You can douse that flame now, thank you

So, it’s over. Or almost over.

The ceremonies are about to start, I got a couple more to write for that pesky newspaper but, then? Then it’s over and somewhere in this vast land there are a bucketful of Tsing Taos with my name on ‘em.

This is the first time in the six Bun Tosses Like This I’ve been to that we’ve had this sort of thing to write so I’m not sure if I get all teary-eyed and wistful and mushy and melancholy or what.

Nah.

Too out of character.

Final impressions though? Maybe a few

The Games have been extraordinarily well run, with attention paid to the smallest of details, with volunteers that couldn’t do enough for you, a transportation system that should now be the benchmark for every future Games.

The venues? Some were breathtaking, the Bird’s Nest from the outside more breathtaking than any. But some were banal. The ballparks were pre-fab, the basketball arena could have been dropped in Wukesong from any NBA city. The archery field (Pitch? Yard? Facililty?) was tres cool but the soccer pitches were surrounded by running tracks and that made the action seem kilometres away.

And there was a sterility that was a bit disconcerting, to tell you the truth.

There wasn’t a lot of joy among the people, it didn’t seem. They were happy, no question, but unbridled excitement? Not so much. It was strange.

All in all, they were a Good Games.

They didn’t approach Great.

-

Remember yesterday’s question about taekwondo and its suitability to be an Olympic sport?

Well, how about the Cuban guy kicking the ref in the head after his bout?

Reports are circulating that none of three judges gave him a point for it.

-

Every four years, it seems, I go to a track meet. One quadrennial it’s in Athens, the next it’s in Beijing and there’s every chance the next time I see athletics will be in 2012 in London.

But I gotta tell you, they got some cool stuff at track.

Was watching the men’s javelin on Saturday night here and they’ve got these little remote control cars that run the length of the field taking the javelins back to the throwers.

They’re just like the little cars – maybe a tad more enhanced and powerful – than Super Son or your kid used on the driveway when they were toddlers.

Not sure where the guy was who was controlling them but he was having a gas. He’d do little figure 8s or sharp turns or run the things backwards for a few metres.

Made a night at the track a bit more entertaining.

-

Pau Gasol is much tougher wearing a Spain jersey than he is with a Laker uniform on.

Maybe it’s familiarity with his teammates, I’m not sure. But you can bet Kobe Bryant’s going to remind him at some point in the NBA season when he reverts to his usually soft self.

It was like oldtimers night at the Bird’s Nest when I was there.

They interrupt things for medal ceremonies, of course, and taking part were the great Cuban Alberto Juantorena and the legendary Sergei Bubka.

I don’t know all that much about track but those are two giants and I think other sports should use great athletes from the past more often.

Of course, I don’t know who that’d be in many of the sports but they should do it anyway.

-

Oh, right. The basketball game.

It was a great one, the best I saw here (missed the Argentina-Greece quarter-final, unfortunately) and a fitting end to what had been a rather uneventful tournament.

Spain was great, watching them cut and move without the ball and make pinpoint passes in traffic was a clinic in international play. Rudy Fernandez is going to be a helluva good NBA player, that Portland team is going to be very, very much fun to watch.

The Americans, though?

A cut above. They played as a team, they played with purpose, they never once strayed from the idea that they needed to work together.

I remember months ago against Jose Calderon what he thought about the Olympics and his initial reaction was that if the Americans played with purpose, they’d be virtually impossible to beat.

He was right.

-

Caught up with Carlos Delfino very briefly after Argentina's bronze medal win over Lithuania.

He’s pretty happy with the chance to go play in Russia, especially for the money he’s going to be making. And when someone on the edge of the conversation suggested he’d be back with the Raptors – who still have his NBA rights – he sort of shrugged and said, “maybe.”

-

There’s one in every crowd.

Dwyane Wade’s shooting free throws in throws in the middle of the third quarter of the gold medal against Spain and some comic in the upper deck starts chanting ‘M-V-P, M-V-P.’

Guarantee you he wasn’t from here.

-

Okay, as I mentioned, it’s time to be done for now. And there’s an excursion to the Great Wall on Monday here, a long, long flight home on Tuesday so I’m not sure when I’ll get back to these parts again. Probably not until Wednesday sometime so don’t fret that your comments are being ignored.

And don’t worry, I may have some time on the flight to get to the mail that’s been building up.

It’s been a blast stepping out of the basketball world for three weeks or so, hope you liked it. But it’ll soon be time to be Raptor-centric once again.

See ya.

Comments

[AJ]

absolutely agree with you doug on pau gasol being tougher in a spain uniform.... i actually see where you are coming from.. when pau is on the block one on one (with his back to the basket) and he takes a couple of dribbles and goes for the jump hook in the lakers uniform... but in the spain uniform, it seems like he has more of a sense of finishing and dunking on the defender...SO YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY DEAD RIGHT ON THAT ONE..

[Dave]

Doug:

Thanks for all the posts during the Olympics. I am not a big Olympic fan and I wonder why it is still happening in 2008. However, I looked forward to your blog everyday. It gave a lot of insight into the "games" that we wouldn't have heard otherwise. The human interest side of your blog was far more interesting that anything that happened in the competitions.

The mens basketball was very exciting. I believe if Jose was available your prediction of a Spain win may have been accurate. I was happy to see Bosh finish the game.

Now, let's get back to Raptor's basketball.

Thanks again for making the Olympics interesting.

[Dagomar Degroot]

I'll miss your Olympic blog. It was entertaining and perceptive. Thanks for that one.

About the big game:

I went to bed at 5 AM just to watch it, and it did not disappoint in the slightest.

