Quick Olympic observations
Don't want to steal any thunder from The Sun's Olympic team of Rick Maese and Kevin Van Valkenburg, so keep checking out their blog -- From Baltimore to Beijing -- but I just wanted to make a few observations about last night's heart-stopping 4x100 relay.
1. It was heartstopping. Think I already said that.
2. I'm worried that Michael Phelps may have expended way too much energy cheering home Jason Lezak during his amazing comeback in the final 50 meters.
3. Lezak now joins the list of Orange County (Ca.) natives to become beloved in Baltimore. I'm the other one, of course.
4. Don't know how Debbie Phelps is going to handle six more events.
5. I'm going to paraphrase a great line from one of my favorite movies -- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly -- to sum up what happened to the French relay team that bragged it was going to "smash" the Americans:
"If you're going to swim, swim. Don't talk."
Comments
When Shaq was in college his coach suggested that he turn pro, the coach recognized that the team could not protect Shaq. Shaq was regularly getting triple team and slashed liked crazy.
Weiters will rarely get anything to hit for the rest of the season. Without Montanez in that lineup, 2 BB on games, like yesterday, will become all too common. There is nothing left for him to learn on develop in Bowie, I assume that Andy and his posse are keeping Weiters down there for some reason, but until they share that reason with the fans, it seems only fair that we in Baltimore pay AA ticket prices and let the Bowie fans pay the major league price.
Do the O's ever make a decision where they might even slightly consider the paying fans?
Posted by: Billy O'Dell | August 11, 2008 12:06 PM
Best. Relay race. Ever!
When watching the replays on our dvr this morning even my 5 year old was cheering his face off.
Posted by: Liz | August 11, 2008 12:07 PM
I realize this is a couple posts late, but how could you possibly make a case for Melvin Mora or Kevin Millar as O's MVP up to this point?
1) Guthrie
2) Huff
3) Markakis
Best pitcher vs. best hitter. I'd rather have an ace starter than a .900 OPS hitter, plus maybe Huff doesn't stand out so much because we have other good hitters, and well, you can't say the same about our starters.
Posted by: Grant | August 11, 2008 12:47 PM
So are all you media guys now ready to brand Katie Hoff a failure because after 2 events she only has 2 medals?
..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Not all of us, but I'll feel bad for her if she's totally overshadowed by Phelps. Message received.
Posted by: jaybird | August 11, 2008 1:02 PM
Screw the French. Couldn't happen to a nicer country. Other than wine and Tony Parker, is there a more pompous country that contributes less to the world (not that the wine contribution is to be discounted)?
Posted by: terpfan | August 11, 2008 1:06 PM
steely dan?
Posted by: sam | August 11, 2008 1:07 PM
Billy O'Dell,
One reason to keep Weiters at Double-A at this point is so that he can develop with the great pitching prospects that we have down there.
Posted by: Tar Heel Mike | August 11, 2008 2:35 PM