A tank job with serious consequences

So, badminton has tanking! Cool. Wonder who they want to draft?

Oh, right. Never mind.

Anyway, sure you heard about the scandal and the badmintoners (don’t think shuttlecockers works) were tossed out of the game for playing as well as you and I do with the nieces and nephews at the backyard barbecue in between burgers and sips.

It’s a tough one, isn’t it?

The reason everyone’s here is to win medals and if you have to lose to have a better shot at winning, well, isn’t that what the folks back home want?

But you know me and tanking.

I’m all about respecting the game and doing your level best every time you step on the court, field or pitch. It’s at the heart of competition, it’s why they keep score, it’s what you have to do.

Throwing games – and watching two teams try and lose was kind of like the Raptors-Nets last game of the season except for the Ben Uzoh triple-double – is just wrong.

Sorry, Not Grace Kelly. You make a good and valid point here but in the sober light of day, I think any self-respecting athlete needs to give his or her all every time they play whatever they play.

If you want to be the best you have to beat the best and whether that’s in an early playoff-round game or a first-round game or a game for a medal it doesn’t matter.

You’re here to win gold, silver or bronze, yes. It’s why countries go to some expense to send athletes, they want to be able to say we have more medals than the next country or even Quebec. But somehow the pursuit is cheapened by intentional losses or manipulating the standings table and it really does take away from the accomplishment.

I guess the answer is not to have round-robin play, or early pools, or whatever, in some sport. I know there have been basketball teams at various world championships or Olympics that have taken a loss so they could avoid someone in a crossover round and that’s wrong, too. I’m not sure having direct elimination in every sport right from the start can be done but it would indeed clean up some of the mess.

I know I’m being a bit Pollyanna-ish here but it’s part of my charm. I want true competition and best efforts every time I watch something, I want the athletes to respect the game, the opponent, themselves by trying to win every time out.

The organizers got it right when they tossed the offending athletes out of the game, they broke the spirit of the rules and the rules themselves.

Okay, that’s about all we’re going to do on badminton.

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Another night, another alley (or at least a tiny street off a bigger street), and an evening that verged on epic ensued.

The Tall Expat and the Somewhat Less Tall Partner In Crime hooked us up with The Coach and Horses, an apparently well-known established hard by Leicester Square that was home to some legendary old school writers and is quite a homey joint.

Check it out here, seems like the kind of place, I’d enjoy, no?

And, no, I don’t remember the last time I sang such ditties as Delilah (a group of Tom Joneses we’re not), a few Monkeys tunes and a Beatles song or two while sipping a local nectar.

Oh, and TE and SLTPIC playing the tambourines and dancing was just a nice touch. Really.

Didn’t get the name of the duo playing the piano and doing the warbling so I’ll just call ‘em Two Guys In Funny Hats.

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You know what’s not an issue here that everyone was worried about?

Traffic.

Been here 10 days now and have not seen one traffic jam that’d I’d even consider remotely bad. Even with dedicated Olympic lanes on many roads cutting down the available space to drive for the locals there’s been no gridlock, no discernible delays, nothing.

And I haven’t heard any locals complain, either.

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Because I’m generally at them every fourth summer what television network broadcasts the Olympics really doesn’t matter to me a whole lot.

But if Brian Williams isn’t the prime time host, Canadians are getting ripped off and I hope the overlords at the CBC realize that now that they’ve got the next two shows.

I have no idea if Brian wants to go back or will go back or even wants to keep doing this gig but there is no broadcaster in North America who is as good or as knowledgeable or as willing to ask tough questions or make critical comments than our guy Brian.

He is to the Olympics on TV what Randy was to the Olympics in print.

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Guess I was in the Soho district here last night and that was after walking through Chinatown and I think someone said we were near Little Italy so …

(You knew we’d get the Pogues in here one day, didn’t you?)

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One thing I’d wish I’d seen?

Brent Hayden winning the medal last night.

As I mentioned the day before, he was totally emotional just about making the final and to think he got there and came away with a bronze is wonderful story.

Rosie wrote it great, as she always does, and it’s truly an outstanding story for a guy who has been through the Olympic ringer.

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Some context.

When I’m talking about Pubs In Alleys, this is the kind of place I’m referring to.

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All right, once more into the beach today, I guess; and then some track and field (or athletics as it’s known over here) and who knows what else might pop up on what’s looking like quite an uneventful day at the moment.

Cheerio!

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Good stories told from an outsiders view; that's the Games

Yes, I was quite glad to have the chance to see Michael Phelps swim last night – first swimming story I’ve done in maybe two Olympics – and it’s true that stars do attract the crowds.

Which is what the Games are about to guys like me.

