Sat Aug 2/Sun Aug 3: Last Weekend To Plan - Surviving the Olympic Viewing Marathon

With only six days left until the Opening Ceremonies, we continue to make plans for our Olympic coverage. At the same time, NOW Sports has some tips to enhance your viewing experience.


Yesterday, we focused our discussion on when to stay awake and when to take naps during the Olympic Games. Today, we'll talk about some more strategies, activities and even food suggestions to make viewing the Beijing Olympics almost as awesome as watching the Super Bowl.


As we mentioned yesterday, the live Olympic coverage will occur in the United States at night and in the morning hours. Sleeping habits will have to change if viewers wish to catch the action live. Fans who are looking to pull off Olympic all-nighters should plan ahead on what events they plan to watch, how they'll keep themselves awake and more importantly, what food to eat.


Most people won't watch everything (though I will) and when NBC was planning their broadcast schedule, they had on their minds (besides money) the intent to give viewers as many choices as possible. Thus NBC is planning to give us 3600 hours of coverage available on television and online. NBC is also providing access to the games on your mobile phone and downloads of Olympic broadcasts will be available to those who own Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate.


So the trouble for most people will be deciding what to watch. It's easy for those who just want to watch the marquee events of track and field, gymnastics and swimming. All viewers will have to do is just watch the primetime shows. Swimming and most of gymnastics will be aired live, as well as the beach volleyball gold medal games and the men's and women's marathons. But track and field fans will be disappointed with having to wait approximately 12 hours after the event has completed in Beijing to watch their favorite athletes compete. But what NBC is hoping for is that viewers will keep watching the Olympics after the United States dominates the pool live in primetime during the first week of the Games.


But outside of the marquee events that will be saved for primetime, there are tons of options for sports fans and most of those options will involve using the internet. With 2200 of the 3600 hours to be streamed online, fans of lesser-known sports like archery, badminton and table tennis, will enjoy watching those competitions online while the cable networks of NBC air the other 1400 hours of planned coverage, most of which will involve team sports like basketball, volleyball and waterpolo and semi-popular sports like rowing, equestrian and tennis.


For a description of the planned television coverage, check out this press release from NBC.
And for the latest TV listings, click here to link to the NBC Olympics website and also come back to this blog here at NOW Sports for the latest TV listings during the Olympics.


So when you figure out what to watch and when, you'll need to figure out how, and maybe even where you'll be watching the Olympics. Most sports bars will be tuned into the Olympics, especially since the networks of NBC are airing over 200 hours of coverage per day. Watching at home and hosting Olympic parties may be the best option since you can control what you want to watch and have your computer complement the coverage.


Sometimes it's nice to be doing something besides just watching the Olympics. For me, I'll be blogging to help keep me up through the wee morning hours. Completing your work or projects or maybe even cleaning the house while watching the games can help you through the less exciting sports (like race walking or equestrian). It's also nice to learn about the countries and athletes that are competing. The most fun activity to complement viewing the games is actually playing sports. Play volleyball or basketball on your backyard or driveway after or before watching the event. If your the sports-oriented kind of family, having an Olympic games yourself can be fun too.


But the Olympic Games themselves are the main focus and you can't do that (or anything really) without food. For viewing the Olympics, you mainly want finger food or something easy to snack on. Just think of it as a really long Super Bowl party with much more variety of food. Chinese food would obviously be a good choice to go with the theme of these games. Especially during the Opening Ceremonies when China's rich history and culture will be glorified, spring rolls and lo mein noodles would be great dishes to satisfy our Olympic-sized hunger.


This is also your chance to experiment (or order) food from different cultures. For example, you can try out Brazilian barbeque when they play beach volleyball matches or Korean food when South Korea takes the field in archery. Break out the Jamaican jerk chicken during the track and field relays or order some pizza before Italy goes on the pitch for their football (soccer) games. Planning out which events to watch and when can also help out plan what to eat while viewing the Games.


But don't forget that team USA will be featured every day of the games on NBC. So what better way to cheer them on than by making all-American food. Have a barbeque, make some burgers and ribs and get the buffalo wings out because the Olympics is the top sporting event and sports wouldn't be the same without the classic pub food.


NOW Sports will be helping you out by providing recipes of the day. Starting on Thursday, August 7, NOW Sports will be providing some of my favorite recipes to make, cook or even order while watching your favorite events. So remember to check that out too during the majority of the Olympics (remember I leave for college on Thursday, August 21).


So the important thing that I want you to take away from this post is to plan out your experience and watch the Olympics the way you want too. Don't be the guy or gal who ran out of beer, food or sleep by the time we get to the second week of the games, because you'll have to live with that mistake for four years.

Tomorrow we'll get back to sports news and previewing the games as it continues to inch closer to the Opening Ceremonies.

Thurs July 24: ULTIMATE OLYMPIC PREVIEW CONTINUED

This was obviously supposed to be for yesterday, but it's being released today. We're continuing the Ultimate Olympic Preview as we look at the Women's Gymnastics Competition and the Track and Field Competition.

GYMNASTICS PREVIEW (Continued)
Women:
The American women have a better chance of winning gold in Beijing than the men do. Both Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, the first two women named to the team after the Olympic trials, are current world champions after winning the team event in Stuttgart last year. Johnson is also the current individual all-around champion and floor exercise world champion. Nastia Liukin is the current balance beam world champion and won silver in the balance beam in the last two world championships. Together, they are the strongest members of the American team and are two of the best in the world.

The rest of the American team exhibits a lot of talent as well. Chelsie Memmel is a former world champion who won gold in Melbourne at the 2005 world championships. She suffered shoulder injury in 2006 and started to make a comeback in 2007. Along with Memmel, Samantha Peszek, who has strong beam and floor routines, Alicia Sacramone and Bridget Sloan will join Liukin and Johnson in Beijing. The United States finished second to Romania at the 2004 Olympics.

