Olympics!! (hand pump in air!!)

So far, since Friday ~I (heart) DVR~ I've been staying up late every night watching the events for the day and sometimes from the evening before. I've even been totally lazy on my days off, just sitting and watching and fast-forwarding TV and munching popcorn and chocolate chips. Love it!!

AND, I have enjoyed my Olympic watching so much that I've involved the children...well, I've tried too anyway. Pretty much the only thing that will hold their attention is figure skating...and it's pushing it with the short program, so the long program is out. They're off doing whatever else before the skater has finished their second combination!

Regardless, watching the Pairs Skating last weekend with their short programs, of course I'm going to be behind the USA guys! However, I always have a soft spot for underdogs, too. Since the judges took any chance away from the US couples ~even though none of the US couples had any falls yet somehow received lower scores, whatever~ I was all for Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao from China (the couple who have been together for 18 years and were married last summer) to get the gold! Good for them! Love a good story!!

Then, there is the Canadian Men's skater, 19 year old kid who has so much pressure on his shoulders, did a great job but according to the commentators, has a lot still to develop. Bless his heart :) and I loved watching him skate to the Phantom of the Opera!

But it wouldn't be fun unless it came down to Russia vs USA. Apparently the scoring system has changed ~ not that I knew much about it before ~ but I guess falls still take points away. Dang. Unless you're on a pairs team, in that case an "almost-fall" takes away more points than the actual "fall" but I digress. Anyway, Plushenko from Russia had a quad jump planned in both his short and long programs. And he did it, in both, but from my untrained eye the landings were wobbly and not as clean as others or even as clean as his triple jumps ~ and apparently my untrained eye can't figure out how falling can equal more points, but we're moving on. But, yes, to his credit, he landed a quadruple jump. What did Lysacek have? A whole bunch of other jumps and fancy footwork! I could have done with out the feathers, but hey! Even with a wingspan rivaling Michael Phelps, he was the most graceful grown man on ice I've seen in a long time! So, the Russian feels the gold was stolen from him, but read this article and you'll totally agree with how and why Lysacek has every reason to cherish that gold medal! Good for him.

It's been a fun week and I can't wait for the weekend again!! Men's Hockey on Sunday, Canada vs USA!!! And I don't even like hockey, but I'll watch this! Also, I totally cried when Lindsey Vonn made it down the mountain ~ ALIVE ~ and won the gold. What an amazing feeling that must have been. And that's what I love about the Olympics: even if our country is out of the race, there is always another story, another person's personal trial to overcome adversity and struggle to the top. And we can all celebrate that! Speaking of celebrating, how about celebrating that two Koreans trip over each other right before the finish line leaving space for you to slide into the Silver medal?? Now that's a nice day, Apollo :)

House Divided

D grew up in Utah County, playing football in high school, even having some high school team mates play for the Y. He routinely went to BYU football games, cheering and everything. Can you imagine? Naturally, his loyalties were blue.

I grew up watching sports. Our Family Nights centered around the sport of the season. Our Sunday evenings were spent watching football or basketball as a family. Well, since my parents controlled the TV then, we really had no choice, so I succumbed to the intensities that are had in close games, overtimes and Super Bowl commercials, even cheering for the Broncos and John Elway, year after super-bowl loosing year.

I learned to love the sport. Of course I had my favorite teams, or at least my favorite players, but because we were watching football and basketball so often, I would just pick a team for that game and cheer for them (unless it was Chicago Bulls or Dallas Cowboys, I have to draw the line somewhere), usually the underdog. My sister would pick her team based on the teams colors. To each their own.

So, my family's ties were all up in University of Utah growing up. Mind you, I had NO problems cheering for BYU when they were playing anyone else. BYU football had some amazing years while I was younger. I still remember the few times they played Notre Dame. Wow, that was fun! I enjoyed cheering for them because they were from Utah! Even now, they have had some great seasons these last few years, and good for them!

However, my loyalty stands with Utah, even though I married a Utah County boy, even though I am Mormon (who said religion dictates your sports' teams affiliation?). But why can't I cheer for more than one team?

I understand loving a particular team, but why does there have to be so much hate against others, even when they aren't playing against each other that particular day? Now, rivalry game days are different. People have their sides, but the hate should stay out of it.

For the love of all that's football, just enjoy the game!!

Mack, if you're reading this (which you should), I'd love to read your ideas about it all!

Also, why is the Y bigger than the U in that flag???????

2009 Emmy What???

I relatively do not enjoy watching award shows, except for the Oscars. But, even then, I'll just flip to it occasionally while I'm watching something else more worth my time, like Good Eats or House Hunters or the History Channel for Pete's sake :)

Last night was no different; the 2009 Emmy's were on but we were watching a super great football game!! The Giants totally upset the Cowboys in Dallas (sorry, all my family and friends that live in Texas). Well, not totally upset but Romo's mouth needs some soap, that's for darn sure. The Giants were ahead almost the whole game. Dallas fought back in the last quarter to be up by one, then NY fired down the field in 3 or 4 plays into field goal range and made a field goal -- not once but twice, because RIGHT before the snap Dallas called a time out -- with NO TIME left!! Awwwwe---sooome! Then I watched House Hunters, then went to bed.

So, this morning I'm getting the recap of the Emmy winners this morning. The following is a short synopsis of my thoughts:
Never heard of that show
Never heard of that show
Who's that?
Why does Alec Baldwin always win? Give it a REST already! I don't watch 30 Rock anyway, maybe he is funny, but funnier that Steve Carell? Come ON!
Gray What?
Mad Men?
House of Saddam? Really?
John Stewart, okay, yeah he's hilarious, but there is actually a vote for a variety show?? Does that mean HeeHaw gets to come back?
Little Dorrit?? What the h...?
There was actually a vote for Guest Actors...they are really scraping bottom, but Justin Timberlake can have my vote anytime :)

But what was really confusing, the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony won TWO awards...

Whatever. I hate stroking egos and ratings anyway.

I'll stick with my Good Eats and House Hunters, TYVM (thank you very much)

Go Broncos!! :)