Friday, August 05, 2016

The Olympics Begin

Last night Ceil was watching the NBC Olympics preview. Bob Costas and Ryan Seacrest. Nothing is must see viewing for me, though I’ll watch some. Not a huge fan of Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt, though Bolt is exciting to watch. Kerri Walsh Jennings is going for yet another gold medal after winning in London while pregnant. The gymnasts are getting the hype, but I’m not sure if they’ll medal.
 
The security chief thought the athletes and venues would be safe from terrorism, but admitted the places terrorists have been most recently attacking – nightclubs, etc. – would be impossible to keep secure. Seems like an attack is almost a certainty. Traffic is supposed to be like Los Angeles. The water is lethal, then there’s the zinka virus.
 
Jokes: Opening ceremony to be a three hour tribute to Brazilian basketball legend Oscar Schmidt. A joke, but he’ll probably be highlighted tonight. An archer will shoot a flaming arrow to light the Olympic caldron – but a celebrity will first catch the arrow in midair, then blow the fire to light the caldron. The caldron will the stationed under a huge water tower, to boil the water to make it clean.
 
At 9 pm the local NBC affiliate had an hour long special on the 20th anniversary of the Atlanta Olympics. Host Jeff Hullinger did his usual jam-up job, and has weathered the years better than co-host Brenda Wood. Centennial Park is the greatest legacy, permanently shifting the focus of downtown from the downtrodden Underground and inspiring billions of dollars in new development: new hotels, restaurants, the college football HOF, aquarium, Coke Museum, children’s museum, etc.
 
After 20 years it’s become clear Atlanta was given a bum rap by the international press because so many thought Athens should’ve been awarded the centennial Olympics. When asked about Juan Antonio Samarach’s closing ceremony snub, both Andrew Young and Billy Payne had long known the Olympic leader could have never returned to his home in Barcelona had he proclaimed another Olympics to be superior to the one in his own hometown.       
 
Teixeira is retiring today. ARod is 4 homers away from 700 and the Yankees aren’t playing him. Seems like they don’t want him to get it. Trade him to the Braves just so he’ll draw fans going for 700. ARod would probably fit better on an AL team so he could DH, Is the guy played 3B for the Yankees playing that well? I know you want to play the rookies to see how they’ll do, but we’re talking about a legend here.
 
REID: Chase Headley is their 3B. 10 HR, 30 RBI.  Pretty modest figures.
 
Ichiro is still on the cusp of 3000 hits, only two short. Wonder if he will retire after this year.
 
Mike Piazza made the HOF. I need to compare his career to the greatest catcher in history, Yogi Berra. Perhaps I’ll also compare them to Ivan Rodriquez, who is not yet in the hall. All are catchers, but perhaps I’ll compare Dale Murphy’s stats to Piazza and Rodriquez, who played years after Murphy. I’ll add Chipper as well – he’s a lock for the HOF.
 
ROB: It will be interesting to see if the Braves can sign Martin Prado this off season.  It sounds like Wren was not a fan of him, but Coppy and Hart are.  Rio Ruiz has had a bounce back year in Gwinnett, but he is still slugging .370 with a 25%+ K rate - those sound too much like Chris Johnson-type numbers.  Although he has played well later, Adonis Garcia is still proving to be a below average hitter.
 
Thought I heard a few Prado rumors in July. I did see Omar Infante play at Gwinnett a few weeks ago. Thinking about attending the last home game.
 
Haley Hurt graduated from Auburn and must’ve worked a summer internship in Savannah. Now she’s taken a job in California, so she’ll probably start visiting Disneyland since she’s such a fan.
 
Busy Thursday. Like Wednesday I worked to almost 8 pm. Plenty I could delegate if everyone else wasn’t slammed. Lots of things aren’t that hard, but they’re only done once or twice a month, and with so many people coming and going it’s hard to keep people trained on those once a month tasks.
 
C cooked spaghetti.

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