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<\/a>Photo by Karen Salkin, as is the one at the top of this page.<\/p><\/div>\n
Just trying to see the recordings in order, and match them up with which came first and on what channel, (not to mention making sure that neither my DVR nor External Hard drive get totally full before I have time to delete what I don\u2019t want to save,) should be a new Olympics sport in itself! And I deserve the Gold Medal for it!<\/p>\n
So suffice it to say that I haven\u2019t had much time to take notes on it all. (I did manage to get a few tweets out, but not nearly enough. Remember, I\u2019m @MajorCelebrity on that platform, so you can still see them there.)<\/p>\n
I enjoyed all the proceedings, but some things really annoyed me, of course, so this article is mainly about those. (All the positive thoughts will be here later on in the week.) That means that you most likely haven\u2019t read any of what I have to see elsewhere.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The silly opening parade of athletes on boats down the Seine. In the pouring rain! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n
I honestly thought the long, drawn-out opening was idiotic. All I could think about while seeing all those athletes getting soaked in the rain, and for so many hours, was if they were going to get sick before their competitions!<\/p>\n
So I had high hopes for the Closing Ceremony, figuring it had<\/em> to be much better. But it was once again a disappointment. I expected soooo much more from the French.<\/p>\n And more from some of the American athletes, who were getting this opportunity of a lifetime, as well. Why did those NBA and WNBA players not go to the Closing Ceremony??? That was so rude of them! And<\/em> they did a disservice to themselves. Steph Curry kept getting choked-up about finally having an Olympics experience, and understanding what it means, even going so far to say it was the best experience of his career, and then he chose not to attend the big closing night. And that was even though they were all still in Paris, the men having won their gold medals the night before and the women that very morning! Disgraceful.<\/p>\n The setting for the Closing Ceremony. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Each sport opened their first day of competition with a person walking out and hitting some sort of cane thing on the floor or ground three times. They wore whatever they felt like and didn\u2019t look special, so even though I wondered just who they were each time, when I saw the swim guy in his shorts and tee shirt, I assumed they were most likely contest winners, and let it go. But when an older man came out for track and field, and people cheered, and the man did a prolonged famous person wave, I changed my mind. Someone on any<\/em> of the broadcasts should have told us who these people are! Couldn\u2019t they have just put their names on the screen if they didn\u2019t want to take thirty seconds to explain it??? [Note: The commentators for the Women\u2019s Marathon finally did on the very last day. So good for them.]<\/p>\n They also never told us what was in those mystery boxes that they gave each medal winner instead of the usual flowers!!! I waited the entire sixteen days for someone, anyone, on TV to mention it, but finally had to look it up for myself. (And for you<\/em> guys.) [Note: Someone finally did on the last day, as well. And the answer is\u2014they are specially-designed posters of the Paris Olympics! And each one has a further detail to match each color medal.]<\/p>\n The poster in the medalists’ mystery boxes. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Someone needs to give gymnastics commentator Laurie Hernandez a dictionary! Or thesaurus. If there was a drinking game for every time she said \u201cquite\u201d or \u201chowever\u201d or \u201cmay I say\u201d or \u201cas well,\u201d or giggled, (even when delivering bad news,) we\u2019d all be drunk in a few minutes!<\/p>\n Laurie Hernandez on the right. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Also, on the lesser channels, (meaning the NBC affiliates rather than the main network channel itself,) they rarely let us know who the commentators were! That was just crazy; I sort-of recognized some of their voices, and wasted way too much time wondering just who they were or where I had heard them before. (And yes, I did<\/em> look up the list of Olympics commentators, but they listed only the main NBC peeps.) By the way, a channel or two had no<\/em> commentators, and that was mostly a pleasure. During some of the more tense performances, they all needed to shut the frig up and let us enjoy what we were witnessing for ourselves!<\/p>\n It was so rude of the NBA producers and directors to keep showing girls\u2019 crotches, especially close-up and sometimes in slow-mo! And occasionally a guy\u2019s junk, as well. (I took a few pix of what I\u2019m talking about to show you guys, but then I thought better of it because I\u2019d be perpetuating that rudeness! Not to mention potentially publishing porn<\/em>!)<\/p>\n The worst break-dancer ever, Australia’s RayGun.<\/p><\/div>\n The competition for the newly-included fake sport of \u201cBreaking,\u201d which is really break-dancing<\/em>, (but they wanted viewers to look upon it as a sport<\/em> rather than a form of dance<\/em>, and they also didn\u2019t want other dance disciplines to try to get into the Olympics, so they took out the second part of the name,) totally sucked! It was an insult to real<\/em> sports for it to be in the Olympics. Even the krump-dancing Mr. X said that after watching the beauty and athleticism of rhythmic gymnastics and artistic swimming, breaking seemed somewhat silly. (Or something to that effect.) I, of course, realize that the organizers did that to try to attract a younger audience. But the whole debacle was soooo bad, (and not just that brutal girl from Australia, RayGun, who is now the laughing stock of the internet,) that it\u2019s now out of the next Summer Games in LA. (More on her next week\u2014she may now even be on Australia\u2019s version of Dancing With The Stars<\/em>!)<\/p>\n Compare the above breakdancing with this amazing Rhythmic Gymnastics routine!<\/p><\/div>\n The female Canadian beach volleyball players are uber-obnoxious to use just their first names, as the Brazilians<\/em> have done for years.<\/p>\n And now let me finish-up with just a few of the ultra-annoying misspeaks of all the commentators, hosts, and analysts:<\/p>\n I beg everyone, (mainly the American athletes in this case,) to stop being low-class by saying \u201cme and him,\u201d instead of the correct \u201che and I.\u201d People\u2014the rule is: always put yourself last<\/em>!!! It\u2019s the same with a person\u2019s name or who they are to you, such as \u201cmy cousin and I.\u201d And then use \u201che\u201d or \u201chim,\u201d (or \u201cshe\u201d or \u201cher,\u201d) depending on which it would have been if you took yourself out of the equation. Obviously, these people either weren\u2019t taught the right grammar in school, or had illiterate teachers or family members who passed their lack of intelligence down to their children. Come on now\u2014do better!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>