While the Americans are favored, their task to win gold will certainly not be easy. Their biggest threat are the Chinese, who lost to the United States by five one-hundredths of a point in last year's team event at Stuttgtart. They won the team event back in the 2006 World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark and have had a huge rivalry with the American team for the past four years. With the Chinese competing at home, the crowd will be heavily favoring team China, including Cheng Fei, five-time world champion over the past three years.

Romanian gymnastics has somewhat declined over the past four years since winning team gold in Athens four years ago. But after winning the bronze medal in Stuttgart at last year's world championships, the Romanians are hoping for a comeback. However, they will be missing veteran gymnast Catalina Ponor, who retired from the sport after the world championships. Instead, Sandra Izbasa and Steliana Nistor, silver medalist in last year's individual all-around, will be the Romanian hopeful that will look to put Romania at the top of the gymnastics world.

But Romania will have to play underdog and put up with the United States, the favorites, and China, the host nation. Both the team and individual all-around competition will be the ones to watch in women's gymnastics competition in Beijing. And both competitions will be broadcast live in primetime on NBC.

TRACK AND FIELD PREVIEW
It's a sport where not one, but many nations can enjoy their moment in the spotlight. There is never a single country that dominates track and field. This is a sport that tests a variety of skills from running to jumping to throwing. For 10 days during the games, 47 gold medals will be awarded in the sport of athletics.

Men:
Of those 47 events, the most popular are the sprint events, namely the 100 meter dash. On the men's side, the race will come down to three athletes: American Tyson Gay and Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell. A current world champion in the 100 meters, Gay ran the fastest time in the event in any conditions, running a 9.68 race, wind-aided, in the final of the U.S. Olympic Trials. But Usain Bolt is the current official world record holder after running a 9.72 at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York last June. Bolt faced off with Asafa Powell, the veteran sprinter and bronze-medalist at last year's world championships, in an IAAF meet in Stockholm earlier this week.



Obviously, the 100 meter race in Beijing will come down to who will have a fast start and who can put the pressure on the other competitors. The men's 100 meter final will be run on Saturday night, August 16 (Saturday morning here in the United States) at 10:30PM Beijing Time.

But the one race that all of China will be looking forward to will be the 110 meter race where defending Olympic Champion Liu Xiang will try and defend his title. He has the entire nation's hopes on his shoulders and winning in Beijing is the only choice for this 25-year-old Chinese hurdler. He won China's first men's track and field gold medal in Athens and since then, has owned a world record and won a world championship in the event.

But he will have some tough opposition, among them current world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba. He broke Liu Xiang's world record at a IAAF Golden Spikes Meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic earlier this year with a time of 12.87 and has been consistently running those times since. At the last Golden League meet, he ran a 12.88 to win the 110 meter hurdles event in Paris.

Terrence Trammell is America's best hope to win the gold in Beijing. He won the silver medal twice in this event and is competing in what is most likely his last Olympic Games. He also won silver at the last world championships in Osaka last year.

But the focus will be on Liu Xiang, who has been the focus of Chinese sports for the past four years since winning Olympic gold. This feature from Sports Illustrated on the Chinese athlete really expresses why Liu Xiang MUST win this race. And the 110 meter hurdles will be held on Thursday night (Thursday morning here in the U.S.) on August 21, at 9:45PM.

While the 110 meter hurdles will be China's biggest attraction during the games, the other events should be highly entertaining as well. The American rivalry between reigning world and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner and up-and-coming star LeShawn Merritt, who may be peaking at the right time, will make the 400 meters race a must-see. That race will also be ran on Thursday night, just before the 110 meter hurdles.

Bernard Lagat will also likely make headlines when the 1500 meters and 5000 meter races are ran. He is the favorite in both and is representing the United States for the first time after representing his home nation of Kenya in the last Olympic Games, when he won silver. He is the current world champion in both events.

On the field, the pole vault and shot put events will be the ones to watch. Current world champion and American Brad Walker and Australian Steven Hooker are strong contenders to take medal spots in the pole vault. And there could be a huge clash of American shot put titans when Reese Hoffa takes on Adam Nelson for a shot at the gold medal. The shot put will be one of the first medals to be awarded in athletics.

Women:
The highlight of the women's program will be the sprint races where the rivalry between the Jamaican and American runners will reach its peak. Each nation will showcase very talented runners and each race should be well-matched. In the women's 100 meters, Jamaica will be leaning on Kerron Stewart while Torri Edwards, Muna Lee and Lauryn Williams will all be contenders for gold in the event for the United States.

What this rivalry will be missing is Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown, who did not qualify for the 100 meters after placing fourth in the Jamaican Olympic Trials. The defending world and Olympic champion in the 100 meters will, however, be competing in the 200 meters and 4x100m relay in Beijing. She will have to put up with American Allyson Felix, defending world champion and silver medalist from Athens, and her countrywoman Kerron Stewart, who is trying for the elusive sprint double, that is if she wins the 100 meters.

The Jamaican-USA rivalry will likely spill over into the 400 meters race, but both countries will have to deal with powerful runners from Great Britain. Sanya Richards from the United States and Jamaican runners Novlene Williams-Mills and Rosemarie Whyte will all be contenders for medals. But runners like Nicola Sanders, who won silver in Osaka last year, and Christine Ohuruogu, current world champion, may give Great Britain glory in this event, which would be a great boost for the country that will host the next Olympic games in four years time.

On the field, the most captivating matchup will be in the pole vault where American Jenn Stuczynski will matchup with world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva, who broke her own world record in a Golden League event in Rome earlier this year. The two athletes have gone one-two in numerous events, most notably this year's world indoor championships. Isinbayeva is the defending world and Olympic champion and it would be a tall order for Stuczyinski to overthrow her. The pole vault final will be held on the night of August 18.

CONCLUSION
So looking back at the three sports that will attract the most eyes during the 17-day competition, the United States is expected to dominate in swimming, have a good shot in gymnastics, and have some bright moments in track and field. China is looking forward to its brightest moment of all, when Liu Xiang takes on the rest of the world in his signature event, the 110 meter hurdles.

