We've been watching... some of the action. Part of that is the coverage. We'd love, for example, to see all the gymnastics. But NBC gives us most of the American athletes and a highlight or two from other countries' top athletes. Boo Hiss! I can only hope they do better coverage in other countries, or we again get relegated to Ugly Americans.
One particularly sensational bit of coverage we missed completely. It's sensational for all the wrong, and some of the right reasons. We missed it for one of the worst reasons: DISH kicked us out for most of the day. Paul has his bill paid automatically by taking it out of his bank account, just like I do for many of mine. Some unknown factor intervened and kicked him out of that payment plan so we had to wait until he got home from work to fix it. So no morning news, no Stephanie Miller, no afternoon Jeopardy, just old programs we'd already set timers on but hadn't gotten around to watching and deleting. Right now I'm waiting on the system to catch up to itself and list program information (aka guide) so the timers can record tonight's lineup of everything.
As far as the sensational coverage, I'm referring to Simone Biles withdrawing from the Olympics. Having the best woman gymnast of all time step back was truly a shock. She'd been working on newer, harder stuff, and showed how much more powerful she was than everybody else, to the point of working herself right off the mats. True, not the best way to support her team, by overpowering the facilities and accumulating deductions. But that's what makes her stepping down happen for one of the best reasons - to support her fellow teammates and giving them the chance to truly shine without her. In my book, she's even more worthy of the label greatest of all time.
There have been new events that we've watched, mostly me more than Steve, because they are totally new to us and it has been interesting to see how the competitions are laid out and how they are scored. Skateboarding is one of them. With all the falls involved, I wonder how they can continue to compete without getting serious injuries. Or am I just too old? After all, the top two finishers are only 13, one setting the record for youngest gold medalist in 85 years. (Let's note that's still longer than I've been on the planet. Closer all the time but....)
I watched a canoeing slalom competition for a bit, and while not a new event, it was new to me. I'm looking forward to surfing coming up. Paul cued me into rock climbing next month. I skip through on fast forward all the beach volleyball events, not only because I find it boring, but because I deplore the requirement for the women to wear bikinis when other attire can be just as comfortable if not more and not affect the results. Should we put men athletes in thongs? I'd rather see skill than what else bounces besides the volleyball. Further, I'm not too old to have forgotten how itchy sand is when trapped inside tight clothing while you're moving.
Covid of course is affecting the games, restricting audiences and disqualifying athletes.The numbers of positive tests are increasing just like the numbers of cases around the world are. Japan isn't happy about having us all there now, worrying about their own people in what must be a superspreader event, despite the best reasonable efforts to slow the spread. For whatever reason, vaccinations have been fairly sparse there up to now, when it's all but too late.
Scientists have come up with some new information, published in JAMA, from their research, on the effects of covid on the human body, as well as of the vaccines. Remember those blood clots wreaking havoc all over? We know about brain fog, resulting in something resembling alzheimer's, lungs and many other organs being damaged long term, even an increase in needed amputations. We've heard about reservoirs of the virus remaining behind in various parts of the body even after one has "recovered" from it. And we've also, ironically, heard the lies spread about alleged complications from the vaccines, including infertility and erectile disfunction.
Well, guess what? It's not the vaccinations which have those effects. It's the virus itself in men leaving that legacy!!! And autopsies show that the testes do store a viral load in men who have died after - not necessarily from - having covid.
Ya suppose that would change anybody's mind about getting vaccinated?
Yeah, me neither.
So let's all go back to rooting for our favorites at the Olympics. And dig out those masks again. And for those like me, maybe think about getting a booster now that the jabs are closing in on their 6 month anniversary, remembering our co-morbities in conjunction with our weakened immune systems due to age.
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