone.

This was a good post that, I think, gets at the core of Obama's appeal for a 21st century America.

April 2, 2007: Two shining moments

In politics, like everything else, both the things that grab the headlines and a flood of information can sometimes blind you to the telling details.

The big story Sunday was Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign announcing they had raised more than $26 million in the first three months of 2007, shattering the previous record (which was around $8 million).

Buried in the story, however, was a key line--Clinton wasn't revealing how much of that money had been raised for her primary fight, and how much for the general election.

It's obviously an important distinction; mixing the two numbers is like telling someone your salary's $1 million... based on lumping together the next 10 years.

How about Barack Obama? He hasn't officially reported yet, but his campaign is leaking that he raised $20 million. ...

I'd say Hillary is more than worried. Remember, the candidate who raises the most early doesn't always win--just ask Howard Dean about that.

However... Hillary had all the advantages coming in, and she's not someone who's got a lot of new people to tap into at this point. She's had years to cultivate donors; has 100% name recognition; has the support of tons of operatives and party officials; represents New York, where a giant percentage of the top donors live; has a big network in California, the other fundraising hub; and has hubby Bill's magic Rolodex to draw from.

They pulled out all the stops; and it didn't work. ...

Looks like the Final Four's set for the presidential race; only question is whether Hillary and Rudy deserve their current #1 seeds.

Not bad; not too many other people at this point arguing Obama might be the actual front-runner for the Democratic nomination.

August 3, 2007: When not winning is losing

In sports there's the concept of a team being behind in the game, but actually being ahead.

Like let's say in football, you turn the ball over 4 times deep in your own territory in the first half, but the other team is only up 10-0 on the scoreboard.

Really, you should be losing like 21-0, so the halftime speech from the coach goes something like they've taken their best shot at us and this is all they can do--this game is ours to win.

You'd be surprised at how often the team that's 'down' winds up winning the game in situations like that; you've got to make the most of your chances in sports, and when you don't the other team usually does.

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll from Iowa has Barack Obama at 27%, Hillary Clinton at 26%, and Johh Edwards at 26%.

I'm shocked. Edwards has practically lived in Iowa the last four years; the state gave him a surprisingly strong second place finish the last time out, and his entire strategy this time around is built around winning Iowa so he's devoted the bulk of his resources to the state.

Clinton's also been running for president for the past four years, has poured money and staff into Iowa, is married to someone who's enormously popular in the state, and has picked up the endorsements of most of Iowa's political heavyweights.

And yet they're both not only not up on Obama, but are actually trailing a man whose only advantage in Iowa is his ads in the Illionois Senate race leaked over the border.

I mean, if four years of concentrated work by Edwards and Clinton in a state that's 94% white can't even give them a lead over someone who's basically just shown up, my gosh, where are they gonna beat him once voters get to know him? ...

Nevertheless, this poll result from a state with voters who are paying the most attention in the nation, along with Obama's ability to outraise Hillary, along with the size of crowds he's drawing everywhere, along with the people he's managed to get to run his campaign, are all pretty telling that this game is gonna play out differently.

My first concrete prediction that Obama would beat Hillary, 5 months before the Iowa caucuses.

August 3, 2007: Why Republicans will choose a Hispanic for VP

Come next September in Minneapolis, the Republicans should nominate a Hispanic candidate for vice president.

A Hispanic nominee totally changes the dynamic of the election. It'd give the GOP a shot at capturing the fastest-growing bloc of voters, lets voters make history by voting Republican, blows up the electoral map, and allows the traditional black/Latino fault line to tear Democrats apart from within.

A Hispanic is the only person who can fulfill the VP nominee's traditional job of attack dog against the other party's presidential candidate without coming across as racist (if it's Barack Obama) or a bully (if it's Hillary Clinton).

A Hispanic gives minorities a credible reason to not vote Democratic without feeling like traitors or bigots or sexists.

A Hispanic is the only way the Republicans can dodge the growing feeling that they're yesterday's party, top-heavy with tired white males.

A Hispanic ties 15% of the population to the Republicans, via an ethnic pride/emotional/historic appeal that cannot be underestimated.

A Hispanic demolishes the electoral map--it locks up Texas for the GOP, solidifies their hold on Florida, shores up their razor-thin margins in Arizona and New Mexico, forces Democrats to put more resources into the expensive New York and Illinois media markets, and--in combination with Schwarzenegger--actually puts California into play.

A Hispanic in the second spot gives cover for the Republicans to play their favorite wedge issue, immigration, following the George Bush/Karl Rove playbook.

There are only two reasons the GOP wouldn't nominate a Hispanic: The prejudices of their own core voters, and the lack of a credible Hispanic Republican candidate (Mel Martinez is the only one in the ballpark).

I guess it's apt that the only thing preventing the Republicans from seizing control of the 2008 race could be themselves.

They should've listened to me; Obama would still have won, but the GOP would've at least made it a much better debate about the future of this country.

January 2, 2008: Coming home

I still believe what I wrote in August, that Barack Obama's going to win the Iowa Democratic caucus Thursday. And think the margin will be surprisingly large.

Especially given that Obama's supporters tend to be younger, and passionate--the anachronistic but thrilling caucuses are really about neighbors arguing with neighbors and trying to come to a consensus.

I think group dynamics will make it easier for a roomful of people to wind up taking a chance and going with hope, than playing it safe--especially with a candidate as charismatic and likeable as Obama.

That, plus the Des Moines Register's poll (the only whose track record gives it any credibilty), plus Obama's parallels with Kerry's surge last year, plus the prospect of record turnout, plus the influx of independents, plus a relatively mild weather forecast, plus Kucinich/Richardson/Biden telling or likely to tell their supporters to make Obama their 2nd choice all make me think the Senator-from-next-door will turn the Democratic race upside down.

January 5, 2008: Scoring the New Hampshire debates

I do think Obama took some hits tonight; he stumbled a bit early, and Clinton probably scored some points with her sharp remarks about words being no substitute for hard work. However, and this is a huge however--the moments I remember from the night are mainly his. He gave a pitch-perfect response to Gibson's question about whether the surge in Iraq seems to have worked, denying the premise by saying it only seems that way because the bar's been set so low by giant failure. It made all the other candidates' technocratic quibblings seem stupid. He turned Hillary's premise about pretty speeches meaning nothing around on her, saying he thought words can matter a lot when people are hungry to be led.

Obama did this a number of times during the night, parrying critiques by saying essentially expand your narrow Washington outlook and don't get bogged down arguing point by point. He's uniquely good at this, with his cadence, his smile, his demeanor, his background. It's why he's going to win New Hampshire, he inspires you even if you don't always agree with all his positions (and I happen to, in general).

Obama resonates with ordinary people because he's just like us, but more competent. One of the funniest moment of the night was when he was asked about his reaction to what the Republicans had said about him; he said well, I was watching their debate, but I have to admit I also watched a lot of the football game.

At which point Charlie Gibson asked him how the Redskins had done, Obama informed him they'd lost, Gibson expressed disgust, and everyone laughed.

I was wrong of course about New Hampshire, but right about Obama. I really liked that debate, with Charlie Gibson moderating; it was American democracy at its best.

February 2, 2008: Clinton's last stand against Obama

I think unless Hillary Clinton blows out Barack Obama in Super Tuesday's delegate race, Obama will have a clear path to the Democratic nomination.

With 22 states voting Tuesday, there are a bunch of voters who will be casting their ballots without any real exposure to the candidates; in such cases, name recognition--and plain old inertia--will help Clinton a lot.

In order of definitiveness, I think Obama will win Illinois, Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota and Georgia for sure--the Times reports Clinton's not even advertising in any of these states.

I think Clinton will win New York (home state), New Jersey (near-home state), Arkansas (home state), and Tennessee (big lead in polls) for sure.

I think Obama will win a lot of states that are currently either tied, or leaning Clinton: Connecticut (late endorsements will help), Alabama (African Americans), Idaho (see below), Kansas (mom's home state plus governor's endorsement), and Massachusetts (Clinton's had a big lead, but I think Kennedy endorsement will be enough).

I think Clinton will win Arizona (older voters, Latinos), Missouri (it's a weird state, she's been up in all the polls), and Oklahoma (no diversity).

I have no opinion on Delaware, New Mexico, North Dakota, or Utah--haven't seen any data, not sure which way they'll go.

I'm also not sure about California, which is obviously the most important Super Tuesday contest; you could argue the winner of this primary is the front-runner the rest of the way. ...

Hillary's only hope is some sort of momentum post-Super Tuesday, adn the Latino-vote thing. On the latter, it's a weird for her camp to hang its strategy on--it's not like there's any strong reason for Latino's to support the Clintons. It's more a level of discomfort with an African-American politician, but that's something which is likely to dissipate with time and exposure.

I think the calendar and the dwindling Latino thing is what all the veteran politicians, editorial boards, and unions who have started to endorse Obama are looking at.

Politicians and journalists and union leaders are people too; so it could just be everyone's seeing the merits of Obama's message, tapping into the mix of intellect and emotion that the giant crowds at all his events feel.

But these professional operatives didn't get where they are just by riding emotion. They're taking a cold, hard look at the remaining states, and realizing that if Clinton doesn't knock him out Tuesday, the rest of the race plays to Obama's strengths.

Who knows--maybe Obama will even win a majority of delegates on Tuesday, even without the giants of NY/NJ/CA. In which case it'll definitely be curtains for Clinton.

This was a good post; I predicted almost all of the states correctly, and said Obama was going to win this thing if Clinton didn't wipe him out on Super Tuesday, which is exactly what happened. Nearly all pundits and analysts didn't come to this conclusion until well into March.

February 19, 2008: Obama strides past Wisconsin win

Tonight's the night Barack Obama started acting like the Democratic nominee for president.

It's customary for candidates to coordinate their speech times, so they don't step on each other. Tonight, Obama started speaking a few minutes into Hillary Clinton's speech.

He didn't care--and, on cue, FOX News and MSNBC and CNN cut her off--you could actually hear someone on FOX yelling CUT TO HIM NOW. ...

Obama is incredibly strategic; he's building these huge volunteer organizations in each state as it comes up, spending a ton of money on grassroots organizing--but not just so he can win the caucuses and primaries. He's doing it so he has a network he can tap into for the general election; and beyond. He wants to build up the Democratic party, but also build up support so after he's elected he can get lawmakers to sign on to his likely fundamental policy shifts. His change is so not just rhetoric; it's concrete and structural and is going to be a mighty force for at least the next decade.

I bolded it in the original; it turned out to be Obama's hallmark outof this election. The thing people forget about Obama is he's ruthless--he really wants to win, not at all costs but he's not in it to look good. The talking over Clinton's speech was an early sign of that.

March 30, 2008: Don't put Barack in a box

Members of the artistic set--whether actors or sculptors or musicians or authors--like pretending they know more about politics than politicians. Because of course there's no better way to understand politics than spending your working hours in a studio.

Just as most non-artists have no idea how hard it is to create good art, so most non-politicians have no idea how complicated politics is.

Journalists, though, should know better. Which is why Holland Cotter's an idiot for suggesting that Barack Obama is lagging behind behind artists when it comes to talking about race.

His article sounds good, but let's be serious--Obama has done more to bring topics of race into the national discussion, and has better ideas about addressing problems related to race, than any artist you might catch in a gallery near you.

To play it any other way is just being silly. ...

Cotter gets it exactly backwards--Obama has never said we're over race in this country. To think that an intelligent black man could believe that is every white person's dream, their 'I told you so' silver bullet.

What Obama's been trying to do is get people to look beyond his race when judging his fitness to be president, which, as far as we know, is not a job that requires scruity of someone's race. To get to a point where every discussion of him doesn't mention his race.

It's too bad that Cotter seems to only value and assess the works of these black artists in terms of their contribution or lack thereof to the discussion of race in this country.

Lucky for us, Obama's candidacy is about so much more.

Yup--he wasn't running to be the first black president, he was running to be president; but of course that doesn't mean he thinks racism isn't a problem anymore. If anything, he probably thinks racism is such a big problem, the only way he could win was to not run as black. And this was before Obama's Philadelphia speech on race.

April 17, 2008: ABC was doing its job--debate will help Obama, not Clinton

Everyone who's outraged over tonight's debate on ABC--in particular the first 50-odd minutes when Barack Obama was getting hammered with questions from Charlie Gibson, George Stephanopoulos and Hillary Clinton--are missing the big picture: Tonight's debate treated Obama as the Democratic nominee.

Think about it--if this man is advancing to the final round in the race to be president of the United States, wouldn't you want to throw everything at him, to see how he responds?

Clinton has no path to victory, so she had no choice but to spend the night talking about him. Imagine if it were John McCain and Mike Huckabee up there--who'd you rather be, McCain getting raked over the coals because he matters, or Huckabee getting ignored because he doesn't?

So you give the car you're planning to buy one last, good, going-over; kick the tires, test out all the features. That's what the voters want, and that's why ABC spent most of the debate on Obama.

As long as the car starts--and Barack Obama did more than start, he roared at times tonight--it doesn't matter if you find some flaws.

This is the car you're going home with; the other car just happens to be sitting next to it on the lot, why would you waste time on it?

This is also why I thought the Republicans were idiots for making the general election campaign all about Obama. He's a Ferrari; why would you want to keep shining a spotlight on it?!

June 9, 2008: As long as he stays overseas

Roger Cohen's got an Op-Ed in the Times about how much the French love Barack Obama.

Cohen doesn't mention the profound problem, of course, of a country supposedly in love with a black American that's only got one black Frenchman in parliament.

Lost in the wave of Euro-adulation for Obama is it doesn't seem like the old country understands his repeated line, 'only in America'.

September 1, 2008: Obama: I was born to a teen mom, too

Anyone still doubting that Barack Obama is a different type of politician should see his answer to a question about Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter being pregnant, via Atlantic's Marc Ambinder:

Jake Tapper: Governor Palin and her husband issued a statement today saying that their 17 year old daughter Bristol who is unmarried is 5 months pregnant. Do you have a comment?

BO: I have heard some of the news on this and so let me be as clear as possible. I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics, it has no relevance to governor Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18. And how family deals with issues and teenage children that shouldn't be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that is off limits.
I actually disagree with Obama, because Palin's made so much of her strong Christian values and is so strongly against teaching safe sex.

But how many politicans would willingly reach out to the teenage daughter in this case, saying in effect hey, my mom was there too--and look at how things turned out.

One of many telling moments that Obama is different. I'm curious whether Palin, freed from her VP role, will remember things like this.

October 29, 2008: Obama seals the deal

It's Barack Obama's 30-minute closing ad--and it starts with spectacular scenes of fields of wheat. Then Obama speaking directly on tape from a very presidential-looking office. Next it's him with voters, then a live cut-in from a speech in Florida. ...

Obama on the stump, I am not a perfect man, but will always be honest, listen to you when we disagree, open the doors of government.

Wow, live from Florida, in a huge basketball arena, big crowd. He's talking directly to the camera. In 6 days, we can choose... rebuild economy, hope over fear, unity over division, promise of change over the status quo, come together as one nation. Lists people across the country he wants to help. 2 minutes left; in this last week, if you'll knock on some doors, make some calls, stand with me, we will win this eletion, and together we will change this country and change this world. Crowd goes nuts, and as always the timing is perfect, he's smiling.

Website, phone number; Joe Biden joins him up on stage, they're holding hands; wow.

Yeah, that was amazingly powerful. I've been saying landslide all along--dimensions might be even bigger than thought.

Wow, and in a huge mistake, McCain runs a negative ad a few minutes after Obama on FOX and right before the World Series resumes! It just feels so wrong....

A lot of this campaign did come down to touch--Obama always had it, McCain almost never. It's an important quality for a president to have, I think; it's what keeps them in sync with the American people, so they can decide whether to lead or follow.

November 4, 2008: Why Obama will win in a landslide

Well, the headline really says it all on that post. It's amazing how long this great campaign has gone on for; I already miss checking poll results and reading the latest interesting/blind thoughts from pundits.

I can guarantee, though, that the Obama administration will be even better than the Obama campaign. It should be a great four years, with another four after that.

Why Obama will win in a landslide

2008-11-04T12:59:00.006-05:00

1) Because Barack Obama and his campaign have outworked John McCain, spending money and energy building a turnout machine that's supercharged by today's great weather.

2) Because people are more likely to wait in long lines to vote for a winner.

3) Because in the four 'battlegrounds' that matter: the last couple of elections Pennsylvania also looked like it was tightening only to go big for Democrats; in Virginia Obama not only overperformed the polls on primary day, but he also drew nearly 100,000 to a rally yesterday; Obama has a half-million early voting cushion and a great ground game in Florida; and Ohio owes Democrats and the country not to make the same mistake again, and knows it.

4) Because Dick Cheney's endorsement reminded everyone how John McCain's still got the scarlet R next to his name.

5) Because Obama's been able to answer every Republican attack ad with 3 ads.

6) Because undecideds waiting for the other shoe to drop on Obama are now free to vote their gut, and because even racists need to pay the mortgage, fill up the car and go to the doctor.

7) Because McCain and Palin's last-minute lurching about and indiscriminate attacks underscores the erratic nature of that ticket.

8) Because like Lincoln Obama's truly a once-in-a-lifetime candidate and intellect, and fits the historical times perfectly.

9) Because the death of his grandmother reminds Americans that like this country he's neither black nor white.

10) Because in the privacy of their voting booth, Americans will choose quiet hope over strident fear.

Obama photos from an amazing series by Callie Shell

Obama seals the deal

2008-10-29T20:00:00.004-04:00

It's Barack Obama's 30-minute closing ad--and it starts with spectacular scenes of fields of wheat. Then Obama speaking directly on tape from a very presidential-looking office. Next it's him with voters, then a live cut-in from a speech in Florida.

It's very slickly-produced; shot beautifully, maybe too much so? First, Missouri, typical white mother talking about her family, Obama narrating, then going to clip from his acceptence speech. This is a new format, so hard to feel how well he's doing.

Back to Barack in the office, talking about the Wall Street crash. Let's see if he even mentions John McCain tonight--I wouldn't be surprised if not. Lists his plan, point by point.

Clip of him talking to voters, all old this time. He's listening and then reassuring an older guy about his pension fears, the guy says thank you a few times. Next, governor of Ohio Ted Stricklin speaks--hmmm, this is interesting, a lot of different things woven in, complete with a teaser, live Obama event coming up.

Now Kathleen Sebelius, then Deval Patrick from Massachusetts. Now, black family in Ohio, older, own home; this one's focused on health care. Husband had to go back to work at age 72. Wow.

Back to Obama in the office. Lots of hand gestures tonight. Talking about energy independence--odd, no transition from health care to this. He's not as good when he sits down, odd body language. His points flash on the screen as he lays out his plan.

Hmm, pivot to Iraq, clip from the debates about the cost of staying there. Then from the campaign trail. Wow, Google CEO talks; then Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. Smart, it's not just him. The best parts are him talking to voters.

Now, big family--Hispanic--around the dinner table, New Mexico; she's a teacher, and then another job afterwards, plus teacher training classes. Wow, these segments are pretty good, she's grocery shopping. All these people are helping voters feel like Obama knows them.

This is definitely a commercial; clip of Obama talking about education, with footage of kids in school, impossibly photogenic.

Now pivot to his biography, photos and Obama talking about his father briefly, then his mother. Another clip from his acceptence speech, more on education. Better clip of him in his office now, cut at the shoulder-level so no odd gestures. Back to health care, odd transition here.

More biography, photos of him, talking about his mom's death from cancer. Clip from his announcement that he's running; then more campaign speaking, about his mom's last months reading insurance forms, never got to see her grandchildren, that breaks my heart.

Michelle, talking about him and his daughters, Malia and him read through all the Harry Potter books. Amazing b-roll of the next first family, clip from his acceptence speech, we all have to look out for each other. Wow, clip from his 2004 convention speech, looking impossibly young. Sen. Dick Durbin talking under the b-roll and photos.

Gov. Claire Macaskill talks about him taking on the establishment; then Joe Biden on his bipartisanship. Obama talks about Biden from a clip during the debates, some home videos and photos of Joe. We're 20 minutes in, so far this is very interesting.

Another white family--hey, where are the Asian Americans?!--from Kentucky, of all places! Hardly a swing state--at the moment. Focus on working class families. Struggling to make ends meet... you feel so bad for all these hard-working people. Wow, the guy's making phone calls with a diverse group for Obama.

Obama speech clip, talking about his grandparents over b-roll. This is our moment. As commander-in-chief, I will never hesitate to defend our country. Iran, Russia, Afghanistan. Clip of him with a woman on the rope line in Iowa, whose son had been shipped out to Iraq. Wow, ex-brigadier general, John Adams, talking about how Obama will be a great president.

Okay, he's hit it out of the park again. No mention of McCain, all positive, but specific, with real people and their stories. Bill Richardson--"this guy is special, he can bring people together, he's a good, decent man, can heal this country, very unusual, good, positive sides of this man that we need at this juncture in our history."

Obama on the stump, I am not a perfect man, but will always be honest, listen to you when we disagree, open the doors of government.

Wow, live from Florida, in a huge basketball arena, big crowd. He's talking directly to the camera. In 6 days, we can choose... rebuild economy, hope over fear, unity over division, promise of change over the status quo, come together as one nation. Lists people across the country he wants to help. 2 minutes left; in this last week, if you'll knock on some doors, make some calls, stand with me, we will win this eletion, and together we will change this country and change this world. Crowd goes nuts, and as always the timing is perfect, he's smiling.

Website, phone number; Joe Biden joins him up on stage, they're holding hands; wow.

Yeah, that was amazingly powerful. I've been saying landslide all along--dimensions might be even bigger than thought.

Wow, and in a huge mistake, McCain runs a negative ad a few minutes after Obama on FOX and right before the World Series resumes! It just feels so wrong....

Rain and ice for Obama

2008-09-28T23:00:00.003-04:00

Photo of the campaign so far from Doug Mills of The New York Times, showing Barack Obama at a rainy rally Saturday at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The other photo, from the AP, is from a rally today in Hockeytown.

Obama-McCain debate, after all

2008-09-26T20:46:00.007-04:00

I can't remember a more highly-anticipated debate; like everything else this year, it just feels bigger, like a society-wide event (the way politics always should be). McCain's theatrics the last few days of course only pumps up the interest--if this was deliberate, he better destroy Obama, cause any kind of tie is going to go to the one who didn't try to pull out.

The non-traditional format--9 segments of 9 minutes each, with opening questions on each topic and then a free-form where the candidates can really debate each other--means there could be fireworks. I'd say the potential for a flash of temper or big gaffe is the highest in years; McCain doesn't like playing it safe in any case, and with his recent big polling deficit I think he's gonna roll the dice, again.

