Day 5 and another Flag Give-Away

Who won GOLD today?

Yes

he

DID!!!!

Yang Wei a.k.a. A Nation's Hero
(it was a three Kleenex event)

Her name is Armstrong. She won GOLD. In cycling. No, she's not related.

I love the Aussies. They did a fantastic job...beating the French.

(Soul Sis, they wear green and yellow instead of their flag colors b/c they are their National Sports Teams' colors. Apparently, there are several countries who do this.)

Slovakia's first GOLD medal! Fan-tab-u-lous!

China

is

rockin'

it!!

Sigh... (not the good kind, the Ugh kind) ...the French.

Don't leave me comments about sportsmanship. It won't help. I can't help it. I don't care for them. As athletes. Or ambassadors. Or... Sorry. You all know me. I am all about Love Your Neighbors, Cheer them on, Encourage them, Support them from across the pool, track, field, course what have you...I am doing my best to pass that on to the Crumb Snatchers. And if it makes you feel any better, they don't know my dirty political secret. I want them to Love the World!

At least I put him on here as a Gold Medalist. Right? I mean he is the one who talked all The Trash about our boys the other night...right before they kicked his...heh, heh.

What else happened today?

This would be the Spanish Basketball Team posing for a picture to be run as an advertisement. If you can't tell, they are "slanting" their eyes...

Hmmm...no one had the foresight to say, "Maybe this will be considered racist. You know that whole host country thing? Maybe we should re-think this?" Nope. Not one out of 15.

Oh. And the company the ad was made for? It belongs to the guy who lit the torch. The one who "ran" around the top of the stadium.

Yeah, that one.

One of China's greatest athletes and heroes.

Oops.

Do any of you play handball? Or know someone who does? Is there a whole lotta blood involved? Is it anything like rugby? The pics I've seen are Wow. Over the Top Tough.

(My friend, The Contributor, is this the game you asked me about? I've been looking to answer your question. AND, more importantly to me, Thank You for taking my Boy while I did JBF prep. You are a Life Saver and he wants to move in... Please?)

Venus and her sis Serena have advanced on. I am sure we'll be seeing more of them later.

I just put this in b/c this girlfriend just flat cracks me up. It's Natalie Coughlin. Wish I could have found it in a larger size...

This guy from S. Korea wanted to propose with a gold medal around his neck in Athens. He won a bronze instead. She said Yes anyway. Yesterday he won a silver...and today he won that elusive gold. She was outside the gates, across the street, in a restaurant watching his event on TV b/c they couldn't afford tickets... Wow.


Here's our own Corey Cogdell. Remember her? The homeschooler from Alaska? That's her Bronze Medal. A Bronze Medal y'all. Girlfriend can shoot. Wonder if she has a boyfriend? Wonder if he owns a gun?




Okay, so it's not a flattering photo. I know. I couldn't resist. It's what made me read the story. China is nuts-zoid about Ping Pong (table tennis). Absolutely nuts. Well, this dude is a very good player so he is a God in China. He has to have security when he goes out in Chinese public and the whole shootin' shabang!

The Catch: He's a Swede.

Just in case you can't sleep at night b/c of that All Consuming, Nagging question: How long would it take to ride a bike from the original site of the Ancient Games to the Beijing Games?

Answer from 2 Greeks: 171 days.

The Crumbs'

for today.

We have been hearing an awful lot about the age when training starts in China, the facilities these kids are takin' from their fams to be trained in and the frequency (or more like, the non-frequency) they get to see their fams.

Most of the Chinese athletes' fams are watching their children from the stands.

Not this guy. His fam lives in such a remote providence he only gets to talk to his momma on the phone once a week.

His Momma said she got to watch him compete on TV. She worried herself sick and couldn't sleep past 4am the day of the team competition. She cried because his arms were bleeding from the parallel bars. She whispered, "Congratulations, my good and faithful son," when his team caused their country to vibrate from the thunderous cheering that ensued following their gold medal win...then she sent him a love-filled hug across the miles.

She has not seen him, not hugged him, for over a year.

A year.

I miss mine after a few hours. And I don't mean miss them like, "Where are they?" I mean like, "Wow. I missed you. Let me hug you close," kind of miss them.

Lesson: Never take family time for granted.

Love Note to my Big Shooter: I love you. I count every day with you a blessing. It's true. Even though it's gag-o-rama.

Flag Give-Away: Leave a comment answering this question, "When I hear The Star Spangled Banner, I feel ..." The Crumb Snatchers will choose a name outta the hat tomorrow morning!