Hillary Clinton lights up John McCain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.