August 19, 2024 • 54 mins
Ladies, Gentlemen and our Non Binary friends. The Olympics are over. What on earth are we supposed to do with our lives now? On this week’s Open Era, Simon and Devang give their top 5 moments and stories each before covering the events in Toronto and Montreal.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hello and welcome to the Open Air Podcast. My name
is Deban to sign them, joined as always by mister
Simon Bushell. Simon Tennis has returned. The Olympics are wrapped up,
but we cannot let the Olympics go, can we?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We will never let the Olympics go. Are heart to
see still near the Seine. It's in all of those
areas in Paris that would become so accustomed to dev
It's been a charmed life we've been living over the
last sixteen days. We've had to not think about anything.
We've just woken up and there's been nothing but a
stream of content available to us. Glorious, steamy sports content.
(00:51):
What do we do with our lives now?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Can I also say that the Premier League coming back
this soon is sickening to me? Like I hate that
my beloved prem and Arsenal are playing games so soon,
Like I needed a break, you know, like this feels ridiculous.
I mean, imagine the players, geez, I.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Mean speak for yourself. I witnessed a three to three
nail bite between Portsmouth and Leads United this past weekend
as well. Yeah, championship starts two weeks out.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's right, it's a bit messed up, and we wonder
why these athletes get insured all the time, and we
wonder what's going on with the grind. But if we're
going to have all these games in Dubai and Saudi
Arabia at the end of the season, what can you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Do, right?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
You got to start early.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, it's true. Well maybe they should take a page
at the Olympics Bucks and only hold it every four years.
That would make things easier. Can you imagine a Premier
League season every four years?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It be nuts, it'd be mental.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Actually, I'm so down.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Anyways, Yeah, I think to properly put the Olympics to bed.
And I know we said last episode we were doing that.
This is going to be a countdown Simon and I
count down our top Olympic moments, top five. Simon wanted
to do ten. I wanted to do five only because
(02:08):
I do think it would be long and we would
we would overlap. And I purposely didn't overlap because you
put yours down first, so I share the sentiments for
most of yours. So I think I think it was
good this way.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I think so. Yeah, I think we can perhaps put
it to bed after this. I won't Cico, you sickle man.
You let it go, man, it's gone.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Quickly to start to start. Actually, did you like the
closing ceremonies?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I did, and I suspect I will come on to
the ceremonies in one of my moments as well at
my top five. But I did. I really enjoyed it.
I don't know. I mean part of this watching a
solid gold alien descend from the roof of the stat
de France. It was a choice in this class.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Was that was Chef's kiss?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
You know?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I enjoyed the most, I mean chose the Phoenix definitely
a band of my youth and Lastomania. It's a banger.
But most of those Olympians are what in like their
mid twenties, early twenties, maybe even younger. How many of
those people were like, who the f is that? What's
going on here? And seeing seeing their fellow old millennial
(03:24):
Olympians lose their mind? I found the music acts interesting
in like selection wise and like the l A portion
was I mean, out Snoop is great, Dre is fine,
They're good together. The red hot chili peppers must be stopped.
Let's let's let's just put it put it there like this.
This was sickening.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I mean, Wash doesn't even begin to describe what was
going on in the LA section.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Millie Eilidh couldn't prop up these goons, but that was bad.
But overall the Tom Cruise stuff, I'm a mark, don't
get me wrong, I'm a mark. Like I'm I'm a
TC head. When he done from that stadium, I'm like,
all right, we're going in now, let the games begin,
so to speak. But I understand, I'm I'm fully Tom
Cruise pilled and understand he's probably a dangerous man at
(04:12):
this point based on his actions.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It is interesting, though, isn't it. Out of the what
LA chose to show of itself. It chose Tom Cruise
Snoop Dogg. The red was barely eilish.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So do you think if if the Cruise repel went
wrong down the Stad de France, do they run the
rest of that pre made at I really wonder if, like,
what if something happened and they're like, you know what,
we got to run this ad anyways, cut to.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
The tape and this is how I would have gone
had he not.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yes, they're tending to Tom Cruise now, but we've already
made this very expensive video kind of have to show
it at this point.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
So let's talk about breaking. Let's let's go there, dev
because I think it's an interesting discussion to lead us
into this before we get into our top five moments.
Raygun has captured the world, for better or for worse?
What did you make of this whole thing?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I feel very not angry. Angry is not the right word.
I just feel like pissed off. I guess at Raygun
and what has seemed to be what happened here in
the sense of like what went down, and this is
through like Reddit s luthors and Twitter people, so I mean,
come at me if this is verified to be untrue.
But it seems that when breaking was introduced to the Games,
(05:41):
some of these countries didn't have ways to like select breakers,
so they went to their dance sport representatives who were
typically ballroom dancing people or people who specialize in that.
So those dance for countries of the organizations with these
countries reached out to people well, and it seems they
reached out to this Raygun person who has a PhD
(06:03):
in breaking somehow, and she said, hey, like the Australian
breaking society will help you select the contender from Australia,
but she didn't tell them. I guess that she created
this Australian Breaking Society and her husband is like the
judge of the competition that selected the breakers. So she
(06:24):
ended up being one of the women selected from Australia
through this competition, through this foundation that she started, and
that her husband was then a judge and then was
a coach for the breaking team. So it seems like
she inserted herself into this position solely to what make
a mockery of this entire thing that she took. She
made did a PhD on which, my god, did amount
(06:46):
of work involved in that, Like what the fuck she
set breaking back decades. I feel really badly for the
competitors who had to be like, yeah, that's that's rey gun,
like what the hell?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Especially alongside I think, I think it's undeniable that for
all of the good that we found in the Olympic Games,
people's overriding memories might be of an Australian thirty six
year old woman pretending to be a kangaroo and a
competition that she shouldn't have been in, which is.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The most Australian thing I've seen. And I'm not just saying.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Because the kangaroo is reference, but it takes a certain
type of person to do this, you know, Like I
really and then she went back home when it was
breaking or something I saw, like it's just yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
God, I'm glad. I'm glad, really glad. Phil Wizard reminded
everyone like the day after, like, yo, this is actual
breaking and this is sick and he put a country
on his back and people were genuinely enthused and his
family was in the crowd, Like that was awesome. That
was one of my top five, which we can maybe
start off with. But like, yeah, like I maybe I
(07:53):
am mad based on the last two minutes. I think
I am mad.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I love how I had this whole thing prepared and
ready to go and I'm just teached you up and
you've done mostly what I was going to do anyway,
So respect for that. H such a bizarre story, it
has to be said, just in terms of how this
was covered. And also, I don't know, does it feel
(08:18):
like this is making a mockery of everything like at
the back end of the Olympics, or is or every
is everyone just too too pearl clutchy at this point.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Doug, I like, I love the jokes and like the
memes are great, and I love the people like, hey,
this is what my five year old niece says when
she says, come look here, and then it's just break
and rolling on the ground. Like I like that stuff.
I thought it was funny. I did. I didn't like
it being used as like this is why breaking shouldn't
be Olympics. You could debate that if you want, like
(08:48):
I don't mind. I don't mind if you have that
conversation whether it should be in the Olympics or not.
But like, I didn't like it being used as like
this is why because there's clown.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
And watched watch both finals, right, or watch the metals
and tell us that that's not, you know, an an
incredibly challenging artistic performance, slash sport, whatever you want to
use the language for, Like it's undeniable, how incredible these
athletes are. I think it's just this one inflection point
which is incredibly shady, which I think kind of loves
(09:16):
a bad taste in the mouth.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
It's so Olympics though, like the self selection of man,
how many times have they pulled this off in the past, right, like,
there's gotta be there's gotta be skeletons in those classes.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I think there is so many examples through history of
dodgy shit for athletes who have either entered into competitions
or have made their way to the Olympics that have
either gained the system or shouldn't, or have found ways
to use loopholes to find the ways to go into
these games. I was reading a story about because cricket's
coming back in twenty twenty eight, right, it's going to
(09:51):
be in Los Angeles as an Olympic sport.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
What did I t twenty or what?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I don't know what the discipline is, I can't remember
the The story was basically saying, okay, so I'll ask
this question to you, do you remember what the Could
you take a guess who won the gold medal in
nineteen hundred when this last took place.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
UK, bro GV whatever, whatever?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Of course? Right, yeah, like, because no one else in
the world was playing it at that point in time,
could you take a guess the silver.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Canada?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
So I'm going to say it was France. And the
reason it was France is because of it was a
bunch of expats from the UK who had made their
way to France and entered into the competition. So comedy
comedy gold. This is how we should go about doing
these things in the future. Also, this is not entirely
new fact checking. I heard it on another podcast, So
if it's wrong, go and blame the original source on
(10:43):
this one.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
All right, do we want to go into the good stuff? Now?
Do you want to just love Bastory Gunnah?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It's fine, believe me. If you want content out there
that's going to lamb bast Reagun, We're going to get
a maybe we get like a a serial style investigation
into Reaguan at some point down the line, Sarah Koenig
going in and.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Just it's a special type of person. All I'll say
is it's a very special type of I'm sure you've
met people like this in your life who would do
something like this. It's not just Reagun.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
That's That's what I'll leave you with there. The audacity,
the audacity, the hubrist to pull something like this off
and be like ha ha, you know, it takes a
certain type of person.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
How do you think we would do at the podcast Olympics.
I mean.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
It depends, how do we get in. Oh, that's sickening.
It's sickening to imagine how that would be judged. Who
would be judging at Joe Rogan, who would probably be
the IOC, He'd be the Thomas Block'd be disturbing, be disturbing.
There'd be a bitcoin, there'd be bitcoin mining happening at
the thing, with like just thats of BTUs being destroyed
(12:03):
devoted to this scam.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
With that sobering, and Howard thought, let this transition nice
to get into the good stuff. Let's do a coin
flip here, heads or tails de vang tales. Okay, it
is tails. Would you like to go first or second?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I'll go first.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I'll go first after you.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
We're not doing this in or actually should we do
from five to one? Or what do you think?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
No, because I haven't done yet exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So my first is the four by one hundred men's
relay Canada winning obviously from the outside lane. I was
on the air when this happened, so like our our
technical producer Stephen Coyle was like watching it to the side,
and I had like high half head like watching the
screen and he stood up and I'm like, oh my god,
and I stow up myself and saw it happening one
(12:52):
of those moments where you always remember where you were.