We'll continue previewing the games as we inch closer to the opening ceremonies. And during the Olympic Games, NOW Sports will tackle its toughest challenge of all: A LIVE 20-HOUR BLOG on each day throughout the ENTIRE Olympic Games (or until I leave for college, whichever comes first). We'll detail more on how NOW Sports expects to cover these Games of the XXIX Olympiad.

Wed July 23: Countdown to Beijing: THE ULTIMATE OLYMPIC PREVIEW

We are approximately two and a half weeks away from one of the most anticipated events of the decade--the Games of the XXIX Olympiad from Beijing, China. And to make up for lost time, here is my preview for the marquee events that most of us will be watching during the Games.

SWIMMING PREVIEW
The first week of the Olympic Games will be highlighted by gold medal action at the Water Cube, the National Aquatics Center, where the swimming events will take place. From the looks of things, the United States is likely to field one of the strongest and deepest swimming teams in Olympic history.

Men:
If the United States will dominate the pool, the most likely man to do so is Michael Phelps. Appearing in his third Olympic Games, Phelps will be looking to better his record in Athens four years ago, when he won six gold medals and two bronze medals. His strongest event will likely be the 200 meter butterfly, where he owns nine of the 10 fastest times ever. He will, however, face credible threats in the other seven events that he will be competing in.

The 200m freestyle was the most competitive event at the Athens Games where Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenbond won gold and silver respectively while Phelps grabbed the bronze. Thorpe has retired but veteran swimmer van den Hoogenbond, at 30 years old, is still one of the better freestyle swimmers competing in the world. Phelps edged van den Hoogenbond last year at the world championships in world record time but the Dutch swimmer remains a huge contender in Beijing.

If Phelps can't win gold in certain events, then the man most likely to do so is his teammate, Ryan Lochte. The two swimmers had a fierce rivalry at the Olympic trials but Phelps consistently came out on top. Lochte is a huge threat to Phelps in the individual medley races, including the 200m and 400m events.

And while Phelps is expected to take gold in the 200m butterfly, the 100m butterfly may be a bit more difficult for Phelps to dominate. Fellow American swimmer Ian Crocker has a good chance of stealing the gold from Phelps in this event. He came close to doing so last year at the World Championships when he lost to Phelps by five one-hundredths of a second.

Specialists like Brendan Hansen and Aaron Peirsol make the U.S. swimming team look unstoppable coming into the games. Hansen is likely to take gold in the 100 meter breaststroke but will have to fend off his Japanese rival, Kosuke Kitajima, who took gold in this event in Athens. Kitajima should have no problem taking the gold in the 200 meter breaststroke after Hansen failed to qualify for this event at the trials. Since Hansen will only have one shot at individual gold, the storyline surrounding his rivalry with Kitajima becomes that much more interesting.

Meantime, Peirsol is a huge favorite to take the backstroke events in Beijing. He won gold in world record time in the 100 meter backstroke at the world championships. But like Phelps, he may fall to his teammate Ryan Lochte in the 200 meter event after Lochte edged Peirsol for gold last year in Melbourne.

The incredible depth that the United States has makes them a sure favorite in the relay events, especially the medley relay. Australia, however, always remains a contender, especially with swimmers like Grant Hackett, who is still in great shape to take the middle and long distance frestyle events.

Women:
American women are likely to be successful as well with Natalie Coughlin and Katie Hoff leading the way. At the same time, the rivalry with Australia is more intense on the women's side than on the men's side.

Coughlin is unmatched in the 100 meter backstroke as the defending Olympic and world champion. Katie Hoff could match Phelps's success in Athens as she comes in as one of the youngest and strongest female swimmers in the world. An incredible all-arounder, Hoff is a contender in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events as well as the medley events.

Hoff does have a tough schedule ahead for her in Beijing as well as tough opponents that have good chances to take gold. One of her strongest opponents come from down under in Australia and include Stephanie Rice, who has traded world records with Hoff in the 400 meter individual medley this season.

Australia has huge chances to take gold in the breaststroke and butterfly events with Libby Trickett and Leisel Jones, both of whom gave the home crowd of Australia a thrill when the world championships were in Melbourne last year. Lisbeth Trickett (formerly Lisbeth Lenton before her marriage last year) took home gold in three individual events last year, including the 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle and the 100 meter butterfly. Leisel Jones owns the world record in the 100 meter breaststroke but may face opposition from American swimmer, Jessica Hardy, who has traded world record titles with Jones before.

The number of contenders from both Australia and the United States makes the women's relays the top event to watch in Beijing. Expect competitive swimming from both lanes of the pool, especially in the 4x100 meter medley and freestyle relays.

GYMNASTICS PREVIEW
Again, the United States are favorites in several events, including the team and individual all-around finals. But there are plenty of international contenders that can easily give the United States some difficulty in Beijing and have excellent chances of taking home the gold.

Men
The Chinese and the Japanese are likely to field very strong teams that could take home the top prizes in the team competition. The two teams won gold and silver respectively at last year's world championships in Stuttgart, Germany and have been consistently the top teams in the world. China's big driving force in the sport is Yang Wei, the two-time defending world champion in the men's individual all-around. He is known for getting high difficulty scores in his routines, combining complex elements with perfect execution in his performances. In last year's world championships, he put up a huge lead in the all-around going into the final rotation that despite a fall from the high bar, he still won the world championship. Yang Wei is also a contender in the pommel horse and rings competition.

Yang Wei will be likely matched by American gymnast and defending Olympic champion Paul Hamm, who made a spectacular comeback to win gold after falling from the dismount from his vault routine. Like at last year's world championship, Yang Wei had the lead coming into the final rotation but fell from his high bar routine and thus opening the door for Paul Hamm.

Hamm is hoping to lead the United States to success in Beijing after capturing the silver medal in the team event in Athens. Paul Hamm was named to the team despite being unable to compete at the Olympic Trials due to broken right hand. But he showed that he has recovered after putting up an excellent performance in front of a selection committee last Saturday at the U.S. Olympic training camp. Before breaking his hand, Paul Hamm showed that he is still a strong contender for gold in Beijing despite taking time off after the 2004 Olympics after winning the Tyson American Cup last March in New York.