Not that Palin or the 'suspend campaign' gambit worked.

ABC's crew looks positively giddy; more Americans could be watching tonight than for any other scheduled event in U.S. history. 22 debates for Obama, 15 for McCain (none of which had him matched up against 1 other candidate).

Jim Lehrer gets us going; he's the perfect moderator, steady and sober. Man, I have butterflies; this is really quite exciting. Lehrer stands to welcome the candidates, the audience does too. Holy height differential, Batman.

Lehrer starts quoting Eisenhower; economic strength the foundation of military strength. Asks where do you stand on the financial recovery plan. Obama first, per coin flip. Looks at the camera; has 2 minutes here, starts out a bit like a stump speech, then gets more relaxed. Lays out his principles--oversight, taxpayers should get something back, nothing to CEO salaries, 4 is helping homeowners. Also have to recognize this is the verdict on 8 years of failed policies from Bush and McCain. Trickle down hasn't worked--middle class should be the measure.

McCain, wearing a horribly striped tie (first rule of TV: wear nothing stripey, it creates signal noise); mentions Senator Kennedy in the hospital. Been not feeling too great about a lot of things lately, but feeling better tonight. Speaks more deliberately than Obama, to Lehrer not the camera. Makes joke about having been around for a while, which falls flat. Man, he seems sedate; Obama was punchy, energetic; he totally seems feeble--has a cold or something.

Very morbid-seeming; no eye contact with the camera. So weird. Lehrer wants to go back to the question. Obama takes over, how did we get here--says he warned 2 years we were potentially going to have a problem, last year told the Secretary of the Treasury a problem was brewing. Why didn't we set up a 21st century regulatory framework.

McCain says he hopes he'll vote for the plan; I also warned about Mae/Mac, all that--a lot of us saw this train wreck coming. Reference to Eisenhower, wrote 2 letters before D-Day, congrats and resignation. We've lost accountability. Wants SEC head to resign.

Obama says we need more responsibility--but not just when there's a crisis. Years ideology has been what's good for Wall Street, not Main Street; 10 days ago John said the fundamentals of the economy are strong; Lehrer tells him to say it directly to McCain, trying to get them to engage a little. McCain goes off on how great the American worker is.

Lehrer is getting a bit energized; asks McCain the differences between him and Obama. He says spending is out of control, even under Republicans. Goes after earmarking and corruption.

Man, he looks grim; holds up a pen, says he's gonna veto spending bills. Hits Obama for earmarks. Obama says that's why he suspended all requests for his home state. Obama hits back, McCain wants $300 billion in tax cuts for wealthy corporations. Tax cut for 95% of working families.

McCain ignores Obama, goes back to earmarks again. Obama interrupts him, he's not raising taxes. Very forceful. Closes loopholes, pays for priorities as he goes. Let's go back to the point; $18 billion is important, but that's not how we're going to get the middle class back on track, your tax policy is aimed at people who are doing well, that's just the last 8 years.

Lehrer asks McCain to respond. He says he wants to cut the business tax to get jobs here. Goes on for a while; Obama says if you make less than $250,000 a year, you won't get an increase. The business tax problem is real, but there are so many loopholes that businesses pay one of the lowest tax rates in the world. Hits his health credit idea--he intends to tax health benefits, for the first time in history. An example of the notion that the market can always solve everything.

McCain is hammering on his fight against spending. Obama interrupts McCain, says it's not true, goes after him on oil companies. Obama's demeanor is pretty good, forceful and direct and calm.

3rd question, Lehrer asks what will you have to give up because of the outlays for the rescue plan. Obama says we can't do everything, but we have to have energy independence. Have to reform health care system. Have to compete in education. Have to rebuild our infrastructure.

McCain says we have to cut spending. Obama has the most liberal voting record. Eliminate ethanol subsidies. Cut cost plus contracts in defense spending. This is McCain's strong suit, he's coming across as consistent. Saved $6.8 billion by fighting Boeing contract.

Obama says John's right that we have to make some cuts, private insurers through Medicare shouldn't be getting subsidies. Mentions he set up Google for government, so taxpayers can see spending projects.

Lehrer asks again, how will this crisis affect your policies? McCain says spending freeze on everything; Obama says you're using a hatchett when you need a scalpel. $10 billion a month in Iraq--let's save some money there.

McCain says we're sending lots of money overseas in foreign aid; need offshore drilling and nuclear power. 45 new nuclear power plants; linked to climate change, along with Senator Clinton have done lots of work. Lehrer goes back to is the bailout going to affect your policies; Obama says yes, tough decisions ahead--but you've got to know what your priorities are.

McCain says don't hand the health care system over to the federal government. Let families make the decisions. They're letting each other speak; if I were Obama I'd slice into this.

Obama says you said you agree with Bush 90% of the time--you voted for almost all of his budgets, to stand here after 8 years and say you're going to lead, is hard to swallow. McCain says it's well-known I'm not Miss Congeniality.

Lehrer shifts to lessons of Iraq. McCain says you can't lose a conflict. We're winning in Iraq, this strategy has succeeded. Wow, it's like he's speaking off the top of his head here as he ticks off the possible impact if we had not 'won.'

Obama says first question is should we have gone to war to begin with. We've spent nearly a trillion in Iraq, lost more than 4,000 lives, and al-Qaida is stronger than any time since 2001. Looks into the camera, we have to use our military wisely, and we didn't in Iraq.

McCain says next president will have to decide how we'll leave. Obama recently said it exceeded our expectations. Obama says violence has been reduced; but that was a tactic to contain the damage of four years of mismanage. They war didn't start in 2007. McCain's trying to cut in, Obama is citing what he was on wrong on, ticks them off. Obama reframes it as judgment.

McCain says Obama doesn't understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy. Talks about speaking to troops in Iraq, says they said let us win, we don't want our kids coming back here. Obama refuses to acknowledge we are winning in Iraq. McCain says Obama voted to cut off votes for the troops.

Obama clarifies the vote was on whether there should be a timetable or not. Says McCain said Afghanistan not a threat, in rush to go to Iraq. Not enough troops in Afghanistan.

The best Obama can hope for is to talk about Afghanistan; and that's where Lehrer moves it. Says again, it was a strategic mistake to go to Iraq not Afghanistan. Hits Pakistan too.

McCain says he won't repeat the mistake that he regrets, abandoning the people after we helped them drive Russians out. That's a good point. Says he's not prepared to cut off aid to Pakistan, so I'm not prepared to threaten Pakistan, or strike them--you don't say that out loud. New strategy in Afghanistan is a surge, just like in Iraq.

McCain's really improved as the debate has gone on, his somberness works here where it didn't on the economy. His body language and tone conveys credibility. Obama says he didn't talk about attacking Pakistan--he says we'll attack al-Qaida with or without Pakistan. Obama says you have to be prudent about what you say--coming from you and your crazy remarks on North Korea and Iran, that's not credible.

Hmm, interesting, Obama now pivots, we shouldn't have propped up a dictator in Pakistan like you supported. McCain says he doesn't think Obama understands the situation in Pakistan when Musharraf came to power.

McCain says I voted against sending Marines to Lebanon. Gulf War, I supported. Bosnia, supported going in too. Odd, these are contradictory points--what's he saying, he supports intervention, or not? Getting a bit meandering. I have a record of being involved in these high level decision-making, about sending our troops into harm's way.

Talks about wearing bracelet of soldier killed in combat, his stock story. McCain says he knows what it's like when an army is defeated. Lehrer cuts him off, he keeps going on. Obama jumps in. I have a bracelet too--make sure another mother's not going through what I'm going through. The question is for the next president are we making good judgments precisely because sending our military into battle is such a big deal--the original point is we took our eye off Afghanistan.

Nobody's talking about defeat in Iraq, but we are having big problems in Afghanistan because of that decision--it's not true you've been concerned about Afghanistan, you said we could muddle through.

Wow, Obama is taking him to the woodshed on this. McCain's remark is he's never gone to Afghanistan. I've been there, I know what our needs are.

New question to McCain, what about the threat from Iran. If Iran gets nuclear weapons, it's a game-changer, so we can't let Iran go there. Wants to form a league of democracies; Russians are preventing action in the UN. Impose painful sanctions on Iran--they have a lousy government, so bad economy despite oil revenues.

The tone of this section has been different; words really matter here. McCain links Iran to Iraq insurgency; hits Obama on revolutionary guard terror amendment. Obama says let's correct something, the guard is a terrorism organization, what McCain's talking about is broadening the mandate in Iraq to include Iran. That war has helped Iran. Policy over the last 8 years has not worked.

Obama actually uses the word gamechanger; says McCain is right, we can't tolerate a nuclear Iran. Tougher sanctions--but we can't do that without the Russians and the Chinese, they're not democracies but trade with Iran. Major difference, we need to talk to them--by not talking to people we're punishing them is a failed strategy.

McCain says Obama would talk to everyone without precondition, has trouble with Ahmadinejad's name, says we shouldn't just talk to him. McCain says Reagan wouldn't talk until the Russians reformed, I'll sit with anyone but there has to be preconditions.

Obama says Ahmadinejad's not the most powerful person in Iran, so we may not talk to him; I reserve the right to talk to anyone. One of his advisers, Kissinger, said we should meet with Iran without preconditions. It doesn't mean you invite them over for tea. Of course we have to do preparations; it may not work. Raises North Korea as what happens when you don't engage a country; when Bush reversed course, we made some progress at least. Obama says McCain wouldn't even meet with Spain's prime minister. Wow, he really went after him.

McCain says what Obama doesn't understand is you legitimize comments when you sit down across the table from someone. McCain says he's known Kissinger for 35 years, Obama's wrong on this.

Next question, Russia to Obama. He's held his own so far, it's all back and forth; as long as he's on equal footing he's won. Goes through his talking points on Russia. We can't return to a Cold War posture on Russia, we have a lot in common, brings up his loose nukes actions. His answer is okay, you'd have thought it'd be better.

McCain says Obama again doesn't understand what happened with Russia vs. Georgia. I hope Obama hits him on this trope. McCain says no Cold War, but Putin's eyes are all K-G-B. Odd lines from him every so often. Keeps saying he's been to all these places. Watch Ukraine, McCain lectures, this whole thing has a long to do there.

Obama says actually we mostly agree here, but I immediately said it was illegal for Russia to go into Georgia. We have to have foresight and anticipate some of these problems, in April I said Russian peacekeepers shouldn't have been in Georgia. Obama's very good at controlling time, says in advance 2 points, which them means McCain listens to both. 2nd issue here is energy policy.

We can't drill our way out of the problem. So much of this is about demeanor and credibility, Obama oozes confidence. Hits McCain on his energy record. McCain hits Obama on nuclear, then says drilling is a bridge, at least temporarily. Obama's gonna jump in here, McCain keeps talking about Nunn-Lugar on nuclear waste. Obama hits McCain, they're talking over each other.

Last question: liklihood of another 9/11 attack on the U.S. McCain says we're safer now, but a long way from safe. I've worked across the aisle on first responder. Obama's gonna hit him on that; McCain says we'll never torture again. We're safer today than we were on 9/11, but still have a way to go. Ha, says Homeland Security employees are doing a great job.

Obama says safer in some ways. Transit, ports, chemical sites, biggest threat is nuclear proliferation. Doesn't make sense to spend billions on missile defense, but not enough attention to suitcase nukes. We also need to focus on al-Qaida, Iraq focus isn't enough. One last point: the way we are perceived in the world is going to make a difference in cooperation and rooting out terrorists. I'm going to restore our standing in the world, we shouldn't be less respected; gives McCain credit on the torture issue. McCain says Obama doesn't get that if we fail in Iraq, it encourages al Qaida, they'd have a base there.

Obama says Bush and McCain have just been focused on Iraq. In the meantime, al-Qaida is stronger. Challenges from China. Then pivots, ties our deteriorating economy to national security, spends the last part of his time talking about domestic policies. Nobody's talking about losing this war, next president has to look at the big picture.

McCain says I've been involved in everything for 20 years. I don't think Obama has the knowledge or experience, has made the wrong choices; have seen this stubborness before in this administration, refuses to say he was wrong about the surge, we need more flexibility in a president.

Wow, that's kind of a crazy point. Goes on to talk about how he'll take care of the veterans, I love them, they know that I'll take care of them. Reform, prosperity and peace; I don't need any on-the-job training.

Obama says let me make a closing point--will be hard to follow up that soundbite-friendly compilation from McCain. My dad came to Kenya, that's where I got my name; in the 60s he wanted to come here. Our standing in the world isn't what it used to be; we need to send a message to the world.

I don't think his closing is good, it sounds too liberal and wooly-minded. McCain finishes with when he came back from prison, he worked on POW-MIA issues, I know how to heal the wounds of war, I know how to deal with adversaries, and our friends.

And that's it; Obama says good job to McCain, caught on microphone. Michelle comes up on stage, then Cindy. Whoah, wives shake hands.

George Stephanopolous says both candidates played on each others' turf; McCain on economy, Obama on foreign affairs did well. Charlie Gibson said Obama strong on judgment, McCain hammered Obama on experience. Diane Sawyer says Obama campaign wanted to show fight and passion, and he did.

On NBC, they also say both did well, expressing themselves. Tom Brokaw says McCain really went after Obama, we're all looking at the same polls; surprised Obama didn't work harder at pinning McCain to Bush.

CBS has voters and their dials; during Iraq war talk, Obama scores with his list of things McCain was wrong about on the war. Few think McCain won, more think Obama won.

I think McCain did well tonight; he really owned the last few minutes, those soundbite-ready comments are going to be what a lot of people hear the next few days.

Throughout, he was clearly comfortable and familiar with all of these issues, and although I disagree with his philosphy, he at least has a well-thought out world view to apply consistently to foreign policy. McCain has also done well to avoid being tagged as Bush III, totally seemed his own man tonight except during the economic section.

Obama also did well, didn't get hammered on surge, and simply went toe-to-toe with McCain. His demeanor and tone were presidential. I don't think he 'won', but he didn't lose either, which given the polls and what people want him in office for, is a win.

Don't think the polls move much out of this; people will pretty much hear what they want to. McCain's lost one of his last best chances to move the numbers; he's going to have to pull another maverick moment.

McCain takes the stage

2008-09-04T22:01:00.003-04:00

Watching ABC to start, they say Mark Salter finished this speech 3 weeks ago and John McCain's been practicing ever since. They've got McCain on a runway that goes into the audience, so he'll have supportive people on three sides of him.

A clip from Cindy McCain's speech earlier tonight, looking scary in some crazy green outfit with big blonde hair. They go right into McCain's bio film, his mom saying he's a 'momma's boy'.

Some technical issues, video flickering green. POW comes right up. Lot of black and white footage. Music is very dramatic, announcer is even more so. Hmm, photo of him shaking hands with Richard Nixon.

His mom says noone else in U.S. history has ever had as much experience as him. 'Common-sense conservative' is what they call him. "He's not in it for the glory", "he's seen too much to think petty."

Pivot to Iraq, ties it to our security here at home. Father of 7, his youngest was 'discovered' as a baby in Bangladesh. They show some photos of non-whites, wonder where they got them from. "Change will come from strength".

His mom again, he'll renew America, he loves our country. Film ends, hall goes dark, words reading from his memoir ring out. "When you've lived in a box". Goes on for a minute, then spotlight, and out he comes; film narrated by Senator Thompson.

Dark suit, gold tie. Crowd gives him a loud ovation, now chants of USA. The visuals aren't stunning, like they were with Obama. He accepts the nomination, without mentioning the Republican party. One of his houses flashes on the backdrop; that's weird. There are protestors in the hall, I think--McCain votes against vets.

Hmm, that weird green background is back. Starts by talking about the candidates who opposed him; there's a young guy, Iraq veterans against war, he's off by the side holding a big sign. Thanks Bush, I think. Keeping us safe from another attack. The guy is heckling him, you can hear him in the silences, crowd tries to drown him out with USA chants. This is pretty interesting.

Thanks George W. Bush too. Odd beginning, meandering. He's squinting to read the teleprompter at times. That weird green background is still there, it's the lawn from his house or something--there are people walking up the sidewalk. So dumb.

Thanks his wife, she has the weirdest smile. Praises his mom, who stands up. 96 years young. Background changes to something else, blurry and dirty looking--ah, cornfields. I won't let you down, he says.

A very rocky beginning. Mentions Obama, you have my respect and my admiration, to tepid applause. Much more unites us than divides us, we're fellow Americans. Reads like it was just stuck in there.

Hmm, honors Senator Obama and his supporters for his achievements, but leave no doubt my friends, we are going to win this election.

He's low-energy, oddly subdued. "After we've won, we're going to reach out our hand to any willing patriot." Odd, Kentucky right up front. I know, these are tough times for many of you. Some woman is protesting, the crowd is booing her, she's fighting; crowd drowns her out, USA, USA, USA. Code Pink, as she's wrestled out. "Please don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static".

"These are tough times for many of you"--another protestor, crowd chants USA again, drawing more attention to it. I've found the right partner, big cheers for Palin. Man, this speech is really not going anywhere, he seems out of it. Talks about Palin--hey, where's her infant, anyway? "She stands up for what's right, and she doesn't let anyone tell her to sit down".

He says 'change is coming' with an arm gesture, it really looks pathetic, like he's trying on someone else's clothes. Applause, he looks down, waits, continues. Wow, it's really quite a bad speech. "I understand who I work for. I don't work for a party, I don't work for a special interest, I don't work for myself. I work for you."

Okay, now--tell us what you would do! Funny, this comes right after he references being a maverick, who usually are just out for themselves. Says he's fought big spenders, pork. McCain's in a very odd position, he could wind up looking second-best on his own ticket, with the constant prod of a younger, more articulate running mate reminding voters of Obama.

So far, we're 20 minutes in, it's all biography. The Dow plunged 340 points today on more bad economic news, no clue from this speech. Now on Iraq; then talks about how he's had a few tough fights in his life. Matters less that you can fight, what you fight for is the real test.

Okay, now--tell us what you would do! Names a couple from Michigan, who lost their real estate investments. Pennsylvania couple, with an autistic son. Just highlighting their woes so far, it's like he's a Democrat. Another--white--family, from New Hampshire, mentioned, now it's about how their son died in Iraq, will make sure we remain safe from our enemies.

Said Republicans were elected to change Washington, lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to corruption. Haven't freed ourselves from a dependence on foreign oil--tries to claim Obama passed a corporate welfare bill for oil companies! Wow, that doesn't wash.

Party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan is going to get back to basics. Lieberman is in the audience, laughing--not a good image.

We're all God's children and we're all Americans, he says--actually, the immigrant Latina girl he mentions, many Republicans don't see her as American. This is a very broad speech; culture of life gets a big hand. No specifics, people in the audience, including Palin, are talking during it.

It's like a laundry list of core GOP applause lines. Can't imagine any independent tuning in and finding any of it persuasive, let alone any Democrats. I wonder if the Republican spinmeisters will blame the protesters for this.

My opponent will raise taxes, my opponent will close markets, my opponent will increase spending, he'll eliminate jobs, his health care plan will force families into a government-run health care system. People in the hall boo each line, people at home wonder why none of this worked under George W. Bush. This speech is seriously a Democratic dream come true.

Now says he knows some of you feel like your government has left you behind, says he's gonna change Social Security essentially. "We'll help workers who lost a job that won't come back find a new one that won't go away."

Now he's reading the speech like he's newly-acquainted with it. It's too late, shoehorning in these economic things, tone's already been set. "Education is the civil rights issue of this new cenutry". Oh?!

Wants to shake up schools with competition, choice; "help bad teachers find another line of work." Hmm, not sure with schools just starting for the year, attacking teachers is the way to go.

Misreads a line on the teleprompter, starts over and rereads. His eyese are watering, it's odd. Crowd is a bit dispirited; Obama wants schools to answer to unions and bureaucrats, I want them to answer to parents and students. Weird that he keeps talking about Obama. Then a weird smile.

"When I'm president, we're going to embark on the most ambitious national project in decades", stumbling over the words. Ah, time for energy talk--crowd starts applauding, big cheer for this. "Drill, baby, drill." And we'll drill them now. We'll build more nuclear power plants, etc. 'Electric aut-o-mo-biles'. No energy independence without more drilling and more nuclear power.

And restore the health of our planet is thrown in there as a last line. "It's an ambitious plan, but Americans are ambitious by nature, it's time to show the world again how Americans lead."

Wow, holy stolen from Obama!

Stumbles over reading the word 'today'. Al-Qaeda's not defeated; Iran remains the chief state sponsor of terrorism; Russia's leaders have rejected democratic ideals. Wow, he's not really going to make this the key issue?! Goes on about Georgia, 'the brave people need our solidarity and our prayers.'

He's still talking about Georgia; a Democratic line will be he cares more about people in Georgia overseas than Americans in Georgia here. "I know how the world works. I know the good and the evil in it."

My god, now talking about how when he was 5, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Are you kidding, is he really going to end with this?! Talks about Vietnam, "I hate war, it's terrible beyond imagination".

"I will draw on all my experience... and all the tools at our disposal, to build the foundations for a stable and enduring peace." Delegates are openly checking their cell phone and emails.

"We change things that need to be changed." Then, "we need to change the way government does nearly everything," starts listing a bunch of things that were designed before the rise of the global economy and the information technology revolution.

You have to be kidding me! He thinks people will see him as a competent steward for the information age?!

"I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not", as he's talking about his ability to change things. I cannot believe he's mentioning Obama near the end of his speech. "Let's use the best ideas from both sides", instead of fighting over who gets credit.

He'll be bipartisan, transparent, and accountable. The whole speech sounds like a me-too thing, and is really one of the worst major speeches we've heard in a while.

"I've been an imperfect servant of my country for many years." But I've always been a servant. He's winding up now. "I was blessed by misfortune". "I mean that sincerely". Oh my god, he's actually finishing by talking about his POW days.

Talks about how he was a selfish rebel before that day in October when he flew over Hanoi. "I was dumped in a dark cell and left to die." He's actually very sincere here, but he should've started with this and finished with what he'll do for the country economically.

Democrats have already innoculated themselves against this, by calling him a hero, but not the man we need for these times.

Talks about how he turned down a chance to go home early, crowd gives him an ovation. Talks about being tortured, and being broken. McCain is getting very emotional, the hall is totally silent; says one of the other prisoners said nobody can ever make it alone, now get up and fight again, for your country.

Lists what he discovered he loves about America, was never the same again, "I was never my own man anymore--I was my country's." Not running for president because he thinks he's been annoited to save our country in its hour of need; people laugh. My country saved me, and I will fight for her so long as I draw breath.