And I say that for Donovan Bailey and the relay
in ninety six too, and I was much younger than
I was, But it is awesome how the Olympics serve
as these these sign posts as well, or these like
signal markers of your life in some ways. So I
felt like it instantly hit that level for me, and
(13:12):
the way they did it, the way the Americans crumbled,
the way the Americans, I guess, don't practice the baton stuff,
which is it's just great. It's awesome. We were the
best baton passing team and we won the damn relay.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And that's how it should be shocking, isn't it the
idea that you're running in a REBA and you might
want to actually practice the bat In the past.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
It seemed like Kenny Bagner had ever seen been around
he's attempting to pass resented with a baton in his life. Yeah,
it was great.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It was my my patented thick of it quote that
I will add in here as always trying to get
one an episode. At the moment, he looked like a
sweaty octopus trying to unlook a bra so you know
that one's afraid. Describe to me the moment of watching
as you're live on air, your technical producers standing and screaming, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
In the viewing deck at the NBO at the National
Bank Open, so like people around us were started to
like huddle around as well when it happened. It was awesome,
it was very cool. We were screaming. Again. I'm sure
there was a rights violation thing where we were screaming
the results live on air. But let's see if the
IOC gets to.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
That good pick. My first is I've kind of gone
stories that has to said, rather than specific moments. It
gave me the opportunity to bundle more things together to
cheat in this this format, which is our own format,
So go figure on that one. My first is entitled
Phenoms in the Pool. You could have picked any number
(14:40):
of people for this category, but I am picking Leon
Marshall and Summer Macintosh from France and Canada respectively. I
believe four or five six seven, so seven gold medals
between the two of them. Not bad, going two silvers
each as well with silver and bronze. Marshall win bronze
I think it was bronze that France had in the
in the relay. These are astonishing athletes. Obviously, Leon Marshaw
(15:02):
was the staff of France, featured very heavily in the
closing ceremony. Sommerm macintosh went to the last Olympic Games,
if you could believe it, at the age of fourteen,
just turning fifteen. Comes into this one at seventeen. Bosses,
everyone looks like she's been doing it all her life.
This is a star. They are both stars and their
own right. I had a blast watching the pair of them.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Amazing. Marshan man ultimate pressure, everyone expecting him to pull
it off, and he did for Gold. Like that's set,
He's set for life. I saw like daily email Simone Biles.
Leon Marshan pictured it after proty Olympics, so I'm like, yeah,
this is gonna be him now for a while, which
(15:47):
is cool. I guess he feels that that role that
was left void by Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Perhaps it was so. Obviously Phelps was featured in the
opening ceremony and I had to check the maths as
they reminded us that he has twenty eight medals.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
He started so young. Yeah he was crazy. He was
at Sydney, wasn't he? Is that right? I feel like
that's right. It's like a team member.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
That could in two thousand, that could be rock, that
could be rock. How it might be right? No, it
might be right.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
So he started into yeah he was Actually he did
not win a medal, but he made the files.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I do like the fact of Thatterfly. I'm saying it's unbelievable,
fresh off the back of me saying that summer Macintosh
just went to the Olympics at forty It's impossible, no
one could possibly do that. Oh yeah, wait a minute,
it just happened.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
It's a great pick. I like how track takes over
from swimming as well, so you keep that exhilaration. But
I will say the track is where it's at. And
I got some heat for saying swimming is better, but
after taking maybe it is now just extreme recency bias.
But I prefer track over swimming events.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I think that's an interesting one to to to people,
sprint versus sorry, pool versus track in terms of what
is the better spectator sport and what is what people's
preferences are. I think I'm probably a swimming dude. Probably
just I really really like watching.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
It's not enough variation for me, Like I get I
love the strokes. Maybe this is coming from someone who
is so swim challenge that I resent all the people
of the pool with their abilities and a good man
like efforts.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I think there's something about you have an enclosed space
inside of a swimming pool arena and the fact that
the athletes can't hear anything so they're underwater.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
That's true, that's good. Okay, My next one, Phil Wizard,
I loved it. I loved also how much like Leon Marshand,
before the Games, Phil Wizard was supposed to win gold,
Like he was the number one ranked person coming into this.
Everyone was hyping up as the person to win. It
was almost a given that he would win a medal,
at least when we were talking about record battle account
(18:01):
for Canada, so a lot of pressure on him. But
also after that Ray Goun debacle, I felt like you
needed some people to come in and like help save
the reputation of breaking And I know I don't think
it's back next to the next Olympics, but I thought
these guys did that job, and I think Phil especially
did it. In an incredible way. And what I think
(18:22):
in the semi final he like predicted his opponent's move
and like did it while he was was like what,
I was crazy. I loved it. I loved the whole story.
I loved the music as well. I love the comment hears.
I love how mad this made certain sections of the
viewing public who couldn't hide their disdain and over racism
(18:43):
and talkslink like it was just just a fil wizard man.
He did the damn thing and he saved Canada as
some honor after Kendrick Lamar buried us collectively through the
actions of tricks. So we salute you.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Phil Wizards local boy to me as well. McGee's secondary
school grew up here in Vancouver, so lives in Vancouver
as well. McGee is about fifteen minutes from where I'm
sitting from as well, So that's very cool to have him.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
The digitimately kids breaking in I know it's summer, so
they're breaking in summer school right now.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Because of that, I thought the explanations that were given
and the thought pieces that were written post the breaking
final of why Phil Wizard is such an excellent breaker
and what sets him apart in a sport, and I
think in a technical sense where we see so much
of Jim like the floor the routines, where it's so
(19:37):
practiced and it's so scripted, almost like these athletes are
incredible at what they do and it's for that moment.
And then to see Phil Wizard in a sport light breaking,
where it's all improv it's basically you get so much,
you get more points for creativity and style, and if
you do the same thing again then you're almost deducted
points from it. And to have someone who is head
(19:58):
and shoulders above the field and constant pushing the boundaries
of it, it's wonderful. And it's a full Marx to
the idea of a sport, which I think maybe looks
a little odd to some people. But I think you
moment that mostly comes from the fact that we haven't
learned the language to talk about it, or we haven't
been exposed to it enough I think from a sort
(20:19):
of global sports perspective to really understand how good this
guy is.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, I think that's totally fair. And I think some
of the technical moves Phil pulled off, like you, you
probably had to know a little bit about breaking to
understand how challenging they were, or like why the judges
were scoring them so high. But I think it's also
like a combination of the music, and I thought that
the CBC commentators did a really good job of shouting
out the music that was going on or why that
(20:44):
was important or why it was being played, and also
mentioning that they didn't heat, like they didn't practice to
the beat, so they're literally like trying to process a
lot of intricate stuff. Man, it was cool. I loved it.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, And just to wrap on that as well, just
to say that his opponent in the final was a
form of nurse, which is very cool. Yeah, made the
transition to.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I was okay. Don't get me wrong. When when I
saw you he's going up against the Frenchman in the final,
I had you knew French. THEASCO thoughts in my head,
I'm like, oh, the judging is going to be so crooked.
But salute to them, Salute to the breakers of the
higher order who get the council, the breaker council.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Can you imagine like me sitting there as a complete
idiot in that they took them from him. There's no
even I's sitting there like, there's no way this French
guy won. He got absolutely and he still managed to win. Okay,
let's let's move to my number two and it has
to be a man committee. Khalif, Like, what a what
a story. I think captured the Olympic Games. Another moment
(21:48):
which is perhaps going to be one of the images
of the Games, one of the memorable feats during this
Olympic Games. Nothing will beat from a moment perspective, Let's
just park all the nonsense for a second and just
have a young woman with you know, thousands upon thousands
(22:08):
of Algerians screaming her on in this gold medal game,
and it made for an incredible spectacle. It made for
really one of those moments of triumphing through adversity, through
the shittiest of circumstances. It was incredibly heartwarming to watch.
I was so glad that she won gold, and I
(22:29):
was so glad to see that crowd there as well,
because it made that moment even sweeter.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
It's amazing the reaction in Algeria. I shared a clip
in the discord, but the amount of fireworks slid off
definitely could have Yeah, I think too many. I was concerned,
but not amazing. I also feel like this event Bush
was like the the ultimate signifier to me of how
(22:55):
completely fucked social media and maybe specifically Twitter is now,
and like what it is become and what it's being
used for, and like how so clearly it's being juiced
and used to to ah to fuel a narrative that
is frankly disgusting and abhorrent and making the use of
(23:16):
the said websites almost impossible, like for all the and
I think this is mentioned on Discord as well, like
for all the good of the games, Like I think
there was obviously a lot of bad, and I think
a lot of that has to do with how we
take in these sort of stories and like what happens
once they get out there. But yeah, I just I
(23:38):
know you've off you felt Twitter like this a long time,
but holy cow.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yeah, I think that probably speaks for a lot of
people in the daily relationship with that with that website.
One of the most fascinating parts that I had coming
through the two weeks of nonsense is how this somehow
ended up being a discussion of a of a trans
issue or like discussion around like this is this is
what this has never been a trans story at all,
like ever, and it's remarkable that it sort of went
(24:07):
in that direction. This is this is not that story
and if you managed to try and insert it there,
then like, have your head examined. This is not where
the ship the director of travel at all. So all
that ship to one side. I'm glad you won.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I didn't like that's the reason why. And I feel
like because time passed and maybe there has been an
update on this. But like the role the Guardian editor
played in this, and like the image, the photo the
selfie too with the Italian boxer afterwards Sean Ingle, like
the way this was covered, and I the tweets from
(24:42):
this Guardian sports writer and a Barney your ow name
made a tongue in cheek joke tweet, but he was
covering the event, and like.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
That.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Man, I yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Do better. Media. More broadly, you're there. You're there for
a reason. We just by everything that we say about
the media, we do entrust you to tell things and
do things correctly and not make asses out of yourself
on a global stage. So do better.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Okay, let's take a break there and then we'll get
back to the rest of our top five. We'll talk
about some tennisreal and FRI's coming up next.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Welcome back to Olympic era.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
The iOS is so bad, right, like what are you doing?
You're going way over.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Oe if you will, which stands for no, wait a minute,
it's fine. My number three is a series of firsts
which I want to try and encapsulate. A bunch of
nations which either had first gold medals or medals for
the first time, or indeed singles copetitors getting medals. So
(26:01):
ash Dadin winning for Pakistan in the javelin first singles
competitive from Pakistan to win a gold medal, which is
insane to think about considering the history of that nation
and obviously it's population size, and also like you know,
it's a really good sporting nation as well, so to
see a gold medal. There is the tremendous achievement that,
alongside Saint Lucia's Julian Alfred winning in the one hundred
(26:26):
meters in one of the most memorable moments of the Games.