Going to Beijing with him is his twin brother Morgan Hamm, named to the team despite testing positive for taking an anti-inflammatory drug during the U.S. National Championships. Joining the Hamm brothers is first time Olympian Jonathan Horton, who won the individual all-around at the Olympic Trials. Horton was part of the U.S. team that placed fourth in the world championships last year. He is the only member of that team that will be part of the Olympic team. Joe Hagerty, Justin Spring and Kevin Tan make up the rest of the men's U.S. Olympic gymnastics team.

But there are plenty of international stars that are likely to steal the show and the gold in Beijing. Diego Hypolito can bring historic gymnastics success to Brazil with a gold in the floor exercise. He is the current world champion and is the first male gymnast from South America to medal at the world championships. Veteran gymnast Marion Dragulescu from Romania is still a favorite for both the vault and floor exercise competition while Germnay's Fabian Hambuchen, current high bar world champion is a favorite in the event after leading the German team to a bronze medal in the team final and winning silver in the men's all-around.

The men's all-around will be the competition to watch with many superstars, veteran favorites and young hopefuls competing. The event could be the best of the men's program or even of the entire Olympic Games.

Women's preview still to come...

Tues July 22: Looking Back and Moving Forward

Hey readers. The blog had to take a backseat to my other priorities, like preparing for college, writing articles, buying a Wii Fit. You know, important things. But I'm back now so before we move on, let's just take a look back at what happened this weekend.

British Open, AVP Tour, WNBA at Arthur Ashe, Angels Sweep, ESPYs...

However way you look at it, it was a crazy weekend in sports, especially here in New York. The Yankees were back in action against the Oakland Athletics, the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour came to Coney Island and pro basketball history was made at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

• YANKEES: The Bronx Bombers are currently on a four-game winning streak after their sweep of the Oakland Athletics and their win last night against the Minnesota Twins. The Angels' sweep of the Boston Red Sox in Los Angeles helped to close the gap between the two teams. The Yankees are now 4.5 games behind the Sox, who are 1.5 games behind the AL East leaders Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Hunt for October is in full swing.


• AVP BROOKLYN OPEN: I've been to this event before and it's definitely exciting to watch pro beach volleyball players rock your local beach, especially when your local beach is Coney Island. Personally, I think the AVP is the most fan-friendly event of all the professional leagues out there. Where else can you be five feet away from the pros, get high fives from them and then watch them win the championship, all in a span of three days? If the AVP ever gets to your local beach, definitely check them out...Anyway, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh remained undefeated after they won their 17th title in a row in Brooklyn. They are sure favorites for the gold in Beijing.


• OUTDOOR WNBA BASKETBALL: So in my last post, I talked about the hype of pros playing outdoor basketball. Well, from what I saw on television, it didn't exactly live up to the hype. I thought it was cool but it doesn't help promote the league if there are lots of empty seats. Sure, there may have been over 19,000 attendees, but that doesn't look like a lot in a stadium that seats 23,000+. Maybe the WNBA should choose a more intimate arena next time...It would also help if the matchup was even, but from what I saw, the Liberty played very flat and the home crowd didn't have much to cheer for. So much for the experiment but I wonder if they'll do it again.


• BRITISH OPEN: The biggest event of the weekend happened across the pond. Greg Norman was going for history to be the oldest player to win a major. It was a great storyline that carried viewers through the weekend of morning golf, especially on Sunday morning. But in the end, it was Padraig Harrington, with two spectacular shots on the last two holes, that ended up with the claret jug, winning his second consecutive title. I guess golf without Tiger Woods can exist after all.


• ESPYs: I watched them, it was interesting, light-hearted, rather funny. It's kind of like a big celebrity party with a sports theme. Sure there were serious moments (like the Arthur Ashe Award presentation) and it was great looking back at a great year of sports, but I could never take the ESPYs as seriously as the Oscars or Grammys. Then again, I guess it was never meant to...Justin Timberlake wasn't bad as a host, his jokes weren't bad either. At least he could sing.
  
  
  
  Olympic Basketball Draw Set; Croatia and Greece Win Qualifiers
  It's the only tournament where the losers of the semifinals go on to the finals. Croatia and Greece won their respective semifinals in Athens at the Olympic Basketball Qualifying Tournament for Men, thus securing a place in the main draw. There was only one spot left, and that was open to the winner of the 3rd place game between Germany and Puerto Rico.
  
  
  Looking Ahead...
  This is the final week of the Tour de France and we'll put that into focus later this week. But our main priority for the rest of July and in the run-up to the Olympic Games will be previewing Beijing 2008. Tomorrow will be a super Olympic Preview as I make up for the time that we lost on Sunday and Monday. We'll take a look at the marquee events of Track and Field, gymnastics and swimming.
  
  Besides the Tour de France, we'll also look at some track and field warm-up meets in Europe, Superliga football, World League Finals in volleyball and much more in the world of sports.

Sports Pic of the Week:

You don't see outdoor basketball everyday, nor do you see the WNBA that often either.

We may have missed two days, but NOW Sports is back and in full force so keep reading all this week.

Sat July 12: The Threats to Team USA

There are 28 sports and 302 events. Over the next two weeks as we countdown to Beijing, we're going to preview as many events as we can, including all the big name events like track and field, swimming and gymnastics.


But first, let's look at the competition overall. The United States is expected to be at the top of the medal count by the end of the Olympics. But there are several nations that could give the U.S. a good run for its medals.



Predicting the Medal Table For The Olympics

The only real threat to the United States in terms of medal count is the host nation, China. After all, the benefit of being the host nation is that it gets to enter athletes in all the events. And in Athens four years ago, China showed that it was preparing its athletes very well for their moment this summer. The most outstanding and memorable performane by the Chinese was in the men's 110 meter hurdles where Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang won the gold medal in world record time (see video here). Since then, he has been training and running harder to prepare for this summer's meet where surely he looks to make his country proud in front of a sell-out home crowd.