He'd make a good Cabinet official in an Obama presidency. He's showing his decent side here, but it doesn't make up for his campaign and his speech to this point. Gets energized, ticks off a bunch of ways people can act to help this country.

It's 11:02, must be time to wrap up. "Fight with me, fight for what's right". Keeps talking as the crowd cheers. "Stand up, stand up and fight". Wow, this is getting weird. "We never give up, we never quit, we never hide from history, we make history." Crowd's in a frenzy, and he ends.

Very, very odd speech. A bit over 45 minutes says Charlie Gibson; it was like two different speeches. George Stephanopolous says the second part where he told his story and called people to service brought him to life.

Bob Schieffer is saying he could win, if he gets people to believe he can form some sort of unity government. Tom Brokaw says giving a big speech like this isn't really one of his strengths, but he has a lot of courage, and a compelling story. What was missing, obviously, was a lot of details. And he talks about change, but his own party has run Washington for 8 years.

Palin's out there with him now, they're waving to the crowds. Brian Williams talks about the protestors, and about how his background was again green, with the lawn. Down come the balloons.

Chuck Todd says this was supposed to be non-ideological--ha! Claims there were few barbs at Obama. Used the word change 10 times, versus 15 times for Obama. Wow, there's a lot of white people up on the stage all at once now. Todd says like most recent Republican presidents, not a great speechmaker.

Fireworks on the big screen behind them--fake fireworks for a fake convention, I guess.

An interesting postscript, from the always-insightful David Gergen writing over at CNN:

.A few thoughts as John McCain takes his bows: one cannot leave that speech without having enormous respect for him as a war hero and patriot. His retelling of his story tonight was extremely moving. I have long been a fan of John McCain the human being and I came away even more impressed tonight. It is worth remembering that a McCain has fought in every American war since 1776.

Wow; that should just be what McCain says in his ads.

GOP: Meet Obama, and meet Sarah

2008-09-03T22:01:00.004-04:00

Rudy Giuliani's at the podium; a huge image of the NYC skyline's on the screen behind him. He starts with a bunch of jokes about his own failed presidential run. Blasts the media right off, this is an odd strategy the Republicans are pulling--nobody cares about media bias except the rabid faithful, if you don't have those guys you're in trouble anyway.

Rudy casts it as two good and patriotic men applying for the same job. One guy's been tested time and again, and has passed. John McCain's a true American hero. The other guy--oh, whoops, Rudy goes on about McCain. Well, this analogy doesn't work.

McCain's mom is in the audience, looking stone cold angry. Rudy is tossing off applause lines, he's really a bad speaker.

Now, on the other hand, a gifted man with an Ivy League education, who worked as a 'community organizer'--what? The audience laughs. Immersed himself in Chicago machine politics, nearly 130 times couldn't decide whether to vote yes or no, voted present. Wow, Rudy's just mocking Obama, and the crowd loves it. Am pretty sure how non-Republicans are going to see this.

You have to make a decision, says Rudy. Hmm, this only works if people think of Obama as indecisive; I don't think that's the case. He spent most of his time as a 'celebrity senator'--it's the kind of thing that can happen only in America. He's never run anything, or lead people in crisis, Rudy says. The most inexperienced candidate in at least 100 years. Obama's never lead anything.

Wow, he's really piling it on; crowd is chanting something. Rudy keeps laughing; this is coming across pretty badly. This is no time for on-the-job training. Odd that this is how they're introducing Sarah Palin. Rudy's treating this like it's a big joke.

We can trust McCain to deal with anything that's thrown in his way, we'll all be safe in his hands. So odd, is this really what the GOP is running on still? There's good change, and bad change, Rudy says, then waits for the crowd to applaud. Change is not a destination, like hope is not a strategy.

"Let's talk briefly about specifics". Lower taxes, less government, more free trade, energy independence. Wow, so specific; and why hasn't Bush succeeded in any of this? Nuclear power, and offshore oil drilling. He cackles again. Drill, baby drill. Oh wow, this is crazy. The entire crowd is actually chanting it.

Rudy says McCain will keep us on offense, against Islamic terrorism. Rudy says Democrats think it's politically incorrect, it'll insult someone. Dems aren't mentioning 9/11.

Democrats had given up on Iraq, just like they've given up on America. McCain was right on Iraq, Obama was wrong, on the biggest policy decision of this election. Obama changes his position, Rudy says--on public financing, on wiretapping, on an undivided Jerusalem.

Then, in a line that could turn out to be truly hilarious, Rudy says if he were Joe Biden, he'd want to get that VP thing in writing.

McCain said 'we are all Georgians' when Russia rolled in; Obama blamed both sides, just like he has when talking about Palestinians and Israelis, then changed to have the UN get involved. The crowd boos this for some reason--yeah, let's get into another war; Rudy says apparently Obama doesn't know Russia has a veto.

Like Reagan, McCain will enlarge our party--in choosing Sarah Palin, he's chosen for the future. The other guy looks back. Palin's the most popular governor in America, says Rudy, a few minutes after he talks about how McCain doesn't care about the polls.

Rudy loves that she's been a mayor, mocks Obama for not thinking her hometown is cosmopolitan enough, not flashy enough; maybe they cling to religion there. Audience rises up for that one. Wow, Rudy is really ripping Obama.

As governor she's cut taxes, encouraged energy exploration, one of the best governors in the country. An 80% approval rating. Took on corruption, has no fear. They're gonna shape up Washington.

How dare they, Rudy yells, question whether Palin has enough time to spend with their children and be vice president? Crowd applauds that. When do they ever ask a man that question?

Rudy says we're the party that ended slavery?! Wow. All about expanding freedom, parents should choose where their kids go to school. (But women shouldn't choose what happens to them).

Now the job is up to us, let's get McCain/Palin elected, and let's shake up this country and move it forward.

Wow, what a bizarre speech. Stephanopolous calls the attacks tough, well-thought-out; but maybe too nasty, too ugly.

GOP sends out Sarah Palin right afterwards, no time to discuss Rudy. Was to be a film, but Rudy ran long so no film. She's in a short black skirt, tan top, pearls. Big liberty bell behind her. Blue tinted glasses. Big standing ovation--husband's got the infant now, went from daughter to Cindy to him.

She accepts the nomination--pretty strong and steady in her opening line. She's actually doing a pretty good job with her first few lines. Crisp, straightforward.

Out comes her accent; last year experts counted out McCain. Okay, now she's delivering this thing like she's on a tv drama--overlooked the resolve and guts of McCain. Weird facial expressions, like someone on Saturday Night Live. She looks nervous. Points to her son when talking about Iraq, he stands up.

Oh, she's gonna introduce her family. Ticks them off by name, then waves at them. The girls stand. Trig, too. She keeps raising her right arm, says our family has the same ups and downs as anyone. To the families of special needs children, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Now St. Louis arch is on the screen behind her.

Talks about hubby, a fisherman, snow machine racer. He hands off the baby, ready for his moment; mentions his Eskimo ancestry, says they met in high school and he's still my guy.

Awesome! Great! She's doing the up-talking too; introduces her parents. She's a pretty good speaker--no greater sense of the moment, just simple and direct. She talks about her people, who do the work and are always proud of America. I've lived most of my life in a small town, hockey mom and signed up for the PTA. A bunch of identical hockey moms 4 Palin signs go up.

She's going to explain to us what the job of mayor involves. In a mocking tone, like a community organizer, except you have actual responsibilities. She's got some steel in her, that's for sure. Not sure what we think of people who say small town people cling bitterly. We prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and one way in San Francisco. Hmm, that's a pretty strong line. McCain is the same man, no matter where he goes.

Not a member of the permanent political establishment--some in the media think you're unqualified for that reason alone. To big boos. Hmmm, this is a pretty effective speech. I'm going to Washington to serve the people, not to get your good opinion.

She winks at the crowd. Totally at ease. Politics for the right reason is to challenge the status quo, leave this nation better than we found it. Big smile, light tone. Govern with integrity, good will, and a servant's heart. I will carry myself in this spirit.

Now she's using Obama's speech--reform hard to achieve, with the help of the people of Alaska we shook things up. Sold off the luxury jet--put it on eBay. Like driving myself to work, got rid of the personal chef. Says she's vetoed nearly half a billion dollars in spending. Thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere. Well, she's lying, but it sounds good.

Insisted on competition among oil companies. Build natural gas pipeline, to help lead America to energy independence.

She's the kind of politician that talks about basic things as if she's just discovered them. She reads a part of the speech about Russia that she obviously didn't write. Goes on about foreign control of oil, with some geographic names thrown in there, we need to pump more oil, we have lots of it.

Interesting, she's also arrogant. Simple-minded, and arrogant; what a combination.

Drilling won't solve every problem, but that's no excuse to do nothing at all. She's definitely going to infuriate people with that tone of hers, built on so little.

Talks about 'our opponent' and his dramatic speeches, there's much to admire about him. But this is a man who's authored two memoirs, but not a single major law. When the stadium lights go out, what exactly does our opponent seek to accomplish after he's turned back the waters and healed the planet. Wow, she's very snarky.

Some, like McCain, use their careers to promote change; she's really throwing in a lot of stuff, makes fun of the presidential seal thing. Says McCain's record is why so many entrenched interests have fought his candidacy, from 2000 on. Not looking for a fight, but not afraid of one either.

Quotes Harry Reid, who said he can't stand John McCain, says that's proof we've chosen the right man--he actually meant he can't stand up to John McCain. Wow, she really gets in these little digs.

The American presidency isn't supposed to be a journey of personal discovery. This world isn't just a community, doesn't need just an organizer. Obama and Biden say they're fighting for you, but only one man in this election has ever really fought for you.

McCain will bring the compassion of someone who was once powerless, someone who's seen evil and seen how it was overcome. A fellow POW, from Ohio--she blows him a kiss as he stands up--says after he came back from torture every day he'd flash a grin and a thumbs up. That's the kind of man America needs to see us through the next four years.

If character is the measure in this election, hope the theme, and change the goal we seek, I ask you to join our cause, elect a great man as the next president of the United States. Thank you, and god bless America.

Brian Williams--if they didn't know her before, they'll know her now. Stephanopolous says she's one tough cookie. Tom Brokaw says she makes a very auspicious debut, could not have been more winning or engaging, made the case for her candidacy strongly. Bob Schieffer says it works for the base, how about the rest? Jeff Greenfield says she has a perfect populist pitch, putting the big shots in their place, a strong first impression. Dan Bartlett says he thinks the McCain campaign is giving each other high fives.

And out comes John McCain. Tough rhetoric was necessary, Bartlett says, she's ready to play with the big boys.

McCain takes the mike, don't you think we made the right choice? Stephanapolous says in her first speech to the country, she spent a lot of time attacking; but a lot of beautiful and effective lines in the speech.

ABC on the floor with an undecided delegate, says she was real--funny, came out there swinging, talked about her record, she was fantastic. Greenfield on CBS says she cut Obama, but with humor, unlike Rudy and his sword.

It was a great debut for Palin, about as good as the GOP could've hoped for. She had to be tough, and she was; she had to be a good speaker, and she was. She didn't self-destruct, and she left the delegates energized.

And voters at home feeling like she belongs.

Republicans get their chance

2008-09-02T20:51:00.012-04:00

Watching the Republicans in St. Paul--they really are tone deaf, McCain's friend Wes Gullett is standing up there with their adopted daughter 'Mickey' from Bangladesh, who was unexpectedly brought back for them by Cindy McCain.

The girl just stands there the entire speech, beaming, as he talks about how great Cindy is for bringing her the blessings of a life in the U.S., including her now being a 'naturalized U.S. citizen'.

She is literally a prop--isn't allowed to speak at all, just stands there while her father talks about her, and in a truly ludicrous moment, reads from an essay she wrote. Likewise, the McCain's daughter from Bangladesh, Bridget, sits next to Cindy smiling, holding her mom's hand.

It's somehow entirely fitting for the GOP; delegates applaud throughout.

Next, a firefighter from the area who was a hero during the bridge collapse last year--Jim Lehrer tells us afterwards--speaks about service to your community. It's a pretty good speech, the timing is a bit screwed up; she stands there for quite a while waiting for George H.W. and Barbara Bush to sit down; the crazy big screen behind all of the speakers shows flowing water as she speaks.

Wow, next, a non-white person! A Mexican-American. People in the crowd look restless; then he says Jesus Christ and the Virgin of the Guadalupe are at the center of our home.

Refers to McCain as a 'maverick' Senator, is the godfather of their son Jimmy. "You're probably asking, why does a Hispanic Democrat support John McCain"?

First, faith--no one can survive a prisoner of war camp without God's protection. Oh? I think some people from Auschwitz have a different perspective on this. He's not just a public servant when the lights are on and the cameras are running, it's a way of life. Vs. Barack Obama, and all the TV crews when he was working in community service in Chicago, I guess.

Quotes the Bible, then says McCain sees immigrants as also God's children. Wow, want an amazing thing! Talks about sanctity of human life from conception. Ends, Viva America! Crowd is forced to cheer.

Judy Woodruff interviews McCain's cellmate, says he had a great sense of humor even in jail, refused to come home early. He's 83; says McCain's got everything going for him, will be president--has the experience, no on-the-job training, decisive as proven during the Saddlebrook interview.

Wow, Lehrer points out the veteran has the Medal of Honor hanging around his neck, the highest military honor any American can get.

Now, Christine Todd Whitman is talking in advance of George W. Bush's 8-minute speech via satellite, says nothing really. She's okay, one of those politicians who seems more impressive on paper than in person/reality.

Michael Gerson, who's an ex-Bush speechwriter, is also on to pump up the president; he's the definition of a fop, his words are ridiculous and the way he comes across is comical.

They're now running some sort of video, it's telling the story of a soldier in Iraq, keeps referring to him and his 'teammates'. Okay.... Michael Mansoor, saved his fellow soldiers by throwing himself on a grenade. He's Lebanese American, wonder if that made it into the video. Won the medal of honor, the third to get it during 'the war on terror'.

Now Orson Swindle, who was Ross Perot's spokesperson, and also a POW. Hmm, now Mansoor's family is sitting next to Cindy McCain, wonder what happened to Bridget? They stand, get a looooong ovation from the crowd. Next, the five Medal of Honor recipients stand and are recognized. Then, other former POWs stand and are recognized. And then G.H.W. Bush is told to stand, and be recognized.

And, that's it. Swindle leaves, his entire job was to ask people in the audience to stand. Lehrer thinks we're taking a break, but then Laura Bush shows up, so he says first mistake I've made. She's in a red dress; will be introducing her husband--conveniently, 15 minutes before the networks go on the air.

Interesting, when was the last time a sitting president wasn't scheduled for prime time?! She calls Sarah Palin a "strong executive and proven reformer." Wow, next she highlights the non-white members of the Cabinet! Elaine Chao and Condoleeza Rice.

Laura says we haven't heard very many facts recently, so she's sharing a little straight talk. Goes on for a while, then says no one knows better what this job requires than the person who holds the job, and President Bush comes on.

He says his duties regarding Hurricane Gustav keeps him from attending, thanks everyone for their work. Shout out to his parents. Then, McCain is ready to lead this nation. It's funny, they're timing this so it ends right before the networks come on air, 4 minutes left.

Bush reads off McCain's story. Says if the Hanoi Hilton couldn't break McCain's resolve, you can be sure that the angry left never will. Adoptive parents, defender of human life.

Talks about McCain being there from the start on Iraq. We need a president who understands the lessons of 9/11, to protect America was must stay on the offense, and not wait to be hit again. McCain will have a strong leader at his side, Sarah Palin. And that's all on Sarah.

Says he's optimistic that at the end, Americans will look at the judgment, experience, and policies of the candidates, and will vote for McCain-Palin. Thanks Laura for being a fantastic first lady. And that's it--10:01 EST.

Seems like CBS and NBC are rerunning the speech in its entirety, looks like ABC will too. Interesting, so the first thing Americans now tuning in will see is Bush. Hmmm, something interesting--on CBS, there's no crowd noise early on, it's just the video apparently; so it's bizarre when he stops for 'applause', you just get silence.

Laura is speaking live on PBS, she's still not a great speaker. Wonder if Cindy is speaking at this shortened convention.

On NBC, Tom Brokaw says the whole convention's been improvisational, like how Bush's speech ended before prime time. That wasn't by happenstance, Tom.

Dan Bartlett on CBS says this is an emotional time for Bush, a lot of support here, trying to transfer that to McCain. CBS then runs the first photos that have been released of Palin in the last couple of days, a staged photo with Cindy McCain. They then do a story on the vetting.

NBC goes to Chuck Todd while Senator Fred Thompson talks; ABC and CBS are running talking heads over the speech as well, ABC now cuts into it on tape, the part where he talks about Palin being a breath of fresh air, how the media is unfairly going after her. Odd to hear a Senator like him tout the outside-the-Beltway selection, says the other side and their friends in the media are in a state of panic. She knows how to field-dress a moose--with the possible exception of Teddy Roosevelt.

Hmm, McCain's top operative Steve Schmidt's on CBS; they're bringing out the big guns. He says he's been asked outrageous questions by the national media. Smear, after smear, after smear. Katie's the perfect person for this, they can't accuse her of being sexist; asks about her raising the sales tax, and earmarks.

He just says when she was mayor she fought for her city, now she'll join McCain. Hmm, Katie at the end is just palling around, maybe she wasn't the perfect person for this.

NBC is running Thompson live, RNC is running a slideshow of McCain photos behind him. NBC cuts out of it, as Thompson talks about Iraq. Hmm, Senator Olympia Snowe on the floor with NBC. Haven't heard her speak about Palin before, she says it's a historic choice. Says she trusts McCain's judgement, in terms of what he's decided is important for his ticket.

Jeff Greenfield on CBS says Palin has the potential to appeal to the broad middle of the country, that doesn't care about her resume. Bob Schieffer says but she's so anti-choice she won't get Clinton votes.

I guess Sen. Joe Lieberman's speech is the only one tonight they'll carry in full. NBC back to Thompson, he keeps clearing his throat, it's odd. Totally disjointed speech, just spewing out lines here and there, no internal logic at all. Keeps repeating 'our country', while the cameras keep panning an all-white audience.

Visuals aren't great on his speech, audience seems half there. Says earlier--now watching ABC's tape--we need a president who sees no need to apologize for America. Sure, cause we never do anything wrong....

Wow, what a screw-up by ABC--Lieberman is speaking, and they're still showing Thompson on tape. Joe's a bad speaker, seems ill-at-ease. We're all Americans, references Gustav. Talks about how senseless partisanship is. Hmm, this all feeds into Obama's message, especially post-Palin nobody thinks of McCain as non-partisan.

Delegates aren't attentive, applause is tepid. What's a Democrat like me doing at a Republican convention like this? Well, given that he won his last race as an Indepedant.... Hadassah's up next to Cindy, looks very uncomfortable.

Says McCain's the best choice; only McCain has actually broken through partisan politics. Says John doesn't think we need a natural disaster to take off our partisan hats... well, it seems like for McCain's campaign, it did.

Man, Lieberman really must have exacted a guarantee from John that he'll invade Iran if he wins. Says they've worked together to make every American safer since 9/11. Don't be fooled by the political statements and advertisements, God made only one John McCain, and he is his own man.

That's odd--Obama thinks that too, the problem is the man is erratic, angry, and not fit to lead....

Recites a list of things that make McCain stand apart from another partisan Republican. I think if Lieberman were a better speaker, and if he said something like hey, I don't agree with you on abortion, but this election is about bigger issues, than this would be an effective speech; as it is, it isn't.

Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man, he says--but eloquence is no substitute for a record, not in these tough times for America. Hmmm, and how did these tough times come to be?!

Says Obama hasn't reached across party lines, or done anything within the Democratic party. Whereas Bill Clinton actually did do some of those things, like welfare reform, free trade agreements and a balanced budget. He seems a bit like Dana Carvey, actually.

Mentions Palin, calls her a great lady. She's a reformer. The real ticket for change is McCain-Palin. An oddly energy-less hall. DC won't be able to build a pen that will hold in these two mavericks. Ok.... America needs more national unity, not party unity. Especially because we're a nation at war--need someone to fight, not just when it's easy but hard.

Says McCain sounded the alarm about the mistakes we were making in Iraq. Others wanted to retreate from the field of battle, when colleagues like Obama were voting to cut off funding for our troops on the battlefield, McCain stood against the tide of public opinion, supported the surge--and that's why today thousands of troops are coming home, with honor.

My friends, he says wrapping up, McCain is respected and liked by our allies around the world, he'll be feared by our enemies--and that's what we need. Yeah, he'll convert everyone from friends to enemies, too.

Wants to speak directly to his fellow Democrats and independents. This is no ordinary election, this is no ordinary times; McCain is no ordinary candidate. Hmm, that's persuasive!

You may not agree with McCain on everything, but he'll be straight with you on where he stands, and he'll stand regardless of politics. He'll be what he is naturally--a restless reformer, he'll clean up Washington. When you vote for president, vote for the person you think is best for president, not the party you happen to belong to.

Wow, how's that for polishing the Republican brand! Vote for the leader who's always put America first. Let's come together in November to make a great American patriot our next great president.

Williams claims Lieberman was elected a Democrat--actually, he wasn't, ran and won as an independent. It's been 40 years since a sitting president didn't appear before his own party's convention.

Mark Shields over on PBS says he's never seen a convention like this, where they're running against their own party, making it all about McCain's biography.

Obam: I was born to a teen mom, too

2008-09-01T15:04:00.003-04:00

Anyone still doubting that Barack Obama is a different type of politician should see his answer to a question about Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter being pregnant, via Atlantic's Marc Ambinder:

Jake Tapper: Governor Palin and her husband issued a statement today saying that their 17 year old daughter Bristol who is unmarried is 5 months pregnant. Do you have a comment?

BO: I have heard some of the news on this and so let me be as clear as possible. I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics, it has no relevance to governor Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18. And how family deals with issues and teenage children that shouldn't be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that is off limits.

I actually disagree with Obama, because Palin's made so much of her strong Christian values and is so strongly against teaching safe sex.

But how many politicans would willingly reach out to the teenage daughter in this case, saying in effect hey, my mom was there too--and look at how things turned out.

Clinton and Biden close down Pepsi Center

2008-08-27T19:44:00.020-04:00

What will Bill Clinton's speech be like tonight? One indication is the person introducing him is an African American Congressman from Florida.... I think he'll be great, will want to show everyone he still has it. Rep. Meeks isn't a great speaker, the contrast will be even larger.

