London Days 4 and 5-The Good And The Questionable

London 2012-The Good And The Questionable...

The Good...
Michael Phelps made history by getting his 19th medal, breaking a nearly 50-year old record, and he did it in style, getting Gold in the first relay he had ever anchored. Phelps really is the greatest Olympian of all time, Case Closed.

The Good...
Was This the best $20 that Japanese coach ever spent?

I don't know about you, but the money the Japanese coach spent for his successful protest in the men's gymnastic final sure looked like a U.S. $20 bill!

Things that make you go hmmm...

There is controversy going back to Saturday's women's 400 IM, when 16-year-old Ye Shiwen of China not only obliterated both her personal best by FIVE SECONDS and the world record, but beat Ryan Lochte's MEN'S winning time in the same event. Very suspicious, to say the least.

Day 2 and 3: American favorites go by the wayside

London 2012 Day 2 and 3

Perhaps the biggest surprises of the first two days of full competition are the failures of Michael Phelps and Jordyn Wieber in their respective competitions. Phelps was the two-time gold medalist in the 400 free, a race he had said after Beijing that he would never do again. Perhaps he should have listened to his won advice, as he flopped badly to a 4th-place finish, and was off the podium for the first time since Sydney, 12 years ago.

Dewitt-native Wieber came into the games as perhaps the most-hyped competitor of the entire games (the women's gymnastic team was on the cover of the SI Olympic preview issue), and pehaps the SI cover jinx struck again, as she finished third...only two per team qualify for the team finals. BTW, am I the only person who believes that the "Women's" Gymnastics competition should be split into two divisions, using age 20 as the split? This way the teen-agers could do their thing, which would allow the Wiebers, etc... to compete  and win, but also allow the Nastia Liukins, 27-year-old British favorite Elizabeth Tweddle,etc... to continue to compete and actually have a chance to win. This would be a win-win for everybody: NBC would get more gymnastics with their high TV ratings, the teen-agers could do their stunts, and actual women could have a chance. Makes too much sense to me.

Opening Ceremony-WOW!

London 2012-day 1

The XXX Olympiad began with an incredible opening ceremony with 50 years of Brit pop music, and a staged entrance of the Queen with James Bond! Then came the parade of nations, which includes over 200 nations, most of whom have no chance of winning a medal, but for those who do, this is absolutely awesome. Then it was time for 1980 and 1984 gold medalist Sebastian Coe to start the formal part of the ceremony, The Queen to declare the games open, and in a surprise, 7 young British athletes lit the cauldron, and Sir Paul McCartney to close the show. As the saying goes "NO ONE follows Paul McCartney on stage, except maybe the Queen".

Some Of The Strangest Covers Of Songs Ever

Over the years, some very unlikely singers have covered songs that no one would have expected. Get a load of some of these:

William Shatner (yes, Captain Kirk!) did maybe one the worst covers of all time, when he butchered Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man".

The Rolling Stones' much-covered "Jumpin' Jack Flash" has been covered by The Beach Boys (onstage, though never released), 70's teen idol Leif Garrett (ditto), and Motorhead (and you thought Mick was hard to understand, imagine Lemmy!).

Deep Purple covered Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman", The Beatles covered Meredith Wilson's "Til There Was You" and some of the other unusual covers include:

Paul Anka-Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Rolf (Tie Me Knagaroo) Harris-"Stairway To Heaven"
Children Of Bodom (A heavy metal band from Finland)-Britney Spears'-"Oops I Did It Again"
Alien Ant Farm had a minor hit with Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal"
Pat Boone did an entire album of heavy metal covers (I'M NOT KIDDING)
and...Sid Vicious did Paul Anka's "My Way" (best known for Frank Sinatra and Elvis).

Just A Woman Who Wanted To Go The Movies

Jessica Ghawi was a sportscaster and blogger who went by the name Jessica Redfield. She was from Texas, and had moved to Colorado to pursue her dream of covering NHL teams. She had gone on vacation to Toronto last month, when the Toronto Mall Massacre began. She was able to get out safely. That time. She was not so lucky last night, when she decided to go to the midnight showing of "The Dark Night Rises" at the mall in Aurora, Colorado.

There was a scene during a shootout. At this point, a Medical school dropout named James Holmes threw tear gas bombs, and opened fire with an AK-47, killing 12, and wounding 59 others. Ghawi was one of the 12 who was killed. Her friend tried to help her, but had to run from the theatre, and call her mother, when he realized his efforts would be futile, and Holmes was still shooting.

Ghawi was a blogger just like I am, and what really bothers me are these things:

A) Military personnel were injured in this attack
B) Ghawi survived the Toronto Mall Shootings, until to be killed here.
C) A Republican congressmansaid the scene reminded him of scenes he had seen as when he served in Iraq.
And, most of all,
D) The fact that someone who just wanted to go to the movies, can be mowed down like sheep, just because some nut job wants to.

THE BEST OF JON LORD
Deep Purple's Jon Lord passed away this week at age 71. Here are some of his most memorable tracks. The band's most iconinc tune "Smoke On The Water", is not included because that song was more lead guitarist Richie Blackmore's tune.

Burn-The title song from their 1974 album may have been Lord's finest moment, as Lord had a classically-influenced keyboard break, that just knocks your socks off. An added bonus was that track was the first time many people ever heard the voice of a  very young David Coverdale, 13 years before Tawny Kitaen straddled herself on his car in the Whitesnake video for "Here I Go Again".

Hush-The early years with Rod Evans on vocals, as Purple covered a Joe South tune for their first hit.

Highway Star-A fantastic keyboard break in the middle helps build the excitement, as the songs builds toward it's climax.

Perfect Strangers-The title track on the group's 1984 reunion album, showed the band had lost none of it's power. Lord drives the riff, that drives this song.

Spacetruckin'-The final track on "Machine Head", Lord helps bring the song (and the album) to a close with this gem.

The amazing thing about "Machine Head" is that it was written and recorded in just 15 days, so the band could go home for Christrmas.

50 YEARS AGO TONIGHT

On this night 50 years ago, Alexis Koerner's Blues Incorporated was offered a spot on a BBC radio program, so they offerred their usual Thursday night spot at the Marquee Club to a new blues band that was calling itself "The ROLLIN' Stones", who were playing their first show.  As we know, the rest would be history, as the G on the name, Andrew Loog Oldham, Billy Wyman, and Charlie Watts would come within a year, and the Rolling Stones would be on their way to becoming the "Greatest Rock And Roll Band In The World".

Hope Solo gets warning after positive drug test

U.S. Goalkeeper and "Dancing With The Stars" contestant Hope Solo has been officially warned after testing psitive for Canrenone, a banned stimulant. She had better watch herself, as a second test would mean expulsion from the XXX Olympiad in London, and possibly U.S forfeiture of any matches she would participate in if she were to fail a subsequent test during the games.