The strongest sport than the Chinese will most likely dominate is in the diving events. At last year's national championships in Melbourne, the Chinese won 9 of the 10 available gold medals and won 14 medals in total.

And China will be a strong force in gymnastics too. The Chinese won multiple medals at last year's world championships in Stuttgart, including gold medals in the men's team final and men's individual all-around. In Beijing, viewers will want to especially look out for Yang Wei, multiple gold medalist and world champion as well as an integral member of the gold medal winning team in Sydney 2000 and at the past two world championships.

Other than China, there aren't that many nations that pose a credible threat to the United States in getting the top of the medal table. But if I had to pick a contender to place behind China and the United States in the medals table, Russia would be my pick. Why? Because the Russians are always determined to win. They always seem to have a contender in every sport, from gymnastics to swimming to wrestling. If you have seen past Olympics, the Russians always field a large team. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been in the top 3 of the medal standings. Don't count Russia out, they could give the United States several upsets and scares during the games.

Other than that, look out for the usual suspects in different sports. For swimming, look out for the Australians. In track and field, look out for the Jamaican sprinters and the African long-distance runners. The Germans may be heard more than once in the rowing and canoe/kayak events and the Koreans will be big in archery.

We'll talk more as we look at the individual events and sports in the next coming days and weeks as we get closer to the opening ceremony.

Other notes...
Former Yankees great and broadcaster Bobby Murcer dies at the age of 62.

Dwain Chambers Wins 100 meter Final at British trials

Wladimir Klitschko knocked out former sparring partner Tony Thompson in the 11th round to successfully defend his heavyweight titles Saturday.

Russian pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva broke her own world record while others failed to remain consistent at the Golden League Meet in Rome.

Brazil defeated Cuba in straight sets to capture World League title.

Thanks for reading, sorry this came out so late...

Fri July 11: Volleyball, Golden League and A Look Back at the Last Olympiad

World sports are interesting in that there is always something big happening in some sport somewhere around the world. Today and this weekend, two events headline the weekend in global sports: the final round of the FIVB World Grand Prix (women's volleyball) and the third stop in the IAAF Golden League series (track and field).

Brazil, China and United States Seek Gold At World Grand Prix Final
The World Grand Prix is a women's volleyball competition held annually by 12 teams from four continents: Europe, Asia, North and South America. Its purpose is to promote the sport of volleyball though the competition seems to only be popular in the East Asian region since the World Grand Prix is mainly sponsored by Asian companies and many of the preliminary rounds are held in Asia.

The World Grand Prix is the female equivalent of the popular men's World League competition. This year's final round is being held in Yokohama, Japan and six nations will compete for this year's title in a round-robin format: United States, Brazil, Cuba, Italy, China and Japan. Through this morning, teams have played three games already and Brazil and Cuba stand as the lone teams undefeated. The United States, suffered a straight set loss to Brazil and a five-set loss to Cuba this morning. On day 2, the United States were able to defeat Japan over five sets and thus the U.S. stands at 1-2.

Through 1PM EDT, July 11:
Brazil 3-0
Cuba 3-0
United States 1-2
Italy 1-2
Japan 1-2
China 0-3

The United States will face Italy and China in its final two games. Meanwhile the matchup of this final round will be held tomorrow between Brazil and Cuba, the two undefeated teams. This will be a rematch of last year's Pan-American games final when Cuba defeated Brazil in a five-set thriller.

This final round of games in the World Grand Prix will also be used as an evaluator tool to determine the final rosters for the Olympic Games. All six teams competing in Yokohama have qualified for the Olympics.

For more info on the FIVB Grand Prix final round, visit these links:
http://www.fivb.org/EN/volleyball/competitions/WorldGrandPrix/2008/General/Overview.asp
http://volleyball.teamusa.org/

Five Athletes Still Up for Grand Prize at IAAF Golden League
The Golden League is an annual series of meets where the world's top athletes compete professionally for a share of the $1 million jackpot. An athlete must win their respective event in all six meets. It's an top-level competition that attracts pro athletes and many spectators each year. And with the Beijing Olympics less than a month away, this is a huge warm-up meet for the athletes competing today in Rome. With the U.S. Olympic trials over, this will be the first test for the American athletes as they will compete with athletes from other nations for the first time since the Olympic team was made.

Today's meet in Rome is the third meet of the six-meet Golden League series. Five athletes are still in contention to win a share of the jackpot, including American Bershawn Jackson competing in the 400m Hurdles. Jeremy Wariner, Sanya Richards and Alison Felix are also competing in today's meet. Wariner will continue his rivalry with LeShawn Merritt while Richards and Felix will be competing in their first international meet since the Olympic trials.

For more on today's Golden League meet, visit:
http://www.iaaf.org/gle08/index.html

And watch today's meet on ESPN Classic starting at 3PM Eastern with replays on Saturday at 7AM on ESPN Classic and Sunday at 12 Midnight on ESPN2.

Countdown to Beijing: Look Back at The Past Olympiad
Yesterday, we briefly looked back at the last Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. Today, we look back at the past four years in sport (Olympic Sports, that is, though we've had memorable Super Bowls in the past 4 years too).

From the top of my head, there have been many changes in the marquee sports of track and field, swimming and gymnastics. In track and field, the sport has been trying to clean itself up by placing stricter rules on doping. Marion Jones confessed to using banned substances as well and immediately retired from the sport, giving up gold medals she won in 2000 in Sydney.Justin Gatlin was forced out of the sport in 2006, currently serving a four-year ban, after being tested positive for a banned substance. He won world championship gold medals in 2005 in both the 100m and 200m while his rival, Asafa Powell, was out with an injury. Unfortunately, the rivalry between the two never matriculated as we never got to see the two face each other in a race. Meanwhile, both Powell and Gatlin took turns breaking world records.