Short intro too; the crowd roars as out walks old Bill, who Jim Lehrer says has spoken in every Democratic convention since 1988. Looks like he's in good shape for someone who's 62. Hillary in the audience, aqua pantsuit.

He gets a long ovation from the crowd. This will put him in a good mood, I think he's a little surprised. Laughingly tells everyone to sit down, repeats the first line of his speech, says please sit down, then says I love this, and I thank you.

Right off the bat, says he's here to support Barack Obama, more applause; and to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden. He recasts the primary race as being tight until the very end, praises Hillary and her speech.

Big roar, as he says he'll do everything he can to elect Barack Obama. Actually, that makes 18 million of us. Like Hillary, I want all of you to vote for Barack Obama in November.

Man, he's still magical, even after all the stuff of the past two decades. He's competent, smart, confident and passionate. And a great speaker. I hope he and Obama really spend some time together, Obama could learn a lot. Hmm, Theresa Heinz Kerry is sitting with Michelle.

Wow, he says everything he learned as president and since then has convinced him Barack Obama is the man for this job. He has the intelligence and curiousity every successful president needs. Has a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation. The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him....

Hmm, Bill is very clever. Which has always been his problem. Then says Biden plus Obama equals what we need on national security. Obama is ready to lead America, and restore American leadership. Some blacks in the audience are looking a bit skeptical, until Bill says Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.

"When he cannot convert adversaries into partners, he will stand up to them." "He won't let the world's problems obscure its opportunities."

It's kindof odd for Bill to be speaking on national security night; but he sounds credible delivering these lines. Most important of all, we can't be strong abroad unless we are first strong at home. People have always been more impressed by the power of our example, than by the example of our power. Gets people to their feet. Not sure Saddam Hussein was ever impressed by anything.

This sure ain't no 10 minute speech; and now he's going off on economics. He's looser now, this is clearly what he loves talking about. Now hitting Republicans. Just listing a litany of abuses, ending with what about Katrina and cronyism. Gets the crowd all riled up. Standing ovation as he says Obama will do better than that. Crowd chants Yes We Can.

Yes he can, but first, we have to elect him. Obama couldn't ask for more. He says McCain is honorable, but he's wrong on the two great questions of this election, rebuilding the American dream and rebuilding our power overseas.

Now he's hitting the Bush administration on how they've destroyed the economy, reeling off a list of facts. Now McCain wants more of the same.

Man, what's Biden going to say after this?! Clinton's totally stolen the show; he's got the crowd in the palm of his hand. Let's send them a simple message--thanks, but no thanks. The third time is not the charm.

What great lines. Yeah, everyone's wishing he was running again. Total silence as he slows down, talks about 16 years ago it was his chance--GOP said I was too young, and too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief. Crowd cheers at that--sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history--and it will not work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

Obama's life is proof of the American dream. Freedom, and equal opportunity will be what he also wants for all Americans. This is totally the most effective case for Obama's candidacy we've heard.

Obama will lead us away from division and fear, back to unity and hope. If, like me, you believe America must always be a place called hope, join me and Hillary and Chelsea in making Barack Obama the next president of the United States. Huge applause, off he goes.

Jim Lehrer says--to say he was well-received is an understatement. Yeah, off he goes, what a great speech. Too bad it wasn't live in prime time. Crowd is totally riled up now.

Now, John Kerry. How the mighty have fallen, not even in prime time. He's stumbling a bit, a hell of a speech to have to follow.

Some interesting numbers out of the tv ratings for the convention so far:

According to new figures released by Nielsen, Day Two of the convention -- anchored by Hillary Clinton's primetime speech rallying support for Obama -- delivered a huge audience: 26 million U.S. viewers. ...

Viewers older than 55 are glued to the convention coverage. More than 20 percent of Americans in that age group watched the event on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, BET, and TV One. ...

The Democratic convention is holding its own against the heavily watched Summer Olympics in Beijing, where 27 million viewers tuned in each night.

That's pretty amazing, that as many people are watching this as watched the Olympics. Don't think the Republicans are gonna get this type of viewership. The bounce for Obama may well be in double digits--it's especially great that older voters are watching, they'll have heard Hillary and Bill and Joe vouch for Obama.

Kerry is speaking as if there's a stopwatch on him. He says he's been friends with McCain for almost 20 years, but candidate McCain is no Senator McCain. Compares the two, but is speaking a bit too fast for us to soak in. Talk about being for it before you're against it! Odd, some audio problems, at least on PBS.

This has actually turned into a pretty good speech. Kerry's a good soldier. Tries to get a refrain going, recites a list of foreign policy things that Obama was right on, then 'Who can we trust to keep America safe?'

"How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money that he doesn't put America first?"

Oh wow, Obama's uncle, who served in WWII and helped liberate a concentration camp is here, sitting next to Michelle, he stands and the crowd gives him a standing ovation. Now that's great television. Nice touch, Kerry.

He's actually doing a very good job of acknowledging that what worked against him won't this time--I wish he'd been this strong attacking Bush in 2004 that he is attacking McCain now. It must be humbling to say some of these things, but he really does love the Democratic party and America.

A very different speech than Clinton's, but much more personal, vulnerable, and in some ways--hard to measure--better. PBS commentators say not a Kerry-like speech, the most hard-hitting speech of the convention.

And now the first and only female three-star general, Claudia Kenney; wow, and she was head of Army Intelligence. Man, this is a well-run, well-thought-out convention.

Rep. Chet Edwards now speaking; Sen. Evan Bayh spoke earlier. Both showed why they weren't picked to run with Obama. Neither were inspiring, seemed like lightweights. In comparison with the Clintons, and Kerry. They're showing a film by Stephen Spielberg on PBS, the networks are replaying and analyzing Clinton's speech.

ABC replays the roll call vote, when New York--with Hillary at the mike--put Obama over the top. A black woman is wiping away tears, as Hillary says she moves that by acclamation all votes cast go to Obama. Hmmm, with Nancy Pelosi presiding. Everyone seconds; no-one opposes--or is given a chance to by Pelosi's gavel, and the motion is adopted. George Stephanopolous mentions all the barriers being broken--Hillary to Nancy to Barack.

This really is like a dream for the Democrats. Great visuals, great speeches, and enough interesting things going on that people are tuning in. Maybe the whole Clinton-Obama thing was ginned up by Obama? Figuring may as well turn lemons into lemonade.

Everyone's run or is running a lot of Clinton. Hopefully Kerry gets some time too. NBC is speculating about who McCain will pick for VP, Chuck Todd talks about the Biden choice being a factor.

Wow, I think CBS is rerunning all of Bill's speech. NBC is running parts of their interview today with Michelle. She says she told them as they came out on stage that she had a surprise for them, Malia asked, is it the Jonas brothers.... Michelle says they really miss their daddy, Malia was crying backstage, then said well, that family [he was with] seemd pretty night.

Man. Now NBC will talk to Kerry after the break. I think ABC is coming back with Kerry. Hey, PBS has someone on a blonde woman who looks like Ainsley Hayes from the West Wing. The guest here was in the Marine Corps though; same kind of toughness, genuine in her case.

Hmm, Marc Ambinder says Obama is going to make a 'surprise' appearance at the end of Biden's speech. I think Clinton did this first, with Gore the first time around. Especially good idea here given that tomorrow night's speech will be at the football stadium, the visuals will be different, no risk of taking away from Thursday.

Man, CBS has an emotional interview with a black delegate from New Jersey, who's in tears, says her dad who has Alzheimer's now marched on Washington with MLK, when they couldn't drink at water fountains, she's just glad Democrats voted for the best candidate, regardless of skin color, wished he could know about it. Oh, man....

Kerry on NBC, Brian Williams says at the end of the interview perhaps the most forceful speech here so far. Ann Curry is now playing reporter, trying to grill an Obama foreign policy advisor, by asking very abrupt, bordering on rude, questions. Yes or no? Yes or no?

Everyone's showing the Biden bio video, except CBS, which consistently has skipped these. They've got Bill Richardson, who's looking large--smartly, Obama's got him speaking at the stadium tomorrow night.

Wow, what a classic-looking family. This should play well with the senior citizens. If Biden has Obama's organizational skills, he could've made a real run at these things. Vice presidency is perfect for him, no real duties except to advise the president. He looks a bit like Donald Trump.

Beau Biden, his son, who's going to be serving in Iraq in a few months. Wow, he was in that automobile audience with his mom, and his sister and his brother! The hall is transfixed, Michelle is just weeping as he tells the story, and how at first his dad didn't want to go to the Senate, wanted to stay with his kids.

My gosh, this is almost too good to be true. Such an understated style, but totally sincere. Michelle is totally weeping, they split screen it for a while. His mom's crying too. Highlights his writing the violence against women act, crime bill, called Milosovic a war criminal to his face. Mentions because of other duties, he can't be here this fall. So I have something to ask of you--be there for my dad, be there for Barack Obama, because this country needs him.

My friend, my father, my hero, the next vice president of the United States. Charlie Gibson interjects, the other duties are he'll be sent to Iraq, part of the Delaware National Guard.

Thank you, and thank you John Kerry. Biden is clearly thrilled, keeps saying thank you, crowd keeps cheering. Talks about his son, how proud he is of him, and his other son and daughter, and his wife. Oh man, this is gonna be good. He thanks President Clinton, words that'll warm his heart. Praises Hillary too, made history and will continue to make history. They stand for her.

Honored to represent the first state, my state, the state of Delaware. Yes, I accept your nomination.... I think one reason Biden was picked is because Michelle likes him.

Starts telling his story, his dad always told him, champ, when you get knocked down, get back up. God, I wish my dad was here, thankful my mom is here--says her entire Irish name, the crowd gives her a standing ovation, she clearly is very proud.

This is a very genuine speech. Talks about his mom's words to him as a kid--my mother's creed is the American creed, no one is better than you, and everyone is equal to you.

That American dream feels like it's slowly slipping away. He talks about the questions people have around the kitchen table every night, the worries they have--that's the America George Bush has left us, and what we'll get if John McCain is elected president.

John McCain doesn't seem to get it. Barack Obama gets it; he's worked his way up. He chose to go to Chicago, the South Side, to work as a community organizer. That's why Obama knows work is more than a paycheck; it's dignity, it's respect. Hmm, Biden seems to be slurring his words a little. Not sure I remember that from before.

Talks about his achievements in the Senate. You can learn a lot about someone campaigning, debating; he's tapped into the oldest thing in America, we have the power to change.

John McCain is my friend--I mean it. Personal courage and heroism demonstrated by John still amazes me. But I profoundly disagree with the direction John wants to take this country. Ticks off his Bush ties, his bad policies. He's skipping some words on the teleprompter, but I think that's good, he wants to be a bit rough.

That's not change--that's more of the same. He's getting worked up, into a rhythmn now. He voted 19 times against the mininum wage. He'll continue to spent $10 billion a month in Iraq. These time require more than a good soldier--they require a wise leader.

And that's the key line right there.

Ticks off what Barack Obama will do. That's the change we need. It's a slightly uneven speech now, keep feeling like he'll flub a line. Hammers home the equal pay for women.

Now, foreign policy, his area of expertise. We will hold Russia accountable for its actions, and we will help the people of Georgia rebuild. Bush administration's policy has been an absmyl failure.

McCain says Obama is not ready to protect our national security. Now whose judgment should we trust... John McCain was wrong on Afghanistan, and Barack Obama was right. On Iran. On Iraq.

Wow, a full-throated attack. The world will trust us again, we'll be able to lead again. Jill and I are honored to join Barack and Michelle on this journey. Here for the future of our kids, grandkids, everyone I grew up with.

A slightly odd speech, not quite in rhymthmn--unlike Clintons and Kerry. But--this speech is also targeted at a very specific audience, older white blue collar voters. I think it hit home with.

Big finish, standing ovation. They're waiting for Obama to come out. Stephanopolous says you saw why Obama picked Biden tonight. He's just pacing back and forth on stage, out comes his wife to hug him--she has a handheld mike. Hmmm....

Jill has the mike. A special surprise guest. Joe asks who? And now--out comes Barack. And the place goes nutso. Huge applause; Jill is in between them. The mike seems to still be live, as Jill goes off stage, in search of someone or something.

He's got the mike. Hello Democrats. This is why I'm so proud to have Joe Biden, and Jill Biden, and Beaux Biden, and Mamma Biden, with me. Michelle kicked it off pretty well. If I'm not mistaken Hillary Clinton rocked the house last night--huge applause. Praises Bill, and thank you President Clinton. See you tomorrow night!

Off he walks, hugs and shakes hands on the way out. Biden family out on speech, as Obama's on his way out. Split coverage here, not sure what's the focus. Ah, now he's mingling with the huge Biden family, this is great television.

ABC and NBC to local coverage, CBS still here as We Are Family plays. Delegates have connected tonight, PBS says, they feel energized, there's enthusiasm they had only seen moments of previously.

Michael Beschloss, who I like a lot, says this was a huge help for the Democrats, Clinton gave a great speech--including that Obama's ready to be president. Biden did a great job; Richard Norton Smith says it was classic populism, Hubert Humphreyish. And it was a values speech, a character speech.

Hmm, all the photos leading the sites are of Biden/Obama together. I think Biden was authentic tonight, which is quite a bit rougher than Obama, which I think is good. Jeff Greenfield on CBS' webcast is saying he thought Biden connected with those lost Reagan Democrats.

Schieffer says this is what the campaign is going to be--lack of experience vs. lack of judgment. I think if that's a wash, Obama wins in a landslide.

Katie says, Hey you guys, I have a Web question.... End of an era for the Clintons? Nobody knows, as Greenfield says, depends on whether Obama wins or not. Clintons want to make sure nobody blames them if Obama doesn't win.

Katie is like, Hey Byron, are you out there? She's actually really good in this forum. Fits her speaking style, her morning show casualness and personality. One of the delegates says Obama-Biden is the dream team. Other delegate says Biden's rougher around the edges, more working class. Hmmm, what is McCain gonna do about that?!

Byron Pitts asks a black delegate if Obama can connect with whites, the delegate says yeah, this is the Democratic party, this place is full of working class whites.

References the 'slips' where McCain got referred to as George Bush. Byron's very smooth, thanks everyone by name afterwards. Katie says yo, it's a webcast, not a miniseries; he says okay sis. This is kind of funny, actually.

I really like Katie in this role, CBS should put her in this kind of frenetic, seat of the pants vibe more often.

Now she's reading breaking news from the NYTimes--McCain has made his decision on his VP, Governor Pawlenty and Romney the favorites, with possibly Sen. Liebermann in there.

Katie's playing traffic cop, goes to Dean Reynolds, who I've always liked. He's saying Obama's speech will be stark and sober. The smiles will be replaced by a much more serious demeanor.

Afterwards, Katie says Dean, it's nice to see you smile on TV, you should do this more often; Dean says thanks, I'd like to. This is really fun.

Now Joe Biden's sister, Valerie Biden Owens. They shoot them from the back, you can see all the monitors. Katie talks about how cute to see your 91-year-old mom there, hearing Joe talk about her words, and seeing her say to the person next to her, "I said that, yes I did". Valrie's very good, too bad more people aren't watching this....

There's a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation about tomorrow night; I think an amazing number of people will be watching, if nothing else to see what those crazy columns look like.

Katie's telling us she'll take another Web question, then we'll go see the blogger's tent. She's very cute, trying to talk our language. Joe Trippi says in answer yes, he does have a chance in the South, he's spreading the field out on McCain. Audio problems, so Katie says hey Byron, are you out there?

He is, she's teasing him about a CBS staffer I think. Byron's good at this too, talking to people as he's walking about. He's showing the signs they held up, Katie is telling him to save them, as souvenirs. Pitts is just randomly talking to people, calling them brother, it's great--the heart of being a reporter is chatting up people.

Trippi and Dan Bartlett are joking back and forth. It's clear that all these people like Katie, and she has a good relationship with them; there's a looseness and familiarity that you very rarely see.

Trippi says the Clintons have laid the divide to rest, Obama didn't err by giving them so much time. Ha! Of course... Hmm, Trippi makes a really good point, he thinks Obama's going to spread the field, especially as McCain starts spending down his public financing--and I think the Clintons will be part of that.

Man, Katie looks so normal walking around the bloggers tent talking to people. Again, back to her journalistic roots, just chatting up interesting people. She's getting a massage at the YouTube tent. Wow, ex-gymnast Katie is impressing everyone with her yoga positions; it's hilarious and great.

Have got Nightline on mute, this is better. Well, until they run the Ted Koppel 'lost interview' with Obama. Lost? Or shelved?

Declan gives a long answer to a question about Obama and McCain's positions on net neutrality and copyright, at the end Katie laughs, says thanks. They talk next about the techiness of the Obama campaign.

Ah, now Marc Ambinder, whose blog everyone political reads religiously. Katie is showing hilarious buttons, Ask me how many houses I own.... Hmm, he's fatter than I thought he'd be, more schlubby. But funny, and very clever. He peeks into a donor's lounge, moves the curtain to peek in. Ah, talks to James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at Guatanamo Bay. Talks to Bill Plante.

Katie teases him about going into TV, he says call that Ambinder Unhinged. Some actual stories here to cover. Katie calls a young reporter who's editor of the Harvard Crimson "Mr. Smarty Pants." It's hilarious.

Stephanapolous on Nightline is giving the Democrats an A for tugging at heartstrings, and A for attacking the Republicans, A for Body Language. Perfect political choreography says George, Obama's only problem--a "high class problem" as Bill Clinton used to say--is can he top this tomorrow night.

Ha! He doesn't have to; Team Obama has always been about doing the small things around the margins so it's not all swing or miss for the candidate. They could end the convention tonight and Obama would get a nice bounce; he just has to let people see him being serious and substantive, and then hit the campaign trail with Biden while the GOP goes crazy in the Twin Cities.

On the webcast, Katie says she needs a hand-held mike, as they wire up an angel and a devil, asks what's their deal. Ah, part of Trick or Vote--on Halloween, they're going to go out and sign people up to vote.

Back on ABC, Koppel grilling Obama. He's using the bus into the ditch analogy. Now, Ted says he was hugely impressed by him that day, he gave brilliant answers to what he thought were tough questions. So they dumped the interview that day to talk to Michael Moore... which Ted says further confirms his excellent news judgment.

Now that is an endorsement--from Ted Koppel, who's no pushover! It's amazing how young he looks; he's really gained some gray since then, seems to have filled out.

The only guy he's ever interviewed that he thought anticipated questions better and answered questions better--Bill Clinton.

"What an astonishing journey, unlike any in the history of American politics," says Terry Moran. Whatever your politics, that statement is worth basking in for a little while. And now ABC is pushing us to their website to watch the full interview.

Moran asked Donna Brazile to step back, the Democratic Party nominated a black man to be president of the United States. She said she never believed it would happen growing up in the segregated South, wanted to weep tonight. Matthew Dowd says it was like, as an Irish Catholic, John F. Kenney in 1960.

Yup, it's been that kind of night. Tomorrow will only be better.

Hillary Clinton lights up John McCain

2008-08-26T22:00:00.009-04:00

Mark Warner's keynote was workmanlike, unmemorable, and fine. Everyone's waiting for Hillary Clinton, so his job was to merely not flub it. Interesting, if Obama had chosen him as vice president the exact same speech would've been charged with electricity.

I think Hillary will really send a jolt of energy through the hall. Hmm, Bill Clinton's in the hall, hugging a black family. Very weird, he's hugging and sitting next to some white lady who looks really unhappy. Like during the primaries, the Clinton bubble has kept them from being aware of reality--they really don't seem to realize that their time as the face of the Democratic Party is not only over, it's also buried.

It'll be obvious after Bill's speech in non-prime time Wednesday night, after which that's pretty much it for the two of them; their influence in an Obama administration will be exactly zero.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana is going nuts up there, wearing his bolo tie--he's the kind of plain-speaking Democrat, brash the convention needs more of. This is a war; let's not play nice.

Now, the Clinton intro video. It's energetic, if a bit hyper. There's a whole section on her laugh--where was this during the primaries?!--the music is all about women. So far, no indication her husand is Bill. Scenes of her and Obama at the end; it's a pretty good production.

Lights come up, applause not crazy, actually. And there's Chelsea. All she says is Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm very proud to introduce my hero, and my mother, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Wow, holy orange! In this bright pantsuit; to a sea of Hillary signs, with the name underlined in matching orange. She's stalking about the stage; Michelle Obama in a classic cream outfit next to Joe Biden. Nice ovation for her; that's right, get it all out.

I'll bet a lot of people are tuned in hoping for a catfight. That's great, the more that can hear her message of unity. Crowd is keeping it up, which is interesting, considering the vast majority of these are Obama people.

Proud mother, proud Democrat, proud Senator from New York, proud American, and a proud supporter of Barack Obama. That brings the crowd to its feet, including Michelle and Bill.

The time is now to unite as a single party; that gets everyone up too. This is good, no cute games--just getting right to the point. She's really on tonight; looks good, speaking emphatically. No way, no how, no McCain.

She's picking up the pace a little. This is the Hillary that at Unity, N.H. made me think would make a great partner for Obama. I really think if she wasn't married to Bill, he'd probably have picked her. But the reality is Obama doesn't need the Clinton sideshow weighing him down.

She's totally got the crowd's attention, they're rapt. She thanks all of her supporters. Odd, pays tribute to the two dead Democratic officials. Weird place to insert this. She needs to do a section on why she's voting for Barack Obama; ah, that's who Bill is sitting next to, that's why the woman next to him looked so grim.

Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis. Reels off a long list of why she ran for president; and those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president. Coming right up on the 11:00 hour, Clintons are late for everything. Her most powerful line, we need leaders once again who can tap into that American optimism.

She starts on Obama's biography, talks about why he ran. Mentions her husband, how we know how to do this, we did it before with President Clinton, we'll do it again with President Obama.

Says she can't wait to watch Obama sign into law a health care plan that covers every American. And we know he'll end the war in Iraq responsibly. Praises Michelle Obama; she'll be a great first lady for America. And we're lucky that Joe Biden will be at Obama's side, a strong leader, a good man. Pragmatic, tough and wise.

Hmm, interesting pivot--McCain is my colleague and my friend, but we don't need four more years of the last eight years. Crowd starts yelling "No" after she goes on a long list of what we don't need four more years of.

She starts mocking him, it's a good moment; big boo when she says he doesn't earn equal pay for equal work. Makes sense he'll be with Bush next week in the Twin Cities, hard to tell them apart. That's a good line.

Talks about the women's rights movement, 88 years ago today women got the right to vote. Says her mom was born before women could vote, my daughter got to vote for her mother for president. Talks about Harriet Tubman. If you hear the dogs, keep going... recites a litany of when to keep going, don't ever stop. That brings the people to their feet, even in our darkest moments we've found the faith to keep going.

