RDK

Yeah, was watching the race with my girls (7 yrs) and they'd never seen a relay before. After explaining what was going on, they really got into cheering for the U.S. girls and were thrilled when they had a come-from-behind victory. Sweet!

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/t...s&leadstory Rogge rips the wrong guy By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports Aug 21, 10:40 am EDT BEIJING — Jacques Rogge is so bought, so compromised, the president of the IOC doesn’t have the courage to criticize China for telling a decade of lies to land itself these Olympic Games. All the promises made to get these Games — on Tibet, Darfur, pollution, worker safety, freedom of expression, dissident rights — turned out to be phony, perhaps as phony as the Chinese gymnasts’ birthdates Rogge was way too slow to investigate. One of the most powerful men in sports turned the world away from his complicity. Instead, he has flexed his muscles by unloading on a powerless sprinter from a small island nation. Rogge’s ripping of Usain Bolt’s supposed showboating in two of the most electrifying gold-medal performances of these Games has to be one of the most ill-timed and gutless acts in the modern history of the Olympics. “That’s not the way we perceive being a champion,” Rogge said of the Jamaican sprinter. “I have no problem with him doing a show. I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters.” Oh, this is richer than those bribes and kickbacks the IOC got caught taking. All the powerful nations — including the United States — have carte blanche at the Games. They can pout and preen, cheat, throw bean balls, file wild complaints, break promises that got them a host bid, whatever they want. They can take turns slapping Rogge and his cronies around like rag dolls as long as the dinner with a good wine list gets paid. A single individual sprinter? Even if you don’t like his manner, that’s whom Rogge deems it necessary to attack, to issue a worldwide condemnation? “I understand the joy,” Rogge said. “He might have interpreted that in another way, but the way it was perceived was ‘catch me if you can.’ You don’t do that. But he’ll learn. He’s still a young man.” Perceived by whom? Old fat cats making billions of Olympic dollars on the backs of athletes like Bolt for a century now? They get to define this? They get to lecture about learning? Bolt is everything the Olympics are supposed to be about. He isn’t the product of some rich country, some elaborate training program that churns out gold medals by any means necessary. He’s a breath of fresh air, a guy who came out of nowhere to enrapture the world with his athletic performance and colorful personality. This is no dead-eye product of some massive machine. He was himself, and the world loved him for it. On his own force of will, Bolt has become the break-out star of these Games. He saved the post-Michael Phelps Olympics. It wasn’t so much his world-record times, but the flair, the fun. No one at the track had a problem with this guy; they understood he is everything the sport needs to recover from an era of extreme doping. The Lightning Bolt made people care about track again, something that seemed impossible two weeks ago. “I don’t feel like he’s being disrespectful,” American Shawn Crawford told the Associated Press. “He deserves to dance.” Apparently, Rogge would prefer 12-year-old gymnasts too frightened to crack a smile. It got better when, in the same press conference, he pretended to forget all the lies China told him to get this bid, all the troubles, all the challenges, and praised the host nation. Yes, these have been an exceptionally well-run Games from a tactical standpoint, and the Chinese people have displayed otherworldly kindness. None of which denies the promises broken, the innocent jailed, the freedoms denied — the kind of issues someone with Jacques Rogge’s standing should be talking about. He has no spine for that. Not for China. Not for any big country. He had to criticize someone, he had to make headlines, he had to show he was a tough guy. So who better than someone from somewhere that can’t ever touch him back? Yes, Usain Bolt is the problem of the Olympics. He’s the embarrassment. He’s the one who needs to learn. Sure, Jacques, sure.

It's about time. I don't get this comment. Hasn't U.S. track traditionally done very well? For several Olympics the 4 X 100 relay teams have been ragged. The days when the U. S. could just throw their 4 fastest runners together, without regard to these 4 practicing together as a team and still dominating the event, are over. The men's 4 X 1 relay team has won only twice in the last 24 years. The women haven't won the 4 X 1 since 1996. Despite, usually, dominating the individual sprints, poor execution has caused defeats in the men's and women's 4 X 100 relays which require more coordination than the slower 4 X 400 relays. See this: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug...p&type=lgns Okay, then, I see your point. Show's you how much I follow T&F.

Now this is an interesting point and one that I've been thinking about a lot lately. It does seem that the music itself has less and less intrinsic value, and the true value is (or maybe it's always been that way) in the medium itself: the vinyl record, the compact disc, the stuff that, especially when rare or oop, people pay big bucks for. Now that medium is the digital file, which, infinitely duplicatable, has no "real" value like a physical object.

Please, let's not give McCain any ideas for his next commercial!

It's about time. I don't get this comment. Hasn't U.S. track traditionally done very well?

I think it's just to get a rise out of Chuck.

I think the discrepency comes from the way the questions are worded. The either/or seems to be CDs vs. oop LPs rather than in-print vs. oop "anything."

Indeed. Trends are already apparent.

Actually I doubt these are at all remastered, but I'd welcome an RVG interpretation of the Jarret's etc. (I'm a fan of RVG's Prestige, Blue Note and Impulse remasterings). Hey Lon - didn't mean to knock Rudy's mastering style so much as the wildly different "house sound" between ECM and BN/Prestige/etc. Mastering aside, I wish Rudy had recorded some of those ECMs - there's no doubt I'd probably like them more.

