Olympics!

Fish Update: Last night I found one lone fry swimming around in the top. I guess I could live with one more fish, assuming he manages to make it to adulthood. Of course there's no guarantee I don't have more somewhere in the tank (they really are tiny) but at least the dozens I had last week are gone.

Sports: I really like watching the Olympics. As time goes on, I become more interested in watching sports, in general. If done well, it is real-life drama. I realize a lot of the 'drama' aspect relies on the network/sportscasters, but it can actually be gripping. A particularly good match never fails to capture my complete attention even when I have no emotional connection to either team.

Nothing made the reliance on the network presentation of games more clear to me than the coverage of the women's discus that was on primetime NBC last night. In the finals, each woman had six or so rounds to throw the discus. There were probably somewhere between 6-12 women competing.
I was shown three women throw a discuss five times all together, to somehow represent the 30-70 discus throws for the gold-medal round. One of the throws was shown a second time. There was zero drama, zero anticipation, just a narration of "Here is the representative from America throwing in Round 1. 210 feet, that's not bad. Okay, now in Round 3 the Russian contender's shot goes for 206, short of her standard. Oh look! Round 6, and this is the final throw of the competition. If [Smith] can get this one she's getting the gold. Annnnd, she has it!"

Thanks, NBC.
That is not how sports should be covered. I know there's already a lot of controversy about what sports 'deserve' to be shown in the prime-time coverage, but I feel that if you're going to bother giving these women a slot in the 9 o'clock hour, you might as well give them more than two minutes clearly intended to give a breather for the audience between men's sprinting qualifying rounds.

However, best thing about the Olympics: Volleyball.
I'm not sure that volleyball is ever shown on TV otherwise, and I love watching it. I prefer the beach volleyball, it feels faster paced and requires a different kind (not more, and not less) of teamwork than the indoor six-person teams. And I think it's funny, but volleyball is one of those sports I think is better when women play it, which is hard to find---again---on primetime sports coverage. Men's volleyball is great to watch too, don't get me wrong, but there's a different dynamic when the women pairs play.

I've been enjoying the American Football preseason (that's NFL), too; but rugby??? where is rugby? I miss it.