She should talk about 9/11 here.... We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare. This is a really good speech. It's adult, strong, and on-message. I wish she'd also said something about McCain being anti-choice. Odd end, God bless you and Godspeed.

Hmm, she seems to be off the stage really quickly. Now the signs that said Hillary have been replaced by signs that say Unity, Brian Williams says on NBC. Jeff Greenfield on CBS says the speech was aimed at getting all the Democrats to vote for Obama, which should be enough. Bob Schieffer found it an effective attack, in response to Katie Couric wondering if she wasn't strong enough; says Obama couldn't have asked for more. ABC's Kate Snow is with the Illionois delegation, kindof an odd choice since those are all Obama people even if it's Hillary's home state.

It was a good speech; it could have been better. But if it were, maybe Hillary would've been the nominee. Ultimately, Clinton can only do so much; Obama's gotta bring the voters home on Thursday, which I think he will.

Teddy Kennedy, Michelle Obama help Democrats open in Denver

2008-08-25T20:34:00.015-04:00

Opening night of the Democratic National Convention; they show a great video with ex-President Jimmy Carter. He's still sharp, and his words in the video--mainly about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina--are the most compelling of the night. Oddly, they have him come up on stage with his wife Roslyn Carter, wave, and then that's it.... No words or anything.

Odd cut to a video about Barack Obama, with Lawrence Tribe calling him the most memorable student he's ever had at Harvard Law School. Next is Maya Soetorno-Ng, Obama's half-sister. She's poised, articulate, self-assured. The hall is quiet for the first time all night; Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't get anything like this reception.

They learned from their mom that "we should sometimes have faith in what we could not see". This is a really good speech; it's sincere, and normal. I'd have put her on in prime time Thursday, right before him. This is the side of him people need to see.

Hmm, she's a history teacher. You can tell she's steely. I really like her, look forward to hearing more from her.

Now, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. He's very impressive, says Dr. King is looking down, knowing this is the first convention to take place in sight of a mountaintop. Wow, what a great line. This is a classic Democratic moment; again, I wish this were in prime time on Thursday. It's a great speech for the party's heart and soul; Jackson is going to be big, all of his father's rhetorical gift, plus the buttoned-down attitude that'll appeal to white elites. Kindof an abrupt ending, but overall good. Hmm, Joe Biden's in the house, looking very much at home.

Now Carter's sitting down with Jim Lehrer. This should be a great interview. His 9th convention in a row, beginning in 1976. That's crazy, the year he was nominated was his first convention?! He talks about how it's no biggie that some Hillary people aren't for Obama, just like the Ronald Reagan/Gerald Ford split in 1976 didn't impact the GOP that year. Interesting, his cadence and speaking style seems to have been picked up by Bill Clinton.

David Brooks asks him about race, Carter says it's an issue, but minimal. He predicts Obama will pick up some southern states. Mark Shields asks him more about his personal experience growing up in a segregated South; this is a fascinating interview, talks about Harry Truman ending racial segregation in the military, changing his life when he was a submarine officer. Says he wept watching Obama's Philadelphia speech, the most enlightening and transforming speech on race he's ever seen.

Hey, there's a Sikh delegate in the crowd, and Spike Lee. What a great multicultural stew here, dancing to the music; the GOP affair, of course, will be cold and white and menacing. Not sure I like the DNC's stage, it's a bit--busy.

Some talking heads on PBS, and then Caroline Kennedy. She says she's never had someone inspire her like her father did, until now. She's cool, calm and collected; segues into an introduction for her uncle, Ted Kennedy. This is going to be an amazing moment when he comes out on stage.

Video tribute to him first. Man, so much history in this one man--essentially all of post-WWII politics in this country. Starts off in his sailboat, then black and white footage and photos, some color. He may be the most effective Senator of all time; his life story is Shakespearean in impact and scope.

Wow, he's read to kids every Tuesday at a public school in DC?! They have a college-bound student talk about the impact he made on her life. Rep. John Lewis is powerful in the piece, but none so much as the emotional father of an Iraq soldier who lost his life due to no body armor, and who teamed up with Kennedy to pass legislation six months after that.

They pivot, show Kennedy and Obama together. Wow, he was so vigorous during the primaries. Has been sick since then. Wow, out he comes--to a sea of Kennedy signs, and big-time ovation. The hall is packed now, this is prime time. Wow, he's surprisingly strong! Maria Shriver's on the floor too, wiping away tears. This must do him good to get this reception.

He's a great speaker, his words carry such weight because of who he is and what he's done. Biden's beaming on the floor, chant of Teddy, Teddy. Wow, 1980 all over again! He's crip, strong, direct, pounds on health care as a right. Yes we can, and finally, yes we will. Talks about reaching the moon; I think under Obama we'll hopefully have new metaphors to cite. "The work begins anew, the hope rises again--and the dream lives on."

The entire Kennedy clan is out on stage now, and it's a big one. Hmm, Maria's still in the audience. What a great American story; he doesn't seem to want to leave, crowd is clapping along to Still the One. What a great legacy, what a great Democratic party.

After Shields talk about how his greatness as a senator started with his defeat in 1980. Makes an interesting point, he was then like the great Southern senators who had no higher aspirations because they were from the segrated South and so devoted themselves to the Senate.

Richard Norton Smith says tonight Kennedy reminded a lot of Democrats why they are Democrats.

It's interesting, the homepages of the BBC, Le Monde, El Pais, Der Spiegel, Corriere della Sera all have the DNC as the top news story. Imagine if all the U.S. newspaper were leading with some European political convention....

It's 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast, now watching the networks. They're all recapping the Kennedy speech; really, DNC should've had it lead off the coverage. Instead, Jim Leach drones on about something in the background. Old school Bob Schieffer, who Katie Couric tells us has covered all 20 conventions over the past 40 years, reports from the dais.

My gosh, breaking news on CBS, cops arrested men with high-powered rifles with scopes, plot to assassinated Barack Obama when he speaks at Invesco Thursday night. Washington Post has some details, blogged by a reporter who was in the hotel room next to the one cops raided.

Back on ABC, Caroline Kennedy, Charlie Gibson says as many conventions as they've all been to, the Ted Kennedy speech was one of the most emotional moments they can remember.

Over on NBC Tom Brokaw, who sometimes you fear is going to have a senior moment, is talking about Obama's big reach for the presidency, and race, and generations. Claire McCaskill is on the podium, totally getting ignored, one reason why she wasn't picked for VP. Back on ABC, Kate Snow's right in the midst of the delegates, talking about the reaction to Kennedy.

Smart for Obama to kick things off with his wife, it'll bring some of the Clinton supporters back into the fold. Coming up is the Michelle Obama film; over on NBC, Caroline Kennedy's here too. Williams asks her if she has any words that can heal the Obama-Clinton rift, she says everyone here cares about the same thing, we'll get it worked out.

Oh wow, the networks are all missing the Michelle Obama bio film live; but ABC and CBS are showing it on tape; CBS cuts out halfway through, ABC showing the whole thing, like they said they'll do at the Republican convention. She said, hilariously, the first time she heard about him at their law firm, she was like who names their kid Barack Obama, he must be weird. He was late, but she found him interesting, was his advisor at the firm.

'His big move' was on the drive back from a company picnic, he offered to buy her ice cream. NBC is ignoring all this still, CBS at least is talking about her life. Good call, ABC. Some clean-scrubbed white people in this video, it's really well-made, if a bit disjointed.

NBC now cuts live to Craig Robinson, Michelle's sister. CBS still talking about her, not showing anything--a bunch of white people analyzing her. ABC still on the video. Brother says even though they were only allowed an hour of TV a night, still memorized every Brady Bunch episode. ABC finishes the video, goes to commercial.

Michelle Obama's mom is cute, wearing a huge white hat with the 'Obama' on it. Brother talks about how they talked every night before going to sleep, shared a room divided in two. ABC has now joined the speech, CBS still featuring its all-white lineup.

Hey, he's coach of the Oregon State men's basketball team, says Go Beavers! She did take something away from that first law firm job--a young lawyer by the name of Barack Obama. Says she asked him to go take him to play basketball; confident not cocky, takes the shot if open, team player who improves others, and he won't back down from any challenge.

This is a great speech, doing what it needs to do. CBS picks up the last part of this; and now... Michelle. Out she comes, in fabulous green dress with a big brooch, shakes her head playfully at her brother, big smile. People are crying in the audience.

She's a great speaker, coming from the heart--so simple and easy. Her top's slightly crooked. A bit nervous to start, bit of fits and starts. Now getting into it, loves her husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president. Talks about her girls, then her mom, then her dad. She slips in a bit of a down home accent at time talking about her parents, gets emotional talking about how much her parents loved them, nice pivot to them making it to college, as proof of the American dream.

Man, this is an absolute home run; I don't remember a better spouse speech, ever. A slight dig at McCain, she and Barack were raised to treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't agree with them.

Talks about Barack's community organizing with the steelworkers, this is a highly effective section. America should be a place where you can make it if you try. The crowd is totally transfixed, dead silence. Man, she is a great speaker. Very compelling. 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote; and the 45th anniversary of MLK's speech.

What great faces in the audience; this is the best of America. Praises ordinary Americans, then singles out people like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling; people like Joe Biden, who's never forgotten where he came from.

"The world as it is just won't do, we obligation to fight for the world as it should be--and that's the thread that connects our hearts."

And that is why I love this country.... Big, huge, applause. She talks about what she's done, in her own small way, to try and give back. Everything she talks about regarding Obama is economic-related, or veterans-related. This is an absolute grand slam. To end the war in Iraq responsibly, to build an economy that lifts every family. To educate every child.

Big smile; building to a close here. People are standing and listening. Just an extraordinary speech, totally exceeded even the highest expectations. Hope, and a list of people whose stories he's heard, and what drove people in Iowa to come out on a cold winter night.

And in the end... he's the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago. Same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital, inching home at a snail's pace, peering at us anxiously in the rearview mirror.

Man, she's tearing up, fighting back tears; this is really emotional. There's no Clinton rift anymore, and I don't think there are going to be very many undecided independents either after this convention. People are getting on their feet; tonight, in honor of my father's memory and my daughters' future; let us stand together to elect Barack Obama president of the United States of America.

Isn't She Lovely playing as the crowd stands and roars. NBC starts talking, ABC lets us listen, out comes the cute girls, in purple and a matching dress, they are sooooooooo cute. She gets a handheld mike, and daddy's on the big screen! They blow kisses at him, he's smiling big time, waving to the crowd, which is just roaring.

"Hello everybody, how about Michelle Obama! Now you know why I asked her out so many times, even though she said no. You want a persistent president!"

Michelle, you were unbelievable, the kids are talking back to him, just shouting stuff into the mike, he's with a family in Kansas City. They have a wireless mike, are grabbing it from each other to talk to him. I mean, this is irresistable television. You can't underestimate the appeal of a fun, young family.

Timing is perfect, a few minutes before 11, no time for over-analysis. ABC/NBC just talking, CBS talking to people in the crowd, which is smart.

A great first night for the Democrats. Tomorrow should be interesting; will be hard to top this, it's exactly what Obama wanted.

Beijing Olympics come to a close, passes down to London

2008-08-24T18:41:00.023-04:00

It's closing night in Beijing, shown on tape delay 12 hours later in NYC. A bit odd watching Nightly News with Lester Holt live in Beijing's sunshine, and going directly to Bob Costas a few minutes later in darkness.

I'm sad to see the Games end; it was the best Summer Olympics I can remember, from amazing athletic drama to great stories from Beijing. I always prefer the Winter games for their intimate scale, but it's hard to beat these games for sheer Wow! moments.

They're showing the men's volleyball gold medal match, U.S. vs. Brazil. They pick it up in the second set, Brazil won the first set and are just down 20-18 in the second. The U.S. team has already exceeded all expectations, but it'd be nice for their coach, the one whose father-in-law was murdered on the first day of the games, to come out of here with a golden memory.

Wow, U.S. almost gets aced, a great save and then a scoring spike. 22-20. That's the key play here in the second set so far. And now an aces from the hard-serving Clay Stanley, 23-20. He scores on a spike, 24-20. Nice timing, NBC. Mmm, and a service error; that's allright, he's aggressive. 24-21. Net violation against U.S., 24-22.

Now they're reshowing the drums sequence from the opening ceremony, it's even more awesome than I remembered. That will never be topped.

Back to volleyball, in the third set, U.S. up 12-10. Hmm, this thing must've gone five sets, otherwise there wouldn't be all this editing. 16-12, U.S. seems to be in good flow. Now U.S. pulling away a bit, up 20-15. Ace from Brazil, 20-16.

Now U.S. goes on a little run, wins set three to go up 2 sets to 1.

U.S. trailing a bit in the fourth set.... After commercials NBC has been running little vignettes about China; this would've been nice on opening night, no?

Now 17-15, U.S. down.... Later, U.S. fighting back to 20-20. They win this match, it's timed so we go to closing ceremonies in a few minutes. Priddy's just serving great. Wow, an amzing point, back and forth; U.S. blocks to end it. This match is over; Brazil is claiming some sort of violation to no avail, up 21-20.

Now 22-20, right as we hit the 8:00 golden hour. Ooh, Priddy hits it into the net. 22-21. A gift point as the ball randomly glances off the Americans onto the Brazilian side of the court, 23-21.

And now, gold medal point, 24-22. Brazil's star Giba was taken out, now back in. Stanley up to serve for the U.S. 24-23. Hmmm. And USA wins! On Stanley's spike! What an amazing, totally emotional run for the U.S. team. Their coach is fighting back tears, many of the players are crying. Hugh McCutcheon is walking off into the tunnel by himself to try and compose himself.... One of the announcer's voice cracks.

In the interview McCutcheon fights back the tears, he's very proud of the team, is open and honest about it being an Olympics of great and horrible emotion for him. Stands straight and tall during the medal ceremony.

That wraps up competition for NBC; time for the closing ceremony to start. Odd, Dan Hicks--why not Mary Carillo? She's got such great chemistry with Bob. Odd, she also left Wimbledon before the final Sunday. This is a bad pairing, Hicks is pretty stiff, trying too hard to be like Bob. Joshua Cooper Ramo is back with us, says it's all about circles, and joy.

Firewords in the air count down to zero, and more fireworks like crazy. Lots of people waving orange fans in the stands. British PM Gordon Brown's in the stands, like Bush sitting in the fans' seats.

Maybe more than a million volunteers here at the games Bob says?! That's startling; nice that this is the first we're hearing that. More drums, this time in a circle, all in red; women in orange dresses come marching in in columns, now running to encircle the drums. It is just visually stunning. Huge drums float in, two drummers on it. Everything is so aesthetically and geometrically pleasing. The women are wearing tons of bells, hearing them rattling now. Hicks is bad at this, sounds forced when he makes remarks.

Some weirdly artistic contraptions are wheeled in; then more, guys riding what look like giant hamster wheels, all lit up; it looks spectacular as the stadium goes dark and the people form paths. Joshua points out this has a more modern, future feel than the opening.

Wow, the timing of all this is amazingly precise, thousands of performers forming intricate patterns, one right after another. Now you have peple on high-tech stilts, jumping waaaay up in the air.

It's this kind of discipline and hard work that explain China's amazing gold medal success here, and in the world economy.

Now the athletes come running in, from all directions--they come in together, but mix it up as they have ever since a Chinese-Australian boy wrote a letter to the Melbourne Olympics organizers suggesting it.

Some of the athletes are wearing shirts with messages written on them. Costas says it's estimated China spent $40 billion in all on these games. Wow. That's like 4 months of the war in Iraq.

Couple of kids drumming in the middle of the stage, for some reason. Athletes are waring their medals; lots of cameras; big-time waving to and mugging for the cameras. Odd, some guys being carried by others, not sure I've ever seen that.

U.S. team comes in, wearing Ralph Loren shorts. Frenchies coming in. Wow, Shawn Johnson, beaming like usual; looks really short among her fellow athletes. Wow, the Lopez siblings, three of them, coached by their older brother, all medaled.

On the replay of the 100M win by Bolt, notice Ato in high emotion saying "Tom Hammond..." to start his comments. Hmm, Phelps' mom in a commercial, complete with family photos, for Johnsons.

Frenetic Chinese athletes, dancing and doing the V sign for the camera. A lot of dancing going on. It's actually funny how aggressively the athletes are mugging for the camera.

51 gold medals for China, 100 overall. U.S. has 36, 110 overall. Wow, an entire stage, complete with red carpet, has been set up--overhead, looks like a giant medal. 72 for Russia overall. Yao Ming's in the house. Hugs a really tall blonde woman. Hi Mum some Commonwealth athlete wrote on her hands. 14-year-old Haley Ishimatsu hamming it up with a bunch of new friends.

And now the medal ceremony for the men's marathon, on the stage in front of everyone. This will be a great moment, his fellow Olympians gathered around to watch Samy Wanjiru get his gold. Big, huge smile.

No way, by the way, Chicago will get the 2016 games, they won't go to two straight English-speaking countries. My guess is Rio.

Tribute to the volunteers, Costas repeats again the million estimate. IOC athletes commission come in holding hands with super-cute Chinese kids in bright Disney-esque outfits, Bob calls them almost-impossibly adorable. Hey, they got hundreds of millions to choose from.... Wow, third time, Costas repeats estimates of a million involved. Is he getting old? Or just too long of a gig....

Hmm, so far all of the Performances of the Games they're replaying are of Americans. So retitle it, just be accurate.

Raise the Greek flag, and now their anthem.

Lin Qi, head of the Beijing organizing committee, Joshua gives us the sense of what he's saying--the flame will live in the hearts of the Chinese for a long time. Xie xie, thanks you, merci beaucoup at the end.

Now Jacque Rogge, who's up for reelection next year. Let's see if he calls it the best games ever, like Juan Antonio Samarach always did, until Atlanta. He calls it "truly exceptional games", the crowd roars. In French, I declare it closed, assemble four years from now in London.

Ah, now the Brits have their flag up and anthem played. London 2012 will be very different; a faded empire putting together a patchwork games I predict, with individual star power and 'tradition' to paper over the rough spots. If they're smart, they'll run it as the world's Olympics, make London's amazing diversity the centerpiece. But it could also be the last, arrogant gasp of Anglo-Saxon culture.

226 kids from around the world performing the Olympic hymn as the Olympics flag comes down. A lot of them are Asian. For some reason some of the Russian athletes have their shirts unbuttoned.

Fireworks, Olympic rings, in color. The Olympic flag not folded super-crisply. Boris Johnson, flamboyant mayor of London, walks in with the mayor of Beijing. Costas credits the ex-mayor, Ken Livingston, who actually is responsible for London getting the Games.

Joshua makes a nice point, Chinese are thinking of the last handover, of Hong Kong. Chinese mayor waves the flag, big-time. To Rogge, who waves it too. Now to Boris, who tries to unfurl it, then starts waving it, as his PM beams. He's not sure what to do, gives it to a Chinese flag bearer.

Oh, cool, now Mary Carillo is taking over, as Bob leaves for the studio. And a double-decker hi-tech red London bus comes driving in; that's pretty cool. London-Beijing-London on the side. A bunch of Brits, 'waiting' for the bus, with umbrellas; some cyclists come in, they're Olympians. Funny, let's highlight the rain. The group is very politically correct, and Bohemian.

Bus door opens, South Asian girl comes out; that's awesome; gets the soccer ball from a multicultural Chinese girl. Walks on the backs of the performers, up to the bus--that's a bit odd. Whooo, bus opening up, turns green, carpetingish, London skyline. And out comes pop star Leona Lewis, in a huge dress, way up on a platform.

And rising next to her is Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin, wailing on his guitar. Yeah, it's going to be a very different Olympics. Some mike problems on her; he just looks old and tired. Song isn't very good. It looks like she's lip-synching.

Yeah, totally underwhelming so far. No sense of great excitement to this. Athletes just standing around; performers have their umbrellas open. Lift comes up, along with David Beckham. He kicks the ball into the crowd, one of the Chinese volunteers gets it, she's totally beaming.

Hmm, London will become the first city to get it three times. As I precited, they're gonna do these games with tape and chewing gum--even their stars didn't do anything Olympian, just showed up.

Now the Chinese back in charge, actors playing athletes leaving at the airport, go up a boarding stairway, with backpacks; two white, one black. No Asian? They stand at the top, spotlit, look longingly up at the flame, one guy opens a scroll. Maybe the chick is Hispanic.

They play images from the games on the scrim around the edges of the stadium. Spectators waving red lights. Very theatrical, two performers in chalk undulating. First time the whole thing's been performed in the stadium, all constructed in the last few hours.

Highlights are day by day, now they're coming up to the flame. Kids are singing; crowd applauds, the memories fade out, the flame begins to dim down. And now it's out, as a murmur runs through the crowd; then, applause. Nightime shots of Beijing, looking beautiful. Fireworks erupting now.

The 'memory tower' is now filled with people undulating, it looks like the flame; come to life. Nobody is ever going to come close to topping these games. Zhang Yimou is a genius at this kind of thing. One guy climbs to the top; athletes are transfixed. Performers form a blooming flower on the side, wow.

Down some come, rest are on levels, moving. They have ropes attached, so they're gonna jump. Now everyone else comes swarming back up the tower. They carry long strips of cloth to the top; it really all looks spectacular, in red. Cloths are lifted up and out, like it's floating. Fireworks over Beijing.

It's spectacular, not sure it has the grand symbolic sweep and inherent understanding of the opening ceremony; those athletes at the top of the airport staircase were literally left hanging.

They're singing the catchy Beijing Beijing, Wo Ai Beijing song. Some young bubble gum group. Like all non-American pop, the performances are slightly forced and a bit cheesy. Hundreds of performers on the erhu join in, nice touch. Whoah, now the people are flying off the steel tower on wires. It'd be nice if NBC put the words up on the screen for non-Chinese speakers.

More Chinese singing, as performers in skysuits fly around on wires. They look great, lit up against the night. Wonder if viewers tuning in for the Democratic convention will subconsciously expect similarly high production values. I mean, even Obama in a stadium is going to pale besides this, visually.

This is a bit pointless; China's biggest pop star Wei Wei is wailing away. Now it's a big dance party or something; with Jackie Chan up on stage singing. That's hilarious. It's all Chinese songs--good luck trying to get people to dance to it. It's like a produced dance party, with a ring of volunteers separating the performers from the athletes.

Odd, NBC isn't roving around the floor anymore, now would be a great time to talk to Olympians. Wow, now it's like Chinese rap or something. This is communism?! I predict there will be a big trend of Olympic-style parties/weddings sweeping China now.