Meanwhile, runners began to run faster and different athletes emerged to become the top athletes of the sport, including Tyson Gay, Allison Felix and Bernard Lagat. Meanwhile, veterans like Jeremy Wariner continued to remain strong in their respective events.

In gymnastics, Chelsie Memmel, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin emerged as the United States' best hope for medaling in the sport, winning world championships in the past three years. In swimming, Michael Phelps continued to dominate in world championships while world records continued to be broken by multiple athletes.

Overall, from the past four years, the United States has just been getting better and faster in their respective sports. But they haven't been the only one. Teams from China, Australia and Russia have been getting better in certain sports as well. Especially host nation China, who ranked second in the medal count in Athens.

There have been other bright spots in sports for the past four years. Italy won the World Cup while Brazil's women's football team captured the World Cup in China last year. Commonwealth nations like Canada, England and Australia shined at the Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne in 2006 while China dominated the Asian Games that same year.

We'll be taking a closer look at the past four years in each sport when we begin to preview the Olympic Games, sport-by-sport, beginning tomorrow with athletics.

Thanks very much for reading, hope you'll come back tomorrow.

Thurs July 10: MLB at Midseason and Countdown to Beijing Continues

This post will be relatively short with mostly some facts from my perspective and of course our continuing road to Beijing.

MLB Midseason Report
Before I continue, I'd like to warn readers that there's not going to be much detailed analysis here and the following comments are merely from my perspective (though I have inserted several links where the writers have a much better sense of what is going on in the MLB). Baseball is a tough sport to follow and requires a lot of committment which unfortunately I have no time for.

But I respect and love the game as much as the next guy so here are the biggest stories going on in MLB coming into the Midseason Break:

1. RED SOX AND DEVIL RAYS (NOT YANKEES)
I am a Yankee fan but they just haven't been doing their best this year. Yes, they have their moments in the spotlight but I think its safe to say that they could do better. The pitching has just been on and off though very recently the Yanks have been thrilling fans with their last at-bat wins. The Yanks may just end the first half of the season on the right note but they'll need to improve greatly to make the playoffs.

Meanwhile, how bout them Devil Rays? Quite a comeback story because I remember when I watched them play the Yanks, fans would come to watch the New York team rather than the Rays. They've got young players like 3B Evan Longoria and they have taken advantage of the mistakes made by their AL East rivals, particularly the Yankees. Though they may not have the best players, they have been consistent and that has gotten them the lead in the AL East.

But that lead has decreased and the Red Sox are looking to replace the Rys and take over the AL East. The defending World Series champions are experienced and have big hitters with averages above .300. They expect to win and are determined to do so. Also, they've got Boston behind them and with passionate fans like that, it can't hurt right?

2. The Chicago Cubs
Okay, I don't know much about the Cubs, I haven't seen them play that much this year (thanks to the great scheduling of games by Fox Sports), but I've heard much about them. Most recently their acquirement of Rich Harden from Oakland. First place in the NL Central division, it looks like this year is their best chance for a World Series title, if they stay consistent. It's possible that they could fall to the St. Louis Cardinals late in the year. After all, they are only 2nd in the division and Albert Pujols is still a consistent hitter. The Cubs also need to watch out for the Brewers, who are pinning their hopes on newly-aquired AL Cy Young Winner CC Sabathia.

Nevertheless, Go Cubs! Certainly a team to watch after the All-Star Break.

3. NL East and West Make For Competitive Baseball (Sort of)
By just looking at the standings, both the NL East and West are the most competitive divisions, sort of. The NL East has three teams vying for the top spot -- Philadelphia, Florida and New York. Of course the NL East is never that great so maybe the NL West can give us a little more of an interesting story. Arizona and Los Angeles are tied for first place, yet both teams are below .500.

Hmm...maybe there's a bigger story here about the National League. I'll leave it with this, the American League has won the last 11 All-Star games. Does that say anything about the National League?

Meanwhile, enjoy these links about the status of MLB at the All-Star break.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AvhsFIBelUthzOVEpU1e8uIRvLYF?slug=sh-midseasongrades070108&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/lee_jenkins/07/10/jenkins.nlwest/index.html?eref=T1
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/index

That last link from ESPN just has a lot of good baseball stuff to read and talk about.

Countdown to Beijing: Looking Back at the Last 4 Years (Part I)
Well sometimes before you look toward tomorrow, we have to look back at yesterday. Today we'll take a brief stroll through the past four years beginning with the last Olympic Games, Athens 2004.

During the Games of XXVIII Olympiad, the games returned home to the place of their birth. Competitions like archery, the marathon and the shot put took place at the historic Panathinaiko Stadium and the Ancient stadium of Olympia. Paul Hamm of the United States made an incredible comeback in the Men's All-Around competition after falling from his dismount in the vault event. Then his gold medal was engulfed in controversy after we found out that the judges made errors in the scoring. He kept the gold medal even though he was pressured by the FIG and the South Korean gymnastics team to give it up. Days later in the individual events, Paul Hamm was the unintended victim of a scoring controversy in the men's high bar event. Hamm did his routine amid boos from the crowd that reacted to the low score given to the previous competitor Alexi Nemov (see video here).

Regardless, Team USA had plenty of gold medal highlights. Carly Patterson took home the women's all-around gold medal. Michael Phelps won six gold medals and two bronzes in the pool, while breaking a few world records at the same time. Mariel Zagunis took home the first women's sabre fencing gold medal. And in track and field, Justin Gatlin won the men's 100 meters, Jeremy Wariner led a 1-2-3 finish at the 400 meter dash, while Shawn Crawford led an American sweep in the 200 meters.

The home team of Greece had highlights as well, Fani Halkia won the 400 meter hurdles, while Dimosthenis Tampakos won the rings competition in gymnastics.

There were probably hundreds of highlights that I haven't mentioned. Off the top of my head, I'll remember the first Israeli gold medal coming from the sport of sailing, the thrilling U.S. win in women's soccer, how Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won the gold medal in beach volleyball, the wins by Argentina in both football and basketball, Chile's wins in singles and doubles competition of men's tennis. The list goes on and on. But it was a great Olympic Games and will have memories that I will cherish always.

