We Got Hope. We were there! Workers' Stadium, Beijing: USA women win gold in "football"

Are you ready for some great football news?

The USA women's football team -- in western PA its called soccer -- beat Brazil in the gold medal game at The Workers Stadium here in Beijing. And we were there and have lost our voices to prove it.

The day was filled with rain, breaks in rain and tears of joy for a few different teams around town.

We were hoping for gold in the softball -- but Japan beat the USA team, 3-1. Last night we saw Japan tag Australia for the bronze medal game. The victor, Japan, got to play the favorite, USA, for the gold. Oh well.

The other big game on the schedule today was in women's water polo. USA played The Netherlands. The Dutch won by one point.

Today's early hours were filled with heavy rain. Without tickets to the open water swim, and with the rain -- we blew it off. We had the alarm set for 5:45 AM. Got up then and checked the puddles and punted. Back to bed. We knew we'd be up late for the soccer game later.

Very little was on the television too.

We got a swim in ourselves (Erik and I). And we watched the women's volleyball team beat Cuba. We also saw the USA women win the beach volleyball. The women's hard-court spikers advance to the gold medal game against Brazil.

Grant and Catherine played some park badminton and we at the last of the leftover Pekin Duck for lunch.

Then the boys and I headed out on the bikes to the double-header football games. It was a 90-minute bike ride. We locked up the bikes on the street between the Worker's Stadium and Worker's Gymnasium. These facilities look to be a bit older, but nice. I'm not even sure what is played at the Worker's Gymnasium. But there was a lot of activity on the streets around the venues.

The first game of soccer tonight was for the bronze medal and it featured Japan vs. Germany. To the end of the game, Germany scored twice. Then there was a 1-hour break and the gold medal game at 9 pm.

The game was hard. Great for the USA -- our goalkeeper, Hope Solo. She was not going to let anything past here.

The game ended in a tie -- 0-0. Then the game has two 15 minute periods. The USA squad scored in the first session and turned back a number of good opportunities including plenty of corner kicks.

The audience was mostly locals -- some from each of the four teams. But there were 51,000 in the stadium -- with few empty seats. Some, but not many.

Outside, tickets were being sold at face value and below. That's a good sign for going to the men's gold medal game or perhaps to soccer.

We got our helmets off the bikes and headed to McDonals. It was packed and we didn't get anything. Ran to the subway at 12:30 pm and was told this would be the last train. We needed three to get home and were worried about a transfer and getting stuck without the bikes. It took two cab rides to get home.

In the AM, we'll need to get back to pick up our bikes.

Good night.

Yet to come at Olympics

A big day is slated for USA Women's Softball. The team has a leg up with rest as the team from Japan had to get past Australia in a long game tonight.

But we'll be pulling extra hard for the women's USA Water Polo team in its gold medal match.

But we'll be in the stands for the USA vs. Brazil women's gold medal football game -- if all goes well with the ticket delivery. They're be playing football -- also known as soccer to a small percentage of people in the world.

U.S. softball beats Japan in extra innings 4-1, into final - 2008 Olympics - SI.com

We were there.

U.S. softball beats Japan in extra innings 4-1, into final - 2008 Olympics - SI.com: "After losing in the morning to the U.S., Japan beat Australia 4-3 in 12 innings to secure a spot in the gold medal match. The Aussies were left with the bronze.

The pitcher from AUS is Tonya Harding. She is a UCLA grad. I helped to lead a cheer in right field for her. U-C-L-A, U.C.L.A., UCLA - go Tonya!

On the way home we peeked into the baseball venue and the score was still 0-0 late in the game.

The basketball venue, like the Water Cube, changes colors.

In the morning, we are up early to get to the 10-K open water swim for the men.

In today's women's 10K it was a Russian and then two Brits. The Brits have been impressive in the swimming events.

Beijing has the first ever 10-K open water swim races in Olympics. Well, if you don't count when the regular swimming was in the open water. These will be the longest races.

I predict that the USA guy swimmer will be on the podium in the 10K swim.

Examples of pulling rank play out at the Olympics

Examples of pulling rank play out at the Olympics 'The Olympics are a great festival of human beings seeking rank, and that's OK,' he said. 'We all seek high rank, and we rather enjoy watching other people seek gold medals, and we applaud the victor and feel sorry for the loser.'

Problems arise when rank holders abuse their power.

No kidding.

Cyclists observed wearing USOC-issued masks upon arrival

Cyclists observed wearing USOC-issued masks upon arrival 'They should have
taken more responsibility -- maybe publicly supported us and behind the scenes
slapped our wrist,' Lea said of top U.S. Olympic officials. 'It's hard to say
what kind of a toll that could have taken, but, for sure, our first five days at
the Olympics were terrible.'