Truly a fantastic achievement for a tiny nation, and also
one in just the most glittering fashion of all, like
a beaming smile in a in a really tightly contested
and packed one hundred meter final, Dominica winning that was
(26:46):
just a wonderful story. For Tiela Fond winning gold in
the triple jump, I really really enjoyed that. One Botswana,
Leslie Tobogo, we will talk about his exports. Yeah, the
two hundred meters a what a wonderful achievement. And then
to sort of close out to see the gold medal
(27:07):
first Cindy Nagamba for the refugee team is incredible. Like
I know she trains inside of the UK on that
side of things. But one of the stats I think
that was most telling inside of the opening ceremony was
forgive me for not knowing the exact numbers, but the
(27:29):
massive explosion in the number of refugees in the world
even since the twenty sixteen Olympics, the number has I believe,
quadruples and people that are eligible to compete for the
refugee team. We should feel ashamed about that as a
world and as a globe. Sport can do a tiny,
(27:50):
tiny fraction of a thing to cover over those things.
But at the same time, yeah, maybe that's something that
we might want to examine as a species in general
and why that is the case, all that being said,
a wonderful Olympics for all of these athletes, and first
goals or first medals are things to be celebrated.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Really well, said sir. I'm going to go with Steph
Curry and Lebron James for my third one. Cheering for
the USA in basketball not something I do. I was
sort of cheering for them to lose to Serbia, but
then I think the combination of Kevin Durant, Lebron and
Steph bringing the USA back maybe remember sort of this
(28:29):
era of basketball watching for myself and what those three
gentlemen have done in that sense and the sense that
I think Steph Curry is like he's just one of
one in so many ways that I frankly can't even
I can't describe right now. It was awesome. It was
awesome to see that in the gold medal game. It
(28:49):
was great to see France put up that fight. But
I felt like it was just the definition of an
era right there, with these people doing the damn thing,
captivating all of us. Having my mom text me about
Steph Currie because she loves them, like it's just I
love that, and I again, cheering for the USA in basketball,
not something I'm going to do very often.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Well, I certainly didn't congratulations to them, but I was
actively rooting for Nikola Jokich and nikolaiyokicch sorry to give
him his actual correct pronunciation of his name, and Serbia
to take the damn thing in the semi final, which
just got away from them slightly. This was always probably
going to be the most likely scenario, and you're always
(29:30):
betting against the house when you're trying to bet against
the United States Basketball on both the men's on women's
side of things. It made for a spectacular semi fun
it made for an incredible atmosphere. It has to be
set with the gold medal game.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
France did a hell of a job, I mean, considering
they got nothing from Rudy Gobert. Victor was great in
the final, but like overall, not his best tournament. Yeahbaselli
people were like, let's give him a huge contract. Danny
Age not wrong, just early Celtics traffic. It was wonderfulight, Yeah.
I think I also, once again, maybe I'm social media
(30:03):
pilled for poisoned, but the reaction if they had lost,
and if the USA women basketball team of loss as
well without taking Caitlyn Clark. Holy hell. I as much
as I want the USA to lose these games, just
for like, yes, the biggest idiots in the world, we
love that. So I kind of I'm glad that the
women as well dodged a bully because that was a
great game as well.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
A lot to be said for the fact that both
gold medal games were the United States versus France and basketball.
If you want to know where the center of the
universe is in the basketball world, it's in those two nations.
And long man continue, I think we're going to.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
See France has made big ass leaps in the basketball space.
Holy cow.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I really would love to see the expansion and continuation
of the growth of euro basket more broadly, because I
think it obviously it's a very It is a different
style in Europe. It is more team focus, less isolation,
having all those kind of things, which I know are
cliche at this point. They are tropes to beat both
(31:02):
respective leagues in but I think it does make four
spectacular atmospheres when you're watching basketball in Europe. I've been
to a few games in my visits to Spain, seeing
both Reveldred and Barcelona play, and it is just very
different than the NBA, So I'd love to see it
continue to get bigger, to expand, to perhaps challenge the
NBA in terms of bringing some of those big stars
over and having them almost a parity level. It would
(31:25):
be nice because I think I would be fully supportive
of that.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
How close are we to an NBA team playing in the.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Europe Yeah, I'm not down for that. That's that's something
that I'm not particularly interested in.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah, okay, just checking remember four.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I just wanted to highlight the Olympic's own website put
together a list of ten stars which are calling their
time on their careers after Paris, and I just want
to list out their names because it is one of
those things that growing up and watching so much what
you kin to get used to certain names across the disciplines,
and then when they're not there anymore, you see the
(32:05):
end of eras. It's something that's worth highlighting. So I'm
just going to go quickly through the names and then
touch on a couple of them. Mar Long of course,
the you know, the all time goat in table tennis,
like one of the greatest players ever. You could argument
one of the greatest athletes ever Shelley, Anne, Fraser Price,
Matt Whitlock, the pommel horse, gold medalist, the British, the
(32:26):
British gymnast who is so beloved in the UK. Martyr.
Of course, many people referring to Martyr as the greatest
of all time. Of women's footballers, Ilio Kipchogi, I mean
goodness me, the idea of having Kipchogi no longer as
a marathon runner at the Olympics seems remarkable to me.
I don't want to live in a world where that's
not the case. Lydia Co winning obviously gold here in
(32:50):
Paris twenty seven, claims that she's going to retire at thirty.
The last time we're going to see that one of
the greatest female golfers of all time. Great to see
the new Zealander win gold there. Andy Murray, we touched
on him last week. He's gone. It's a sad state
of affairs, but that is the case. Kelly Harrington winning
back to back gold medals and bowing out for Ireland
(33:11):
a wonderful story. If you've not seen that gold medal fight,
it's really worth going to see Mikhal Hansson. You could
arguably make the case that he's the greatest handball player
of all time. Eron McEwan bowing out in the swimming
as well, six gold, three silvers, five bronzes across her
career not a bad record. Dev That is a glittering
(33:31):
who's who of decorated athletes and that we will never
see at Olympic Games again, which is kind of sad.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Mijian Lopez as well, the Cuban wrestler.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Who went flutely five yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Leaving her shoes on the mat the course that you
could do. Love it? Yeah, well that was a great
I mean I like how Brazil Marita was suspended during
the tournament and Brazil managed to make the final. Anyways,
for Marita in some ways, I thought that was US
as well. Great list Austin legends. I have two more.
(34:05):
I'm going to go with that FMK Bowl four by
four hundred mixed relay. I love the mixed stuff in general,
and the swimming as well. We talked about it last
week Bush, but I also want to shout out Sidney
McLaughlin who is insane and I feel like the her
not running in that mixed relay kind of now taints it.
(34:26):
Slightly more than slightly, probably because they would have won
by a mile. To see someone that much better than
everyone else is sort of jarring, but to see them
also boost their teammates so much like she did in
the four by four hundred, like talk about delivering when
you're expected to.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
It was really impressive. That moment will have been in
for me. Why don't it?
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Well?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
So I saw her an interview with MK Ball. She
doesn't sound like Mickey Mouse regularly, so I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Must have enough, the helium levels must have been super
charged at that Diamond League event.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
She is adorable when she's interviewed regularly. She just seems
like a really nice person. So I don't know quite
how this ended up being the case.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Does your idea of the actor actress Lauren lapis at all?
Do you know who I'm talking about?
Speaker 2 (35:11):
I don't know who that is.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Listeners, let me know, let me know if you see that. Okay,
what do you got for your last one?
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Okay? My final one? I was debating to go fully
in on the table tennis discussions of trying to give
a rundown of the exploits of on the men's side
of things of the World's Quest to overturn and beat
the Chinese, which didn't happen in the team of event,
didn't happen in the singles with Fanjengdong winning. Little Fatty
(35:39):
as he's known in that side of the world, incredible, truly,
that's his nickname. Trules Murregard of Drugard of of Sweden,
really really talented player Pierre Lebrun of France as well,
the exploits of him, a prodigy in prodigy in his
(36:00):
own right, and I'm always down to see a table
tennis player waar glasses. Sadly it was not to be, though,
it was not to be, but I didn't go in
the table tennis direction, and I went in the other direction,
which was that I just wanted to shout up the
actual city of Paris itself, the opening and closing ceremonies.
This was absolutely spectacular. They nailed everything about this, and
(36:24):
I'm aware I'm seeing what they want me to see
and the behind the scenes stuff and fully accepting that
there is a lot of dodgy shit that happened as well.
The relocation of underhoused people or homeless people is a disgrace.
It never gets talked about enough. Inside of the Olympic Games,
and a lot of these host cities doing some shady
work to oust poor people inside of their cities that
(36:44):
should be mentioned here, But the opening and closing ceremonies
were remarkable. The venues themselves that they chose really embodied.
I think these ideas of moments at Olympic Games, showcasing
the best parts of these cities and showing them off,
and then having an accessible space for people to move
around the city and freely explore it. All of that
against the back job that it was all completely accessible walking, biking,
(37:07):
and public transit. This was absolutely fucking phenomenal. They did
a great job. I'm really sad I wouldn't be there,
And in some ways it kind of sucks that it's
going to be in LA because they were kind of
losing a little bit of that central location idea. I
think they're going to do a good job regardless, but
it's not the.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Soundly free how much free swag though, No really well said.
They nailed it. Like the director, I watched some interviews
with him and like some making of documentaries, but like
the pressure on that team to deliver was immense and
they completely knocked it.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Into the park.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Even that in the closing ceremonies that I don't know
what to call it, that like that dance of constructing
the rings.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
And lifting them.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
I always get an emotional man watching that. I was like,
what's happening to me?
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Melting down the quantity of people as well. That brought
up the choice and use of Selene Dion at the
end of the opening ceremony and how much that kind
of penetrated popular culture in general. Really, I think an
emotional moment for a lot of people who have followed
Selene Dion's career. We are not a pop culture podcast.
(38:19):
At the same time, I think it was emotional for
a lot of people to see that and a perfect fitting,
perfect way to end the opening ceremony.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Do you think these games were better than twenty twelve?