You had to believe Spain was not going to be blown out a second time. They just have too much talent, too much of a sense of team, and they kept it close by riding on raw emotion and adrenaline during the game. The Gasol brothers impressed and were the only big men who managed to make Team USA look small inside this tournament. Meanwhile, Rubio had some spectacular moments, Fernandez was good throughout, and Navarro? Tony Parker light. These aren’t the days of the Dream Team anymore . . . the Euros can PLAY.

But Team USA acquitted themselves well too. Wade kept them in it. Some of the things he did were spectacular. Sticking that many threes? And some of those dunks? Sick. His 27 points were absolutely invaluable. I have a feeling he'll have a monster season next year. Returning the Heat to the playoffs might be a tall order considering their weakness at the 1 and 5, but he'll get his old numbers.

In the clutch Wade, Lebron and Kobe all came alive. Kobe was the main points scorer and Lebron unselfishly deferred to him. Lebron made a ton of big plays - rebounds, layups, blocks, assists, defensive plays - and Wade sunk that dagger three. One thing that distinguishes this team from previous versions of team USA: they will always have the three best clutch players in any game. And oh - the other guys aren’t so bad at that either.

Special credit should also be given to Kobe. He was amazing in the last five minutes or so, showing why he will be a guaranteed first-ballot hall of famer. Incredible. Whatever needed doing - he did it.

Were I handing out NBA-style awards, tournament MVP goes to Lebron, scoring title/sixth man goes to Wade, and the MVP of the final game (like the NBA’s finals mvp I guess) goes to Kobe Bryant. Those three did it all.

By the way, how great was it to see NBA superstars with tears in their eyes at winning a gold medal? I think these Olympics enhanced the image of the NBA and its players for a whole lot of people.

[bballer]

so the final score was closer than i thought it would be. i guess all the spain fans would say things would have been different if calderon played. nevertheless it was a good win by the americans. if anyone watched the game on cbc, it would have been interesting to note how triano and romanuk seemed disgusted by the behaviour of the spanish players throughout the game. the spanish players threw towels unto the court, berated the referees, complained and whined after every call and the final part clapping sarcastically when the ref called a travel when dwade tripped at the end. triano commented if the americans had did the same, they would have been called ugly americans, yet spain got another pass showing off their boorish behaviour.

from the treatment of black soccer players when england played against spain, to the derogatory remarks of theirry henry by the spanish coach, to the depicting of lewis hamilton of formula 1 family as gorilla's to the slant eye pictures by the spanish team truly reveals the character of that nation. all the while spanish media says that they were joking around. well, those jokes aren't funny.

we continuously criticize americans but give european countries a pass when it comes to racism - and it is deep in a lot of european countries - don't be fooled. america tries to deal with its racist pass, the spanish laughs it off as a joke. oh yeah, hungary had to play a game in front of an empty stadium due to racial taunting by its soccer fans. this backdrop made it hard for me to support spain and cheer for them. america may have its problems, but at least they don't hide behind the excuse of this is how we do it in our country.

kudos to the us for playing good basketball and being good ambassadors to the game throughout the entire olympics. maybe it is another thing that european countries can learn.

[WSG]

Quite enjoyed the Olympic blog, Doug. Nice job as always.

[Paul]

Thank you very much for a very interesting take on the Games from an insider's perspective - it was a lot of fun to read, and often resulted in some fun conversation starters with the inlaws, etc. This is saying something!

Safe travels, and enjoy those Tsing Taos - I bet they're even better there!

[sherry]

1. What an awesome game that was! "Frenetically paced" was the phrase that kept coming to mind while watching it. I wish more NBA games were like this. (I really liked that lack of timeouts)
2. It's awesome that our Raps have a Gold AND Silver winner!
3. Thanks to Doug for the awesome blogs from Beijing. Your insights, insider info & humour have made my day every day I read it!!! cheers

[dc]

thanks for your great olympic coverage and the unique insiders perspective you provided loyal readers in your blog.
can you make a list of the best american basketball teams of the past 30 years and rank where the redeem team fits into the picture. based on the level of competition they had to face, i think team USA is one of the most talented basketball teams ever created.

Blogger's note: It'd be second to the original -- and ONLY -- Dream Team.

[Thay]

Doug..
Thanks for all the great work from China..have a safe trip back!!

[tony]

I think Gasol didn't really wake up till Kobe slammed him violently to the floor and refused to help him up. You could see Pau was steamed about it afterward. He went to the bench shortly thereafter, and when he came back he was a completely different player. Mean and physical . Nice to see he has some heart, only problem is, someone else has to awaken it!

[tony]

Doug, totally agree with you about Fernandez, he was literally amazing to watch, definitly an NBA allstar in the making. Sure would look good as a Raps small forward. To only dream! Also yeah, that Portland is a dynasty in the making, they have some scary talent, hate to see what they do, when they get some experience. Even without it they should battle Utah for first this year.

[sportyjen]

Hey, there's more basketball in China, starting next week. Our wheelchair basketball teams will be going for gold at the Paralympic Games. Hopefully there will be a mention or two about their progress, even though you're now back home. Check out team member Patrick Anderson's blog - it's a fun read. http://patrickanderson.wordpress.com/

[Ellie]

Enjoyed the Beijing blog and look forward to the resumption of your regular Raptor beat.

[Stephen L]

Quick Question:

Whatever happened to the big Canadian Flag that the Canadian athletes use to bring out during the closing ceremonies? I was looking forward to seeing them bring it out this year.

Stephen L.

Blogger's note: The IOC, I believe it was after or in Athens, limited the size of the flags teams could carry, if I'm not mistaken

[Rahulan]

The Big Canadian Flag made it to Winnipeg for the Pan-Am Games in 1999...I got to see and hold it first hand, very impressive flag. Straight from Winnipeg it went to Australia for the 2000 games, but I don't remember seeing it in Athens...too bad really stuck out.

Rahulan - Winnipeg