Arsenal
Karen's Manmeat
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2008
- Messages
- 613
We just concluded a great one.
What was your favorite thing? What impression did you get going away from it? Do you think Rio can top it?
I'll start first.
My favorite thing was watching the American women dominate. They gathered in 39 gold medals (12 more than the men) and, had they been their own country, the THIRD MOST OVERALL behind China and Great Britain. They were so good that they accomplished this with a fair amount of disappointing finishes among the women (Volleyball team and Lolo Jones immediately comes to mind). If you are a woman, love a woman, or are raising a young woman, you need to take time to bask in what was an incredible two weeks.
The very best part of all the above was watching Gabby Douglas with my daughter and listening to her go "WOW!" over and over, then watching her go to her gymnastics class and actually try harder to work the balance beam at 22 months old.
The impression I got coming from the Olympics was the impact of Title 9 legislation which generally forced colleges to split the athletics money evenly. Seeing the ladies at the Olympics shows how much that has benefited women and, it can be argued, hurt men in non-revenue sports. While I think men's non-revenue is getting short shrift I am not here to lament them. I think that private monies can and should be found for them. But to the women, here is to Title 9 and, as I watch my baby eat breakfast, I cannot help but be glad it exists.
Rio CAN top it!! They already have ideas that will make it better such as text alerts for empty seat last calls to prevent the empty seats seen here in this Olympics. I also hope that they have the courage to make seating a free-for-all 20 minutes into a venue. That way the fashionably late will be fashionable competing for their own seats. I also hope that Rio does not tone down it own culture to conform to stodgy old conventions. Brazil is a a free, sexy, open society. I hope it does not stifle itself in an attempt to make happy the uptight among us. I look forward to two weeks of Carnivale.
What was your favorite thing? What impression did you get going away from it? Do you think Rio can top it?
I'll start first.
My favorite thing was watching the American women dominate. They gathered in 39 gold medals (12 more than the men) and, had they been their own country, the THIRD MOST OVERALL behind China and Great Britain. They were so good that they accomplished this with a fair amount of disappointing finishes among the women (Volleyball team and Lolo Jones immediately comes to mind). If you are a woman, love a woman, or are raising a young woman, you need to take time to bask in what was an incredible two weeks.
The very best part of all the above was watching Gabby Douglas with my daughter and listening to her go "WOW!" over and over, then watching her go to her gymnastics class and actually try harder to work the balance beam at 22 months old.
The impression I got coming from the Olympics was the impact of Title 9 legislation which generally forced colleges to split the athletics money evenly. Seeing the ladies at the Olympics shows how much that has benefited women and, it can be argued, hurt men in non-revenue sports. While I think men's non-revenue is getting short shrift I am not here to lament them. I think that private monies can and should be found for them. But to the women, here is to Title 9 and, as I watch my baby eat breakfast, I cannot help but be glad it exists.
Rio CAN top it!! They already have ideas that will make it better such as text alerts for empty seat last calls to prevent the empty seats seen here in this Olympics. I also hope that they have the courage to make seating a free-for-all 20 minutes into a venue. That way the fashionably late will be fashionable competing for their own seats. I also hope that Rio does not tone down it own culture to conform to stodgy old conventions. Brazil is a a free, sexy, open society. I hope it does not stifle itself in an attempt to make happy the uptight among us. I look forward to two weeks of Carnivale.