Well, one thing the Brits should be able to do better is the music. This is like those variety show spectacles you always click past on the Chinese language cable channel.

Fireworks all over China; and now, in London--Michael Phelps! Cause the Brits can't get their own Olympian?! Wow, this is weird. There's a huge crowd gathered for something, the BBC feed identifies him as '14x Olympic champion'. The host guy is an idiot, typical foppish Brit who overplays his hand in fawning all over Phelps. For some reason a bunch of girls start squealing halfway through. And in comes an overfly of jets; red/white/blue for London 2012. What an odd segment.

Now Placido Domingo and Song Zuying sing a duet; she's in this crazy ornate dress. Like the Brits/Phelps, it's a gloss of Western 'culture' for Beijing. Lot different feeling on the way up than on the way down, though.

Now on the floor, Andrea Joyce and Shawn Johnson. She says it's been amazing, the coolest thing ever; her typical teen side comes out. Joyce says you're a rock star here, Johnson says it's the best experience ever. Hmm, weird-looking Marty Snider with Garrett Weber-Galer, member of the great swimming relay team. Odd interview to get. He's a horrible interviewer, just pumping him for trite responses.

This is so weird--the best part of this is the chance to see athletes with friends from other countries. Why not show that? They replay that Bolt 200M, that may be the most absolutely dominant performance here, as Ato says, maybe the greatest performance ever in track and field, just in a league of his own.

Chris Collinsworth talks about getting to be just a fan, meeting the people of China, loved it all. His memorable moments; he's replaced Jimmy Roberts for these appropriate essays. Hanging with Debbie Phelps; Dara Torres' torn swimsuit rescue; Natalie du Toi's prosthetic leg; USA basketball. Yao Ming and the other Chinese athletes; Chris says these games were so personal for the Chinese, we'll never see anything like it.

Bob says the Chinese fans also cheered loudly for foreign athletes. Chris says 'hope' is the key word that came out of the Olympics for him. Wow, hope all those swing voters are watching. Chris says at least for two weeks, we get to say, this world is a pretty good place.

Costas says this Olympics, and the foreseeable future, are about China's rise. If nothing else, the Olympics have moved China from its grouping with India, to a grouping with the U.S. and Russia.

Storylines... U.S. won more medals then ever at any non-American Olympics, but China easily won more golds than anyone. 204 nations participated, 87 won medals, the most ever. So the people of the world came to Beijing; and the people of China extended their hand. Costas says this has been the most memorable in many ways of all his Olympics.

They close with images of China, and Olympic moments; with credits next to it. Hmm, they read the top four, never seen that before. Hmmm, the highlights storylines to start are of U.S. athletes, and also Chinese athletes. Then they mix in highlights and moments of despair from everyone, some of which I hadn't seen before.

So, bye-bye Beijing. A great 17 days that exceeded everyone's expectations, and hopes. I watched every night, and many days, loved it all. It's one of those moments in world history as remarkable now as it will be in the books.

My favorite announcers from the games, in order:
-Ato Bolton, track and field analyst: Always learned something new from listening to him, conveyed his passion for the sport, and spot-on with his criticisms and observations. Loved his exulting moments, also when he called out athletes. The best NBC journalist of the Games.

-Rowdy Gaines, swimming analyst: Like Ato another ex-athlete who brought great knowledge, excitement, and insight--he made the big moments even bigger, and got me up every night for what was a great Olympics for the American team

-Doug Collins, baskeball analyst: I've always liked him; he's very analytical but also appropriately emotional about the sport he loves, it's telling that the USA men's team came over and hugged him right after their win

-Mary Carillo, anchor: She's honest, genuine, and sincere. And always finds great stories.

-Bob Costas, anchor: Smooth and professional as always, funny, generally appropriate, and someone who you can tell loves being in the thick of things. He and Jim McKay are the consummate Olympics anchors.

-Chris Collinsworth, reporter: He was a bit outside his comfort zone, but always made an effort to convey the spirit of the games. He asks great questions, gets out of the way.

-Craig Sager, basketball reporter: I never liked him before Beijing, thought he was a quasi-ridiculous figure with his demeanor and outfits. But listening to him interview Kobe Bryant after the gold medal game, realizes he asks great questions, and brings out the heart of the moment.

-Al Trautwig/Elfi Schlegel/Tim Dagget, gymnastics: Very jingoistic at times, but always knowledgable and generally accurate in their assessments of performances. They did a good job of being quiet to let us soak up the big moments.

Notable moments from the Beijing Olympics
*-Amazing sound and light spectacle of the Opening Ceremony drums performance, the 'printing blocks' that were moved by humans, the roar of thousands doing tai chi, the hi-tech flexible LED screen, Hungary's red dalmation outfits, the paint all the athletes walked across, the amazing reception the crowd gave China's team, Yao and the earthquake kid hero, Li Ning flying through the air to light the scroll torch.

-President Bush in the stands like a normal fan

-John McCain's jarringly-inappopriate attack ad against Barack Obama

*-Lezak's leg in the men's relay to catch Bernard at the wall; my gosh....

-U.S. gymnastics men going crazy afer winning the bronze, after being counted out by everyone due to pre-Olympics injuries

-Yang Wei winning gold in the high bar, and cackling for the camera; during the gymnastics showcase, does this whole funny pommel 'horse' routine

-Elegant Nastia Liukin winning overall individual gold at literally the last moment, just ahead of firecracker Shawn Johnston

-Crazy Bela Karolyi in the studio, and NBC's tape of him going nuts during Liukin's routine

-Target's commercial, which led me to Natasja Saad's great Calabria video

-Rebecca Soni winning the 200M breastroke, in what consistently excellent announcer Rowdy Gaines said may be the swimming upset of the games

-Classy Mary Carillo's emotional profile of the Chinese artist who designed the logo and mascots

*-Michael Phelps outtouching Milorad Cavitch at the wall to win the 100M butterfly by .01 seconds for gold #7

-Brit Rebecca Adlington smashing Janet Evans' 19-year-old record in the 800M free

-Classy and geniune Dara Torres winning silver in 50M freestyle, just .01 seconds from gold, at the age of 41, after holding up the race to make sure a fellow competitor could replace her busted suit

*-Usain Bolt in yellow winning the 100M, showboating to deny himself an even greater world record time but providing the signature track and field moment of this Olympics

-Michael Phelps winning his 8th gold medal; an unbelievable run of domination

-U.S. men sweeping 400M hurdles, with a great, humble interview afterwards

-NBC's head-in-the-sand jingoism after Nastia Liukin ties for gold on the uneven bars and gets silver due to the tiebreaker system, which NBC suddenly deems unfair

*-Shawn Johnson beaming and beaming and beaming after winning her gold on the balance beam, with her Chinese-born coach as happy, and her parents, who mortgaged their home twice for her gymnastics, crying in the stands

-Jonathan Horton grabbing silver on the high bar

-Lolo Jones crying, alone, standing up against a wall under the stadium after hitting the next-to-last hurdle and finishing out of the 100M hurdles medals.

-Kerri Walsh/Misty May-Treanor's second beach volleyball gold in as many Olympics, during which they never dropped a set, which ran their match winning streak to 108; Walsh's nutty "I need a baby" declaration after getting the gold

-Chris Collinsworth's typical well-done profile of Natalie du Toit, the South African open water swimmer who lost a leg in 2001

-Usain Bolt's jaw-dropping 200M record run, with the U.S. moving up to silver and bronze on DQs

-Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers' grind-it-out gold in beach volleyball against Brazil, with May-Treanor sitting in the stands wearing a Chinese dragon peasant hat

-Hurdles champ Cuban Dayron Robles's old-school glasses; and the Nike Marvin 'definition of cool' Gaye national anthem commercial

-USA women's volleyball's run to silver, with their Chinese-born coach, who got standing ovations since she led a legendary Chinese volleyball gold medal team

*-Wanjiru's blistering marathon, for Kenya

-Aussie Matthew Mitcham's great final dive that kept China from winning all 8 diving golds

-U.S. track team wearing red on the last day to honor China

-Sanya Richards' great last leg to win the 4x400 relay for the U.S.

-From the closing credits: They show Liu Xiang crying by himself against the wall after he had to pull out of the hurdles, and a Chinese official breaking down in the press conference afterwards; hadn't seen the latter before, wow. Also that German weightlifter crying after winning the gold, holding his dead wife's photo on the podium.

-USA Basketball beating Spain for gold, behind Kobe's killer late fourth quarter, and putting their gold medals around Coach K's neck

*-Hugh McCutcheon and his men's volleyball team winning gold, bookending tragedy with triumph

Times gets lost in Africa

2008-08-24T17:44:00.006-04:00

Elinor Burkett turns in one of those standard white woman goes to Africa pieces in today's issue of the always-backwards Times Travel section that's notable only for its fantastic photo, and this crazy sentence:

For decades until 1914, Namibia was a German colony, South West Africa, and even 94 years after Germany lost it as the spoils of defeat in World War I, the Teutonic imprint on Swakop, as locals call the city, remains unmistakable."

Wow--41 words delineated by 6 commas!

Not to mention such rhetorical flourishes as 'spoils of defeat' and 'Teutonic imprint'.

Burkett, who teaches journalism(!), follows immediately with another sentence nearly as claustrophobic:

The standard plats du jour are schnitzel and bratwurst; the architecture of the old prison, the train station, the jail and dozens of other structures is late 19th-century Munich; and the streets are so tidy that Kaiser Wilhelm, for whom the main avenue was named until the government changed it six years ago, would be proud.

The article's 2,089 words are chopped up into many similar sentences that have hopelessly lost their way--by my count, 134 commas, 11 emdashes and 6 semicolons are scattered in amongst just 64 sentences.

Elinor really needs to read Isak Dinesen.

Photo of tourists climbing one of the Sossusvlei dunes, which rise as high as 1,000 feet, by Evelyn Hockstein for the Times

From Clark to Clayton Rockefeller

2008-08-24T17:32:00.005-04:00

There's a fantastic profile in the Times of Christian Gerhartsreiter, the German-born con artist who for decades called himself Clark Rockefeller and led a high-society life full of lies.

Later in that same section, the Times writes up the wedding of Clayton Rockefeller, who really is David Rockefeller's grandson.

Aside from the facial similarity between Clayton and 'Clark', there's also this about how Clayton met his wife:

Mr. Rockefeller fell hard and fast for Ms. Rubinstein after they were briefly introduced in the spring of 2000.

“I had a crush on Manya from afar,” he said. But he found getting her attention to be difficult.

“One time I yelled her name and waved from across the street, and she just kept on walking,” he recalled.

Ms. Rubinstein now says that she must not have been wearing her eyeglasses. But as a native New Yorker, she was also not in the habit of talking to strangers. “That’s what you’re taught when you grow up in the city,” she said.

The couple had their first lengthy conversation in the fall of 2000. “She was one of the smartest people I’ve ever met and the most beautiful,” Mr. Rockefeller said.

But she remained “standoffish,” she acknowledged.

Even Mr. Rockefeller’s name didn’t make an impression. “It didn’t occur to me that only a small number of people would have this name,” she said. “A lot of people have the name Rubinstein.”

They went out a couple times. And she was both charmed and confused by this open-hearted guy from Maine “who has this amazing ability to talk to anybody about anything,” she said. “I didn’t know what to make of him. He didn’t fit into any boxes I had reserved for people.”

And having a boyfriend was not high on her priority list.

So Mr. Rockefeller impulsively upped the ante before their winter break at Brown. “I asked if I could get a ride down to New York so I could go visit some family,” he said.

They enjoyed a daylong date as they drove through a snowy New England landscape. But when they arrived in Manhattan, she overheard him leaving messages for absent relatives.

“I suddenly realized he hadn’t made any plans with anyone in his family,” she said. He admitted that he had fibbed and then took a bus back to Providence.

“I thought he was completely crazy,” she said. “But I was really touched.”

You can't make this kind of stuff up.

Pool photo by Essdras M. Suarez of Clark Rockefeller; Clayton Rockefeller photo from the Times

Olympic's final run

2008-08-23T20:34:00.016-04:00

Watching the men's Olympics marathon live; a really fast pace so far, in the rapidly-warming Beijing morning. They're actually doing a profile of what happened to the marathon leader, Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima from Brazil, four years ago in Athens-- when a deranged ex-Irish priest who believed space aliens were coming to take over attacked him as he was leading the race.

He was shoved into the crowd, before onlookers dragged the crazy man--who NBC interviews--off de Lima. Man, with less than 2 miles to go his once-large lead shrank, then he lost it; then he flies into the stadium, finishes third! Gets bronze, and the sportsmanship medal.

Wow, I'd totally forgotten about that; this crazy Irish guy has also disrupted an F1 race; he was fined, but not imprisoned. At least the nutcase realizes he went too far. de Lima says he was never angry at him, the moment itself was bigger than any medal. Wow....

Meanwhile, Ethiopia, Kenya and Kenya are top three a little past halfway, it's the fastest pace ever for an Olympic marathon, on 2:05 pace. Announcers are incredulous; Americans are running their planned pace.

One of the five lead pack runners, from Eritrea, used to work as a day laborer, collecting wood for .30 cents a day.... Lewis Johnson reports from the course right in front of the runners, temps are in the 80s and everyone's scrambling for water. Mile 16... they can't keep up this pace, right?! It's battle of Africa, two Kenyans, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Moroccan. Kenyans wanna win to help heal their country; oddly, the country's never won the Olympics marathon. Everyone else is at least 43 seconds back at this point.

Americans have moved up to 11th and 15th place, more than a minute back. Now, few minutes later, Ryan Hall, the U.S. champ, has fallen back to more than 3 minutes off--no word on why.

Now at Peking University--why did it keep that name?!--which is generally know as Beida. Hmm, Mao graduated from here. Lots of shade here, and a misting area. Moroccan is dropping back a bit, lead foursome is pulling away. My god, this could be a run for the ages.

Hmmm, last year's world champ from Kenya looks like he's out of it, by the side of the road as an ambulance pulls up. Ethiopia-Merga, Kenya-Wanjiru, Eritrea-Kifle, Kenya-Lel, Morocco-Gharib. Announcer says Wansiru has to be the favorite at this point, he trained in Japan for the humid conditions, only two Kenyans to win Olympic medals went there too.

1:28 in, Merga and Wanjiru opening up a gap over the others, lead pack is strung out a bit now. Now, just five minutes later, Moroccan rejoins lead pack, then falls back--like a yo-yo, as commentators say; they also now think one of these guys will probably win gold.

Back from break, coming up on 1:40 and the three have been reunited again. 2 hours 9 minutes is the OR; it's always slower than most marathons because it's held in the hot days of summer. Now comes the wall.... Now nearing high 80s says Lewis, they're on like a highway or something, sheesh. It can be over 100 on the asphalt, commentator says; mile 21, bit over 5 miles left.

Hmm, Wanjiru and Merga share a bottle of water, they're back out front a bit of the Moroccan. Commentators saying they're likely to be gold/silver/bronze. Americans up to 10th/11th place, in a normal race their time would've been great, but it's an extraordinary race. Seems like it'd have been predictable that the Kenyans were fueled by something more than the usual competitive pride.

1:50 in, leaders can see the Olympic stadium. Now, Wanjiru pulling away, Moroccan second, Eritrean fading in third. Man, he's just increasing the margin. I'm rooting for him, what a great story; ugh, they go to another commercial. Pretty cool that they've covered the marathon this entire time though.

Back, matter of minutes left; Wanjiru on Olympic record pace. NBC spelling it Wansiru on the graphic for some reason. They've had quite a few camera and audio problems during this race, with the picture freezing a number of times. He's got about 5 minutes left, about 13 seconds in front of the Moroccan. A Chinese volunteer picks his water bottle up after he discards it, nice souvenir.

Looks like he's lengthening his lead; he's running fluid, looks to be in good shape. Checks his watch, running down the highway. What a great sight; mile 25. Lead now up to about 20 seconds ahead of Gharib. Wow, they are waaaaaay out in front of everyone.

Coming past the Water Cube, my god, the two of them are more than a minute ahead of everyone else! How is that possible?! Is NBC's graphic messed up? He's young, 21; not much marathon experience. My gosh, third place is like 2:20 behind them?!

2:03, about to head into the stadium. His lead is getting sider, can't even see second place on the helicopter's eye view. He's benefitted from Japanese coaching, NBC says it's not just a Kenyan victory here. Apparently Japan loves distance running.

And he's into the tunnel; raises his hands in triumph. There's a VW pace car right in front of him. Can hear the roar of the crowd as the commentator says he was wrong about the pace, what an amazing run. Man, it's a HUUUUGE cheer as he runs into the stadium, what a great moment. Big smile on his face, he's waving to the crowd as he runs around the entire track, all by himself; second place nowhere to be found. He's going to destroy the OR of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 21 seconds, which has stood for 24 years!

Still by himself, coming home to the finish line, hands up in the air; and he finishes in 2:06:30. Wow! Kneels on the ground crosses himself. And here comes two-time world champ Gharib of Morocco, for the silver, 2:07:16.

Ethiopian Merga comes jogging easily into the tunnel, his teammate is right behind him, should be interesting race for bronze. His teammate Kebebe is coming up on him a bit, oh-oh. He keeps looking behind him, his teammate is coming up; gap is definitely closing, let's see what their kick is like. Now Merga just gets passed easily, he's almost walking at this point, in real pain; Kebebe finishes in 2:10:00 for the bronze. Wow, Merga almost gets passed again at the finish, barely able to walk.

American in the stadium now, in ninth place, running well. Hall behind him. They run times that would've gotten them on the podium in a normal Olympics race. They both look pretty strong, makes you wonder if they had pushed it....

Gosh, that was really exciting. Next--men's 10M platform diving, China trying to sweep all 8 golds in the diving events, U.S. doesn't even have a single medal to this point--just like they finished in Athens. I think the diving coach should be fired, in addition to the track and field head. Just ridiculous, given our population and facilities; we've badly underperformed expectations in both events.

Thomas Finchem of U.S. first, messed up in his first dive, a horrible entry into the water. Not a great second dive, either. Ugh, low score. David Boudia, our best hope for a medal, in fifth place. Oooh, a nice dive; knifes into the water. His coach is happy, too. Zhou Luzin dives, they keep talking about the pressure on the Chinese athletes; of course, it's normal--a great power, at home. Don't make it seem so exotic. He's in first after the initial dive, great dive here will keep him there, all 9s or higher except for the Bulgarian judge's 8.5.

Some Aussie, with a nice entry; they don't explain the order of the divers, maybe based on how they finished in prelims? NBC has been so wildly inconsistent here, some great commentators, then other events where they don't even tell us what we need to know to appreciate the action. Matthew Mitcham gets four 10s, but still in second. American stays in 5th.

Third dive now. Still hyped up from that great marathon; I always try and watch it at the Olympics, remember generally you have to get up early on the Sunday for it. Glad it was live here.

Hey, 14-year-old Tom Daley. Loooks even younger; let's check his passport. Sign him up now, this kid's gonna be one of the stars at the London Olympics. Finchem starts out in a handstand; huge splash on the entry. Looks like it's nerves, commentator says. His total after three is close to the Chinese diver's after two. Nice dive, from Boudia; well, commentator says not so, they use their cool strobe light photos to show the sequence; sure enough, low scores, U.S. hopes slipping away.

Zhou now, looks quietly confident. Audience is hyped, lots of people waving Chinese flags. Kindof a big splash; hmmm. Hmmm, he gets all scores above 9, despite what commentator though. Huo Liang, who's already won synchro gold--my gosh, every Chinese diver here has medaled! Now that's dominance. Not a good entry at all. China is 1, 3; Boudia falls to 6th, within 20 points of third.

They skip Finchem's fourth dive; Boudia has a good dive, big sound of splash but splash looks small. Zhou needs to close the deal; a bit arching into the water, but small splash. Gets a good score, Aussie does well too; now Huo, hmmm, big splash.

For some reason, into the last dive they say the "last chance to spoil China's sweep of diving gold" rests with the Aussies. Why is 'spoil' what they're emphasizing here? Sheesh. Boudia's next-to-last dive, not great. Wow, Zhou nails the landing after a bad takeoff, commentator calls it a 10 entry going into the water. And he gets 10s. "Tough, but not impossible, for anyone to deny China the sweep."

Aussie has a good dive, currently second. Boudia behind the kid in 7th. Nice last dive for Finchem; but now, a horrible last dive for Boudia, he almost belly flops. Commentator says it looks like he runs out of gas. Big mistake for Zhou on his last dive, commentator says, as he kicks out his knees; he'll probably still win, but feeling the pressure.

Now some drama.... Wow, a great dive by Mitcham--and he's actually in first now, by 4 points! Wow. The crowd is roaring, even though he beats the Chinese; and now the commentator says it's over, the 3rd place guy can't catch him. He's stunned a country, silenced the Water Cube, announcer says; man, he's really annoying. Huo dives not great, the Aussies are celebrating. Even though I generally don't like the Aussies, it's a great story, coming from that far back on the last dive. Huo now the only Chinese diver in the entire games to not medal!

Hmm, quick google search shows other people aren't crazy about these NBC announcers; I actually think Cynthia Potter is fine, even if her tone is a bit direct and almost insulting at times.

But Ted Robinson is just horrible--he's openly rooting for countries, and seems to think everyone shares his desire to see China lose. He gets things wrong all the time, and doesn't correct himself. Plus his tone is just irritating as hell; he really seems to think we're tuning in to hear him exult.

Thank god that's it for diving; back to track and field, and Tom Hammonds/Ato Bolton, who might be my favorite announcing team out of these Olympics. Hammonds is pretty straightforward, if a bit odd at times; and Ato is great, gives us insight and personality and passion.

Women's 4x400 relay, let's see if the U.S. relay team can make up for its failures so far. Wow, USA track athletes switched from their normal blue tops to red tops in order to honor China. Now that's a classy move. Let's go USA!

Really, overall, it's been a great Olympics; I've enjoyed watching just about all of it. So many unexpected, nice moments; these athletes are all amazing, and the drama beats anything, anywhere.

And they're off, U.S. falling behind, Jamaica is waaaaaay out in front. Russia, Great Britain, Jamaica; but U.S. not far behind, Alyson Felix is just blazing here, grabs the lead, is accelerating easily. Let's go USA! Man, just increasing her lead, second exchange is clean too. Man, U.S. is now busting out, Russia and Jamaica trailing.

