The Square Life

Can you believe how much Canada has stepped it up? They now have 13 medals! Good for them. As I write this the U.S. and China are tied in the medal count at 79. Of course, the medal count scoreboard really should read U.S. Athletes: 79; Chinese Government: 79. In case you missed my last entry, I am not exactly impressed with China’s large gold medal count, because those successes are merely the result of a corrupted system. There was a well-written article by Doug Robinson from the Deseret News published yesterday which echoes a lot of my thoughts. You should check it out here: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700251931,00.html.

Anyway, aside from my admittedly bitter feelings towards Chinese athletics, these have been an awesome Olympic games thus far. Of course, my opinion will change substantially if our men’s basketball team doesn’t bring home the gold. I watched their game this morning against Australia, and am confident as we head into the semifinals on Friday. I was nervous in the first half as our shots weren’t falling and the Aussies were sticking with us. In fact, they were trying to bully us with hard fouls and trash-talking. However, it seems inevitable that at least once during any game featuring these players, the Americans are going to have a huge scoring streak. They had a couple such streaks today, and easily overpowered Australia in the second half after starting the third quarter with a 14-0 run. I have been extremely impressed with how calm and collected our players have been. The Aussies seemed determined to agitate the Americans all game, but they never could get us to bite.

Even after we were already up 30, some Australian player (who needs not be named since we’ll never hear from him again) made a three and-one on Dwayne Wade. In the process the cameras caught him calling Wade a particular word that rhymes with “witch.” Then, a couple other Aussies got in Wade’s face, each with their own kind words to add. I expected a strong response or retaliation from the U.S. men, but nothing happened. Our guys simply brushed off the pesky Australians like they were annoying little gnats. Yes, this small example showed maturity, but it also showed just how focused and mentally tough we are. And that is a very good sign heading into the medal rounds. Mental toughness and focus is what the past teams who lost lacked. If I were Wade, I would've countered the Aussies by calling them something that rhymes with "rumheads," personally, but that's why I'm not on the team. Well, that's one of the reasons. The other is rebounding.

Moving on to gymnastics. How about Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson? Watching Nastia win the gold in the all-aound was one of my Olympic viewing highlights. For some reason gymnastics gets me as emotionally charged as almost any other sport. You would’ve thought I was watching a NFL playoff game, by looking at me during the women's gymnastics. I was yelling at the judges and calling the foreigners names, all the while hanging on the edge of my seat and trying to keep my wife awake to enjoy it with me. I think I’ve completely ruined her sleeping habits. I always forget how much I love gymnastics, only to be reminded every four years at the Olympics. However, I should admit that I don’t think I’ll ever warm up to men’s gymnastics. There’s just something about it that I just can’t . . . oh, let’s just move on.

Every Olympics through 2000 I always had a huge crush on the American women’s gymnasts. By 2004, I was a little too old to get crushes on teenaged girls, so I started looking at the girls like little sisters. Just four short years later, I now look at them like daughters. What a difference eight years makes. On a related note, my wife and I found out this week that we will be having a girl at the end of this year. I figure she’ll be ready to compete for the U.S. by the 2024 Olympics. My wife told me yesterday that I have a gymnast’s body, and even though I think she was trying to kindly tell me I’m squatty looking, I am taking it to mean that our daughter will be an Olympic gymnast. So, that should be fun. I think we’ll name her Nastia Shawn Mary Lou Moceanu Strug Kearl. That has a nice ring to it. I hope people don’t call her Nasty Nastia . . . hmmm. . . . On second thought, I think we’ll go with something a little less flashy, like Sophie Lyn Kearl. How does that sound?

Well, I don’t have too much else to say today. I will try to say something about both the semifinal and final men’s basketball matches. Assuming of course the U.S. win. Otherwise, in order to reserve some dignity, and to keep my wife from leaving me, don’t expect me to share my thoughts. I’m kidding. Not really.