It's almost impossible to believe this could happen once, much less twice in the same day. And it wasn't just the U.S. The Brits, gold medalists four years ago, managed to pass the baton outside the legal exchange area in their 4x100 relay heat and got themselves DQ'ed. Maybe this is a lot harder than it looks and maybe the weather was a factor, but I can't believe that athletes at this level can't successfully execute a baton pass. Up over and out. I grew up in a time & place when you couldn't do school sports & school band at the same time, but I was recruited for track by the high school coaches (believe it or not, I used to be long, lanky, and sure of stride) & actually got a little (very little) track training in the process. Wjhat I learned about baton passing is simple to explain, but harder to do. Still, it's the fundamentals & I didn't see it last night. Pacing - you leave your spot in such a way that puts you in rhythm with the unner coming up on you. And from behind, you put yourself into a rhythm with the runner in front of you. Handoff - from behind, you stick it in the hand of the runner in front of you. You don't just "drop it off", you put it there. And when receiving, you don't make the runner behind you guess or otherwise have to work at finding you and your hand, You provide a target, and a target that is ready for the baton (the woman last night had the target, but her hand was flat - basic error right there...). And when you get it, you grip it and pull it (I know, this is getting kinda sexual and shit, but there's no other way to describe it). You let the runner behind you know that you've got it and that they can safely let go. The women, yeah, there was just not a proper target there, and the baton never got stuck. The men, hey, that was a big mess. The pacing was off, and the baton was dropped before ever being in the front runner's hand, probably a result of frustration at the screwed up pacing. Not a pretty sight... Maybe my training was ultra-rudimental and now old-fashioned (like pre-Fosbury high jumping), but still... I give spiritual props to Lauryn Williams, however, for going back to pick up the baton and finish the race. For some, that might be a meaningless gesture, but to me, it spoke to personal pride and self-respect in the face of an occurrence that could easily have wiped out same. The fact that she at least won that one is to her credit, I think, and speaks well as to her inner character. Can't you just stop, pick up the baton, and keep running?

I'll add only a couple quick thoughts: Choices lack "sometimes" and "it depends" options. For me it's also not so much a matter of in print or oop, but accessibility factors. I have been known to download a digital copy of something I already own on either LP just to have a convenient digital copy of it. The percentages are gonna be hard to make sense out of since one can vote multiple choices or none at all.

Yeah, I believe they asked her and she said "sixteen."

Not specifically a track - there are two of 'em - but a tune: Enrico Pieranunzi's "The Kingdom (Where Nobody Dies)." Man is this beautiful! Found two versions on Emusic today: one by Mads Vinding's trio (with Enrico) and another with strings on Enrico's "Les Amants" album.

I tend to agree, though not necessarily re: Weber. It's a curious bunch of reissues as most of these were available until only recently. I'd much rather see some of the unreleased on CD (at least domestically) Beirach and Abrecrombie sides, as well as the Robin Kenyata (for example). And if you are going to re-release oop items, why not start with the Mal Waldrons?

Some recommendations, based on my tastes and what I've heard over the years. I used to really like the "ECM sound," but have grown less fond of it over the years, so take some of these recs with a grain of salt. The other thing, too, is that ECM LPs can often be had very cheaply and the vinyl quality is often very good. But good vinyl is essential since some of the music is very "sparse" and vinyl noise can really ruin the enjoyment of these albums for me. John Abercrombie/Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea Paul Bley - Open, To Love Gary Burton with Pat Metheny - Dreams So Real Chick Corea / Miroslav Vitous / Roy Haynes -Trio Music, Live In Europe Jack DeJohnette - Special Edition Keith Jarrett - Facing You Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette - Standards Live Kenny Wheeler - Gnu High John Abercrombie / Dave Holland / Jack DeJohnette - Gateway Bill Frisell - Rambler Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette - Bye Bye Blackbird Charles Lloyd - The Call Pat Metheny - New Chautauqua Paul Motian - Conception Vessel Ralph Towner - Batik Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Full Force Lester Bowie - The Great Pretender Pat Metheny Group - First Circle

I'm just glad they aren't RVG remasters!

Do I detect a new marketing campaign? "Nessa Records: It will make your 10-year old cry"

They should hold the Olympics in China every year (and I mean year!) - it would bankrupt them back to a more manageable state.

You'll probably get shit for posting here, but being a huge Waits fan this is interesting to me. When will this be released, and on what label?

Not that I can stand more than a few seconds of it though...

I actually like that clip. For an artist I despise as much as her, at least it shows a sense of humor.

Besides virus protection, do you have spyware blockers on your computer? I like to use two free programs: spywareblaster (which blocks most spyware) and Spybot Search and Destroy (which can be run to find and remove spyware and malware from your system). I also use ad-aware. It may seem redundant, but they each find things that others won't find. You should download them and run them occassionally. You might be surprised what you'll find. Additionally, it could be a java problem, if it somehow got corrupted. You might try the java site and either reinstall Java or update it. Are any other websites acting "weird?"

I'd never heard of her before, but hurdler Lolo Jones is also pretty easy on the eyes. Tough break for her tonight.

I remember when I thought about trying to achieve my maximized physical potential. I was seven. It didn't take.