Now U.S. is falling back a bit, hope our anchor is great; Russia is just motoring past her like she's standing still. Last lap, U.S. has already moved up, but Russian had a nice cushion. Russia is increasing their lead; here comes Sanya Richards, about halfway to go, U.S. is gaining, here she comes, she's passing her--and yes, USA! USA! Awesome! Now that's a great finish, Bolton calls it a great race, great leg by Richards. Funny, you can see Russian checking the big screen down the stretch to watch herself getting passed. Jamaica finishes third.

Now, Men's 4x400 relay, we should win easily considering we swept the medals in the individual event. Just don't drop that stupid baton! LaShawn Merritt is running first, Jeremy Wariner is running anchor--Bolton says he doesn't remember the U.S. team ever leading off a relay with the Olympic champ. Maybe he's not good at receiving the baton.

Stupid British team, their anchor was taunting the Jamaicans after they won their semis heat; Ato gets off a great line, "He told the BBC he's just never been in the lead before; we'll see if he gets a chance tonight." It's especially idiotic given the respective dominant performance of the Jamaicans in track, versus the pathetic performance of the Brits.

Wow, U.S. owns the top 10 times in this relay, Bolton says this is probably their best team ever. And they're off; Merritt is running well, already makes up the slack on two guys. Nice exchange, Angelo Taylor is extending the lead. Hmm, Belgium trying to keep up, down to the second exchange, it's getting larger; wow, David Neville is just screaming down the track; Belgians staying tough. Jeremy Wariner takes it, and he's just accelerating. Nice and relaxed, it's a huuuuuuge lead, Bahamas in second, then Russia. 2:55:39, new Olympic record.

Bolton says they ran over their heads, given how young they are. Now that's awesome. They get four flags, and take their victory lap. Bolton says the race was a walk, it was supposed to be a bit closer, on paper. They reshow the first exchange; after Merritt it was pretty much over. Wow, U.S. won by about 3 seconds, what a huge margin.

Cool, four more gold medal track finals tonight. They show the medals ceremony for the women's relay; athletes look so classy, U.S. can be proud of the way we carried ourselves at these games--no incidents that I can recall. Great big smiles on all four of them, some tears too.

NBC's announcers really do talk over everything, like they're afraid to let us watch without guidance. It's to the point when they do shut up, they actually tell us that they're going to 'let' us just listen.

Men's 800M next, is NBC contractually obligated to mention the water cube everytime they show an outside shot? Youssef Kamel of Bahrain a favorite, Ato says he has a real problem with nerves. Yego of Kenya the world champ, the only 3 races he won all last year were at the world championships. They show a Candian, the team's had a disappointing Olympics. Cuban next; and the rest of the field, all from African countries, NBC doesn't show any of them.

Kenyans in front, controlling the pace. A bit slow of a pace, now picking it up. Starting to sprint, Kenyan Wilifred Buengei is going to win, Ismail--Sudan runner who's huge--finishes second, Yago of Kenya third.

Hammond says the Bird's Nest is the most distinctive stadium he's ever broadcast from. Women's 1500M next, an American Shannon Rowbury in it. Was an Irish stepdancer, thinks that's helped her in running. They profile her; kindof an oddly produced piece. Duke degrees; and Maryam Jamal of Bahrain, the heavy favorite. Born in Ethiopia, though, ranked #1 the last three years. Show some Ukrainian, too. Big field here; and they're off. No American has ever won a medal in this event, she's in the pack at the moment.

Pace a bit slow, says Ato, should be picking up. 2 laps yet, race still as it was after the start. Jamal moves up to third now, seems to be making her move; now in front, bright yellow sneakers. On the bell lap, she's stretching her lead a little, two others up front with her, American in fourth but is trying to move up. Now Jamal gets passed by Kenyan, American falls back. Down the stretch, Legat of Kenya too strong, Jamal is really fading, gets passed, finishes fourth and is in despair.

Competitors come out for the women's high jump, an American, Chaunte Howard. Favorite has won 33 in a row, Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, 6 feet 4 inches; clears easily; now Howard misses, and she's out.

Odd, back to Men's 5000M final. Bernard Legat of the U.S., reigining world champ; ran poorly in 1500M, where he's also reiging world champ but didn't even make final. Hmmm, a bizarre staggered start, some a few meters in front of others--no explanation, probably cause there are so many people in the field. Two brothers from Ethiopia in this race.

They're running very deliberately, pretty slow; nobody wants to be the leader. The camera angle from the side looks like a machine; Ato says it'll be 6 on 1, Ethiopians/Kenyans want to keep him off the medal podium. He's falling into the middle of the pack a bit. Hmm, one of the runners--Legat?--had his shoe kicked off at a world championship, stopped, took it off, and still won.....

They say Legat likes this pace, he has great speed down the stretch. Two brothers in front, third Ethiopian up there too. 9 laps to go, nearing 4 minutes gone. Kenyans consider Legat a traitor, they show one of them waving his finger at Legat, you're not passing me. Not a social dance, says one of the commentators. Another American in the race, huge guy.

They cut away, back to jump; Vlasic the second biggest track favorite announcer says, after the Russian chick who won pole vault. Whoah--and Vlasic loses, Belgian takes gold, in a huge upset.

Back to the race, not much seems to have changed, about 8 minutes in. 5 laps to go. Ethiopian opens up a lead, Legat in like 5th. Now the pack is breaking up, Legat's up in fourth; now they're all strung out. Come on, Legat! He looks to be running pretty easy. Now getting crowded by the 5th place Kenyan, right on his hip; and pases him. Hmm, 3 laps to go, 3 Kenyans behind the Ethiopian. Legat letting the four of them go, he's in 5th, by a healthy margin.

Bolton says Legat didn't want this to happen; wow, looks like Legat is out of it, he looks exhausted. The Ethiopian/Kenyans are way out front, lap and a half left. This is crazy. Now, the bell lap; Ethiopian and a Kenyan are way out front, Kenenisa Bekele, who won the 10,000M is going to win this thing easily, sets a new OR.

Wow, Legat is nowhere to be seen, no medals, way back in ninth. Bekele celebrating with his flag--hmmm, don't remember Ethiopia having a star of david with a cross inside on their flag.

Now they have Costas' interview with IOC chair Jacque Rogge. For some reason they're dividing this into three parts; Bob says right off the start this has been a most glorious Olympics, but as always they are issues.

Asks about 5 of the 6 Chinese gymnasts possibly being underage. Rogge says obviously they want the rules to be followed; the gymnastics authority has seen the documents, will make a statement soon. Fourth question is whether the age requirements should even exist, Rogge says you have to protect young people from pressure, overtraining--well, why then is there a 14-year-old diving for Great Britain?

Next, doping; Rogge says this has been his top priority. Wonder if Bob at some point asks about the three Spanish teams making racist faces for their group photos. Russia-Georgia war, Rogge says the Georgian team winning four medals has done more for their country than if the team hadn't been here.

They bring back the NBA on NBC music, prompting Bob to say, hey, I remember that music! U.S. vs. Spain, 2:30 a.m. live. 49 gold for China, 34 for U.S., 107 to 96 overall. Men's relay medal ceremony. They keep focusing on Wariner, who coincidentally is the only white face on the U.S. team.

Olympics winding down

2008-08-22T23:24:00.005-04:00

Jamaica, with Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, destroys the rest of the field in the 4x100M race, and shatter the existing world record. The U.S. dropped its baton in prelims, probably would not have mattered; 37.10, about 1 full second ahead of second place Trinidad and Tobago.

Crazy Tom Hammond says never a more dominant performance in track and field. Hmm, Bolt is giving $50,000 to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake; the IOC president Jacque Rogge is an idiot for ripping him for showboating, he's everything that's great about the Olympics--exciting, genuine and amazing.

They're also showing Men's 10M platform semifinal, a weird thing given that no Americans are really in it--and there's no medal at stake! China's way out front 1-2, with two dives left.

Now, decathalon, where another mixed-race kid from Hawaii is set to triumph. Bryan Clay, who's half black/half Japanese, and is someone I really like, has a solid lead over everyone else as they jog through the final event, 1500M. Bryan Clay, jogging in last in his heat on what's essentially a victory lap; a bunch of the others are flopped on the ground, and now he does too. Wow, they're amazingly fatigued after doing 10 events in two days.

China's got 47 golds, U.S. has 31--nobody's had more than 50 since the Soviet Union did it in Seoul. Overall, U.S. has 102, China has 89. They close with Clay's decathalon gold ceremony; what a great story. He tears up; hope to hear more from him over the final two days, he won by the largest margin since Munich in 1972!

Idiot New York Times take on diversity

2008-08-22T00:33:00.002-04:00

Edward Wyatt of the Times seems to disbelieve the reality of America's racial diversity, painting it as something that exists only within the artificial construct of the United Nations.

Generation Mix: Youth TV Takes the Lead in Diversity Casting: The red-carpet area at the premiere of the Disney Channel’s new Cheetah Girls movie last week looked less like the typical Hollywood cast party than some sort of United Nations session.

Adrienne Bailon, who plays Chanel in the trio of Cheetah Girls, drew on her Ecuadorean and Puerto Rican roots and chatted in Spanish with a television interviewer. Meanwhile Kiely Williams, an African-American actress who plays Aqua, and Sabrina Bryan, who plays Dorinda and whose real name is Reba Sabrina Hinojos, answered questions and waved to fans.

Deepti Daryanani, an actress from Calcutta, and Rupak Ginn, an American actor whose parents emigrated from India, wore outfits inspired by their roles in the television movie, “The Cheetah Girls One World,” in which the group travels to India to star in a film after one of its members misunderstands an invitation to Bollywood as one to Hollywood.

Other Disney stars in attendance included Brenda Song, the daughter of a Laotian Hmong immigrant father and a Thai-American mother, who starred in the Disney Channel movie “Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior”; Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, a daughter of Filipino and Spanish parents, and her “Camp Rock” co-star Roshon Fegan, who is part Filipino; and Shanica Knowles, an African-American actress who plays a high school rival of Miley Cyrus’s character on “Hannah Montana.”

It's almost like Wyatt didn't read his own quotes:

“This group of people is reflective of the life we all live right now,” said Debra Martin Chase, an executive producer of “The Cheetah Girls One World,” which will be shown Friday on the Disney Channel.

“One-third of the U.S. population is now nonwhite,” said Ms. Chase, one of a handful of prominent African-American producers in Hollywood. “That is reflected in the Disney Channel projects because they are committed to diversity. It has been a priority for them all along.”

Wyatt goes even further down his alice in wonderland path, citing as diversity the fact that the new 90210 has a couple of minor characters who are non-white, including one who's playing a fake ethnic role:

And “90210,” the updated version of the seminal 1990s teen drama set in Beverly Hills that will begin this fall on CW, features two minority cast members: Tristan Wilds, an African-American actor previously seen in HBO’s “Wire,” and Michael Steger, a multiethnic actor who plays an Indian film director in “The Cheetah Girls One World.” Mr. Steger, of Ecuadorean, Norwegian and Austrian descent, will portray an Iranian-American high school student in “90210.”

The article for all its wrong-headedness does, I think, mean well; but maybe the Times needs to take some lessons from Disney on this:

Gary Marsh, president for entertainment for Disney Channels Worldwide, said that executives at the company talked every day about how to promote greater diversity in front of and behind the camera.

“It’s something we work really hard at to make it look effortless,” he said. “We constantly push directors and casting directors and producers to make different decisions than they might otherwise make.”

Looking for drama in Beijing

2008-08-21T22:09:00.006-04:00

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.

Running and digging for gold

2008-08-20T21:17:00.010-04:00

Track and field semis, Allyson Felix in the women's 200M; she has a good look to her, we'll see if her form compares to the Jamaican who blew everyone away in the first semis. Interesting, Roqaya Al-Gassra from Bahrain, in the full body suit. Wow; she finishes in the top four maybe, does she make the finals?! Felix wins this, Ato Boldon says not at her best here so far. Hmm, Al-Gassra finishes lower than fourth, not in the finals.

It's gymnastics gala night; Yang Wei up on the pommel horse first, pretends to ride it; he's auctioning off his silver to benefit earthquake victims. Pretends to fall off the horse. He's apparently quite a ham; nice to see this side of him. Doing all this to music, and in the dark; does a bunch of flares, then comes off. Hosts walk him around, one in Chinese, another English. The 'English speaker' has a horrible accent, and seems to be pantomining everything.

Shawn Johnson gets a huge hand from the crowd, on the balance beam. She's totally focused, to some whistling song. Nice, and then beams like crazy aferwards before running off into the dark. German guy, Fabian on the high bar. Starts, then jumps off--doesn't like something about the high bar, like it's not supported right, far too loose. Does release after release, it's pretty cool, big smile at the end.

Jonathan Broxton on the high bar, just high-energy, high-flying. Huge landing, doesn't stick it but fun. Nastia Liukin, much more theatrical than Shawn, dances around the balance beam to a slow, sultry pop song. Like she's doing a ballet routine. All in time; very fairy taleish, she's gonna be huge in Asia after this. Man, it's totally pretty to watch, everything fits the music. "Someone hold me safe and warm"; she dismounts, and the gala ends.

Now, Usain Bolt in the men's 200M. Going for 19.32, Michael Johnson's 200M record; they show Johnson, working for the BBC, he says he thinks he can do 19.5. Bolton says he'll be faster than that, will be ahead of WR pace at 200M. Shawn Crawford of the US defending champ here, but it's all Bolt, all the time; one of those combos of charisma, talent, and name.

Long time from ready to set. Wow, Bolt is just blazing fast, no chance for anyone; he's running hard, and he breaks the WR, 19.30. A canned commentary from Bolton, who says lighting doesn't strike twice; then goes nuts, says it may be the greatest performance we've ever seen in a track and field event. There was a headwind, no less. Bolton is just going nuts, says he thought Johnson's record would stand until the day he died. Man, he almost ran a 19.29.... And, his best event might be 400M?!

Johnson, in the BBC booth, has a big grin on his face as Bolt beats his record; like Ato, he's a track fan first and foremost. Bolt does a dance afterwards, I am #1 he tells the camera. Wallace Spearmon comes over, he got bronze. But--he was disqualified, for stepping on the line--a bunch of times, not just once. He puts away the flag he was walking around waving; Crawford moves up to bronze.

Tough moment, Spearmon asked by the reporter about the DQ, he's caught a bit unaware, just says he's going to protest. Afterwards, the silver medalist was disqualified too; which means Walter Dix moved up too. Bolt is a bit more down to earth afterwards in the interview; what an amazing talent.

So the U.S. got silver and bronze--but the Netherlands Antilles blasted us afterwards, saying why would we, such a big country, take away a small nation's moment of glory.... He does have a point, why in arguing about our DQ do we seek to get someone else DQed?

Women's 400M hurdles, a bunch of American women in this event. Americans doing well early; Jamaican accelerating though, American slowing down, Jamaican is going to win, easily; wow, U.S. gets silver. They all run pretty awkwardly though. They interview the American silver medalist afterwards, Sheena Tosta, as if she, not Melaine Walker, had won the thing. It's ridiculous that the Jamaican track and field team is destroying us in sprints.

Afterwards, they show Dix learning he 'won' the bronze from the U.S. coaches, incluing the head men's coach Bubba Thornton. Yeah, U.S.--we rule at these administrative things, too bad we can't run fast. "Well, I still lost" says Dix after his agent congratulates him--we need that kind of attitude, shouldn't be celebrating a DQ fight.

Hmmm, odd; they're showing women's diving in a prime time slot, Laura Wilkinson. She won the only medal we've had this decade in diving 8 years ago; days of Greg Louganis et al are a long ways away. She must do well, otherwise why are they showing this? Jeez, huge splash on her first dive. Not great scores.

Hmmm, a developing story, 15-year-old Haley Ishimatsu of the U.S. is doing really well.... Ugh, a huge, ugly splash from Wilkinson. Odd, where are the Chinese in this event? Canadian in first, ugh, kindof a big splash, but the commentator doesn't think so; a pretty good score, actually. Ah, here's a Chinese diver, tied for third. Other Chinese diver now in first; Ishimatsu in 6th after two dives.

A live look-in at the gold medal match in women's beach volleyball, supposedly they'll play unless there is lightning, it's raining pretty hard.

Wait, the diving is just the semifinals?! Man, they're just wasting time tonight; how about showing some medal events, regardless of whether there are Americans in them or not?! Sheesh. Ugh, there are some really ugly dives here, too. Weird, they're not showing Haley's dives. Weird; this is live, so they're deliberately going to commercials during her dives. They do show some random Italian in the fourth round--and now, Haley for the first time. Commentator likes her; a big splash, it'll be close to see if she makes the finals. Ugh, pretty low scores.

So now they're just going to ditch diving, for rainy beach volleyball. Not a good night for NBC, they've really got nothing. Chinese vs. May-Treanor and Walsh; will be interesting to see how the home crowd and elements affect the Americans. Ugh, doesn't look like a good day for volleyball. 1-0 U.S., Walsh blocks Chinese. Wow, NBC replaying point, miss next one.

China's been consistently in front by a bit so far in a very tight match; 7-7 now. U.S. up front, 8-7, on a bad hit from China. 9-8 U.S. on a bad serve from the Chinese. 10-10 now, back and forth; 11-10 at the technical timeout. Rushed cut back to diving, Wilkinson needs to nail this next-to-last dive to qualify; announcer says that's good enough on an okay dive. Will Haley make it?

Back to volleyball, U.S. steals a point on some great plays, 12-10. Could be the turning point here. 13-13, good serve by the Chinese. Another free point off serve, 14-13, Chinese up. Bad break, bad timing for U.S. 14-14, U.S. back on serve. Oooh, serving ace by Walsh. 16-15 now; wow, they haven't lost a set in two Olympics.

Chinese are serving well; 17-16 U.S. though. 18-17, we're getting down to crunch time. U.S. doesn't wanna leave it to a lucky play for China, need to close out here. Yeah, they pick up a point on serve, 19-17. China's confused, U.S. at 20-17 suddenly. Chinese call a timeout, probably should've called it earlier. 20-18, here we go; Misty spikes it, U.S. win 21-18. Nicely done.

Back to diving? No, they're going to talk about Misty's mom dying in 2001. They show her tattoo, and reshow the ashes thing. They're repeating everything, announcers saying the same stuff they did last time. 1-0 U.S. as second set starts. 2-0, let's go U.S.! A mistake by China, Walsh spikes it home. They smell blood now. Ooh, U.S. blows a chance to go up 4-0, 3-1 instead. Man, May spikes it into the Chinese, 4-1. 4-2. Chinese already won bronze, beating Brazil--hmmm, odd.

5-3; announcers love the Americans, gush over their strengths. Announcer says people are scared of Kerri, that's why they don't serve to her; but try her more, says other announcer. 6-4. 6-5, Chinese coming back. 7-6, stays close. 8-6 as they switch sides. Wow, great Chinese serve; 8-8. Another service ace, Chinese up 9-8 now. 9-9; U.S. needs to change up the pattern here. Nice serve, U.S. 10-9. May an uncharacteristic unforced error, 10-10. Great point, U.S. saves it, 11-10 again at the technical timeout. Jason Kidd in the stands, May idolized him growing up, has his number tattooed on her back.

11-11 to start second part of the set; Karch says China's weathered the onslaught pretty well, crowd helps. Ugh, 12-11 China. Key moment here. 12-12, back on serve. 13-12 on a great play by Walsh, slipping an early shot past China. 13-13. Another shot by China down the line. Ooh, another service ace for China, 14-13. 14-14, U.S. back on serve, Walsh crushes the ball. 15-14 on a point U.S. should've won. 15-15; time for U.S. to make their move. 16-15, U.S. grabs the lead. Wow, just like last set China a bit sloppy, 17-15 U.S., this time China calls the timeout earlier.

Tian/Wang call medical timeout now, trainers working on Tian's arms. Announcers say she likes calling medical timeouts to slow down the match. U.S. just looking very determined. They've won 18 straight events, 107 straight matches. First time the defending champs in either men's or women's beach volleyball has even made it back to the gold medal match.

Battling, breathing and believing is what their coach tells them before every match. 17-16. Wang tries to trick them on a quick hit, fails, 18-16. Oooh, service error from the U.S. 18-17. Critical, critical point. Chinese win a great point on a block at the net, 18-18. Another great point, U.S. wins 19-18. Chinese miss it out of bounds, 20-18! U.S.A.! Gold medal point; Walsh spikes it, and they win gold again! Awesome!

They celebrate, run around, wave flags, dance. Karch callsthem the best team of all time. They're celebrating separately, doing their own thing. Back to Bob Costas in the studio. And then to diving. Kindof a buzz-kill, why not just stay with volleyball; Haley doesn't qualify for the finals, Wilkinson does, in sixth. Talks to the odd Andrea Kremer, tries to give her an injury excuse, she doesn't take it. Super-cute Haley talks, is in tears, says she's disappointed, but a great experience, says sorry a few times.

They go back to beach volleyball, missed live the ashes ceremony, pretty emotional. Now being interviewed, again not live. They're so excited, and hyper. Fun people, keep jumping up and down. Misty's telling off-camera to call her. Hmm, they thank Bush for his inspiration when he met with them, and a shout-out to Karch. Such Californian girls; asked about their future plans, Walsh says she needs a baby, it's that time. Back to Bob, who in his usual sly way says they're running off, looking for someone else to hug.

Chris Collinsworth. Wow, they show Natalie du Toit, an amputee, taking off her prothetic to jump in the water to compete in the open water swimming event! Wow; that is amazing video. 2001 scooter accident. She talks pretty matter-of-factly to Chris about it; was the flag bearer for the South African team. What a great story. How the heck can she swim with only one leg?! Russian woman won the race; Natalie finished 16th! And now she's in the Paralympics. Too bad NBC didn't show us more than a few seconds of the race.

China up 45 to 27 in golds, U.S. up 83 to 81 in overall medals. Few minutes of super heavyweight weightlifting. 551 pounds for the Russian--but then, German 561, goes totally batso after winning. Displays a photo on the gold medal podium, of his wife, who died in a car accident last year. Oh, wow. Again, thanks for not giving us more, NBC.

Shawn Johnson's night

2008-08-19T21:23:00.012-04:00

Start watching with men's springboard diving, Chinese divers are dominating--this is their sport, in their country. Even an amateur can see how good they are, small splash on entry if nothing else. Canadian guy does well on the last dive, but the top Chinese diver has such a huge lead there's no chance he'll lose, and he doesn't.

Announcers talk about how crazy the crowds here are; He Chong hears them roar as he takes gold with what the announcers call a "staggering" total, "crazy-good", "beyond words"--he averages over a 95. American finishes 6th for the 3rd straight Olympics.