Speaker 2 (38:29):
I think they were. Yeah, I think they were. I
think this is the best Olympics ever. I think that's
probably the case. It has to be said. I would
have loved to have seen what Tokyo would have been
like in twenty twenty. Yeah, with crowds, just given how
historically the Japan has gone has sort of attacked these
Olympics to really try and improve a lot of things
(38:51):
and make moments out of them. It's sad that it
wasn't the case, but I thought this was absolutely spectacular.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Great picks. I mean, my last one is Sifan Hassan,
the Dutch middle distance long distance marathon runner. I I
don't know how said like, this was one of the
crazy things I've seen. She got bronze in the five thousand,
bronze in the ten thousand, and then she ran the
marathon on the final day and one gold. The race
(39:20):
itself was incredible and like the final sprint was awesome.
There was some like jockeying as well. I just that's
what the Olympics are about. To me, bush like, it's
just these unbelievable individuals doing things that you just don't
you don't think are possible. And the inspiration she is,
the story, the background. I think she was also training
(39:42):
to be a nurse growing up and then just got
into long distance running and was like I'm kind of
good at this and here we are. I loved her
talking about the race as well, being like all the
whole time I was like why am I doing this?
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Why am I doing this?
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Why didn't I slne up for this? And then she
kind of reached that state of zen a round the
twenty kilometer mark, I thought she could win. And then
the fact that they were actually honored at the closing ceremonies,
which I think normally the men get honored or had
been honored at the closing ceremonies, but to see that
in her head scarf as well, that was pretty pointed.
So a legend, a legend, the best to ever do it.
(40:19):
What a feat.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
It doesn't get spoken of enough, and I don't think
the cameras quite capture how quickly these athletes are running
despite it being the distance that they are going. It
is insane. These people are they must be the pain
tolerance and their threshold and that the ability to do
this training is off the charts. I would never do it, it is.
(40:43):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
The crowds for these the marathons push incredible, Like the
people running alongside to either support or test themselves I
found hilarious and great. But the cycling events as well,
like five deep the whole race, so it was just yeah,
to your point, it was the perfect setting and like
they capitalized on their historic monuments so well, Like it
(41:05):
was just what a feat to pull it off and
the volunteers man like. I also, I think the Olympics
kind of gets away with this in the sense of
like they have a lot of unpaid volunteers, but obviously
there's perks to that as well, and they get to
access some of these venues and see these events. But
without these people, how the heck do you pull this off?
I thought that Tony de casting Gay, the Paris Olympic Chief,
(41:30):
he did really well. I thought his speech like kind
of celebrating the games before Thomas Box spoke, and like,
just all these people pulling this off to put this together,
it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Yeah. I mean, the less we say about Thomas Bark the.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Champion Thomas do they make him? Do they make the
PA person say fencing champion nineteen seventy Every time this
guy's announced.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
I can't tell is seb Coote making over better or
worse than top.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
With that not with that trouser shoe combo. From what
I saw, that is the Albert's guy.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I will echo your words on Sip and Hussan and
just say it was also very cool to see the
marathon track left open for residents of Paris to run
the race. On those courses as well. I thought that
was really really cool. I thought, yeah, I mean it
speaks to the idea of trying to make it accessible
and open to the people of Paris. The yes, the
(42:34):
labor quote unquote, the volunteer side of it, I think
is so fascinating because on the one hand it falls
into this category where yeah, I mean pay people obviously,
and at the second time, it's what is community spirit
and what is mutual aid if not trying to come
and try, you know, to represent and pull together your city,
to have a sense of pride around it, to support
(42:54):
things and put it on while at the same time
acknowledging that this is a multi billion dollar non profit
in quotation marks. So yeah, I constantly am wrestling with
that myself. It has to be said in terms of
a lot of organizations that I'm part of, they do
volunteer my time at where I'm like, well, the organization
won't exist if I'm not here or people like me
aren't here. But at the same time, I probably should
(43:15):
be being paid for this. But what are you supposed
to do with that?
Speaker 1 (43:18):
There was something about Thomas buck like smiling after that,
or it was like they got us, They got us again?
Speaker 2 (43:27):
All right?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Is that it bush for Olympics?
Speaker 2 (43:31):
I think it is for the top five? May I
just have the moment for two final points and then
I promise I've shut up. Very Maybe I think we
can we can squeeze one more segment out of this
next week, can't we?
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Probably?
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Of course we can. First, the Paris twenty four Olympics,
the first time in history of gender parity ever, which
I think is a a a feat which is on
the one hand in creditbly sad and the time, is
also something that is really really worth celebrating. I think
it is a fantastic achievement that we have finally finally
(44:06):
got here. Awesome just to note that. And then finally
on the Olympic Montages, dev I have an unabashed and
unashamed closing Montage and opening Montage fan. I watched them
without with a decent amount of regularity. Has to be
(44:28):
said across the years. The BBC one was spectacular this year,
really really, really good. I encourage anyone to go and
check it out. I think it is a remarkable, just emotional,
you know, summarization of the of the two weeks there.
It's a perfect bookend from this idea of family, which
(44:49):
they introduced in the opening part of the opening package
of the Olympics itself, and then book ended with the
closing montage as well. It's it's really really special. They
always deliver, but this one was really good. The CBC
one was a bit bit limp I thought it was
a bit thin in comparison, but maybe it was just
trying to do something a bit different here. It was
much more showcasing of cool moments against music as opposed
(45:13):
to really I didn't really have a theme. I didn't
think it was just kind of going through the motions
a little bit whils at the same time recognize it's
incredibly technically well produced and put together. It just didn't
really have a soul, which was weird considering this is
the Olympic Games. Every single moment has a story behind it.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Yeah, that's fair. I think they were going for two
different things. I enjoyed them both, but I think, yeah,
like the BBC one and maybe they felt like they
had carte blanche to tell that story more in a
windy way a bit, I think, whereas the CBC went
for like that brute like here's here's the best shit
we saw which I mean.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Different a time and place for it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
I really liked the BBC one as well though. That
was really well done. Got me again felt super emotional
watching it. So they know what they're doing over there, sir.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
There's that moment where the it's the British gymnast right,
her mom and dad are talking, and the way that
she says with the parents of a cold Mellers a
three time Olympic Olympia, It's like, wow, that's yeah, it's
just too normal. Parents like holy shit, it like what
have we done? How has this happened? It's such a
(46:25):
relatable moment, it's such a heartfelt moment.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Love it all right, there is for this episode. I'm
sure in the coming weeks, don't be playing more. Tennis
was played in Canada. They're onto Cincinnati now, but we
had two winners. Jess Pegula going back to back in
Canada with her grandparents, her Canadian grandparents in attendance, a
(46:49):
lot of family, friends and family in attendance as well.
Quick drive over from Buffalo. Pegula's surviving an American loaded
field bush. A really good week for Amanda Anisimova, who
was pegged for stardom a few years ago as dealt
with injuries and some off the court tragedy as well,
But to see her back here excelling was good to see.
(47:10):
Not a great week for the Canadians and the singles
and the doubles. Gabby Debrowski and Aaron Metlift lost in
the final unfortunately, but the Fernandez sisters made it to
the Semis and Alexey Popparin Bush. If I had told
you Alexey Poprin was going to win this tournament before
we started, could have probably said maybe, But also what
(47:31):
And I think that's just kind of how these two
tournaments really were. In the end with the Olympics felt
a bit strange, and I think that was just due
to I think some fatigue on a part on the
part of the people who made the trip. For the
most part, we saw some people battle through that and excel,
but it did feel like this was like that once
every four years kind of thing that happens to the
(47:53):
Canadian events, where it didn't feel like a totally normal
National Bank Open.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Entirely agreed it was a strange, a strange week and
a half for it was one of the least I
don't know if prestigious. It's maybe a bit harsh, but
it kind of felt that way events at this level
that I've seen in a while, and that's just in
the nature of the calendar of where it's budding up against.
(48:20):
It's got to be said, like, if this this event
is the equivalent of the tweeting through it I did,
They're just like they're they're just going with it. Okay,
We've committed to doing this regardless of the fact that
it's against the Olympics. It's happening, but we have to
do it anyway. With the greatest respects to the two winners,
(48:42):
because think it's actually fantastic week for the pair of
them and much needed I think for just Pergula, just
a strange event overall, and honestly, like you know, we're
a tennis podcast on first and foremost, but my attention
was elsewhere. It has to be said, why wasn't.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
And I was new, I was there, I was there,
I was working there. But I do I get what
you're saying, and I yeah, I think like Cocoa Goth
was obviously not herself sable Anca not not one hundred
percent either. We'll see I am, But I do think
there there's some The American resurgens is obviously real. There's
(49:20):
gonna be a ton of Americans making deep runs on
the women's side, which is not necessarily new, But I
I do like how you get to see some career
highs kind of come out of nowhere after weeks like this.
Like I think of someone like Taylor Townsend, who is
a lucky loser, capitalized on that did really well and
is now up to fifty three in singles, which I
think is a new career high. I think Harriet Dart
(49:43):
something similar where she's up to your career high now, Popper,
And I mean, these points are huge, massive, and not
only is that masters one thousand beside his name, like
that's that's pretty epic. So I mean, I'm very fascinate
to see who can ride this, who can who can
capitalize on on this weird week which definitely was and
let's see what happens from there. But Cincinnati, I think
(50:04):
will be the same Bush really overall, like it's gonna
be let's see what happens in the lead up to
the US Open. If the vibes improof.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
I feel like one of the stories which kind of
maybe circle and just keep an eye on is the
on excenta run out of steam, a little bit of
considering how good the start of the year, or maybe
that's a bit harsh, But at the same time, kind
of doesn't feel like he has the same pop. I
think he's been We've been told that he's not injured.
(50:34):
Cat is juiced, so exactly, it's been turned into a
smoothie or whatever people do with carrots. He just doesn't
look the same. And I think it's gonna be hard.
When you tried his best to get to the top
of the sport, get up everything to win that first
round sound at the start of the season, but this
doesn't seem like the same energy and the same pop anymore.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
Agreed. Okay, two challenges remaining, sert. Do you want me
to go first?
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Sure, go for it.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
I'm going to. I think I've done this before actually
on the show, but spare me your scorn. I'm shetting
out the library. The Toronto Public Library was cyber hacked
last year and it was basically not usable for a
while because of a ransomware attack. But they battle through
it and they got back online, and I've just started
(51:24):
to take out books again and also like audiobooks, which
I had been doing through the outage because that was
still up, but physical books getting there from the library.
It's right down the street. Just finished one today. In
my effort to use social media less, I'm trying to
read more again and it feels good, so I'm going
to keep trying to do that.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Can you imagine in twenty twenty four if someone would
propose the idea of a library system?
