2020, uh, 21, uh, who knows Tokyo Olympics thread

I’ll watch anything if it starts before 10 a.m. Stuff I’d never watch at 8 p.m. Suddenly LPGA events and drag racing and darts and cornhole and random Big Ten football games from 1987 are great watches.

The same goes for College Gameday. The show kinda sucks, honestly. But for that first hour on a Saturday morning, I’m riveted.

Also it distracts me from having to watch Daniel Tiger or Mickey and the Roadster Racers my son is watching on the other television in our living room.

 

I'm watching table tennis this morning. If pro golf > weekend hackers, world-class table tennis >>>> ping pong.

My financial advisor in Rocky Mount was also a high-ranking official in the U.S. Table Tennis Association. He'd be gone for major tournaments in Southeast Asia on a routine basis.

Also, I considered myself a decent player in high school -- as in, could beat everybody in my neighborhood. But I was quickly humbled by a kid at the dorms in Fresno State who played holding the paddle by the top, not the handle. He beat the pants off me every time we played, but I actually got to the point where it was fun to play, just to watch how good his hand-eye coordination was.

Same with badminton. As Mary Carillo said, that ain't no backyard picnic game. My best friend had both the coordination and body type to play it well, but found himself overmatched by the time he reached college.

However, he was still doing triathlons into his 50s, where I'm a weekend hacker in a golf cart.

 

Handball is kind of fun.

Why were there Korean spectators watching the archery?

This is the mindset that leads to someone, in an early stage in their life dedicating themselves to an obscure sport, such as archery?

 

Well, if you’re good enough at bows and arrows, you can always feed yourself. So there’s that.

 

Well, there's always piracy. He'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.

 

In my Honors dorm at FSU, one of the resident assistants was pretty big with the table tennis club. He’d play students on the table in the basement of the dorm most nights. Using a book instead of a racquet.

 

In any other dorm, a nerd like that would have been pantsed being a table tennis show off. He knew his audience.

 

Dottie Henson: "Well, you're already dressed ... Then I'll play."

 

Other members of the Korean Olympic team. This is common at any Games. Members who don't have events (most of them, most days) show up at the less attended events to offer support. Korea is the sport's traditional power, so it makes sense other Koreans would show up to root.

 

Handball is awesome.

 

The bad boys and girls of badminton currently on NBCSN.