Track and field, men's 200M semis heat. American Walter Dix in this one, Usain Bolt in the other. Dix finishes third, struggles a bit. Second heat, Shawn Crawford, who won this in Athens, is also in it. Wallace Spearmon another American; Bolton says Bolt has left him, they competed neck and neck for a while. Wow; Bolt and Crawford out front easily, Bolt just running so loose and relaxed, like he's not even trying; Crawford really running hard but Bolt wins.

Mary Carillo, with a piece on kites in China, Weifung. Wow, pretty neat visuals. She's goofy, fits this piece perfectly; talks to a kite master, who can fly kites indoors. She also visits kite fighters; afterwards she and Bob have their usual fun banter.

Now, gymnastics; men's parallel bars. China's already got 11 medals in gymnastics here, going for more; but major mistake by Huang Xu right off the bat. Uzbekistan gymnast next, he does pretty well. South Korean gymnast, as always NBC tells us he's from Korea. He's okay; another South Korean, the guy who got cheated out of gold in Athens, he makes a mistake so he's out of the gold race here, also messes up the landing.

Wow, Anton Fokin, the Uzbeki, gets his country's first medal, in second with only a Chinese gymnast left. Li Xiaopeng; wow, flies through the air, he's clearly better than everyone else here. And he nails the landing; nice routine, another gold for China. 16.45, with the South Korean who went first in second.

Men's 400M semis now, an event the U.S. swept in Athens. Jeremy Wariner wants to defend his gold, says he just wants to do his thing, then it won't matter what anyone else does. He's out front, easily; looks around, nice and smooth.

Odd, they just show a few seconds of the second semis, even though it has an American, David Neville, in it; now the third, with American LaShawn Merritt, who beat Wariner 'convincingly' at the U.S. trials. Wow, he runs as relaxed and easy as Wariner, finishes first too, pretty much the same time.

Women's 400M final, American Sanya Richards who's been ranked #1 for the last three years but has no major championship golds, still a huge favorite. Hmmm.... She's engaged to Aaron Ross of the Giants, big ring on her finger; her races are being shown in the Giants team meetings. Wow, she's out fast, just motoring. Is just accelerating, oh man, really fades, like crazy; finishes third--the upset of the games thus far, Bolton says; she looks frustrated, maybe went out too hard. Worse, a Brit won... says afterwards she's so disappointed, says her right leg cramped. She's a pretty class act, actually; not sure if Bolton believes she did cramp.

100M hurdles, three Americans in it. Lolo Jones, who had a tough upbringing; had 4 foster families in high school, got a track scholarship; the favorite. Wow, hope she wins. She looks so focused, I think she'll win. Bolton doesn't think the race will be close, that she may set an OR. Dawn Harper second American, looks nervous; and Damu Cherry third American.

Jones reminds me a bit of Marion Jones, who I always liked. Oh no, Jones hits the next to last hurdle and doesn't medal--but Harper wins it, out of nowhere says Bolton, can't believe it! Aussie going nuts, keeps screaming; had a great start, won silver. And the Canadian won bronze; what a surprising race. Bizarre, they interview her, with champ Harper standing by. Come on, give me a break! They finally replay her Harper's race, after showing Jones like 4 times. From East St. Louis; they interview her now, she seems cool, says her coach's advice was to 'focus on me'. Oh, they show Lolo crying, alone, standing up against a wall under the stadium.

Women's balance beam final, eight women, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin. And a Chinese gymnast, Al says we have to respect everything they do in this building. Elfie says if the two Americans perform the way they have all week, they should finish 1-2. Huge, beaming smile from Shawn as she's introduced to the crowd. Johnson hasn't been at her absolute best, says Tim.

First up is the Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei, who's leader of the team but has been shaky this week. Absolute silence in the stadium as she does a backward flip, nearly falls again like she did earlier. Shaky on another flip; she's out of gold contention, just seems so tentative. Tim says her dad, when she was younger, traveled five hours by boat to watch her train. Somehow the boat park makes it seem so much longer than by car. Shaky ending, Tim says no major mistakes but no gold either. 15.950--wow, that's ridiculously high.

Gabriela Dragoi, from Romania. They're still talking about Cheng's number. Dragoi is confident on the beam, looks very good; classic Romanian beam work says Elfie. Tim says 'jinxed it El' as Eflie says the Romanians in the past never wavered and Dragoi wobbled. Nice dismount, a step though. Better than the Chinese, I think; score is... 15.625. Kindof crazy, here, but Tim reminds us Cheng's routine starts at a much higher value.

Ksenia Afanaseva, a major mistake right off the bat seems to rattle her, Russian women no real chance here Tim says; the world has moved forward, Russians haven't. Very shaky; announcers tut-tutting. Again, we hear the bell, you have 10 seconds to finish. 14.825.

Li Shanshan of China, wow, a heck of a start, bunch of flips in a row. Very crisp; oh, she totally falls off the beam, it's crazy. A ridiculously great dismount, but no shot at the gold for her. Russian next, a screwup early; man, can nobody here do a clean routine?! More wobbles for her, looks like Russian women are going to get no medals here. Maybe Putin can put some of that oil money into a London 2012 effort. Big step on the landing, too.

Now, Shawn Johnson. Come on, Shawn! She looks like a rabbit, a little girl acting like a woman. Nice opening, she's looking great early. Wow, clearly better than everyone else so far; no stuipd wobbles, just going for it; very deliberate. A small step on the dismount, but a good routine. Big hug from her coach, Liang Chow. She's happy, just bounces off, hugging and kissing everyone. Huge smile, picked up the V sign while in China. Al starts carping about the judges, but then the score flashes--16.225, a huge score. She's now just beaming, the highest score on beam in China. Awesome.

Nastia Liukin--but first, a commercial break. Considering this is all on tape and we knew the result this morning, this is just stupid. Elfie says she had no errors in her warmpu routine. Man, such lean limbs, looks great early; man, elegant as Elfie says, place is totally silent. A big step on dismount, but a great routine. They hug, her dad and Shawn's coach slap hangs; the girls hug again, Shawn is beaming, Nastia looks cool. Start value 6.7 for Nastia, 7.0 for Shawn. 16.025, get a camera on Shawn, quick--and she's hugging her coach, has a HUGE grin. Chinese coach hugs her, too. Hmm, a Japanese gymnast last, no chance though. Elfie does a nice job counterbalancing Tim's pooh-pahing of her, she wobbles, Tim says U.S. 1-2, it's over. Wow, and she falls off.

Man, Shawn is just beaming uninterruptedly, it's so great to watch. You can see her taking it all in, like a giant chipmunk; her parents in the audience, mom crying, Al says they've mortgaged their house more than once to keep her in the gym; parents are crying, holding each other, it's great.

This is what the Olympics are all about; her coach, Liang, born in China, comes home to win gold. Medals 8 and 9 for USA gymnastics, nicely done. Shawn cracks me up, is just waving like crazy to everyone, and beaming, beaming, beaming.

Ah, the medal ceremony. Tim says when you're up there, you think about all the incredibly difficult times, when it would've been okay to give up but you didn't. Even though the Chinese women's team took team gold, no question the U.S. women stole the hearts of the crowd here. Shawn had 3 silvers coming in, what a great ending. Nastia picks up her 5th medal, one more than her dad Al says.

This may be the best moment of the games so far, it's great watching her, makes everyone else smile too. She's totally somber during the anthem, what a great girl. Smile creeps out toward the end, then her big grin.

Now, live, with Johnson and her coach and Bela Karolyi in the studio with Bob Costas. She's wearing peace earings, says she wasn't feeling great, a bit sick. Liang is very confident, they obviously are close. They're all got hilarious footwear on, she's in flip flops; he's got sneakers, Karolyi has ugly shoes. U.S. got more medals than China on women's side, Bela says it proves we're the best. He's so excited about gymnastics.

Costas talks to Liang about the international aspect of it all. They've been together for 10 years; Costas asks how have the Chinese reacted, he says they're proud of his success, and the fact he has this kind of quality gymnast. Costas asks her about watching her parents, she says it makes her feel good, it meant the world to her. Costas asks her about 2012, in a very poised way she says one day at a time.

Men's high bar closes things out here, that Fabian guy from Germany first, a bit of a mistake on his first release, Tim says a bad outcome for him, just messing up. Nails the landing, though. Fabian's visibly upset, 15.875, a bad score for this event. Dutch guy next, Epke Zonderland, Tim says this is where it starts getting radical. Tries to do three releases in a row, slips and falls down on the third but the crowd gives him a hand anyway, recognizing the difficulty. Whoah, and he nails the landing. Nice effort from this guy. A 15.00.

Zou Kai, couple of golds here already. Doesn't look like he's playing it safe, going for some hard releases; a slight step back on his landing, but a great routine. Let the crowd give you this score, says Al; 16.2, to a big roar. Hmm, Hiroyuki Tomita, Japan's been a huge disappointment here. Nice start; high releases, easy and smooth; oh, and he stumbles to a knee on the landing. Otherwise a good routine. 15.225.

Jonathan Horton, who has a real shot at a medal if he just keeps it clean. Looks very determined. He has got to calm down, says Tim, don't get too amped up. Huge releases, does three in a row; man, he's gonna medal, if he can just stay clean! Awesome--and he nails the dismount with just a small wobble, a medal for sure says Tim! His mom is crying up in the stand; come on, silver! And he gets a 16.175, people seem to be booing, others are cheering. Tim says if he didn't move his feet on the landing, it'd be gold.

Two more gymnasts to go. One must not be a factor, if Tim is saying gold for sure. Yann Cuchert, a Frenchie; Tim says Horton's routine was phenomenal, he's just .025 out of gold. Sheesh. Same start value for the Frenchman, he's rocking through the early part, making it look easy--oh, and then he slips and falls! So bronze at least for Horton, who's grinning over on the side. Botches the landing, too, finishes last. Last guy, Italian, won this event in Athens, spitting on his palms. Igor Cassini, seen-it-all, done-it-all veteran says Al. Wow, from the get-go he just looks much better than everyone else; faster, higher, nicer lines--he's the gold medalist for sure, a total pro here; oooh, they messes up an element, Tim says huge deductions, Jonathan Horton you have a silver medal. Wow. Hop on the landing too, no way will that beat Horton says Tim.

Well, let's see. Jonathan is all smiles on the sideline, and he gets the silver! That is awesome, nobody expected this, he gets congrats all around.

Medal count at the end of the night, Costas fillibusters by talking about how much fun the U.S. gymnast are; China's got 43 gold, 26 to U.S.; 79 overall for U.S., 76 for China. U.S. had 44 gold at our home Olympics in Atlanta.

Gymnastics, and track and field

2008-08-18T21:30:00.013-04:00

May-Treanor/Walsh versus the Brazilians, Talita/Renata in the semis to face the Chinese; there have been some amazing points in this match. Americans took the first set pretty easily, second one has been nip and tuck; now they're pulling away, 16-12. Now match point, 20-12; the've just taken it to another level. 20-13, 20-14, Brazil serves into the net, and 21-14. 107th match win in a row for them.

Trampoline gymnastics, never really watched much of this. Weird watching them bouncing so much to gain height; the Russian after two Canadians, she's clearly better. Slight screwup at the end, I think, one foot on the trampoline, other on the blue border. Whoah--insane score, she's fourth! Tim says maybe cause she didn't finish with control.

He Wenna, the overwhelming favorite. Man, she gets insanely high; all her jumps are right in the middle, the twists and turns are clearly better. Yeah, no contest here, another gold for China.

Now still rings for men. Odd, Tim Daggett seems to have changed his announcing style; he's not as fun to listen too, like he's trying to be more combative or something. Just doesn't flow, somehow, anymore. Nothing great so far, now Chen Yibing on the rings, this is his event; teammate Yang Wei is in first at the moment. Man, great routine, and he sticks the landing.

Likely gold #5 for the Chinese men gymnasts; wow, 16.6. Italian goes, it's perfunctory--hmm, 16.2, in sixth.

Now to track and field, where NBC has yet to have the chance to show an American winning gold; they should fire the entire U.S. Track and Field federation, that's just ridiculous after 4 days. Women's 400M hurdles semis. The women really slow down before each hurdle, they're so much more deliberate then the men who almost run through. American way out front, wins. Second heat, U.S. champ in it, along with the other favorite, who's Jamaican and another American; the Jamaican blows everyone away, she's gonna win this final.

Odd cut to women's pole vaulting, no buffer. Russian just crushes everyone on her first jump; her teammate nails her first one too. American's only been jumping for four years, was watching this on TV in Athens. Hmm, not great endorsement for the U.S. team.

Weird, just like that it's the American against one of the Russians--they've shown just these three. The editing is really bad, they're like wearing totally different outfits from one cut to another.

Back, they just abandon the women's pole vault to show the men's 400M hurdles finals; no explanation. U.S. always wins this event, I know what happened so it's slightly less fun. Three Americans, including one nicknamed 'Batman'. 10 hurdels; man, they are just attacking these. Americans doing well, running 1-2-3, and they sweep! Angelo Taylor wins easily, had won in Sydney. Not as much excitement as you'd think from the announcers; Batman struggles to get third. Hmm, Taylor's a nice guy, humble and sincere; Kerron Clement silver and Bershawn Johnson bronze are too, this is one of the best, most respectful interview I've seen at these games. I really like all three.

Back to gymnastics, uneven bars final with Nastia Liukin. They show her mom, who is too nervous usually to watch. Al brings up age issue again, Tim says this was the showdown he's most looking forward to. Elegance vs. firecracker. Chinese gymnast up first, two big releases right off the top, she's looking very good. Nice landing; should be a good score. 16.725, great score.

Now Nastia. She's rocking through this; a few blips, Tim says--but a great dismount. She doesn't look thrilled, just satisfied. Tim talks himself into saying she's gonna still come out on top. Hilarious watching her mom watch, she's so into it, moving with her daughter. 16.725, they're tied; she's ranked second though. Liukin is just realizing that they're tied, a few seconds after everyone else; wants to know why she's second. Tim, who I do believe has been told to be more something, says he doesn't think it's right, she should be first. Next gymnast basically comes down off the bars; a few more non-factor gymnasts.

Now the second Chinese gymnast; nice routine by her. Funny, the first Chinese gymnast lifts up the second, as if she's acknowleging she's the champ--but her score falls short. A Brit next, she's not bad--pure power, fun moves. Obvious mistakes at the end though, Al says it's like she was in a hurry. 16.625, in fourth. Russian last, she won the world title last year in this event. Tim starts complaining about the judges, you've got a panel of no-name countries since you can't have a judge from your own country on the panel. Russian looks okay, not great.

Tim says the Australian judge scored Nastia too low, the Chinese gymnast too high. Chinese team taking a photo; nice run for them here. Nastia is tearing up. Marta Karolyi is trying to cheer her up. Hmm, but at the end when they explain the tiebreaker, the Australian judge's score favors Nastia! Bela is now railing against the entire system in the studio with Bob, saying it's too complicated. He's just fillibustering; nothing to do with the actual results.

NBC is getting a bit weird here, just because an American loses, they're attacking the entire system; wanna bet if Nastia had won they'd be defending it? The rules are the rules, you know what they are coming in; now Tim says Nastia did better, she should've won. That's a better argument, although I'm not sure I see it.

It's really very poor sportsmanship on the part of NBC; Al even asks if the Chinese gymnast really thinks she won gold. Well, 4 of the 6 judges ranked her higher, so it's hardly her own personal delusion.

This kind of mindless jingoism, of burying your head in the sand is exactly what Obama is fighting against from McCain. We're a great country, but we have some very real problems--we're never going to solve them, nor beat China in gymnastics, if we refuse to face up to them squarely and instead just wildly wave the flag.

Men's vault finals now; two vaults, best average score wins. God, now the commentators are talking in the past tense, Frenchman up first. Then Pole, and he's tied by another Frenchie. Whooo, let's see if they spend as much time yelling about this. Romanian last, whoah, a clearly superior vault! High, fast, and stuck. 16.8 on his first vault. Sheesh, they give it away, he fails on the second--and he does fall. Hey, he's a competitor, he goes for it; doesn't wanna be given it, wants to win it. And the Pole Leszek Blanik wins; pulls out a photo of his baby and kisses it, it's so cute.

And now back to the women's pole vault; sheesh. Jenn Stuczynski; misses her height, and the Russian wins gold again. And that's it--Yelena Isinbayeva goes for an Olympic Record--and makes it! Jenn criticizes her, all on mike; it's actually pretty harsh, kindof crazy to show all that. He just rips on her, and a horrible tone; wow, very bizarre. She's almost left in tears. And now Yelena sets a new world record, as the crowd roars! The greatest women's pole vaulter ever. I think Jenn needs to get a new coach; they don't even ask her about that afterwards.

Then they run a very weird segment, about how everyone's been staying up late to watch the Olympics. It's just fluff, and stupid actually. And everyone they talk to except one is white. Not funny at all; just self-congratulatory.

Chris Collinsworth, top five moments so far. Jeez, what's gonna be number one? Opening ceremony; USA vs. China in basketball; Men's 100M butterfly, Michael Phelps' fingernail; Nastia Lukins' gold; and the men's 4x100M relay.

It's really been a slow night; not sure how the rest of the week is gonna go either. 39 golds for China, 22 for U.S.; we have 72 medals overall, 67 for China.

NBC looks at the U.S. baseball and softball teams, and the U.S/China baseball game's ugly antics, before finishing with the medal ceremony for discus champ Stephanie Brown Trafton.

Medley of sports at the Olympics

2008-08-16T22:31:00.005-04:00

Great Saturday programming from the Olympics--basketball, cycling, badminton, and now rowing. American wins a silver! First since 1988 in this event for an American, won by a Bulgarian. Michelle Guerette; a great race, she was hanging back, towards the end just made a run for the front.

In badminton it was China vs. China for the women's gold, the Athens winner won again. Cycling the American got waxed, one of the strong British team won. As for basketball--USA beat down Spain by nearly 40, totally sending a message as the prelim round winds down.

Now the men's single sculls; Tufte of Norway, who won in Athens, is a farmer, who stages his own wacky Olympics on his farm. It's funny, the assistant coaches cycle alongside to yell stuff out, like a sport within a sport. Kiwi in their all black is in the lead as we near the last part. I'm rooting for the farmer. Tufte kicking it into gear, it's getting exciting; camera angles sometimes make it hard to see who's in front; Tufte in front now, and he wins, with Czechs in second and New Zealand in third.

Now it's the evening session; 10 pm EST, end of the women's marathon, a Romanian wins, followed by a Kenyan who was able to outkick a Chinese runner. Wall of sound greets them coming into the stadium.

Now, back to the pool--Michael Phelps going for #8, Kobe, LeBron, and Tony Blair. Women's 50M freestyle first, Dara Torres in this, that Libby Trickett woman too; and another Aussie, Cate Campbell, who's 25 years than Torres at 16. Also Kara Lynn Joyce of the U.S. Go Dara!

Torres coach is watching from his hospital bed in Bethesda, Maryland. Man.... It's all about the pressure, says Rowdy, she can handle it, can the others. Good start for her; and she's in front already! I think she can do it--oh, and the German just beats her out by 1/100th! Wow! Torres was leading until the very end, she sets a new American record though. Wow, silver medal at the age of 41. Rowdy says Steffen gets a better start, thought she had it.

Next, Men's 1500M freestyle. Grant Hackett trying to become the first male swimmer to win 3 golds in the same event over 3 games. Larsen Jensen the only American, won silver in Athens. 30 lengths of the pool. This is the super bowl of sports in Australia, Dan says; everyone's up watching this. Hackett is out front, the American's in lane 1, just staying with the pack.

About 6 minutes, in, the pace is a bit slow says Rowdy. Hackett still in the lead. He's apparently paranoid about his health, avoids touching hand rails, travels with a humidifier, avoids crowds. Funny, he's apparently been sick before his races in all three olympics. But he hasn't lost this race in 11 years!

Nearing the end, this Hackett guy is quite a warrior. Hmm, lane 6 person far bheind; but Hackett behind Oussama Mellouli, who's a body length in front. 5 lengths to go. The American is out of it. Rowdy says Hackett's got to make his move now, Mellouli's got good closing speed too. Hmm.... 3 lenghts left, that lead is building; Hackett looks a bit like he's fading; two lengths of the pool left--now Hackett has closed the gap a bit. Wow, he's turned it on, has closed the gap to half a body length back. Man, he's catching up; may run out of pool to catch the Tunisian--and he wins! Cochrane from Canada in third. Wow, where did this guy come from?! Tunisian.... Jensen in 5th. Wikipedia tells us he trains out of USC. His coach looks like she's got some Asian in her; what an interesting story here.

Hmm, they show the medal ceremony for the women's 50M, they have some time to kill--nice seeing Dara Torres up there. She's gotta go swim the women's relay right after this, like in 7 minutes! Wow. Starts crying; stay focused on the race ahead, says Rowdy. Brita Steffen seems nice, humble; one of those high-achieving German women. She puts her flowers down, hands behind her back for the German anthem. Then off Torres goes to swim the relay; very poised, walks like an athlete. "I have to go" she says to one of the attendees, takes off her medal, off she goes.

11 career medals for Torres in five games, hopefully she gets a gold here. Aussies are heavily favored, says Dan. Aussies set the WR last year. Whoah, hug warmup suit for one of the Americans, it's actually pretty funny--and Torres comes out last, still putting on her gear. She's always talking, announcers says. Aussies pumping each other up, singing some song together, doing some dancing. Sweden, Russia, U.S., Aussies, Great Britain, China, Japan, and Canada.

Backstroke first, Rowdy says Aussies need to stay close to U.S. here. Hmmm, Coughlin out front for U.S.; full body-length, good lead says Rowdy; but now Aussie coming back, and on breastroke it's basically neck and neck, a lot of countries bunched up now; U.S. gaining but Russians in front as they come back; Soni a bit behind Aussie, they're 1-2 now; Jones increasing the lead a bit. Butterfly, U.S. vs. Aussie, they're increasing the lead though. It'll come down to Torres vs. Trickett again. U.S. like a body length behind; U.S. coming back a bit near the end, half body length only.

Now Torres in the pool, she's about half off Trickett, she's making up some ground; Here they come down the stretch, I think Aussies are going to win; here comes Torres, she's making up time, but no room.... Silver for U.S., new WR time; China gets the bronze. Ah, Torres made it close, but it wasn't to be, she gets three silver medals here. Six medals for Coughlin in the games.

Jones' leg was the key, 1:04 flat says Rowdy. No official results yet, a false start or something? This is a long time says Rowdy; and Swedes get DQed. U.S. team says they did well, Aussies just had us today.

Well... now it's the men's 4x100M medley relay.