So four years later, what has changed? We'll talk about what has happened in the past Olympiad tomorrow in our continuing series of the Countdown to Beijing.

Other notes...
A rider from Luxemburg has taken over the yellow jersey in the Tour de France:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-CYC-Tour-de-France.html?ref=sports

And England has put up a great start in their Cricket series test with South Africa:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/7497128.stm.

Thanks for reading, I'll catch you tomorrow.

Wed July 9: NBC's Olympic Plan (FULL BROADCAST SCHDEULE!) and my thoughts on Le Tour so far...

Sorry this post is late, busy day in the life of a blogger...

anyway, today we continue with the countdown to Beijing series with a look at NBC's plan to broadcast the Olympics. But first, the tour de France has been going on for several days now, and since my job is to cover world sports, its only fair to give the world's biggest annual cycling event its share of attention.

Why the Tour just isn't buzzing this year (and why it should)...
Since Lance Armstrong left for retirement, the Tour just isn't the same. Especially for us here in the United States, there hasn't been a "Tiger Woods"-like character for us to turn to Versus every morning and pay attention to the tour. It's hard for us to really invest our time and interest to a number of international cyclists who we've never heard of. Granted there are 22 days of the race for us to get to know these cyclists, but I guess the question should be: why would I want to get to know them in the first place?

I'll answer that question later, meanwhile there are other reasons why the tour isn't receiving much attention. Doping scandals from the past two years have played a huge role. A year after Armstrong retired following the 2005 race, Floyd Landis looked like our next American star in cycling after his come from behind win in 2006. But Landis was found guilty for taking synthetic testosterone and though he plead his innocence, he was stripped of the title. This result had several impacts on the sport. Cycling fans and general sports fans like me came to distrust American cycling and found no reason to view the Tour as a fair event.

This point was further proved in 2007 when the Tour was marked by several doping controversies. Three cyclists and two teams left the race due to various doping scandals, including pre-race favorite Alexandre Vinokurov and his Astana team after Vinokurov was found guilty of blood doping. Michael Rasmussen, while still in the yellow jersey after winning Stage 16, was forced to leave the tour after he missed several blood tests and lied about his whereabouts during those scheduled blood tests.

The 2007 tour can be considered one of the lowest points of the history of the race. It led to many withdrawals by primary tour sponsors and certainly must have decreased the number of fans that were loyal to the sport.

But in my eyes, the Tour de France continues to be the one prize that most road cyclists strive for. Not even the World Championships or even the Olympic Games can compare to a Tour de France win. And it's this kind of pressure that may have caused many cyclists to turn to doping. But the international governing body of cycling, UCI, has made it its duty to enforce progress and remove doping from the tainted sport.

The Astana team that was heavily involved in last year's doping scandals have been barred from competing in this year's tour. Last year's green jersey winner, Tom Boonen, has also been barred from this year's race after failing a doping test earlier this year. Clearly there is some progress being made in making this year's tour a clean event. I have yet to hear of any immediate doping scandals concerning this year's Tour.

Which is why it is a good idea to give this year's tour a chance. Though what is normally one of the summer's biggest sporting events will be overshadowed by the upcoming Olympic Games, the Tour de France is the U.S.'s only chance to see the world's top cyclists perform on one of the most challenging stages in sports. And though the United States is not at the top of the cycling world like Lance Armstrong was several years ago, there are still plenty of young cyclists to admire. Several cyclists, including today's winner, Mark Cavendish of Britain, are relishing tour victories. Even the French have had their day in the sun after winning both Stage 3 and the yellow jersey on the same day.

It's something that I appreciate about the Tour, that individual riders can have their shining moments while trying to capture the overall title. The tour always has its share of stories as it rides around through the streets and mountains of France. And given that the Tour has its worst doping scandals behind them, its a sporting event that we need to start trusting again to give us what us sports fans love, great and fair competition.

"WHAT UP?! Media": NBC's Plan For the Olympics
Lot's of people are getting excited for the planned 3600 hours of Olympic coverage on the multiple networks and platforms of NBC Universal. The following article will tell you what all the hype is about:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/newscenter/news/newsid=148556.html#nbcs+complete+olympics

And all of what NBC said in that article is true and surely a positive for all Olympic fans across the country. But beware, it turns out that NBC's Olympic plan can be too good to be true. This are the flaws that I have heard from other blogs and articles:

• Sure, NBCOlympics.com will stream 2200 hours of coverage. But none of that live coverage will be of the marquee events like gymnastics and track and field. In an AP Report from last week, the Web will still be taking a backseat to TV.
• No other website or news organization (or blog including this one) is allowed to post videos of events prior to their broadcast on NBC. Actually, we can't post videos from the games at all.
  
• NBCOlympics.com will not stream any events that are scheduled to air on TV. So for us hoping to watch the Men's 100 meter final, we'll have to wait until it airs on NBC 12 hours after the event is completed.
  

So what's the impact of these restrictions? Viewers and internet users (and bloggers like me) may be flocking to illegal P2P video sharing sites to see other broadcasters feeds. (I won't mention where, you'll have to find it yourself). NBC needs to understand that the Web should be working with TV, not behind TV especially concerning top notch events. But consider the progress they've made from Sydney 2000 when they just had a couple of articles and pictures on the NBCOlympics website. I think this year's coverage of the Olympics is a big step up from then and certainly expected.

Many of the world's broadcasters are streaming big events on websites (look at BBC Sport). NBC looked like it was headed in this direction after it streamed the Men's Ice Hockey game live from the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006. I think we'll take what NBC is giving us now rather than taking less from them. Also, consider this: American broadcasters never pay attention to the marquee sports of the Olympics during non-Olympic years, so we can't expect them to broadcast it live (though they should). But they won't, because NBC paid wayyy tooo much money for these Olympics and they aren't going to gamble with advertisers by broadcasting marquee sports live in the morning (but they should, especially because the Today Show is doing so well in the ratings).