Speaker 1 (51:54):
God, how how would they make it bad?
Speaker 2 (51:58):
Right? And then could they make it best? As I
say that and you imagine it in your brain, think
how lucky we are that a lot of places still
do have library systems. Take advantage of them, support them
any way you can do. They are really really a
special thing. And if you're looking for a potential version
of the world, think about an expanded library. Think about
(52:20):
how much that looks like what else could be put
into your library system? Many many things.
Speaker 1 (52:25):
Can't see the glint in Simon's eye. What do you cut?
So what do you?
Speaker 2 (52:33):
And my two challenges remaining is the Vancouver Public Library
as well around the same wave of lend. My two
challenges remaining, what is the correct grammar on that? My challenge,
My challenge. What am I talking about? My challenge is
together Jesus Christ again. It's still really warm here in
(52:55):
the city. I'm sweating my balls off sitting here.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
It's wearing a sweater, folks, he's wearing.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
It's the thing. When it went from thirty two degrees
in Vancouver to twenty one, I had to start putting
all of my long layers on again to put a
base layer on the go outside. My challenge is Scavenger's Rain,
the anime slash cartoon which got one season on Netflix.
It is a spectacular demonstration of creativity in the way
(53:22):
that the world building is put together, in terms of
its animation, in its style, very very very creative across
the board, and really worth a watch. I think it's
only ten, maybe twelve episodes long. It didn't get a
second season. It should have had many more seasons. But
if you have Netflix, or alternatively, if you would like
to use other means to get it, I think that's
a great idea. It's a good.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
Show, wonderful. We'll leave it there a reminder. We're on Patreon,
dot com, Forward Slash open air pod. Join us there,
get the show at free Get it early plus join
us on the discord where we're chatting tennis, Olympics still
probably and other stuff all the time. Please join us there.
We love chatting with our friends on the discord. For
(54:03):
producer Dylan on the Ones and Tuesday, and for Simon,
thank you so much for listening to Opinera. We'll talk
to you next time.
Speaker 2 (54:44):
This is going long, isn't it. Yeah, Okay, I'm fine
with them. Man, can know you are you are, but.
Speaker 1 (54:50):
My sense of time is homeless. Okay,
Hello and welcome to the Open Air Podcast. My name
is Deban to sign them, joined as always by mister
Simon Bushell. Simon Tennis has returned. The Olympics are wrapped up,
but we cannot let the Olympics go, can we?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We will never let the Olympics go. Are heart to
see still near the Seine. It's in all of those
areas in Paris that would become so accustomed to dev
It's been a charmed life we've been living over the
last sixteen days. We've had to not think about anything.
We've just woken up and there's been nothing but a
stream of content available to us. Glorious, steamy sports content.
(00:51):
What do we do with our lives now?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Can I also say that the Premier League coming back
this soon is sickening to me? Like I hate that
my beloved prem and Arsenal are playing games so soon,
Like I needed a break, you know, like this feels ridiculous.
I mean, imagine the players, geez, I.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Mean speak for yourself. I witnessed a three to three
nail bite between Portsmouth and Leads United this past weekend
as well. Yeah, championship starts two weeks out.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's right, it's a bit messed up, and we wonder
why these athletes get insured all the time, and we
wonder what's going on with the grind. But if we're
going to have all these games in Dubai and Saudi
Arabia at the end of the season, what can you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Do, right?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
You got to start early.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, it's true. Well maybe they should take a page
at the Olympics Bucks and only hold it every four years.
That would make things easier. Can you imagine a Premier
League season every four years?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It be nuts, it'd be mental.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Actually, I'm so down.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Anyways, Yeah, I think to properly put the Olympics to bed.
And I know we said last episode we were doing that.
This is going to be a countdown Simon and I
count down our top Olympic moments, top five. Simon wanted
to do ten. I wanted to do five only because
(02:08):
I do think it would be long and we would
we would overlap. And I purposely didn't overlap because you
put yours down first, so I share the sentiments for
most of yours. So I think I think it was
good this way.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I think so. Yeah, I think we can perhaps put
it to bed after this. I won't Cico, you sickle man.
You let it go, man, it's gone.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Quickly to start to start. Actually, did you like the
closing ceremonies?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I did, and I suspect I will come on to
the ceremonies in one of my moments as well at
my top five. But I did. I really enjoyed it.
I don't know. I mean part of this watching a
solid gold alien descend from the roof of the stat
de France. It was a choice in this class.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Was that was Chef's kiss?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
You know?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I enjoyed the most, I mean chose the Phoenix definitely
a band of my youth and Lastomania. It's a banger.
But most of those Olympians are what in like their
mid twenties, early twenties, maybe even younger. How many of
those people were like, who the f is that? What's
going on here? And seeing seeing their fellow old millennial
(03:24):
Olympians lose their mind? I found the music acts interesting
in like selection wise and like the l A portion
was I mean, out Snoop is great, Dre is fine,
They're good together. The red hot chili peppers must be stopped.
Let's let's let's just put it put it there like this.
This was sickening.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I mean, Wash doesn't even begin to describe what was
going on in the LA section.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Millie Eilidh couldn't prop up these goons, but that was bad.
But overall the Tom Cruise stuff, I'm a mark, don't
get me wrong, I'm a mark. Like I'm I'm a
TC head. When he done from that stadium, I'm like,
all right, we're going in now, let the games begin,
so to speak. But I understand, I'm I'm fully Tom
Cruise pilled and understand he's probably a dangerous man at
(04:12):
this point based on his actions.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
It is interesting, though, isn't it. Out of the what
LA chose to show of itself. It chose Tom Cruise
Snoop Dogg. The red was barely eilish.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So do you think if if the Cruise repel went
wrong down the Stad de France, do they run the
rest of that pre made at I really wonder if, like,
what if something happened and they're like, you know what,
we got to run this ad anyways, cut to.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
The tape and this is how I would have gone
had he not.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yes, they're tending to Tom Cruise now, but we've already
made this very expensive video kind of have to show
it at this point.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
So let's talk about breaking. Let's let's go there, dev
because I think it's an interesting discussion to lead us
into this before we get into our top five moments.
Raygun has captured the world, for better or for worse?
What did you make of this whole thing?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I feel very not angry. Angry is not the right word.
I just feel like pissed off. I guess at Raygun
and what has seemed to be what happened here in
the sense of like what went down, and this is
through like Reddit s luthors and Twitter people, so I mean,
come at me if this is verified to be untrue.
But it seems that when breaking was introduced to the Games,
(05:41):
some of these countries didn't have ways to like select breakers,
so they went to their dance sport representatives who were
typically ballroom dancing people or people who specialize in that.
So those dance for countries of the organizations with these
countries reached out to people well, and it seems they
reached out to this Raygun person who has a PhD
(06:03):
in breaking somehow, and she said, hey, like the Australian
breaking society will help you select the contender from Australia,
but she didn't tell them. I guess that she created
this Australian Breaking Society and her husband is like the
judge of the competition that selected the breakers. So she
(06:24):
ended up being one of the women selected from Australia
through this competition, through this foundation that she started, and
that her husband was then a judge and then was
a coach for the breaking team. So it seems like
she inserted herself into this position solely to what make
a mockery of this entire thing that she took. She
made did a PhD on which, my god, did amount
(06:46):
of work involved in that, Like what the fuck she
set breaking back decades. I feel really badly for the
competitors who had to be like, yeah, that's that's rey gun,
like what the hell?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Especially alongside I think, I think it's undeniable that for
all of the good that we found in the Olympic Games,
people's overriding memories might be of an Australian thirty six
year old woman pretending to be a kangaroo and a
competition that she shouldn't have been in, which is.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The most Australian thing I've seen. And I'm not just saying.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Because the kangaroo is reference, but it takes a certain
type of person to do this, you know, Like I
really and then she went back home when it was
breaking or something I saw, like it's just yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
God, I'm glad. I'm glad, really glad. Phil Wizard reminded
everyone like the day after, like, yo, this is actual
breaking and this is sick and he put a country
on his back and people were genuinely enthused and his
family was in the crowd, Like that was awesome. That
was one of my top five, which we can maybe
start off with. But like, yeah, like I maybe I
(07:53):
am mad based on the last two minutes. I think
I am mad.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I love how I had this whole thing prepared and
ready to go and I'm just teached you up and
you've done mostly what I was going to do anyway,
So respect for that. H such a bizarre story, it
has to be said, just in terms of how this
was covered. And also, I don't know, does it feel
(08:18):
like this is making a mockery of everything like at
the back end of the Olympics, or is or every
is everyone just too too pearl clutchy at this point.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Doug, I like, I love the jokes and like the
memes are great, and I love the people like, hey,
this is what my five year old niece says when
she says, come look here, and then it's just break
and rolling on the ground. Like I like that stuff.
I thought it was funny. I did. I didn't like
it being used as like this is why breaking shouldn't
be Olympics. You could debate that if you want, like
(08:48):
I don't mind. I don't mind if you have that
conversation whether it should be in the Olympics or not.
But like, I didn't like it being used as like
this is why because there's clown.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
And watched watch both finals, right, or watch the metals
and tell us that that's not, you know, an an
incredibly challenging artistic performance, slash sport, whatever you want to
use the language for, Like it's undeniable, how incredible these
athletes are. I think it's just this one inflection point
which is incredibly shady, which I think kind of loves
(09:16):
a bad taste in the mouth.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
It's so Olympics though, like the self selection of man,
how many times have they pulled this off in the past, right, like,
there's gotta be there's gotta be skeletons in those classes.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I think there is so many examples through history of
dodgy shit for athletes who have either entered into competitions
or have made their way to the Olympics that have
either gained the system or shouldn't, or have found ways
to use loopholes to find the ways to go into
these games. I was reading a story about because cricket's
coming back in twenty twenty eight, right, it's going to
(09:51):
be in Los Angeles as an Olympic sport.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
What did I t twenty or what?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I don't know what the discipline is, I can't remember
the The story was basically saying, okay, so I'll ask
this question to you, do you remember what the Could
you take a guess who won the gold medal in
nineteen hundred when this last took place.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
UK, bro GV whatever, whatever?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Of course? Right, yeah, like, because no one else in
the world was playing it at that point in time,
could you take a guess the silver.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Canada?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
So I'm going to say it was France. And the
reason it was France is because of it was a
bunch of expats from the UK who had made their
way to France and entered into the competition. So comedy
comedy gold. This is how we should go about doing
these things in the future. Also, this is not entirely
new fact checking. I heard it on another podcast, So
if it's wrong, go and blame the original source on
(10:43):
this one.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
All right, do we want to go into the good stuff? Now?
