They Call It Table Tennis......

Played in the Olympics, they call it Table Tennis, not Ping-Pong. The sport became an Olympic event in 1988. Since it's inclusion it has been dominated by the Chinese.

With names like, Zang and Wang, Ma, Li, Wa, and Wang. It would be a real tongue twister to announce Ping Pong with Dong and Wong and Ding and Ling. That's why it's called Table Tennis.

Can you imagine this? Now, at the table, playing Ping-Pong, is Ding and Dong. Or is it Ling and Wing?

Here in America we had a pretty good player back in the 1970's. His name was Forrest Gump and he played Ping-Pong not Table Tennis.

Why is it called Water Polo? 

Mallets would hurt and horses would drown. I think the sport is more like hand ball. Before this Olympics I thought hand ball was a game played with two people, a ball, and a wall. Now I learn that game is squash. Until now I thought squash was a vegetable.

Fencing is not putting up a fence, skeet are not edible, and beach volleyball is not played on a beach. Bad-mitten does not refer to the Republican nominee for president. I have mispronounced bad-mitten my entire life, it's bad-minten. The way several of the teams played, losing on purpose and getting kicked out of the Olympics, in the future it won't matter how it's pronounced, because it may not be played.

Is this right, it's not soccer but football? NBC has an entire channel devoted to the sport. It's called The Soccer Channel. Americans and our Canadian neighbors call the sport soccer so soccer it is. The heck with the rest of the world, let them call it football and they can have it. We have the NFL, and that's real football.

I saw a few minutes of synchronized swimming yesterday. The athletes need pinpoint precision, immense stamina, and waterproof make-up. 

This week the highlight of the Olympics will be track and field. One of the highlights of track and field is the 100 meter run. In Beijing, Usain Bolt a 6'5" Jamaican, won a gold medal with a time of 9.69 seconds. He won a gold medal in the London games with a time of 9.63. Obviously, he is improving. 

In 2008 and 2012 Bolt ran a total of 19.32 seconds in the two 100m races. He also competes in the 200m and a 4X100m relay. The 126,144,000 seconds between Olympics he keeps busy running other races, playing dominoes and training . Usain Bolt is one of the greatest sprinters of all time. If you have any doubt, just ask him.

Last night I watched the ladies vault competition. Each athlete does two vaults and these are averaged for a final score. The announcers anointed McKayla Maroney the victor and gold medal winner before the competition began. She was, after all, the reining world champion. She did, after all, the most difficult vault ever attempted by a woman. She was, after all, flying higher and faster than anyone, including the men's gold medal winner. 

There is a pretty well known saying in sports, "That's why we play the game." Maroney was, hands down, the best woman in the group. She wasn't supposed to land on her rear end like she did on her second vault. After her unfortunate ending, no pun intended, there was one competitor left. Sandra Izbasva of Romainia was still to come.

The Romanian had a good first vault but was still behind McKayla. While waiting for her second vault the announcers were speculating on how the American could still win the gold medal. It seemed to me anyone who was unable to land on her feet didn't deserve a gold medal. If McKayla won, the question would be, did she win or did the Romanian lose? 

Later, after the event I heard McKayla say, and I'm paraphrasing, I fell on my rear end, for that, I did not deserve a gold medal. No, but she deserves one for her statement. 

In June she had a minor nasal fracture and a concussion. In May she broke a toe and did it again in June. About a week before the Olympics she aggravated the break doing a dismount. I didn't know this, she didn't use it as an excuse. 

I've heard people say second place isn't winning a silver but losing a gold. I think participation and competition at the Olympic level, regardless of results, make all the athletes winners. And this sixteen year old gymnast is a real winner, gold, silver, or bronze.