Olympic first reactions

A couple things occurred to me during these early festivities.

First, who cares how old the Chinese gymnasts are. If they won, they won. It seems like a petty anti-Asian women age thing, where they always look too young for their age (commented on at stuffwhitepeoplelike). I realize there are rules. But sort of like pro baseball players from Puerto Rico or the Dominican, it's pretty much impossible to prove someone is one age if they want to demonstrate (and insist) they're not. If someone's from here, there are usually ways now to acquire the accurate information. I would expect the Chinese to be able to alter such information pretty easily. From the sound of it, they've already been engaging in revisionist history on previous stories on their gymnasts. Doublespeak is funny.

Second, the US basketball team looked pretty effective (apart from shooting 3s). It has been studied statistically to compare to the elite first two "Dream Teams" and found to be fairly close to the second ('96) as far as elitism. So the results thus far aren't surprising. What is amusing is people trying to make it out like this is a better team than that first one ('92). That team was truly loaded, even with Bird and Magic on the way out career wise. Laettner was the only weak link (and pretty much didn't play anyway). When your team plays other teams that want your autographs, it isn't a good sign that the game will be close. What this demonstrates is the consistent tendency to think the latest thing is the greatest thing. Progress isn't always a function of linear time. Novelty is different than greatness, but for many people it's hard to tell the difference. The same failing is occurring with Phelps v Spitz in swimming. My opinion. I don't care which is greater nor do I need someone telling me which is which. It's still impressive to see someone so dominate their competition once in a while.