You’ve got people there like, well, like me, who don’t know the front crawl from the dog paddle (there should be dog paddle races, seriously) but we do know a story when we see one.

It’s perhaps the most fun part of covering these things, getting out to see some history and some world famous athletes and trying to chronicle their exploits without knowing the intricacies of the sport.

It’s hard, and I don’t know that we do it particularly well all the time but it goes to the essence of sport. It’s about the athletes more than it’s about the athletics, good stories about people well told.

We could sit there and try to explain the specifics of the event, like how Phelps was between strokes when he hit the wall at the end of his 200 metre race to be edged out by Le Clos of France South Africa (I screwed up) but, really, that’s not the issue, is it?

I would presume, and tell me if I’m wrong, that you want to know about the moment and the athlete more than the game and, sometimes, the result.

Am I right?

Think so, which is why I really like coming to these events. And why I think readers are generally well served. It’s fresh eyes telling old stories from a different perspective. Fun for us and, I hope, fun for you.

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Coolest thing I saw yesterday?

We’re headed back to the hotel on the bus about 11 p.m. after Phelps-Hayden and pass this truck.

I kid you not, it’s

Eels On Wheels!

Yes, live and jellied, pick your poison and I wonder how many kids want to grow up and be an eel salesmen or delivery guy.

Not sure it’s a lucrative job, though, haven’t seen eel on a menu yet.

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All right, this isn’t about London but they play it at every single basketball game and urge a section of the fans to sing along and I can’t get it out of my head.

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So, you wonder what these mentally-strong, finely-tuned athletes are thinking about when they’re in the middle of competition.

Sometimes nothing, at least that’s what was going on with Phelps last night when he was anchoring the relay for his 19th medal.

“I started smiling with 20 metres to go, it’s the first time I think I’ve ever done that in a race.”

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I don’t know if it’s more boring or angering when the tired old Quebec-Canada thing comes up and, yes, I have some friends in the Francophone media who are great guys but some of the others …

Well, they’re dopes.

It wasn’t 10 minutes after the Bronze Bonanza yesterday when the first “hey, we have more medals than Canada” comment was made.

Yawn.

It’s what you get at the Games every now and then, some guy trying to stir up some kind of controversy or make a name for himself and it’s simply tiring.

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I don’t know about the basketball but those bile-green fluorescent shoes a couple of Aussies were wearing yesterday are quite off-putting.

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I’m not sure why but the name Loudy Wiggins (an Aussie diver I saw Tuesday) makes me giggle and smile.

Loudy Wiggins.

Sounds like someone from Harry Potter.

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No, I didn’t get to see Valanciunas yesterday because I was doing this and then had to get to the swimming.

Was told by various spies that he was better in Game 2 than Game 1; I’m going to get over there one day soon, I hope. But it may not be until the quarter-finals, lots of other things going on.

Did check in with Jose electronically when I saw him take a shot in the head.

And, yes, more stitches in the same eye he cut twice at the end of last season; that’s 12 total in the three cuts.

No, Spain will not “rest” him and tank the next couple of games.

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Dude across from me, speaking indeterminate language quite loudly, has to have some North American connections because he had his cell ring tone as the Popeye The Sailor Man theme and I don’t imagine that’s a globally known cartoon.

And thanks to him, I had that damn song in my head all day.

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Want to see where we do most of our work?

This is the MPC, media hub at Olympic Park. This is also in the morning, it’s usually pretty full and saw two things there yesterday for the first time, and will see them an awful lot as the Games go on.

There was one dude slumped over his computer sound asleep – it is a good spot to catch a nap at the end of the day – and there was a guy on the phone doing play-by-play in some indeterminate language of, I believe, judo.

It’s hilarious to see people screaming into their phones “covering” an event going on somewhere else. Not sure what the folks back home think but, really, what they don’t know won’t hurt them.

You get that a lot here, actually. Sometimes you don’t have time to get a bus from one venue to another in time to see something so you watch it on TV and talk about it. And sometimes if you’re trying to play catch-up on event you simply can’t staff for any logistical reason, writing off quotes that are on the information system has to do.

It’s not perfect but it’s how we roll.

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Dear Raptors.

Please, in The Name Of All That’s Good In The World, do not ever, ever, ever schedule a game in any time zone anywhere in the world that starts at NINE FREAKING O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING.

Kind regards,

Tired Grunt who doesn’t know enough to go to bed a reasonable hour.

Speaking of reasonable hours, go back after the Phelps thingy in time to catch last call at The Swan in the alley down the street.

And since they stop pouring at 11 p.m. weeknights (12:30 on Friday and Saturday and to that I say halleluiah) that was writing to a tight deadline.

Veteran move, indeed.

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