Did you watch the opening ceremonies? China did a wonderful job of displaying their culture and heritage and making it entertaining.
I was intrigued by so many things. Each presentation was more awe inspiring than the previous one. The running man (former gymnast, Li Ning) was so cool. I wonder how long he trained so that it looked so smooth?
The entertainment is fine, but I think my favorite part was and always will be the parade of nations. I can’t help but get a tear in my eye for the country that sends one athlete or a repressive nation that is allowing it’s women to compete.
Perhaps the most touching moment of the night was when the little school boy joined Yao Ming as flag bearer. That boy survived the devastating earthquake this year. He was in one of the schools that collapsed. He saved two class mates because he was a hall monitor and “that’s what hall monitors do”. Yang Ming was big, but the little boy had a bigger heart.
Now it’s off to competition. Hopefully, we’ll see some wonderful displays of athleticism and sportsmanship (sportswomanship, too!) the next two weeks.
The mother of 6 children kidnapped them from their father’s home Tuesday at about 11pm in San Leandro, California. She was having her regular, supervised visit with the kids. The father left the room for a couple of minutes. When he returned mother, children, and his friend’s van was gone.
Three of the children were diabetic and at least one needed insulin. There was a delay in issuing an Amber Alert because the owner of the van could not be found so they didn’t have a license plate number to go with the van.
By Wednesday lunchtime, the children had been found. Thanks to the Amber Alert system, a couple identified the van at a local shopping center and notified the police. They also took the precaution of blocking the van in with their car so she couldn’t get away.
The couple said they had never paid attention to an Amber Alert before. For whatever reason, the woman wrote the information down.
These good samaritans helped avert a tragedy and made one father very grateful.
X Games fans were not cheated in the big air skateboard competition last Thursday. Some of the biggees of the sport were there Burnquist, MacDonald, Brown, and the King of mega ramp, Danny Way.
In case you didn’t see it, Danny Way showed just why he is the King of the sport. In his first run of the competition, he crashed into the top of the ramp and went cascading to the bottom. He lay there for several minutes completely out of it. Then he was helped to his feet in what everyone figured was the end of XGames for Danny Way.
As they tried to get him on the stretcher, he pushed everyone away. Against doctor’s orders, he made his way back up to the top of the ramp. Who knows how many bones he broke in the fall? And, then he landed the perfect trick. Then he did it again. He was obviously in pain.
The guy must be made of steel and has more perseverence than us normal humans. Heck, I’ve fallen off the edge of the couch and been out for the rest of the day. People like Danny Way make the rest of us look back. Thank God! We all need someone to look up to.
By the way, Danny Way ended up in 2nd. Bob Burnquist the kind of spectacular falls came in first. Jake Brown who hurt himself pretty good last year came in 3rd.
