I know nothing about gymnastics except that wife wants to watch it during the Olympics. That said, a few observations:
1) I was thoroughly embarrassed a few nights ago when the men's gymnastics team celebrated vociferously after winning the bronze medal. Yes, the bronze. I get it: they weren't expected to win any medal at all so they were excited, but I never thought you competed to win third place. Exacerbating the situation was them shouting victoriously into the camera, "Yeah, America! Never give up! This is how we roll!" Seriously: you roll by proudly lauding finishing as second runner up? To quote the Intimidator, "second place is just the first loser."
Even more interesting was the reaction rivaled that of the gold winning Chinese squad. But when the cameras panned to show the second-place Japanese team, they were devastated; it was as if they had just been put on death row. Additionally, compared to the somber reaction of the U.S. women's squad last night (who only finished second) and I declare that those Japanese competitors and the U.S. ladies made me a proud American male.
2) Speaking of the women failing in their gold medal bid, I have to give it up to the girl that self-destructed. She fell off that big long bar thingy [you know what I mean], as well as screwing up on her floor exercise. I was sure she was going to burst into tears but she held it together, again, garnering more of my respect than the men's gymnastics team.
3) The shocking thing to me was how young those Chinese ladies looked. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. The big controversy of the event was whether or not the Chinese government faked the birthdates of a couple of the girls on the team [and apparently the New York Times thought enough to investigate it]. It makes sense that having younger, smaller girls on these narrow apparatuses [is that right?] would be a major advantage. But I'm sure the Chinese officials have enough integrity that they would never imagine cheating in order to win Olympic gold. Right?
Alright, enough gymnastics talk. I'm going to drink a beer, smoke a cig, and watch Rambo so I can refuel my low testosterone level.