So, What Did I Miss?

So, what did I miss?...What did I miss?...Virginia, my home sweet, home, I want to give you a kiss.

Name the musical.

Yesterday was Divisionals.  For those of you unfamiliar with the details of summer swimming (at least in Northern Virginia, Divisionals is the big meet at the end of the summer (ignore all stars for now).  Divisionals is a long meet, usually on a hot day.  At the end of Divisionals everyone, swimmers, coaches, parents, and volunteers, wants to go home, sit in air conditioning and do nothing for the rest of the day.  Unfortunately, for most of those people, the day does not end with the end of the meet.  Most teams also have their end of the season banquet on the same day.

Yesterday morning I worked at Divisionals.  Then I watched the Women's soccer game against New Zealand.  Then i had to purchase a few things for the banquet.  Then i had to help set up for the banquet.  then I had to run the banquet.  then I had to watch paper plate awards.  Then i had to lock the closet after the banquet.  Then I got to watch Chase Kalicz win the 400 IM.

When I finally got home, settled onto the couch and started to prepare to watch Chase win the 400 IM, my mind kept singing, "So what did I miss?"  It turns out quite a bit.  And at the same time, almost nothing.

Friday morning was the Opening Ceremonies.  Then...nothing for most of the day.  I can't say for certain, but I believe the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing in 2008 and PyeongChang in 2018 were only shown on tape delay in prime time.  So those of us in the US got to watch the Opening Ceremonies, go to bed, and wake up to a full schedule of events that had already finished and were happening live, right in front of us.  It was even better than having the Olympics in our own time zone, because if a cat woke you up at 6 am, there was something to watch.

This year, I watched the Opening Ceremonies and then all of Japan was asleep.  Nothing happened on Friday.  I was all hyped up with nothing to do.  Then I went to bed and had a summer swim filled day when all the action was happening.  To make matters worse, I failed to follow The 2021 Guidelines for Watching the Olympics.  I didn't have a plan.  My priorities are not in line.  And I AM COMPLETELY DEHYDRATED!!  I am completely unprepared.  I came into this whole experience arrogant with no justification.  I've done this before.  I've done it great!  I can do it again.  It will all come back.

WRONG!!!...Wrong.  Wrong.  Wrong!

I am not ready for this.  I have no idea what time it is where I am sitting, much less in Tokyo.  What's live?  What's not?  Is this the heats?  The finals?  Am I watching the same kayak competition for the third time?  I have no idea.

As I said on Friday, this is the second of three straight Olympics in Asia and I still can't figure this out.  No offense to the Winter Games, you know I love them, but you can get by with the Winter Games.  You can't in the summer.  There is too much going on.  This is a 5 sided Rubik's Cube like puzzle that not only requires planning (which I hadn't done), priorities (which are completely out of line), and hydration (which is severely lacking), but also humility, which is in dangerously short supply in my house right now.  I needed to be humbled, and as the cat woke me up at 5:45 this morning, I decided that I needed to shake off yesterday, get my priorities in check, make a plan, hydrate, and get on this Tokyo 2021 thing.  Humility served.  Humility accepted.

That said, imagine my surprise and glee last night when I learned hat the US had won exactly zero medals.  There must be something wrong for me to be happy that the US had won exactly zero medals.  But as I said, I missed a lot, and I missed almost nothing.  As I prepared to watch the first swimming final, the Men's 400 IM, I caught up on a few things.  Then I watched the US swim team start the Olympics with a gold-silver in the 400 IM.  Over the next 4 hours, the US won four more swimming medals and vaulted into second in the medal count.

Consider me inspired.  Consider me ready.  Lesson learned.  Stay focused.  Stay humble.  And when you get knocked down, get on your couch, turn on the TV, get the computer in your lap, and watch a lot of Olympic competition.

Reflections on What Has Happened (Focus for this will be on US sports and medals, but we will touch on other stuff as time permits) -

1.  South Korea seems to be really good at archery. Apparently they came in with a plan to win five of five gold medals in archery.  And they are now two for two.  Perhaps that humility thing is overrated.

2.  US Women's 3x3 basketball team looks good through the first few games.

3.  US Women's Beach Volleyball Team of Alix and April (Klineman/Ross) looks really good.

4.  US Women's Water Polo Team looks even better.

5.  Love the Cycling Road races ending on a race car track.

6.  HISTORY - Lee Kiefer becomes the first American to win a gold medal in singles foil (fencing) and her reaction upon winning the gold medal match was an example of what makes the Olympics so much fun to watch.  Anastasija Zolotic becomes the first American woman to win a gold medal in taekwondo and her reaction upon winning the gold medal match was an example of what makes the Olympics so much fun to watch.

What to Watch for:

1.  Two greatest ever get started on their 2021 journey - Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky.

2.  Women's Skateboarding - more on skateboarding from me, soon.

3.  Watch rowing while you can.  Apparently a typhoon is on its way to Japan.

4.  Triathlon, live in prime time tonight.

5.  How much of a disaster will the men's Basketball team be?

6.  Surfing.  In the Olympics.  I'm not sure what to make of this.

Predictions:

1.  As much as many people want to somehow turn Ariarne Titmus into the favorite in the Women's 400 Free, don't buy it.  Ledecky has something special in store and you are going to see the best ever show again how great she is tonight.  Gold for Ledecky.

2.  Adam Peaty gold in 100 Breast (that's easy).  US is shut out of the medals.

3.  Tori Huske - silver in 100 fly.

4.  The US Men will be lead by an incredible lead off from Caeleb Dressel and win gold in the 4x100 Free Relay.

Predictions Recap (no written record of this but I verbally announced them last night):

1.  Chase Kalisz Gold in 400 IM - Correct - but I missed Litherland with Silver.

2.  Emma Weyant Gold in 400 IM (yes, I predicted a gold/gold 400 IM yesterday) - wrong - but a very impressive Silver for the 19 year old.

3.  US Women Silver in 4x100 relay - wrong - so close, but Bronze for the women.