Do you want to just love Bastory Gunnah?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It's fine, believe me. If you want content out there
that's going to lamb bast Reagun, We're going to get
a maybe we get like a a serial style investigation
into Reaguan at some point down the line, Sarah Koenig
going in and.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Just it's a special type of person. All I'll say
is it's a very special type of I'm sure you've
met people like this in your life who would do
something like this. It's not just Reagun.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
That's That's what I'll leave you with there. The audacity,
the audacity, the hubrist to pull something like this off
and be like ha ha, you know, it takes a
certain type of person.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
How do you think we would do at the podcast Olympics.
I mean.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
It depends, how do we get in. Oh, that's sickening.
It's sickening to imagine how that would be judged. Who
would be judging at Joe Rogan, who would probably be
the IOC, He'd be the Thomas Block'd be disturbing, be disturbing.
There'd be a bitcoin, there'd be bitcoin mining happening at
the thing, with like just thats of BTUs being destroyed
(12:03):
devoted to this scam.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
With that sobering, and Howard thought, let this transition nice
to get into the good stuff. Let's do a coin
flip here, heads or tails de vang tales. Okay, it
is tails. Would you like to go first or second?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I'll go first.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I'll go first after you.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
We're not doing this in or actually should we do
from five to one? Or what do you think?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
No, because I haven't done yet exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So my first is the four by one hundred men's
relay Canada winning obviously from the outside lane. I was
on the air when this happened, so like our our
technical producer Stephen Coyle was like watching it to the side,
and I had like high half head like watching the
screen and he stood up and I'm like, oh my god,
and I stow up myself and saw it happening one
(12:52):
of those moments where you always remember where you were.
And I say that for Donovan Bailey and the relay
in ninety six too, and I was much younger than
I was, But it is awesome how the Olympics serve
as these these sign posts as well, or these like
signal markers of your life in some ways. So I
felt like it instantly hit that level for me, and
(13:12):
the way they did it, the way the Americans crumbled,
the way the Americans, I guess, don't practice the baton stuff,
which is it's just great. It's awesome. We were the
best baton passing team and we won the damn relay.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And that's how it should be shocking, isn't it the
idea that you're running in a REBA and you might
want to actually practice the bat In the past.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
It seemed like Kenny Bagner had ever seen been around
he's attempting to pass resented with a baton in his life. Yeah,
it was great.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It was my my patented thick of it quote that
I will add in here as always trying to get
one an episode. At the moment, he looked like a
sweaty octopus trying to unlook a bra so you know
that one's afraid. Describe to me the moment of watching
as you're live on air, your technical producers standing and screaming, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
In the viewing deck at the NBO at the National
Bank Open, so like people around us were started to
like huddle around as well when it happened. It was awesome,
it was very cool. We were screaming. Again. I'm sure
there was a rights violation thing where we were screaming
the results live on air. But let's see if the
IOC gets to.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
That good pick. My first is I've kind of gone
stories that has to said, rather than specific moments. It
gave me the opportunity to bundle more things together to
cheat in this this format, which is our own format,
So go figure on that one. My first is entitled
Phenoms in the Pool. You could have picked any number
(14:40):
of people for this category, but I am picking Leon
Marshall and Summer Macintosh from France and Canada respectively. I
believe four or five six seven, so seven gold medals
between the two of them. Not bad, going two silvers
each as well with silver and bronze. Marshall win bronze
I think it was bronze that France had in the
in the relay. These are astonishing athletes. Obviously, Leon Marshaw
(15:02):
was the staff of France, featured very heavily in the
closing ceremony. Sommerm macintosh went to the last Olympic Games,
if you could believe it, at the age of fourteen,
just turning fifteen. Comes into this one at seventeen. Bosses,
everyone looks like she's been doing it all her life.
This is a star. They are both stars and their
own right. I had a blast watching the pair of them.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Amazing. Marshan man ultimate pressure, everyone expecting him to pull
it off, and he did for Gold. Like that's set,
He's set for life. I saw like daily email Simone Biles.
Leon Marshan pictured it after proty Olympics, so I'm like, yeah,
this is gonna be him now for a while, which
(15:47):
is cool. I guess he feels that that role that
was left void by Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Perhaps it was so. Obviously Phelps was featured in the
opening ceremony and I had to check the maths as
they reminded us that he has twenty eight medals.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
He started so young. Yeah he was crazy. He was
at Sydney, wasn't he? Is that right? I feel like
that's right. It's like a team member.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
That could in two thousand, that could be rock, that
could be rock. How it might be right? No, it
might be right.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
So he started into yeah he was Actually he did
not win a medal, but he made the files.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I do like the fact of Thatterfly. I'm saying it's unbelievable,
fresh off the back of me saying that summer Macintosh
just went to the Olympics at forty It's impossible, no
one could possibly do that. Oh yeah, wait a minute,
it just happened.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
It's a great pick. I like how track takes over
from swimming as well, so you keep that exhilaration. But
I will say the track is where it's at. And
I got some heat for saying swimming is better, but
after taking maybe it is now just extreme recency bias.
But I prefer track over swimming events.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I think that's an interesting one to to to people,
sprint versus sorry, pool versus track in terms of what
is the better spectator sport and what is what people's
preferences are. I think I'm probably a swimming dude. Probably
just I really really like watching.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
It's not enough variation for me, Like I get I
love the strokes. Maybe this is coming from someone who
is so swim challenge that I resent all the people
of the pool with their abilities and a good man
like efforts.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I think there's something about you have an enclosed space
inside of a swimming pool arena and the fact that
the athletes can't hear anything so they're underwater.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
That's true, that's good. Okay, My next one, Phil Wizard,
I loved it. I loved also how much like Leon Marshand,
before the Games, Phil Wizard was supposed to win gold,
Like he was the number one ranked person coming into this.
Everyone was hyping up as the person to win. It
was almost a given that he would win a medal,
at least when we were talking about record battle account
(18:01):
for Canada, so a lot of pressure on him. But
also after that Ray Goun debacle, I felt like you
needed some people to come in and like help save
the reputation of breaking And I know I don't think
it's back next to the next Olympics, but I thought
these guys did that job, and I think Phil especially
did it. In an incredible way. And what I think
(18:22):
in the semi final he like predicted his opponent's move
and like did it while he was was like what,
I was crazy. I loved it. I loved the whole story.
I loved the music as well. I love the comment hears.
I love how mad this made certain sections of the
viewing public who couldn't hide their disdain and over racism
(18:43):
and talkslink like it was just just a fil wizard man.
He did the damn thing and he saved Canada as
some honor after Kendrick Lamar buried us collectively through the
actions of tricks. So we salute you.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Phil Wizards local boy to me as well. McGee's secondary
school grew up here in Vancouver, so lives in Vancouver
as well. McGee is about fifteen minutes from where I'm
sitting from as well, So that's very cool to have him.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
The digitimately kids breaking in I know it's summer, so
they're breaking in summer school right now.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Because of that, I thought the explanations that were given
and the thought pieces that were written post the breaking
final of why Phil Wizard is such an excellent breaker
and what sets him apart in a sport, and I
think in a technical sense where we see so much
of Jim like the floor the routines, where it's so
(19:37):
practiced and it's so scripted, almost like these athletes are
incredible at what they do and it's for that moment.
And then to see Phil Wizard in a sport light breaking,
where it's all improv it's basically you get so much,
you get more points for creativity and style, and if
you do the same thing again then you're almost deducted
points from it. And to have someone who is head
(19:58):
and shoulders above the field and constant pushing the boundaries
of it, it's wonderful. And it's a full Marx to
the idea of a sport, which I think maybe looks
a little odd to some people. But I think you
moment that mostly comes from the fact that we haven't
learned the language to talk about it, or we haven't
been exposed to it enough I think from a sort
(20:19):
of global sports perspective to really understand how good this
guy is.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, I think that's totally fair. And I think some
of the technical moves Phil pulled off, like you, you
probably had to know a little bit about breaking to
understand how challenging they were, or like why the judges
were scoring them so high. But I think it's also
like a combination of the music, and I thought that
the CBC commentators did a really good job of shouting
out the music that was going on or why that
(20:44):
was important or why it was being played, and also
mentioning that they didn't heat, like they didn't practice to
the beat, so they're literally like trying to process a
lot of intricate stuff. Man, it was cool. I loved it.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, And just to wrap on that as well, just
to say that his opponent in the final was a
form of nurse, which is very cool. Yeah, made the
transition to.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I was okay. Don't get me wrong. When when I
saw you he's going up against the Frenchman in the final,
I had you knew French. THEASCO thoughts in my head,
I'm like, oh, the judging is going to be so crooked.
But salute to them, Salute to the breakers of the
higher order who get the council, the breaker council.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Can you imagine like me sitting there as a complete
idiot in that they took them from him. There's no
even I's sitting there like, there's no way this French
guy won. He got absolutely and he still managed to win. Okay,
let's let's move to my number two and it has
to be a man committee. Khalif, Like, what a what
a story. I think captured the Olympic Games. Another moment
(21:48):
which is perhaps going to be one of the images
of the Games, one of the memorable feats during this
Olympic Games. Nothing will beat from a moment perspective, Let's
just park all the nonsense for a second and just
have a young woman with you know, thousands upon thousands
(22:08):
of Algerians screaming her on in this gold medal game,
and it made for an incredible spectacle. It made for
really one of those moments of triumphing through adversity, through
the shittiest of circumstances. It was incredibly heartwarming to watch.
I was so glad that she won gold, and I
(22:29):
was so glad to see that crowd there as well,
because it made that moment even sweeter.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
It's amazing the reaction in Algeria. I shared a clip
in the discord, but the amount of fireworks slid off
definitely could have Yeah, I think too many. I was concerned,
but not amazing. I also feel like this event Bush
was like the the ultimate signifier to me of how
(22:55):
completely fucked social media and maybe specifically Twitter is now,
and like what it is become and what it's being
used for, and like how so clearly it's being juiced
and used to to ah to fuel a narrative that
is frankly disgusting and abhorrent and making the use of
(23:16):
the said websites almost impossible, like for all the and
I think this is mentioned on Discord as well, like
for all the good of the games, Like I think
there was obviously a lot of bad, and I think
a lot of that has to do with how we
take in these sort of stories and like what happens
once they get out there. But yeah, I just I
(23:38):
know you've off you felt Twitter like this a long time,
but holy cow.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yeah, I think that probably speaks for a lot of
people in the daily relationship with that with that website.
