Games of the XXX Olympiad aka Summer Olympics 2012!

The Olympics start this week, and I couldn’t be more excited!  Ok, maybe I was more excited for the last Olympics, but that is because I was going to see them in person.  The Olympics are when I clear out my DVR so I can watch every single minute of televised coverage.  The last summer Olympics in '08 I also got RoB hooked, we were getting much less sleep every night because we had to stay up so late to get through all the coverage! And now there is the Live Extra app from NBC so you can stream pretty much anything (live events or what is being shown on TV) to your phone or computer (it looks like they finally have it up and working, but I will be suspect to see how it works through some of the high demand events).

Soccer starts TODAY and even though there isn’t a USA men’s team playing I can’t convince you enough to watch and support our US Women’s National Team.  They are phenomenal and women’s soccer has come a long way with many other countries on top of their game as well.  US opens play against France (whom they beat in the semi-finals of the world cup last year) at noon (EST) today, and I hope some of you will be watching it!

I’ve been trying to keep up with qualifiers for other sports too.  Big ones like swimming and gymnastics are always fun, but I like hearing about some of the more obscure sports as well.  For example, Women’s boxing will be premiering at these games and there is a strong USA contender. 

As I said before, I attended the last winter Olympics in Vancouver and it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done!  Here are some pics from that adventure, but it was really amazing just being part of such a worldly event.  The first night we got into Vancouver we were just walking around the streets amazed by all the Olympics had to offer and all the fun we were about to have!

The first event we went to was women's aerials and we had to be in line before ti was light outside and got to watch the sun start to light up the mountain behind us

Yup, that is someone flying through the air!

Curling was super fun to watch!

And they even put up with all the obnoxious American fans!

The torch

The flags leading into the Nordic events

Rings at the biathlon range

CRAZY biathlon fans, probably the best event we went to!

Biathlon

This was our view for the Nordic sprints, we were right at the fence and saw them come flying by!

Wouldn't really be in Canada if we didn't go see a hockey game!

Women's hockey semi-finals Canada vs Finland

Michigan plays other sports, too!

To recap, we spent a week in Michigan (Part 1 about the football game is here, and Rob's permanent souvenir is here).  When I was a student at Michigan I went to all the football games but rarely ventured out to see all the other sports the school had, this is one of my biggest regrets.  Now, I subscribe to to a special sports package on my cable so I can get the Big Ten Network and take in as many Michigan sports as possible.  So while we were in Michigan I thought I'd take advantage and try to attend some other fall sports!

I really wanted to go to the women's volleyball game against Nebraska.  Our volleyball team has recently gotten very strong and the big ten has become a competitive conference, even more so now with Nebraska.  Sadly, the game was sold out by the time I got there so I wouldn't get to see them play.  I had actually attended quite a few volleyball games while I was a student and it is a very fun atmosphere in their arena.  They play in a smaller arena than basketball and it makes it very loud and exciting in there.  I'd never been much of a volleyball person (I suck at playing it) but I now understand it better and have since become a big fan and love watching it!

We did make it to a men's lacrosse game.  On Sunday, after the football game, they were playing in some exhibition games in Michigan Stadium.  Our lacrosse team just got promoted to varsity level (they were very successful at the club level) so I thought it was a good time to check out the sport.  We had a great time watching it (even though we still don't understand all the rules) but its a fun, fast paced, scrappy game.  Sadly, Michigan lost in OT but we still had a good time and I am now very interested in the sport, hopefully they'll be showing some games on TV this spring!

Go Blue!


And finally, we went to a men's soccer game. I LOVE soccer, I've loved the sport for much longer then I've loved football.  Michigan men's soccer went the the semi-finals of the college cup last year, so they are coming off their best season ever.  Unfortunately, they've had quite a let down year (so far).  I really wanted to go to one of their games because they just built a new soccer complex.  The new field was really nice and the student section (which was nearby where we sat) is right on the field!  Sadly, we lost the game but it was a really great game to watch.  The student section has a lot of good chants and although there weren't a lot of students that night I could see it being a fun group to cheer with. (side note: the men's basketball team sat right next to us, I was a little star struck when I realized I was so close to Stu Douglass and Tim Hardaway Jr!!)

UPDATE: The men's soccer team just (well two days ago) beat #4 ranked Akron in OT!!  It's one of the biggest wins for this team, ever. Maybe this will turn their season around, keep it up boys and Go Blue!