Did a lot of running around Monday. Three events in the span of about eight hours. First to the velodrome, where poor Sarah Hammer from Temecula suffered a broken collarbone in a crash … and I did a story on her parents’ reaction from the stands. I was sitting with them. Did I mention it […]

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The Beijing Olympics have been running like a well-oiled machine. Efficient, smooth — but not particularly interesting or exciting to watch. Until tonight. At least for me. I walked into the Capital Indoor Stadium, the volleyball venue, and I happened upon the loudest, most-fired-up crowd I’ve seen in Beijing. China was playing, of course, against […]

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I’m looking again at the medals standings. Apparently, the Associated Press is sending out standings ranked by total medals won. However, China (and the IOC) rank them by golds won. So those of you looking at American newspapers will see the USA leading the standings …. but pretty much everywhere else China is in the […]

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Mao Zedong was omnipresent in Chinese society, while he was alive. Everyone apparently carried the Communist leader’s Little Red Book, filled with the wit and wisdom of the great leader, who clearly was meant to replace Confucius as the greatest thinker in the history of the country. The Great Helmsman, as he apparently liked to […]

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I was out walking around this morning. It wasn’t hot yet, and the air didn’t seem too awful. (Actually, the weather has been quite livable, the past 2-3 days. Last night it was almost cool. Which was cool.) I have come down with a cold — the Olympic Cold, but a week early; what’s up […]

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Michael Phelps pretty clearly is the greatest swimmer ever. He has eight gold medals at the Olympics. He just went through an incredible grind, showed his skill at every stroke aside from the breast, and has stamina and speed, too. And he’s cool as an ice tray in an igloo. I’m just not ready to […]

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This appeared in the Sunday editions of the Press Enterprise, in Riverside. I had a hunch Sarah Hammer wouldn’t survive the quarterfinals, even though she was thought to be a medals favorite, and I made the trek to the velodrome (45 minutes each way, via bus) … and she in fact lost, and is done […]

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Right about now is when people involved in the Olympics are afraid they will last forever. I know some people not here feel the same way. Those who don’t like their network programming pre-empted for girls on the parallel bars, or are sick of insta-experts at the water cooler talking about Michael Phelps and Shawn […]

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The MPC, to remind everyone, is the Main Press Center, where the non-TV journalists work. Michael “Eight Is Enough” Phelps was just in here, in the big conference room. He not only had some energy left, he actually had some interesting things to say — fairly amazing, considering he’s probably been interviewed as much as […]

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I’m in the Main Press Center, where most of the regulars have settled in to something vaguely resembling assigned seating. Same folks in the same area, basically, day after day. And the guys directly across the table from me have been, in recent days, Germans. So, I’m sitting here, getting oriented after a late night, […]

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