One of the most fascinating parts that I had coming
through the two weeks of nonsense is how this somehow
ended up being a discussion of a of a trans
issue or like discussion around like this is this is
what this has never been a trans story at all,
like ever, and it's remarkable that it sort of went
(24:07):
in that direction. This is this is not that story
and if you managed to try and insert it there,
then like, have your head examined. This is not where
the ship the director of travel at all. So all
that ship to one side. I'm glad you won.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I didn't like that's the reason why. And I feel
like because time passed and maybe there has been an
update on this. But like the role the Guardian editor
played in this, and like the image, the photo the
selfie too with the Italian boxer afterwards Sean Ingle, like
the way this was covered, and I the tweets from
(24:42):
this Guardian sports writer and a Barney your ow name
made a tongue in cheek joke tweet, but he was
covering the event, and like.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
That.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Man, I yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Do better. Media. More broadly, you're there. You're there for
a reason. We just by everything that we say about
the media, we do entrust you to tell things and
do things correctly and not make asses out of yourself
on a global stage. So do better.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Okay, let's take a break there and then we'll get
back to the rest of our top five. We'll talk
about some tennisreal and FRI's coming up next.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Welcome back to Olympic era.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
The iOS is so bad, right, like what are you doing?
You're going way over.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Oe if you will, which stands for no, wait a minute,
it's fine. My number three is a series of firsts
which I want to try and encapsulate. A bunch of
nations which either had first gold medals or medals for
the first time, or indeed singles copetitors getting medals. So
(26:01):
ash Dadin winning for Pakistan in the javelin first singles
competitive from Pakistan to win a gold medal, which is
insane to think about considering the history of that nation
and obviously it's population size, and also like you know,
it's a really good sporting nation as well, so to
see a gold medal. There is the tremendous achievement that,
alongside Saint Lucia's Julian Alfred winning in the one hundred
(26:26):
meters in one of the most memorable moments of the Games.
Truly a fantastic achievement for a tiny nation, and also
one in just the most glittering fashion of all, like
a beaming smile in a in a really tightly contested
and packed one hundred meter final, Dominica winning that was
(26:46):
just a wonderful story. For Tiela Fond winning gold in
the triple jump, I really really enjoyed that. One Botswana,
Leslie Tobogo, we will talk about his exports. Yeah, the
two hundred meters a what a wonderful achievement. And then
to sort of close out to see the gold medal
(27:07):
first Cindy Nagamba for the refugee team is incredible. Like
I know she trains inside of the UK on that
side of things. But one of the stats I think
that was most telling inside of the opening ceremony was
forgive me for not knowing the exact numbers, but the
(27:29):
massive explosion in the number of refugees in the world
even since the twenty sixteen Olympics, the number has I believe,
quadruples and people that are eligible to compete for the
refugee team. We should feel ashamed about that as a
world and as a globe. Sport can do a tiny,
(27:50):
tiny fraction of a thing to cover over those things.
But at the same time, yeah, maybe that's something that
we might want to examine as a species in general
and why that is the case, all that being said,
a wonderful Olympics for all of these athletes, and first
goals or first medals are things to be celebrated.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Really well, said sir. I'm going to go with Steph
Curry and Lebron James for my third one. Cheering for
the USA in basketball not something I do. I was
sort of cheering for them to lose to Serbia, but
then I think the combination of Kevin Durant, Lebron and
Steph bringing the USA back maybe remember sort of this
(28:29):
era of basketball watching for myself and what those three
gentlemen have done in that sense and the sense that
I think Steph Curry is like he's just one of
one in so many ways that I frankly can't even
I can't describe right now. It was awesome. It was
awesome to see that in the gold medal game. It
(28:49):
was great to see France put up that fight. But
I felt like it was just the definition of an
era right there, with these people doing the damn thing,
captivating all of us. Having my mom text me about
Steph Currie because she loves them, like it's just I
love that, and I again, cheering for the USA in basketball,
not something I'm going to do very often.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Well, I certainly didn't congratulations to them, but I was
actively rooting for Nikola Jokich and nikolaiyokicch sorry to give
him his actual correct pronunciation of his name, and Serbia
to take the damn thing in the semi final, which
just got away from them slightly. This was always probably
going to be the most likely scenario, and you're always
(29:30):
betting against the house when you're trying to bet against
the United States Basketball on both the men's on women's
side of things. It made for a spectacular semi fun
it made for an incredible atmosphere. It has to be
set with the gold medal game.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
France did a hell of a job, I mean, considering
they got nothing from Rudy Gobert. Victor was great in
the final, but like overall, not his best tournament. Yeahbaselli
people were like, let's give him a huge contract. Danny
Age not wrong, just early Celtics traffic. It was wonderfulight, Yeah.
I think I also, once again, maybe I'm social media
(30:03):
pilled for poisoned, but the reaction if they had lost,
and if the USA women basketball team of loss as
well without taking Caitlyn Clark. Holy hell. I as much
as I want the USA to lose these games, just
for like, yes, the biggest idiots in the world, we
love that. So I kind of I'm glad that the
women as well dodged a bully because that was a
great game as well.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
A lot to be said for the fact that both
gold medal games were the United States versus France and basketball.
If you want to know where the center of the
universe is in the basketball world, it's in those two nations.
And long man continue, I think we're going to.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
See France has made big ass leaps in the basketball space.
Holy cow.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I really would love to see the expansion and continuation
of the growth of euro basket more broadly, because I
think it obviously it's a very It is a different
style in Europe. It is more team focus, less isolation,
having all those kind of things, which I know are
cliche at this point. They are tropes to beat both
(31:02):
respective leagues in but I think it does make four
spectacular atmospheres when you're watching basketball in Europe. I've been
to a few games in my visits to Spain, seeing
both Reveldred and Barcelona play, and it is just very
different than the NBA, So I'd love to see it
continue to get bigger, to expand, to perhaps challenge the
NBA in terms of bringing some of those big stars
over and having them almost a parity level. It would
(31:25):
be nice because I think I would be fully supportive
of that.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
How close are we to an NBA team playing in the.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Europe Yeah, I'm not down for that. That's that's something
that I'm not particularly interested in.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah, okay, just checking remember four.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I just wanted to highlight the Olympic's own website put
together a list of ten stars which are calling their
time on their careers after Paris, and I just want
to list out their names because it is one of
those things that growing up and watching so much what
you kin to get used to certain names across the disciplines,
and then when they're not there anymore, you see the
(32:05):
end of eras. It's something that's worth highlighting. So I'm
just going to go quickly through the names and then
touch on a couple of them. Mar Long of course,
the you know, the all time goat in table tennis,
like one of the greatest players ever. You could argument
one of the greatest athletes ever Shelley, Anne, Fraser Price,
Matt Whitlock, the pommel horse, gold medalist, the British, the
(32:26):
British gymnast who is so beloved in the UK. Martyr.
Of course, many people referring to Martyr as the greatest
of all time. Of women's footballers, Ilio Kipchogi, I mean
goodness me, the idea of having Kipchogi no longer as
a marathon runner at the Olympics seems remarkable to me.
I don't want to live in a world where that's
not the case. Lydia Co winning obviously gold here in
(32:50):
Paris twenty seven, claims that she's going to retire at thirty.
The last time we're going to see that one of
the greatest female golfers of all time. Great to see
the new Zealander win gold there. Andy Murray, we touched
on him last week. He's gone. It's a sad state
of affairs, but that is the case. Kelly Harrington winning
back to back gold medals and bowing out for Ireland
(33:11):
a wonderful story. If you've not seen that gold medal fight,
it's really worth going to see Mikhal Hansson. You could
arguably make the case that he's the greatest handball player
of all time. Eron McEwan bowing out in the swimming
as well, six gold, three silvers, five bronzes across her
career not a bad record. Dev That is a glittering
(33:31):
who's who of decorated athletes and that we will never
see at Olympic Games again, which is kind of sad.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Mijian Lopez as well, the Cuban wrestler.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Who went flutely five yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Leaving her shoes on the mat the course that you
could do. Love it? Yeah, well that was a great
I mean I like how Brazil Marita was suspended during
the tournament and Brazil managed to make the final. Anyways,
for Marita in some ways, I thought that was US
as well. Great list Austin legends. I have two more.
(34:05):
I'm going to go with that FMK Bowl four by
four hundred mixed relay. I love the mixed stuff in general,
and the swimming as well. We talked about it last
week Bush, but I also want to shout out Sidney
McLaughlin who is insane and I feel like the her
not running in that mixed relay kind of now taints it.
(34:26):
Slightly more than slightly, probably because they would have won
by a mile. To see someone that much better than
everyone else is sort of jarring, but to see them
also boost their teammates so much like she did in
the four by four hundred, like talk about delivering when
you're expected to.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
It was really impressive. That moment will have been in
for me. Why don't it?
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Well?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
So I saw her an interview with MK Ball. She
doesn't sound like Mickey Mouse regularly, so I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Must have enough, the helium levels must have been super
charged at that Diamond League event.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
She is adorable when she's interviewed regularly. She just seems
like a really nice person. So I don't know quite
how this ended up being the case.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Does your idea of the actor actress Lauren lapis at all?
Do you know who I'm talking about?
Speaker 2 (35:11):
I don't know who that is.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Listeners, let me know, let me know if you see that. Okay,
what do you got for your last one?
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Okay? My final one? I was debating to go fully
in on the table tennis discussions of trying to give
a rundown of the exploits of on the men's side
of things of the World's Quest to overturn and beat
the Chinese, which didn't happen in the team of event,
didn't happen in the singles with Fanjengdong winning. Little Fatty
(35:39):
as he's known in that side of the world, incredible, truly,
that's his nickname. Trules Murregard of Drugard of of Sweden,
really really talented player Pierre Lebrun of France as well,
the exploits of him, a prodigy in prodigy in his
(36:00):
own right, and I'm always down to see a table
tennis player waar glasses. Sadly it was not to be, though,
it was not to be, but I didn't go in
the table tennis direction, and I went in the other direction,
which was that I just wanted to shout up the
actual city of Paris itself, the opening and closing ceremonies.
This was absolutely spectacular. They nailed everything about this, and
(36:24):
I'm aware I'm seeing what they want me to see
and the behind the scenes stuff and fully accepting that
there is a lot of dodgy shit that happened as well.
