I went running after work yesterday. As I approached a Hometown Buffet I noticed two guys pushing each other in the parking lot, then punches were thrown, and soon both of them where on the ground and scrambling around the parked cars.
It was a bit surreal, actually. I wondered if they were arguing about who was going to pay for dinner? Regardless, I kept right on running. Half a mile later two cop cars sped passed me with sirens blaring, and I knew exactly where they were headed.
I think instead of fighting they should have settled their differences on the Pop-A-Shot court:
“That’s embarrassing,” said the referee, just before having his ball cap batted down by Kobe. Heh…
Oh, and in case you hadn’t noticed, take a look at the new soccer ball button on YouTube:
The more more I watch this the more mesmerized and terrified I become.
The fact that this guy not only had to plunge to a depth of 663 feet, he also as to ascend back up to the surface, on one gulp of air.
Or so we’re led to believe.
Taking a look at the Wiki for Dean’s Blue Hole, I don’t see Mr. Nery mentioned. Regardless, this is still an excellent video, and it does packs a punch if you suspend your disbelief for a few minutes.
Doing a bit of digging, I found out that the American record for freediving is currently at 293 feet, and was set while diving at Dean’s Blue Hole. A couple of other freediving records have also been set at this same location.
As beautiful as this video is, freediving remains an extremely dangerous sport, with 100 people on average dying each year while attempting to complete extremely deep dives. This is on par with the number of people dying from fire ant bites (100!) and chickenpox (90) each year. Heck, with roughly 30 people dying each year from skydiving incidents, freediving doesn’t seem like a very safe alternative.
Apparently, every two years the Olympics hosts the worlds largest orgy. At least, that how I interpreted this Today article which details the sexual prowess and habits of the worlds finest athletes. These genetically superior examples of humanity seem to have more than Olympic gold on their collective minds:
Inevitably, some athletes get beyond flirting. That’s why the Vancouver organizers have laid in a stock of 100,000 condoms, which works out to 14 for each of the 7,000 athletes, coaches, trainers and officials housed in the Games’ two villages.
And these aren’t your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, generic, family planning condoms either:
The U.S. Curling Association has gone a step further: In partnership with Kodiak Technology Group, they have introduced the Hurry Hard condom, named for a phrase curlers chant to get their teammates to sweep the ice faster.
According to the article, organizers of the Sydney 2000 games made available 70,000 condoms, but that wasn’t enough. They were forced to place an emergency order for another 20,000 condoms to fulfill demand. Now…that’s the true meaning of “Olympic spirit”.
UPDATE: It seems that 100,000 condoms was not enough for this winter Olympics session. An emergency order of 8,500 condoms is now it the way to the athletic village. Those crazy kids…
A friend and I were talking about the Olympics when he made the statement, “I see a lot of negative aspects and nothing positive about it.” His take was that the winter Olympics was nothing more than a bunch of rich kids getting together to do what they do every weekend anyway. He also made the statement that the summer Olympics are nothing more than, “economically-challenged kids, all they need is shoes and the ability to haul ass and jump high.”
Needless to say I was taken aback by these insights.
I asked him if he considered spirited competition, patriotism, sportsmanship, and the sharing of cultures to be a bad thing. I continued to prod, asking him if he thought that years of practice, dedication and sacrifice, all for the chance to represent your country on a worldwide stage for a few fleeting moments was pointless. I told him that the Olympics presented a rare opportunity in this world for everyone to put aside their differences and to come together to witness athletes at the peak of their training, to watch greatness on a level that’s otherwise alien to everyone save for an infinitesimally small percentage of mankind.
To me, the Olympics bridges languages and borders, knocks down walls of political adversity, and brings people together for a common cause, if for nothing more than a uniquely brief period of time.
I asked my friend what he thought of this. His answer was to roll his eyes and reach for another beer.
My reply to this non-verbal communication was to have him pay for the round.
I hope you’re enjoying the Olympics as much as I am. Shame about our Curling team being out of the running. But I’m sure they’d rather be knocked out of medal contention than suffer a gate to the groin:
