No lobs allowed

What In The Heck Is Going On

Spain is making this game way, way too close. We're talking four points midway through the third quarter and Team USA just has not looked good since halftime.

They will still win. I am like 99.9 percent sure of this.

I am not sure if I will make it. My seat has to be classified as undesirable. It is not the location or view. Both of which are fine. It is that I somehow am sitting between Typhoid Marty and The Marlboro Man. The one dude is coughing up a lung so I am trying to stay away from his fume path. But on my other side, there is a legit danger of getting lung cancer from the second-hand smoke clinging to his clothes. Seriously, the guy must have smoked at least a pack during halftime.

Oh yeah, did I mention smoker man is cheering for Spain. In a press area.

My silver lining is David Beckham is here and they keep showing him on the JumboTron.

jengel

Bring On The Crazy

For any of y'all staying up until 2:30 a.m. and beyond to watch Dream Team 4.0 return basketball gold to where it belongs, I am here with you and for you.

I am staying up,too.

Yes, it is almost 2 here and I could be sleeping, taking a much needed midday nap after my 4 a.m. bed time last night. But I care, so I am here. Well, that and I really wanted to see this game. I know I am in a minority but I love having pros in the Olympics. They are our best, so why shouldn't we be able to send them?

Keep caffeinated,

jengel

Write on

At the Olympics, there is this thing called the "mix zone." That sounds about right. Hundreds, or in the case of track thousands, of reporters gathered at a fenced off area of the arena where athletes are required to come through on their way to their locker rooms. It does not mean they are required to talk.

It is crowded, loud, usually hot, sometimes stinky and way uncomfortable. When Tyson Gay failed to qualify in the 100, I was trapped against the fence with 20-30 people behind me. I had visions of being pushed, and the fence coming down and me ending up on the bottom of a dog pile.

I tell you this, because being in the mix zone always leaves its mark. On your shirt, on your arms and on your back. Every night we come in, we check for pen marks. They are everywhere, because with so many journalists jammed in one area, it's unavoidable.

Hoping Shout can save my shirts,

Charean

God, I Love Australians

Australia is truly one of my favorite places. I love Sydney. I love Bondi Beach. I love Aussie accents. I love how fun and friendly and adventurous Aussies tend to be. Mostly, I love how Australians always seem to be having a good time.

I was reminded of this Saturday ... when an empty wine bottle went rolling down the stairs of the press area during the third quarter of Team USA's gold medal basketball game.

It was really loud so, of course, everybody turned around to see who smuggled the wine in and discovered a contingent of Australian press? Or fans with press badges? looking only slightly shame-faced.

I had a moment where I thought "no way" since each had at least two draft beers in front of them and who chases wine with beer? Apparently them. Because when a dutiful Chinese volunteer fetched said bottle, it was delivered to that row.

Hoping to find a column with an Australian paper,

jengel 

 

Speaking of shoes

Adidas has a display of Jeremy Wariner's outfits, a different one of which he wore for every race. The USOC won't dictate what shoes a runner wears in his event, only his uniform. (They do insist that the athletes were USOC-issued Nikes to the medal ceremony.) So Wariner, who has a contract with adidas, has his own line of Lone Star spikes as well as a sunglasses line. In the 400-meter final, the Arlington Lamar grad wore chrome-colored shoes and sunglasses to match. It came two days after he wore red shoes and sunglasses in the semis.

Mixing and matching the clean clothes I have left,

Charean

Wrapped in the flag

By now, you've surely seen athletes grabbing the flag of their country and wrapping themselves in it after winning a medal. It's an act of patriotism, right? Well, yes and no. The USOC, for instance, has a deal with Nike. Many athletes have their own deals, and a lot of them with companies other than Nike. They're required by the USOC to wear the official USA team uniform, bearing the Nike swoosh, at the Olympics. But if they're with adidas or another company, and they medal, they quickly will grab the flag to cover up the swoosh. Some also will take a fine from the USOC for wearing shoes other than their USOC-issued Nikes to the medal ceremony. Guess who pays that fine? It's not the athlete.

Mizuno makes the jeresys the USA volleyball teams wear, but for the medal ceremonies, the players donned their Nike warmups. Swimmers have their choice of swimsuit, which as you probably know, was almost always Speedo's LZR.

So just remember when you see an athlete grabbing the flag, it is love of country... and of money.

Charean

Suits me

And men like to rip women for shopping? All the men here have been buzzing about their new custom-made suits. Our friend, Bob, the computer expert, went yesterday to get measured. He got two custom-made suits and two shirts for under $500 American. He was as excited as a girl would be over a pair of new shoes at a bargain price. The tailor promised to have them ready in two days.

Getting fitted to come home,

Charean

 

I Told Y'all These People Are Crazy

Just opened a dispatch from the Star-Telegram's Fort Worth Olympic bureau or, in plain English an email from big boss Celeste, and learned that it was not just me.

Taekwondo is indeed insane.

A taekwondo-er from Cuba actually "kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification" according to the AP story. I am pretty sure this violates the non-protest agreement signed in Korea. Of course, this being taekwondo who knows.

How would you like to be the daily beat writer covering this sport?

Between impossible to follow scoring, inane leadership, a few obviously crazy athletes and constant allegations by many involved that matches are fixed, they would be four-inch-headline news daily.

Not surprisingly, I found no quotes from World Taekwondo Federation secretary general. Again. He has the best job in the world, twiddle his thumbs while Rome burns. Of course, by writing this, I may be chased onto a bus again by the pr guy.

Happily assured that Tamika Catchings is not going to kick anybody in the face at tonight's gold-medal game,

jengel

Join Jen on a trip to Starbucks

Pick-up Game Anybody?

Go to a park, any park, really any public square in Beijing, and you can find yourself a game of table tennis or ping pong as I know it. Chinese people of all ages are lined up, waiting for a game.

Charean and I have contemplated joining one of these lines 457 times but have been held back by:

1. We do not know how to play.

2. We do not speak Chinese thereby asking for short, just-for-fun game.

3. They have the look of one of those pickup basketball games back in the states, for the real players, where they do not really want to humor the tourists.

Waiting for Spike Lee to come out with White Women Can't Ping Pong,

jengel

Does Fort Worth Need A Better Park?

If you do enough travel across this great planet of ours, you see a lot of beautiful things. Churches. Museums. Buildings. And parks. It seems almost every big-time city I have been to (London, Paris, New York, Berlin and now Beijing) has a gorgeous public park.

And let me tell you, nobody will accuse Beijing of being anti-development. Or of being tree huggers.

Yet amid this concrete jungle chaos, Beijing has many beautiful parks with lily ponds and quiet green spaces and places to tai chi (which I am bummed I was never able to try, a cab problem derailing my best chance). They are huge, too, with restaurants on the edges and beautiful architecture in between and it got me to thinking, scary I know:

Does Fort Worth have such a place?

I have been gone seemingly forever but I can not think of one. Even my favorite trail has been de-greened lately. So this has me thinking that maybe a few of my tax dollars and certainly a portion of my hefty property tax bill should go towards creating a better, almost Central Park-ish Park.

Tapping Bob Ray to get this going,

jengel

Please, Please, Please Help A Sister Out

So the Cowboys are playing the only preseason game that they even remotely pretend to care about and I hate that I can not watch it. I will be sleeping or just getting up or something and I would love to have a couple of comments from you, dear blog readers, about what happened.

Your opinions. Your insights.

How was Pacman as a starter? Brad Johnson=trustworthy? Are you worried? I mean not worried. It is the preseason and, honestly, reading all of this panic has been amusing. Way too much overreaction. I guess I want to know if you feel OK after what you see.

And just in case anybody doubts this whole America's Team thing or the Cowboys world-wide appeal, when we were at the Silk Market, we saw a dude wearing a Dexter Coakley jersey.

Wishing I had a TV,

jengel

Kang And Me

I have had a lot of strange experiences covering sports, listening to Edmonton Oiler players in that tiny, cramped Reunion locker room play along with Jerry Springer episodes, my QCar locker room throw down and countless spin jobs from PR types.

I have never experienced anything like Friday.

The World Taekwondo Federation pr guy followed me onto the media bus asking me to be fair with the sport and trying to set up an interview between myself and the WTF secretary general. I hate to tell him but the people who he needs to be spinning is the Lopez Family. They are about the only reason anybody in America knows about taekwondo and they are upset because of questionable refereeing.

Kang was persistent, though. He deserves credit for trying.

jengel

Adventures In Bus Riding

This has been a crazy, busy couple of days with a lot of 4 and 5 a.m. bedtimes. And Thursday, Charean and I were preparing to take a bus back to our media village at about 4:30 a.m.

One problem. Our bus was dark.

There was just one man sleeping in a seat in like the fourth row. We were trying to figure out if this was the driver and, if so, if there were any cabs available. You know they say never to drive tired or to drive with anybody who is. And this guy looked zombie-esque.

We had just about decided to walk when the bus driver came bounding up, flipped on the lights and invited us aboard. He then proceeded to go 100 mph to our media village, blowing through two red lights along the way.

The best part? The sleeping guy never woke up.

Looking so forward to driving my little 1997 Honda Civic upon arrival,

jengel

Sick of us

I've noticed that the Chinese are now as sick of us as we are of them. It used to be when we came back into our Q block at the Village, we had a door greeter and three or four people behind the desk who greeted us. They always were friendly, addressing us either in Mandarin -- Ni hao, which is hello -- or in English.

The door greeter disappeared a few days ago, and the young people behind the desk seem a lot less enthusiastic about our arrival "home." In fact, there was only one young man behind the desk this morning.

I think they want us home as much as we want to go home.

Trying to figure out how to say good-bye in Mandarin,

Charean

Is it real, or is it a knockoff?

"Lady, please." "Lady need silk pajamas?" "Lady! Lady! Need jeans?" We were grabbed by the arm and yelled at during our trip to the Silk Market yesterday.

Although we did buy some silk, the six floors at the Silk Market offer a lot of everything for cheap. Nintendo Wii systems, Apple iphones, Tommy Bahama shirts, Polo shirts, Dooney purses. None of them are real. Bob, our computer expert, talked some teenage girls from Maryland out of buying a fake iphone for $100.

Everything is negotiable.

I didn't buy much, other than silk. (I hope it's real. It worried me when the lady kept saying, "Pure silk.") Bob and Jen really got into it. The funniest thing is Jen bought a fake Tag watch for 120 RMB ($15). A day later, her fake Tag still is working. My real Seiko has stopped working.

Looking for a bargain watch,

Charean

Shop 'til you drop!

Catching up with Sanya

JFlo To JLo: Shut Your Trap

I have a laundry list of reasons that I have never been a huge JLo fan.

1. Her movies tend to be awful. As in really bad. And she almost almost single-handedly destroyed Ben Affleck's acting career, not that he had Jack or Paul Newman potential but still.

2. Her husband kind of freaks me out. I do not know why. He just looks weird to me.

Now I have another reason to dislike JLo. She is bagging on The Man, Michael Phelps. This has become somewhat of a trend lately, with media and everybody downplaying his accomplishments for some strange reason. But JLo thinking people care more about her triathlon training than Phelps is just crazy talk.

jengel

Good luck, Jeremy

I rode the bus back from beach volleyball with NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth this morning. We started out talking football and how hard it is keep up over here. He likes the Cowboys, thinks they're loaded, but concedes Tony Romo will have to get over his late-season blahs and win a playoff game. If it's not the Patriots in the AFC, he likes the Chargers.

Then, we started talking about track. Collinsworth said he has been at National Stadium every night. He asked if I -- being from Dallas-Fort Worth -- knew Jeremy Wariner. I said I did. He predicts a world record for Jeremy tomorrow night. As we were getting off the bus back at the Media Center, Cris offered his good wishes to Jeremy, "Tell him I wish him the best of luck."

Turning my own corner at the Olympics,

Charean

Keeping the weight off

I was sent to Beijing with a list of souvenirs I am supposed to bring back home with me. The one problem I have found is: They don't have large sizes here, nothing usually larger than a large. No Xs or XXs or XXXs. That got me thinking: No one here is overweight. JFlo and I did see a slightly overweight Chinese child. We think he has been eating too much McDonald's.

I have my theories about why the Chinese are so thin:

1. They walk. A LOT. Americans fight for the closest parking spot.

2. They eat with chopsticks. I still haven't mastered chopsticks, so if I used them, I wouldn't be eating much either. I'm the ugly American who asks for a fork if they don't offer one. I mean, really, how much rice can you pick up with chopsticks?

3. Rice. They eat a lot of it. It's filling.

4. They serve fish with the head still on. How appetizing is this?

5. They don't eat desert. You can't find desert on menus here. Well, other than the hot apple pies and the yogurt parfaits at McDonald's.

6. The Chinese tradition of leaving food on the plate. We were told one of the Chinese table manners is to not eat everything that's served. They find it embarrassing if all the food is consumed. It means you didn't get enough to eat.

All I can say is I'm ready for some Joe T's, Freebirds World Burrito and good ol' American home cooking.

Eating my way through China,

Charean

Lost In Translation

Disclaimer: Every single person in China speaks way better English than I do Chinese. They do this by simply trying to speak English. My Chinese consists of "ni hao" and "zhiazhia". I do not attempt anything beyond this.

That said, Chinese-English translation often produces funny results.

C-dub (who is busy typing away to bring you a Sanya Richards story and thereby passing blog-worthy items to me) discovered this sign posted downstairs at the National Stadium.

"A dark blue cap with label Beijing 2008 was found in press workroom 2. The loser could come to help desk of press workroom 1 to get it."

Wow, loser seems rather harsh. My favorite sign, though, pertains to water.

"The water in the refrigerator is free for you. In case of confusion, every bottle is marked with a unique label. You can also design the label by yourselves."

I have absolutely no idea what this means. But I am pretty sure the loser can go pick up his bottle in workroom 1. 

My name is Jennifer Floyd Engel and I approve this blog,

jengel

Speaking Of Cap Tips

I have seen a lot of impressive in this Games. All varieties, too.

Watching Roqaya Al-Gassara of Bahrain run and qualify for the finals in the 200 meters on Tuesday certainly joins that list. I do not know Al-Gassara's story. Nor did she speak English or seem keen on stopping and talking anyway. What I know is that she ran covered from head to toe with a custom-fitted veil, for what has been reported as religious reasons, in a race where all of her competitors were wearing what amounts to bathing suits.

She won anyway. She ran a personal best anyway. She qualified for the final anyway.

Your very impressed correspondent,

jengel 

Cleaning Out My Basketball Notebook: The Dirk Edition

Dirk looked a little conflicted Monday, after Team USA drubbed Germany to end his Olympics.

Obviously, Nowitzki understands that simply being in Beijing was a gigantic accomplishment for Germany. He almost single-handedly helped this happen by his diligence and dedication, not to mention his recruitment of Chris Kaman.

What Dirk battles is his competitiveness. This is not a moral victory kind of guy. He had hoped for a better showing, for his team and for himself. What he determined was just qualifying had drained him.

"It's kind of tough," he told us after Monday's loss. "Once you make your dream, I was kind of on a down afterwards. I thought I was going to celebrate and I was actually quite exhausted, mentally and physically and emotionally. So it was kind of tough to get up here for games and play well and stay focused here."

He admits, though, that is a small downer on what has been an amazing experience for him. Dirk embraced this Olympics, living in the village and hanging with his fellow German athletes and going to all sorts of events.

He plans to stay for a couple of days, hike the wall, cheer on Team Germany and just basically soak a little more from this experience before prepping for Mavs season. Which brings me to the weird portion of the interview. I used the quote in my column but ...

When Dirk said "Hopefully, we can be a little more competitive" it made me nervous.

I am thinking he was just tired and it was phrased poorly. Dirk being Dirk always gets the benefit of the doubt. But I was hoping for a little more than hope. I was hoping for a "we're going to kick butt without Avery". And it reminded me of JKidd talking at Team USA media day back when this Olympics began. He tempered his Mavs excitement with talk of how good the West is going to be. Hopefully, they are just sandbagging.

Right now, though, the only thing to do is tip our caps to Dirk and say congrats,

jengel

Only In China

In what has to be one of the stranger twists of this Games, shopping has proven to be difficult in Beijing, especially for Olympic souvenirs.

We want to give them money and they make it incredibly impossible.

Crowded stores. Limited sizes. Not enough stores. We have encountered every problem. Or we had until Tuesday. We had stumbled upon The Greatest Olympic Store In China. It was in walking distance. It was not crowded. There was every size imaginable. We figured there had to be a catch and, well, there was one.

You can not just pick up the items and carry them to the counter. That would be too easy. This is what happens:

1. You pick what item you want.

2. A Chinese helper then takes them and writes down what you want on a piece of paper in triplicate. You do not get the items back. You do this in each area of the store and there are a lot of them.

3. Once you have finished your shopping, you take all your slips of paper to the checkout counter where he adds them up and you pay.

4. Here is the kicker. After this, you then return to every section of the store where you purchased items and pick them up. This takes a while.

So, yes, my dear friends, family and coworkers I bought you souvenirs. It just took me a really, really long time to do so.

Glad to be an American who does most of my purchasing in America,

jengel

Objects On Map Appear Closer Than They Actually Are

I had this great plan to go and cover water polo on Tuesday.

Sounded fun. Close enough to walk. Plenty of time to get back to cover track this evening.

So Charean and I started out walking at 2:50. And we walked. And walked. And walked. What looked to be a 15-minute walk on the map turned into a winding maze, with every volunteer seeming to say turn here and it's right around the corner. We turned. It was never quite right there.

It was an hour later when we finally arrived. We got to see exactly none of the match, do zero interviews and actually missed the entire event which is too bad because it sounded like a good game with the U.S. winning 9-8. We stayed and watched Netherlands-Hungary, which was definitely interesting.

Quick thoughts:

* Did you know there is no time between goals? They just start hauling butt to the other end of the pool.

* They have a hockey-esque penalty box. But they have to tread water the entire time they are in it.

* Halftime is only five minutes. They barely are able to get out of the pool, much less rest. And these are actually called exclusions.

Pretty sure they are the fittest athletes in Beijing,

jengel

ps. We have a correction to our video blog from women's water polo. Charean told me to mention they had not been this far since 1992. One problem, this is not true. We Charean regrets this error.

Row, row, row your boat

Congrats to Josh Inman, who won a bronze medal in eight-man rowing. Inman's grandparents lived in West, Texas. I know this because his grandmother's sister lived near my grandmother out in the country. It's a small world.

Inman got his mechanical engineering degree from Oregon State, but rowing is his full-time job.

Rowing on,

Charean

Food for shoes

While Jennifer was covering the U.S. thumping of Dirk and his Germany pals, I went with Bob to a place called the Pink Loft. Bob, you might recall in previous posts, is our computer expert. (I understand -- on threats from his sisters -- I am not allowed to call him computer "geek" anymore.)

It was the best meal we've had since we've been here. It was Thai and great Thai food. I could live on the pineapple fried rice with shrimp. It was served in a pineapple. Cute! And tasty! The place was recommended by Michelle Kaufman, a reporter for the Miami Herald. We owe Michelle. We also had pork ribs and spicy cashew chicken and spring rolls. We ended our meal with a banana split. JFlo has yet to learn what she has missed.

The one good tidbit I got over dinner was that Bob is a girl. (Please, Bob's sisters, don't come after me.) He brought six pairs of shoes. I think that's more than JFlo brought, which is really saying something. The funny thing is: All Bob has worn are his tennis shoes. I have no idea where he thought he would be wearing dress shoes. It wouldn't be comfortable to walk a mile in his dress shoes that's for sure. All of us have blisters and have given up on wearing anything but tennis shoes.

Walking a mile in my own shoes,

Charean

Jeremy's Folks

I visited Danny and Linda Wariner, Jeremy's parents, in their suite at the Bird's Nest on Monday. They had 16 in the sweet suite for Jeremy's qualifying run, including former Arlington Lamar track coach Mike Nelson who uncovered Jeremy's talent.

The Wariners have been and will be sight seeing, sandwiched between track and field. Having read our blog about how nice and helpful the Chinese folks are trying to be, they told me a story from today about Loretta Tolley -- Linda's sister -- leaving her wallet in a cab. She quickly realized it as the cab was leaving. They yelled for someone who spoke English to help them, and Happy larry Ju, a travel consultant and guide, came to their rescue. Linda Wariner said Happy spent 30 minutes trying to find the cab to find the wallet. He found the cab, but the cab driver said the wallet was gone. Happy, though, is going to get a signed Jeremy Wariner photo for his trouble.

Just be (like) Happy,

Charean

Greatest ever?

J-Flo obviously didn't read my post on the "greatest ever" correctly, or she chose to read what she wanted to read. Usually, this is just reserved for Mac. I said in my post that Usain Bolt's record run was the greatest thing I had seen in person. I saw only one of Phelps' swims in person, and it hardly fell under the "greatest ever." It wasn't Lezak saving Phelps' butt, or Phelps cheating to win. Calm down. I'm just kidding, Jen.

I still have several sporting events on my 1,000 things to do before I die list. The Master's is right up there, along with the U.S. (Tennis) Open and the Rose Bowl. (I have been to Wimbledon.)

Just wondering what the greatest sporting event you've seen in person or the event you'd most like to go to in person.... Let us know.

Messing with Jen,

Charean

It's all Chinese to me

Nee-how. That's Chinese for hello. (Obviously, I can't spell it in Chinese.) I must be saying it correctly, because today I had a Chinese volunteer start speaking back to me in Mandarin. I said, "No Chinese. Only Nee-how and See-uh see-uh (thank you)." She said, in English, "[I] understand," and laughed. It's the second time this has happened to me.

At Hooter's, I said thank you in Chinese to thank the waitress for delivering our drinks. She said to me, with a straight face, "You speak good Chinese." I told her I knew only two words. The funny thing is -- well, funny besides me speaking Chinese with my East Texas accent -- is that J-Flo took a Mandarin class to prepare for our trip. I had counted on her to lead me by the hand. She quickly gave up on even "hello" and "thank you".  I think she told you the story about when she tried to say "good night" in Chinese. The workers at the Village looked at each other, obviously trying to figure out what she was saying, before one of them checked a watch. They all nodded and told her what time it was.

I tried to learn how to say "good-bye," but it was far too complicated. So the fitness instructor in our gym -- more like a babysitter -- told me, in perfect English, "Don't worry. Everyone understands 'bye-bye.'"

So, bye-bye,

Charean

Texas: We Have A PR Problem

Not to alarm anybody but there is 1.3 billion people on this planet who apparently think every Texan wears a cowboy hat and a gun holster and who also think The Cotton-Eye Joe is good Texas country rather than say Willie, Lyle and Robert Earl.

We need an intervention.

I tried to do my part while watching beach volleyball on Monday, after The Beijing Bikini Babes do the Cotton-Eye Joe in what they believe in cowboy apparel. And, yes, I took a picture for all y'all ... well, you know who you are. My part included telling the German guy next to me that this was not Texan as well as the Chinese volunteer. Too bad they do not speak English.

Your faithful servant,

jengel 

There Is A Lesson In Here

I have eaten all sorts of silliness since arriving in China, hot pot, slimy noodles, fish with an attached head, duck, all under the guise of when in China ...

And I had stayed relatively healthy.

Until Saturday. Apparently good ol' chicken wings and fries have unsettled my stomach where donkey and scorpions and ant wine were unable to do so. I am pretty sure there is a lesson in this; one that I will forget immediately upon my arrival back into the U.S.

Missing Joe T's,

jengel

The Single Best Question Of The Day

If 1.3 billion people live in China, I am guessing 20 percent of them were at Sunday's Michael Phelps press conferences. Along with every single foreign reporter in Beijing. So let's say 200.1 million which made asking a question really, really hard.

Especially when you are short and your hand is not easily visible through 200.1 million.

So I had to rely on the work of my fellow reporters. And a guy from Finland, who I would have gotten his name if I had not had to elbow my way through waves of people to do so. did not let us down. His question went: "Michael, congratulations. The country I come from, Finland, has never won one gold medal since 1896. Am I green? Now to my question. Many swimmers here have gotten the question what they think of you. But what does Michael Phelps think of Michael Phelps."

It was really quite the genius question, leading Phelps to say "I think that is probably the first question I don't have the answer to." 

Pretty sure Finland would have a swimming medal if Jere Lehtinen started training,

jengel

Your Turn

Mostly because I am curious.

1. What is the best sporting achievement you have ever seen?

2. Do you think Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time? Greatest athlete?

Your faithful servant,

jengel

Do Not Forget To Remember

Fete-ing of Michael Phelps began in earnest Sunday morning in Beijing, with every superlative being used and a few being invented just for this purpose.

He deserves every single word. And probably 457 others.

Not to disagree with C-dub's blog. OK, I will and somewhat vehemently. What Phelps has done is The Greatest Sporting Achievement I have ever seen in person, this includes Jordan in a Bulls uniform when I lived in Chicago, Gretzky back in his Oilers days, A-Fraud, Kobe, no-hitters, Super Bowls, St. Louis Baseball Cardinal greatness. Nothing compares to Phelps.

And yet despite his greatness, none of this is possible without Jason Lezak.

He is the guy who swam the anchor leg of the 4x100 freestyle relay, the guy who came back from a full body-length deficit to catch one of the fastest swimmers in the world, the guy who saved Phelps' second gold medal, the guy who demurs when his role is mentioned.

"I did go last but it wasn't my relay. It wasn't me winning the relay. It's the whole group," Lezak said. "Some people have told me 'Michael Owes you this and that but it's not about that. I didn't go after that gold for Michael. We came together as a team and went after that gold for ourselves and our country."

Urging y'all to save a superlative for Lezak,

jengel

Left is right

I'm still trying to figure out left-hand turns here. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. When the light turns green, everyone starts going. The car turning left just ventures out in the middle, easing into oncoming traffic, or sometimes flooring it through oncoming traffic. It is always scary. They haven't quite figured out the concept of left-turn green arrows. Surprisingly, I have seen no wrecks so far, although there have been plenty of close calls.

Another weird thing is U-turns are made on red. I mean, they hardly slow down. 

I can see why this country doesn't recognize an international driver's license. They have their own rules of the road.

Thankful I'm not behind the wheel,

Charean

The Greatest of All Time?

I've seen some pretty amazing things in sports history. The first baseball game I attended in person, in 1981, Astros pitcher Nolan Ryan pitched his fifth career no-hitter. In 1986, I was at the Astrodome when Mike Scott pitched a no hitter as the Astros clinched the NL West that day. Annika Sorenstam's 2003 visit to Colonial was special. I've covered the past 14 Super Bowls, many of them thrilling, and the past four Olympics. But I'm not sure that any of them compare to what I witnessed last night. Usain Bolt's run into the history books was one of the greatest individual performances I've seen. The way he accelerated at the 50-meter mark, getting so far ahead in 30 meters that he was able to celebrate before crossing the line and still set a world record. When the other runners acknowledged what Bolt did, it simply confirmed what I had seen with my own eyes. An all-timer. One for the ages.

If you haven't seen it, get to a TV. I'm sure they're replaying it all day.

Running like crazy,

Charean

Texas Rangers Baseball: Embarrassing Fans Since Forever

A point comes in every reporter's Beijing stay when you can not handle another bite of duck, donkey, snake, scorpion or rice. It is in this moment you do what you swore you would not, you go in search of a chain restaurant, any not just any chain, something in the truly American family that serves steak and french fries, recognizable, pronounceable food stuffs.

Today was that day for us.

So we went searching for Outback Steakhouse. While not Del Frisco's or Bob's or Reata or my new personal favorite Lambert's, Outback served beef that did not need to be boiled in water (see hot pot incident) and thus sounded good.

Unfortunately, Outback had closed. Due to being located inside the soccer venue.

So we did something even more American. We went to Hooters and had hot wings, french fries and adult beverages. It was interesting to say the least, especially when all the Hooters Girls got up on the table and danced to YMCA.

What was most crazy was seeing a Rangers cap on a fellow ex-pat looking for American food.

Jordan Stitt and his parents, Carl and Glynda, are from Duncanville and in Beijing because they are "track fanatics". They have been to Shanghai, a panda bay and Tibet. Did I mention I am jealous? And now they are ready for some track.

Of course, Jordan did ask me to clarify about the hat.

"I am not a Ranger fan," he said. "This just had a Texas flag."

Finding embarrassed Ranger fans even in Beijing,

jengel

WTH?

Dear adidas,

I am confused by your business plan. What are you an airline? Or a ... better not say that?

So you spend $80 million (or whatever crazy dollar figure) to become the official Olympic partner (whatever that is) and you do not have nearly enough gear or cool gear to help recoup costs. And I know what sells. I am an expert shopper.

We went to your gigantenormous superstore in Beijing on Saturday, with credit cards ready, only to find a tiny section devoted to Olympic gear. Most sizes were gone. Selection was limited. What was available was uninspired. Why did you not have Stella McCartney help with designs? Or at least crib a few notes from Nike?

I ended up buying a couple of shirts. So did most people around me but, judging by how many times I was elbowed in the back by Chinese people trying to get shirts, people wanted to buy more. They wanted to buy hats and T-shirts and jerseys and bags and track pants and anything with Chinese lettering.

Like I said, it is your business. Handle it however you want.

But if you are in the business of making money at the Olympics, give people cool stuff to buy and enough of it so everybody who has yuan in their grubby little hands can hand it to you,

jengel

Who Is Going To Help Phelps win Gold?

A single gold medal stands between Michael Phelps and even bigger endorsement deals than he already has padding his bank account. He has a chance go big.

A first-place finish in Sunday's (which is actually Saturday evening for y'all back home) 4x100 individual medley relay final gives him eight gold medals in a Olympic games, which you probably heard 1,000 times is like a record or something. And have you heard that Mark Spitz holds the record at the moment?

This being a relay and Phelps probably being too tired to swim all four legs himself, he needs teammates. Four years ago in Athens, this relay consisted of Texas-exes Aaron Peirsol (back), Brendan Hansen (breast), Ian Crocker (butterfly) and Jason Lezak (freestyle) with Phelps handling prelim duties.

What you see later, or what will be tomorrow here, has a slightly different feel with Phelps swimming that butterfly leg instead of Crocker. Bigger changes had been kicked around, including dumping Hansen altogether. He admittedly has struggled for almost two months and, with him swimming that second leg, Team USA and Phelps hardly want ask Lezak to save them again.

What stopped them was a) their next best option was Phelps at breast and Crocker at fly. And while Phelps is probably better than 98 percent of the world at just about any stroke, breast is still his weakest; b) Hansen has a way of coming through for his teammates, and; c) You do not jack with one of the best relays in the world.

Of course, if the unthinkable happens, look for second guessing to commence immediately,

jengel   

Humming Beatles Lyrics

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces/Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here/Here comes the sun, here comes the sun/and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here is comes/Sun, sun, sun, here it comes/Sun, sun, sun, here is comes

Yes, we have had back-to-back sunny days in what had been dreary, grey and smoggy Beijing since Olympic Day 1. Better late than never, right? It is so amazing what a couple of rays and blue skies do for your mood. I watched almost a half day of archery simply because just sitting in the sun felt good, so did fresh air.

I guess this answers any questions about me moving to Detroit,

jengel

Iraq runner runs for more than medal

Iraq has four athletes at the Olympics after the country was banned by the International Olympic Committee in July and then reinstated. They have no chance. The only medal Iraq has won came was a bronze in weightlifting in 1960. But just getting here is a victory for the athletes who are here.

One of the Iraqis, Dana Abdulrazak, ran a personal best 12.36 in the first round of the women's 100. She was sixth in her heat and didn't advance. It didn't matter.

"I feel very excited and very proud to be in the Games," Abdulrazak said through an interpreter.

--Charean

Jen finds a new hobby

Super Size Me

OK, I don't think I've gained that much weight since I've been here. If I have, the Chinese food isn't to blame. The Snickers I just had might be. Where am I going with this? My zipper broke earlier today. Thank goodness I have on a money belt and a credential. But it leaves me with only two pairs of shorts. It's a good thing we have a washer/dryer in our room.

Wishing I could sew,

Charean

The word of the day is ippon

I am at judo watching our local, Arlington's Daniel McCormick, compete in the +100kg category. It's been an education. I've learned what an ippon is. Daniel lost his second match on one. If a player -- in this case Georgia's Lasha Gujejiani -- knocks his opponent (Daniel) over so that he lands hard on his back (a throw), the score give is called an ippon, and the match is over. It's like a knockout in boxing or a pin in wrestling.

Trying to ippon some of these pushy Asians,

Charean

My iPod

I love my iPod, probably fourth-generation, bright pink, jogging size, with Nike capability and loaded with all of my favorite Lyle Lovett, Jay-Z, U2 and Bruce Springsteen. Which is why my leaving said iPod at swimming on Wednesday was stupid, stupid, stupid.

Of course, when I finally realized I had left my iPod, it was Wednesday night. And Thursday I did not go to swimming. So as I approached the help desk at The WaterCube on Friday morning, it was merely a formality. I had to at least ask "did you find my iPod?"

The woman told me they had not have it so I returned to my work space cursing my stupidity.

About 10 minutes later, the same woman walked back with my iPod. She had merely meant they did not have it with them. They had put it upstairs for safekeeping. I am pretty sure my thank you seemed a little excessive but I have too often left things places in the States only to never see them again, meaning somebody picked them up knowing it was not theirs and kept it anyway.

Trying to figure out what a good thank-you gift is,

jengel

Charean=Ringhead?

Just so nobody thinks Charean is being a slack-butt and not blogging on this rainy Thursday, I must mention that she is doing Good Morning, USA.

If you do not know what this is, click on the Olympics page and start reading.

And, well, Charean also has been acting a little high and mighty ever since Longhorn Sanya Richards said "Hey Charlean, how you doing?" in a big, giant press conference. This is treatment usually reserved for Ringheads, you know your fulltime Olympic writers. Of course, Charean followed this up with a Chinese media-esque question about being disappointed with a sixth-place finish in Athens.

Richards started crying and then whispered "I am never talking to that Aggie *&^% again. She treats Vic Wunderle with kid gloves".

Or else she might have answered something about being young then so not having as big of expectations as she has this time around, where she is the favorite. I like my version better.

Waiting for my Phelps call out,

jengel

Personal Wake Up Call

I had a long, as in 18-hour long day on Wednesday. Actually I had had a couple of long, long days.

So C-dub, being a good sport agreed to handle swimming for a day to allow me to sleep a little later. Actually, I think she was trying to avoid gymnastics which is the most intimidating sport for non-ringheads and wanted to see Phelps. Who cares? I had a good eight hours in my sights.

Of course, I already had agreed to do Mr. Randy's show at what amounted to 6:40 a.m. my time. No problem. I planned to get up, do the show, then go back for another couple of hours. And everything went according to plan, with me even falling back asleep almost immediately.

So imagine my surprise when I hear what I think is CW's alarm at like 9. Uh, oh. She overslept, I thought. Then I immediately rolled over and thought -- not my problem. About 10 seconds later, I heard my door open and somebody talking in broken English.

"She sleeping. Go, go."

Then I heard little feet flying through our abode before I had a chance to even turn over. Apparently, the "alarm" I heard was the doorbell and the voices were the people who deliver fresh towels. Somebody (Charean) had taken down our do-not-disturb sign (Charean) leading me to be up (Charean) and that somebody (Charean) owes me a payback.

Your sleepy servant,

jengel 

A Not-So Quick Lunch

How many Texans does it take to order a glass of water?

Two. And that still is not enough.

After day after day of hurriedly consumed lunches, Charean, myself and McClatchy computer czar decided to have a leisurely sit-down lunch. The problems began almost immediately when we tried to order sparkling water. What our waitress brought was pink and looked like a cross between lemonade and tomato juice.

At this point, I retreated to the safe haven of diet Coke but CW pushed on explaining she wanted plain water. She got a glass of tap water, which they advise against drinking. Not to be deterred, this Aggie pressed on explaining water with no gas, which led to a tea cup filled with heated water. I have to admit I giggled when she finally said diet Coke.

Of course, our waitress had her revenge charging Charean an extra 64 yuan or 10 U.S. dollars for her meal because, apparently, heating up water is not cheap.

The punchline is, when we were leaving, she was pouring sparkling water for two diners,

jengel