It has been worse for Friedman, an outgoing sort who is accessible
because he has a blog. He estimates he has received more than 15,000 hate
e-mails from around the world.

I still do not understand. The guys show up in Beijing wearing masks. Then they feel like they were targeted for being foolish. So, now they are done with the competition and have a statement. But the statement they make is full of additional vile and goes to prove that they were foolish. Now the slant is their burden because the USA Olympic Committee did nothing to prevent them from playing the part of a fool.

If I'm missing something -- let me know. I don't think Shelly Anderson is such a reporter as to have twisted things like a soap opera script. But, perhaps I'm wrong.

John Challis, a great athlete, RIP

Obituary:
John Scott Challis / Teen delivered message of hope with cancer
fight: John's two-year battle with liver and lung cancer ended
yesterday afternoon, when he died at his home in Freedom, Beaver County. He was
18.

Playing street games with Beijing's twist of friends and activities

Talking about the words in Chinees and English -- of each sport.


Some morning exercises for Grant and Erik, with a leader.

Jump roap.

We had a great time yesterday playing some traditional games of Beijing with some new friends.

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania announces its 2008 candidates

Libertarian Ticket offers political choice in Pennsylvania

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania

3915 Union Deposit Road #223

Harrisburg, PA 17109

www.lppa.org

For Immediate Release: August 18, 2008 Contact: Doug Leard (Media Relations) orMichael Robertson (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS / chair@lppa.org Harrisburg, PA

The Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPa) today announced its candidates for the November 2008 elections. LPPa Chair Michael Robertson said, “The Libertarian Party offers Pennsylvanians political choice. That choice is a first step in restoring public confidence and fairness to a political system poisoned by the unfolding criminal allegations of the Bonusgate scandal.”

Libertarian candidates for public office in Pennsylvania include:

Statewide Offices:President - Bob Barr (http://www.bobbarr2008.com)

Vice President - Wayne Allyn Root (http://www.rootforamerica.com)

Attorney General - Marakay Rogers

Auditor General - Betsy Summers

State Treasurer - Berlie Etzel

U.S. Congress:District 5 - James Fryman

State Senate:District 21 - Mary Lea Lucas

Representative in the General Assembly:

District 35 - David Posipanka

District 63 - Michael J. Robertson

District 64 - Vance Mays

District 180 – Erik Sanchez

Ballot access for Libertarian Party candidates didn’t come easy. This year Libertarian candidates for statewide office collected 51,345 ballot access signatures to insure a challenge cushion. Throughout Pennsylvania, the threat of being “Bonusgated” was clearly evident by the tally of uncontested races for other offices. The current tally has two uncontested Congressional races of 19, three uncontested state senate races of 25, but 101 uncontested state house races of 203. The Bounsgate revelations didn’t come soon enough for the 2008 election season.

“Our Libertarian candidates represent a return to the fundamental principles of American government; individual liberty, personal responsibility, and limited government,” indicated Robertson. “They offer a real choice for voters in a time of ever increasing government authority."

The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in Pennsylvania and the United States. More than 200,000 people across the country are registered Libertarians, and Libertarians serve in hundreds of elected offices. Please visit www.LP.org or www.LPPA.org for more information.

Beijing is a big city -- but it is really fun to ...

We love being in Beijing and running into friends on the street.

We've seen a few folks on various days at various settings.

Our phone(s) has a number of different names and numbers now stored within the "phone book." And, we've called to keep in touch and make future play dates.

People are seeing us on the streets too. Our good friend in China gets updates on our travels from people in his company who see us zoom past while on our bikes.

Another point of smiles is seeing people we've seen and some who we know on TV as they show the crowd shots on TV.

We picked up some new bike shirts at a bike shop today. And, we got a badminton net and more shuttlecocks for our play in the park. Our friends, Simon and his mom, had tickets to weightlifting, so we only played with them for about 10 minutes then they had to depart.

Up soon, a visit to the Beijing Exhibition Hall for an Olympic showcase with all sorts of Olympic stuff. Might get photos.

Had fun going to the computer mall again today. Want to get a new battery for the video camera yet. But, got some disks.

The cheering in all the stadiums from the locals sounds like, "Chi-go" or "Guy-go" or a ChGuy-go. Its literal meaning is 'Add fuel.' As in 'get oil.' Use your energy. Burn baby burn. Then they often say, "China" (but in Chineese) in the off beats.

