Random picture - 2020 Olympics

Source: 13 Amazing Photos You Missed This Week

2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland

Random picture - Tour de France

Source: Tour de France 101st edition (The Big Picture) Go there for the full picture, and many more...

Random picture - World Cup

Source: Twitter - Jérôme Valcke

Random pictures - medals

Source: About Medals - Sochi 2014 Olympics

"The basis for the design of the medals is the main Sochi 2014 brand concept - the contrasts of our incredible country in which Europe meets Asia, pristine nature and megacities coexist, and innovation blends with a rich cultural heritage. The sun's golden rays deflected through a prism of snowy mountain tops and the warm sea and frosty ice living side-by-side are embodied in the medals. These contrasts in Russia's natural landscape will be an eternal souvenir for the champions and will be a reminder of the unforgettable Games in Sochi.

The medals of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games have been given a bright and original design. The medals have been engraved with the signature "Patchwork Quilt" of the Games - a mosaic of national designs from the various cultures and ethnicities of the Russian Federation. The unusual combination of glass and metal gives the artifact a lightness and unique beauty."

Random charts - Olympic coverage

Source: A Gender Analysis of NBC’s Coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics (17-page PDF)

Some findings: "... for female athletes to garner media coverage, they must be involved in socially acceptable individual sports and/or sports that highlight body type. Women who take part in sports that involve either power or hard body contact are particularly unlikely to receive media coverage.When women engage in stereotypically feminine events, or look pretty or graceful, they will receive coverage, but risk being shunned if they venture from that space...

More recently, beach volleyball has come to prominence, beginning in 2004. While there is no doubt of the athletic prowess of the gold medal-winning American women’s team, it is curious that while men’s volleyball coverage was split nearly equally between beach and court volleyball, women’s court volleyball received no coverage, despite the fact that those athletes won a silver medal...

more noteworthy than the amount of coverage is what is covered. Even today, it seems that women are accepted as athletes only if they continue to look and act as women are expected to look and act..."

Random picture - The Tour

Source: Tour de France 2012: part one at The Big Picture - go there for the full picture and many more...

STFU!

This blogger finds the announcers at the Vancouver Olympics (Bob Costas and crew) intensely annoying... and no more so than their coverage of the mens' skiing, and Bode Miller. A favorite in Torino (2006) Miller struck out and did not medal.

OK, no biggie! However, he apparently he committed the sin of not showing sufficient contrition for his "failure." So, although he was risking life and limb hurtling down the course while we (his U.S. fans) were sitting with our fat asses firmly ensconced in our Lazy-Boy's stuffing our faces with snacks, Miller did not apologize for 'letting us down.'

Costas and crew kept harping on this ad nauseum... What B.S! STFU!

The margin

Sometimes the margin between hero and/or goat is extremely narrow... Recover the onside kick, score, and win... hero. Fail to recover the onside kick and lose... goat. SB XLIV Can't-Miss Play: Saints' surprise.

All hail!

Picture credit: Wikimedia Commons

All hail, Mariusz Pudzianowski... the only five-time winner of "The World Strongest Man" title (2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2008), rugby player, member in his own band, karate green belt, boxer, and now mixed martial arts fighter...

Mariusz Pudzianowski (Wikipedia)
Mariusz Pudzianowski (official site in Polish)
While you nurse your New Year hangover, the World's Strongest Man will be busy lifting cars