Overall, I'm happy with the coverage NBC is offering. I'm a crazy sports fan so if there's Olympic coverage every hour of the day, I'm down for it. And look at it this way, if you're a big Olympics freak like me, they'll be something on TV about the Olympics 24 hours a day that you'll forget to check who won that Men's 100 meter race by the time it airs on NBC.

As a special bonus to the readers, HERE IS THE ENTIRE NBC UNIVERSAL OLYMPIC SCHEDULE embedded below:


NBC Olympics broadcast schedule - Free Legal Forms

Thanks so much for reading! I hope I have informed and enlightened you with the opinion and information that I have given you. Come back tomorrow and we'll discuss some baseball and maybe even cricket (maybe...)

Tues July 8: Countdown To Beijing and One Week Until All-Star Game

The Olympic trials are over here in the United States and over the next four weeks, the eyes of the world will slowly shift to Beijing. In exactly one month from now, the Chinese capital city of Beijing will host the world's best sporting event, the Olympic Games. So everyday until the opening ceremonies begin at 8:08PM local time on 8/8/08, NOW Sports Daily will preview every aspect of the games as possible, from the elusive matchups in each sport, to introducing you to several unknown sports like BMX racing, to how to watch the Olympics here in the United States.

Countdown to Beijing: 30 Days Left
With less than 31 days left until the Games begin, what better way to start the countdown than introducing you to the host city of Beijing, China.

The International Olympic Committee elected Beijing to host the Games of the XXIX Olympiad on July 13, 2001, beating four other cities in the bid to host the games: Osaka, Paris, Toronto and Istanbul. For the past seven years, China has been rapidly preparing for these games, which should serve as a "coming-out" party for a nation that has made great economic progress and prosperity.

In the process, the Beijing Organizing Comittee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) has built 12 new venues, renovated 11 and built 8 temporary structures for a total of 37 venues that will host 302 events in 28 sports. Approximately 10,500 athletes from over 200 nations will take part in the competition.

Two venues that stand out the most are the Olympic Water Cube (Beijing National Aquatics Centre) and the Bird's Nest (Beijing National Stadium). The two venues will host aquatic and athletic events respectively. I can't really describe why they stand out better than these two pictures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bird%27s_Nest_stadium%2C_May_2008.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Beijing_National_Aquatics_Centre_1.jpg

I have never seen an exterior of a sports venue like those two, and they do truly make these Olympic Games unique, architecturally speaking.

Some basics regarding the games itself (just in case, I swear I'm not insulting your intelligence):

• Beijing 2008 will be held over a period of 17 days starting with the opening ceremonies on Friday, August 8 and will end with the closing ceremonies on Sunday, August 24.



• Competition will actually start two days before the opening ceremony on August 6, with preliminaries in the women's football (soccer) tournament.



• Some football games will be held in cities outside of Beijing and the equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong due to quarantine concerns. This will be the second time two separate nations will host Olympic events. The equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1956 while Melbourne, Australia hosted the rest of the Games.



• The modern Olympics began in Athens in 1896. The games during the VI, XII and XIII Olympiads have been cancelled three times to World Wars I and II.



• This will be the first Olympic Games to be broadcast entirely in high definition and expected to reach over 4 billion viewers around the world.



• The official slogan of the games is "One World, One Dream," the logo is entitled "Dancing Beijing" and there will be five mascots, each representing the five colors of the Olympic rings.

Those are just some basic facts that I throughout there. Each day leading up to the Games, I'll focus on one aspect of the upcoming Olympic Games. Tomorrow, for example, we'll look at NBC's coverage of the games as part of out "WHAT UP?! Media" weekly series.

All-Star Game Coming Up in One Week
New York City and Yankee Stadium will be hosting the baseball world next week with the 2008 All-Star Game. It's quite fitting since this is the last year in the history of the old Yankee Stadium before they move into the new Yankee Stadium. This is the first time since 1977 that the game will be held in New York.

The All-Star roster was announced last Sunday and taking a look at the starters, I don't see many surprises. Lots of Yankees and Red Sox players playing together, including Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, both playing in their 12th All-Star Game. I can say that with how well the Rays are doing, its a little disappointing to see a lack of Tampa Bay players, though I guess the public hasn't gotten to know them yet.

The National League is a little more mixed with the Cubs having several more players in the game than other NL teams. The topic of choice right now seems to be about the Final Vote, where there is one spot left for each team, and five players in contention to capture that final spot, including Jason Giambi who is using his mustache as a campaign slogan to capture the final vote.

We'll talk more about the game as it gets closer to the first pitch. Meanwhile, if you're in New York check out these upcoming events:

• DHL All-Star Fan Fest, starting from Friday, July 11 until Tuesday, July 15 at the Jacob Javitz Center
  


• Taco Bell All-Star Sunday including the XM All-Star Futures Game and the Taco Bell Celebrities and Legends Softball Game


• State Farm Home Run Derby on Monday July 14


• All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 15.

Go to this link for more on the 2008 All-Star Game:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2008/index.jsp


Other Notes:
Rumor has it that the NHL Winter Classic will be heading to the Midwest at legendary Wrigley Field where the Chicago Blackhawks will face the defending Stanley Cup champions Detroit Red Wings.
Check out the details:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/35684-nhl-news-report-2009-nhl-winter-classic-information-announced



Schumacher wins Time Trial Stage 4 of Le Tour de France

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/sports/sports-cycling-tour.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin



And finally, imagine having to play a playoff game only to find out that one of the players is ineligible to play. That was the case in Britain where the Cricket Twenty20 quarterfinal was postponed:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/counties/7492116.stm



And here is this week's PIC OF THE WEEK:


Felipe Trueba/European Pressphoto Agency
Rafael Nadal posing for photographers after his victory over Roger Federer in the men's final at Wimbledon on Sunday.


That's all for now, thanks for reading and come back tomorrow, we'll discuss NBC's Olympic Coverage and hopefully I can cram in something about the Tour de France.