We want to sign up for "Team Sabrina." She is an Olympian from Canada. Rower.

Hawaii Palace Usurpers Can't Find Throne - Decision 2008 News Story - WPXI Pittsburgh

Hawaii Palace Usurpers Can't Find Throne - Decision 2008 News Story - WPXI Pittsburgh: "Most of the protesters were charged with criminal trespass and released on $50 bonds."

Greek hurdler tests positive for banned drug - 2008 Olympics - SI.com

Greek hurdler tests positive for banned drug - 2008 Olympics - SI.com:
"Halkia was tested a few days before the Beijing Olympics in Japan, where
Greece's track and field team had been training. She said she had volunteered to
take part in WADA's pilot program in which athletes submit themselves
voluntarily to regular testing.
Halkia, who has moved out of the Olympic
Village, said she was sorry she could not take part in the games and that she
had expected to make the 400-meter hurdles final."

Swedish wrestler stripped of medal after tantrum - 2008 Olympics - SI.com

Swedish wrestler stripped of medal after tantrum - 2008 Olympics - SI.com: "The IOC executive board ruled that Abrahamian's actions amounted to a political demonstration and a mark of disrespect to his fellow athletes."

Twitter in China -- changes from the UK

I'm sending you this note because you registered a mobile deviceto work with Twitter over our UK number. I wanted to let youknow that we are making some changes to the way SMS works onTwitter. There is some good news and some bad news.

I'll start with the bad news. Beginning today, Twitter is nolonger delivering outbound SMS over our UK number. If you enjoyreceiving updates from Twitter via +44 762 480 1423, we arerecommending that you explore some suggested alternatives.

Note: You will still be able to UPDATE over our UK number.

Before I go into more detail, here's a bit of good news: Twitterwill be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countriesthroughout Europe in the coming weeks and months. These newnumbers will make Twittering more accessible for you if you'vebeen using SMS to send long-distance updates from outside the UK.

Why are we making these changes?

Mobile operators in most of the world charge users to sendupdates. When you send one message to Twitter and we send it toten followers, you aren't charged ten times--that's because we'vebeen footing the bill. When we launched our free SMS service tothe world, we set the clock ticking. As the service grew inpopularity, so too would the price.

Our challenge during this window of time was to establishrelationships with mobile operators around the world such thatour SMS services could become sustainable from a cost perspective.We achieved this goal in Canada, India, and the United States.We can provide full incoming and outgoing SMS service withoutpassing along operator fees in these countries.
We took a risk hoping to bring more nations onboard and moremobile operators around to our way of thinking but we've arrivedat a point where the responsible thing to do is slow our costsand take a different approach. Since you probably don't live inCanada, India, or the US, we recommend receiving your Twitterupdates via one of the following methods.
m.twitter.com works on browser-enabled phonesm.slandr.net works on browser-enabled phonesTwitterMail.com works on email-enabled phonesCellity [http://bit.ly/12bw4R] works on java-enabled phonesTwitterBerry [http://bit.ly/MFAfJ] works on BlackBerry phonesTwitterific [http://bit.ly/1WxjwQ] works on iPhones

Twitter SMS by The Numbers

It pains us to take this measure. However, we need to avoidplacing undue burden on our company and our service. Even with alimit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitterabout $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada,India, or the US. It makes more sense for us to establish fairbilling arrangements with mobile operators than it does to passthese high fees on to our users.

Twitter will continue to negotiate with mobile operators inEurope, Asia, China, and The Americas to forge relationshipsthat benefit all our users. Our goal is to provide full, two-wayservice with Twitter via SMS to every nation in a way that issustainable from a cost perspective. Talks with mobile companiesaround the world continue. In the meantime, more local numbersfor updating via SMS are on the way. We'll keep you posted.
Thank you for your attention,

Biz Stone, Co-founderTwitter, Inc.http://twitter.com/biz

New Zealand Swim News

Curtain falls on two fine careers
The curtain came down on two fine swimming careers at the Olympic pool tonight.

Helen Norfolk and Dean Kent, who have become the first New Zealand swimmers to attend three Olympics, announced their retirement from the sport.

Norfolk, who turns 27 later this month, has represented New Zealand since 1997. She won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and at the 2005 World University Games, she scooped a New Zealand record three silver medals.

The medley specialist was extremely emotional in announcing her retirement. “It’s an emotional moment,” she said. “Swimming has been my life.”

Kent, who turns 30 in November, is believed to be the oldest swimmer to represent New Zealand at an Olympics. He made his New Zealand debut in 1999. One of his career highlights was his 200m individual medley silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Neither swimmer went out the way they’d have liked tonight.

Kent, swimming in the 200m individual medley, ended up only 21st fastest of the 46 starters, and his time of 2min 01.12s was about a second outside his best. He had estimated – accurately as it turned out – that he would have needed to duck under 2min to make the semi-finals.

Norfolk led off for the New Zealand 4 x 200m freestyle relay team which was travelling well until it was judged that fourth swimmer Natasha Hind had entered the water too fourth-hundredths of a second too soon – swimmers are allowed three-hundredths’ grace.

It was a pity because the New Zealanders – Norfolk, Lauren Boyle, Hayley Palmer and Hind - swam about 7min 57.3s, which would have chopped nearly seven seconds off the national record.

Burmester fourth as Phelps wins
Kiwi medal hope Moss Burmester's Olympic dream was put on hold on this afternoon as he finished a heroic fourth behind the phenomenon Michael Phelps in the men's 200m butterfly final.

Phelps, racing in his signature event, won in 1:52.03, setting yet another new world record in the process.

Getting away to a fantastic start Burmester was in the lead at the 50m mark by 0.03 seconds ahead of Phelps.

By the time they returned to the starting end, Phelps had stolen the lead back by a fraction but Burmester looked on course to push him all the way. Both swimmers were on pace with world record time.

The third length saw the field closing in on Burmester but he looked set to resist them and deliver New Zealand's high point of the Games.

As Phelps powered on in the final 50 metres, Kiwi eyes were on the man in lane one, but it unfortunately became clear that his fantastic effort looked likely to fall just short of earning a medal place. Sure enough Phelps touched first and Burmester, with a new New Zealand and Commonwealth record time of 1.54.35, couldn't quite get there ahead of Hungarian Laszlo Cseh and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda who claimed silver and gold.

Burmester admitted he had left everything in the pool.

"It hurt. I turned at 100 metres and I knew I was right up there. I was hoping to go a bit quicker but I couldn't have done anything more" he told TVNZ.

The Kiwi had been suffered from a stomach bug in the lead up to the race but said he wouldn't be using that as an excuse for his performance.

Soon after Phelps collected his fifth gold medal of the Games in the 4x200m freestyle relay to clock up his 11th Olympic gold.

Meanwhile New Zealand are still left waiting for their first medal.

Burmester should nevertheless be delighted with his performance, being the first New Zealander to reach a swim final since Danyon Loader in 1996.

Fantastic day -- unreal

What a day.... USA Swimmers were hot. Erik and I were there. Meanwhile, Catherine and Grant were at the men's team gymnastics where China got first, then Japan. The USA was so excited and happy to get third.

Then we went to see the whitewater canoe and kayak races -- a 70-minute bus ride outside the city.

I've got lots of photos. Plus, video. But, they'll have to wait. I'm going to crash. And, the story as how we got there was a bit of a tale as well.

Spartans keep Schenley name - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Another sign that Pgh Public Schools cares little about sports. Fumble.

Spartans keep Schenley name - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "High schools have dropped football programs before. But to have a program without a school, well, that's as rare as a Chicago Cubs World Series win.

Next week they'll tell us that Fifth Avenue High School is the favorite to win the city league title and South Vo Tech hopes to be .500.

Beijing Olympic 2008 opening ceremony giant firework footprints 'faked' - Telegraph

Humm....

Beijing Olympic 2008 opening ceremony giant firework footprints 'faked' - Telegraph: "The fireworks were there for real, outside the stadium. But those responsible for filming the extravaganza decided in advance it would be impossible to capture all 29 footprints from the air."

this is why I love 'sports.' Sports are not fake. Meanwhile, entertainment can be -- and is.

Sports are games of time, space and relationship. In the world of entertainment, the space and lines between space and time are not real.

One can watch a movie and have the exact presentation over and over again -- without a worry of time. Same too for space. Watch the movie in a cinema or at a home in any city -- and it is nearly the same.

No so with sports.

I am not worried about the fireworks being 'fake.' However, we must be certain to never let our sports become 'fake.'

Now, it is off to artistic gymnastics -- a sport more sporting than professional rassling.

new adventure -- getting more money onto our China Net Account

In Beijing, you can buy access to the internet on a card, like a phone card. These are sold at news stands. When you get the card -- you need to call a number and have them activate the credits to your account based upon your home phone nummber.

The IP address is tied to the phone account.

You pay for internet by time. We don't know the rate.

I did this all today, with a good bit of help from the guy at the news stand and the fellow from the hotel that walked with me to help me buy the cards.

The people of Beijing are wonderful.

The volunteers at the university who were returning from tennis were "worn out." Long days for them, for sure. The bus ride is more than an hour. I've been most impressed with the university students.

Only one in eleven who applied to be a volunteer got 'hired' for these no-paid jobs. They get a shirt, one meal a day and a fanny pack. Some get slacks with zippers to make into shorts. They are trying to navigate a complicated network of events and venes that are the Olympics.

It rained all night last night. Some into the day. Today was 'puddle day.' Some rain returned tonight at 8 pm.

Yesterday it rained as we came home from water polo. We were soaked. No problem.

Our bikes might rust to nothingness in another week. Cerain bolts and bits of the bike are not as sturdy as others. Went to my new best friend to get a new bike seat and bike seat post so it can be raised. I don't like to pedal with my knees under my chin. But now I'm high and can't touch the road while seated at a stop. Comfort wins. I'll make a bigger drafting wake for Grant to glide within.

Talked to a guy at the 'bike shop' who was in Pittsburgh two months ago. Small world. He was here to serve a deligation of folks that visited CMU to talk about ways to better manage computing and community elements. How one person's comments can be tracked to the various conversations. Go figure. That group also spent time in the state of Washington at Olympia. They were here as the Arts Festival was in town.

Our swag rocks. More on that with another post. We are keeping a list of who gets one of our gifts.

Twitter had tip about Wolf Wigo's film showing and Stanford.

Softball's #2, batting 3rd, is a fried of a friend.

By the way, water polo was amazing. I'll need to dedicate that to its own post too. We talked with all the team's players and their families. Photos, etc. They are such a nice group of people.

We saw USA beat China in the opening game of the pool play. At one point, the game was tied 3-3. Great USA Goolkeeping throughout.

Both Erik and I were able to lift today. Working out on weights at a local 5-star hotel. Didn't swim as we didn't bring our swim caps. But, Erik and I both had a bit of tummy troubles too. Won't get any more dumplings from the street vendor.

Good night.

Quick Update from the end of week one

We lost the internet for a couple of days. Sorry about that. Guess I shouldn't go to rouge video sites sorta like Utube-ish.

Out of the blue, Grant crashed on his bike (again). A bit of road rash is on his leg and arm. We've started a list of all the things that Grant has crashed into. I got really mad at him today as we started out and he did the old classic -- "Look mom! No hands." But he doesn't know the joke. The jokes on us. Ouch.

Catherine and I were headed to WalMart on foot to buy a little table for our meals and playing cards -- and we ran into two women who were looking for the weight lifting venue. They had just taken the subway here and were turned around. We walked them to the venue, knowing a short cut even. And, they had two extra tickets. But, most of the session had already happened. Anyway -- we got to see some weightlifting -- on a lark.

They were headed next to the canoe venue and I just got some great suggestions on getting there. Our tickets are to canoe in the afternoon. We have three tickets in the moring to Artistic Gymnastics. Trouble is -- it takes more than an hour to get to canoe. And, we live in the North East/Central, while artistic gymnastics is south west and the canoe is past the airport at the north east.

One tip was to take the subway (train) to the airport and then get a cab to the canoe venue. Most of the cabs don't want to drive all the way to the canoe venue. The charge is about $70 from airport and $120+/- from Beijing at the end of the subway line.

Needless to say, we can't bike to the venues tomorrow.

Swimming Success - #2 gold for Michael, thanks to Jason

We were screaming with great might -- in our apartment. I think the entire building could hear us. What a race. What a finish.
Great summary from another blog:

It appeared though that the best was yet to come. The men’s 4X100m freestyle was spectacular. The Aussies kicked things off, as Eamon Sullivan pipped Phelps in the first leg with a world record time of 47.24. It was the French though who gained control after stunningly consistent swims. Alain Bernard was a length ahead with 25m to go, and it looked like Phelps’ attempt at eight golds was undone on day two of finals. Jason Lezak had other plans.

Swimming Success Swimming with a style that looked like he was trying to climb on the back of Bernard and drown him, he produced a superhuman effort that defied hydrodynamics and dragged himself into contention. It all came down to the touch, and the American got there 0.08 secs quicker. The world record time was an obscene 3:08.24 min - 4.93 seconds quicker than the winning time in Athens 2004!

The 4X100m freestyle is one of the two events in Athens where Phelps failed to win gold. His celebrations at the end, flexing his torso, suggests he knew this would be tough. If he goes on to make history, he’ll be forever indebted to the powerhouse Jason Lezak.