The relocation of underhoused people or homeless people is a disgrace.
It never gets talked about enough. Inside of the Olympic Games,
and a lot of these host cities doing some shady
work to oust poor people inside of their cities that
(36:44):
should be mentioned here, But the opening and closing ceremonies
were remarkable. The venues themselves that they chose really embodied.
I think these ideas of moments at Olympic Games, showcasing
the best parts of these cities and showing them off,
and then having an accessible space for people to move
around the city and freely explore it. All of that
against the back job that it was all completely accessible walking, biking,
(37:07):
and public transit. This was absolutely fucking phenomenal. They did
a great job. I'm really sad I wouldn't be there,
And in some ways it kind of sucks that it's
going to be in LA because they were kind of
losing a little bit of that central location idea. I
think they're going to do a good job regardless, but
it's not the.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Soundly free how much free swag though, No really well said.
They nailed it. Like the director, I watched some interviews
with him and like some making of documentaries, but like
the pressure on that team to deliver was immense and
they completely knocked it.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Into the park.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Even that in the closing ceremonies that I don't know
what to call it, that like that dance of constructing
the rings.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
And lifting them.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
I always get an emotional man watching that. I was like,
what's happening to me?
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Melting down the quantity of people as well. That brought
up the choice and use of Selene Dion at the
end of the opening ceremony and how much that kind
of penetrated popular culture in general. Really, I think an
emotional moment for a lot of people who have followed
Selene Dion's career. We are not a pop culture podcast.
(38:19):
At the same time, I think it was emotional for
a lot of people to see that and a perfect fitting,
perfect way to end the opening ceremony.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Do you think these games were better than twenty twelve?
Speaker 2 (38:29):
I think they were. Yeah, I think they were. I
think this is the best Olympics ever. I think that's
probably the case. It has to be said. I would
have loved to have seen what Tokyo would have been
like in twenty twenty. Yeah, with crowds, just given how
historically the Japan has gone has sort of attacked these
Olympics to really try and improve a lot of things
(38:51):
and make moments out of them. It's sad that it
wasn't the case, but I thought this was absolutely spectacular.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Great picks. I mean, my last one is Sifan Hassan,
the Dutch middle distance long distance marathon runner. I I
don't know how said like, this was one of the
crazy things I've seen. She got bronze in the five thousand,
bronze in the ten thousand, and then she ran the
marathon on the final day and one gold. The race
(39:20):
itself was incredible and like the final sprint was awesome.
There was some like jockeying as well. I just that's
what the Olympics are about. To me, bush like, it's
just these unbelievable individuals doing things that you just don't
you don't think are possible. And the inspiration she is,
the story, the background. I think she was also training
(39:42):
to be a nurse growing up and then just got
into long distance running and was like I'm kind of
good at this and here we are. I loved her
talking about the race as well, being like all the
whole time I was like why am I doing this?
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Why am I doing this?
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Why didn't I slne up for this? And then she
kind of reached that state of zen a round the
twenty kilometer mark, I thought she could win. And then
the fact that they were actually honored at the closing ceremonies,
which I think normally the men get honored or had
been honored at the closing ceremonies, but to see that
in her head scarf as well, that was pretty pointed.
So a legend, a legend, the best to ever do it.
(40:19):
What a feat.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
It doesn't get spoken of enough, and I don't think
the cameras quite capture how quickly these athletes are running
despite it being the distance that they are going. It
is insane. These people are they must be the pain
tolerance and their threshold and that the ability to do
this training is off the charts. I would never do it, it is.
(40:43):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
The crowds for these the marathons push incredible, Like the
people running alongside to either support or test themselves I
found hilarious and great. But the cycling events as well,
like five deep the whole race, so it was just yeah,
to your point, it was the perfect setting and like
they capitalized on their historic monuments so well, Like it
(41:05):
was just what a feat to pull it off and
the volunteers man like. I also, I think the Olympics
kind of gets away with this in the sense of
like they have a lot of unpaid volunteers, but obviously
there's perks to that as well, and they get to
access some of these venues and see these events. But
without these people, how the heck do you pull this off?
I thought that Tony de casting Gay, the Paris Olympic Chief,
(41:30):
he did really well. I thought his speech like kind
of celebrating the games before Thomas Box spoke, and like,
just all these people pulling this off to put this together,
it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Yeah. I mean, the less we say about Thomas Bark the.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Champion Thomas do they make him? Do they make the
PA person say fencing champion nineteen seventy Every time this
guy's announced.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
I can't tell is seb Coote making over better or
worse than top.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
With that not with that trouser shoe combo. From what
I saw, that is the Albert's guy.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I will echo your words on Sip and Hussan and
just say it was also very cool to see the
marathon track left open for residents of Paris to run
the race. On those courses as well. I thought that
was really really cool. I thought, yeah, I mean it
speaks to the idea of trying to make it accessible
and open to the people of Paris. The yes, the
(42:34):
labor quote unquote, the volunteer side of it, I think
is so fascinating because on the one hand it falls
into this category where yeah, I mean pay people obviously,
and at the second time, it's what is community spirit
and what is mutual aid if not trying to come
and try, you know, to represent and pull together your city,
to have a sense of pride around it, to support
(42:54):
things and put it on while at the same time
acknowledging that this is a multi billion dollar non profit
in quotation marks. So yeah, I constantly am wrestling with
that myself. It has to be said in terms of
a lot of organizations that I'm part of, they do
volunteer my time at where I'm like, well, the organization
won't exist if I'm not here or people like me
aren't here. But at the same time, I probably should
(43:15):
be being paid for this. But what are you supposed
to do with that?
Speaker 1 (43:18):
There was something about Thomas buck like smiling after that,
or it was like they got us, They got us again?
Speaker 2 (43:27):
All right?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Is that it bush for Olympics?
Speaker 2 (43:31):
I think it is for the top five? May I
just have the moment for two final points and then
I promise I've shut up. Very Maybe I think we
can we can squeeze one more segment out of this
next week, can't we?
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Probably?
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Of course we can. First, the Paris twenty four Olympics,
the first time in history of gender parity ever, which
I think is a a a feat which is on
the one hand in creditbly sad and the time, is
also something that is really really worth celebrating. I think
it is a fantastic achievement that we have finally finally
(44:06):
got here. Awesome just to note that. And then finally
on the Olympic Montages, dev I have an unabashed and
unashamed closing Montage and opening Montage fan. I watched them
without with a decent amount of regularity. Has to be
(44:28):
said across the years. The BBC one was spectacular this year,
really really, really good. I encourage anyone to go and
check it out. I think it is a remarkable, just emotional,
you know, summarization of the of the two weeks there.
It's a perfect bookend from this idea of family, which
(44:49):
they introduced in the opening part of the opening package
of the Olympics itself, and then book ended with the
closing montage as well. It's it's really really special. They
always deliver, but this one was really good. The CBC
one was a bit bit limp I thought it was
a bit thin in comparison, but maybe it was just
trying to do something a bit different here. It was
much more showcasing of cool moments against music as opposed
(45:13):
to really I didn't really have a theme. I didn't
think it was just kind of going through the motions
a little bit whils at the same time recognize it's
incredibly technically well produced and put together. It just didn't
really have a soul, which was weird considering this is
the Olympic Games. Every single moment has a story behind it.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Yeah, that's fair. I think they were going for two
different things. I enjoyed them both, but I think, yeah,
like the BBC one and maybe they felt like they
had carte blanche to tell that story more in a
windy way a bit, I think, whereas the CBC went
for like that brute like here's here's the best shit
we saw which I mean.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Different a time and place for it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
I really liked the BBC one as well though. That
was really well done. Got me again felt super emotional
watching it. So they know what they're doing over there, sir.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
There's that moment where the it's the British gymnast right,
her mom and dad are talking, and the way that
she says with the parents of a cold Mellers a
three time Olympic Olympia, It's like, wow, that's yeah, it's
just too normal. Parents like holy shit, it like what
have we done? How has this happened? It's such a
(46:25):
relatable moment, it's such a heartfelt moment.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Love it all right, there is for this episode. I'm
sure in the coming weeks, don't be playing more. Tennis
was played in Canada. They're onto Cincinnati now, but we
had two winners. Jess Pegula going back to back in
Canada with her grandparents, her Canadian grandparents in attendance, a
(46:49):
lot of family, friends and family in attendance as well.
Quick drive over from Buffalo. Pegula's surviving an American loaded
field bush. A really good week for Amanda Anisimova, who
was pegged for stardom a few years ago as dealt
with injuries and some off the court tragedy as well,
But to see her back here excelling was good to see.
(47:10):
Not a great week for the Canadians and the singles
and the doubles. Gabby Debrowski and Aaron Metlift lost in
the final unfortunately, but the Fernandez sisters made it to
the Semis and Alexey Popparin Bush. If I had told
you Alexey Poprin was going to win this tournament before
we started, could have probably said maybe, But also what
(47:31):
And I think that's just kind of how these two
tournaments really were. In the end with the Olympics felt
a bit strange, and I think that was just due
to I think some fatigue on a part on the
part of the people who made the trip. For the
most part, we saw some people battle through that and excel,
but it did feel like this was like that once
every four years kind of thing that happens to the
(47:53):
Canadian events, where it didn't feel like a totally normal
National Bank Open.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
Entirely agreed it was a strange, a strange week and
a half for it was one of the least I
don't know if prestigious. It's maybe a bit harsh, but
it kind of felt that way events at this level
that I've seen in a while, and that's just in
the nature of the calendar of where it's budding up against.
(48:20):
It's got to be said, like, if this this event
is the equivalent of the tweeting through it I did,
They're just like they're they're just going with it. Okay,
We've committed to doing this regardless of the fact that
it's against the Olympics. It's happening, but we have to
do it anyway. With the greatest respects to the two winners,
(48:42):
because think it's actually fantastic week for the pair of
them and much needed I think for just Pergula, just
a strange event overall, and honestly, like you know, we're
a tennis podcast on first and foremost, but my attention
was elsewhere. It has to be said, why wasn't.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
And I was new, I was there, I was there,
I was working there. But I do I get what
you're saying, and I yeah, I think like Cocoa Goth
was obviously not herself sable Anca not not one hundred
percent either. We'll see I am, But I do think
there there's some The American resurgens is obviously real. There's
(49:20):
gonna be a ton of Americans making deep runs on
the women's side, which is not necessarily new, But I
I do like how you get to see some career
highs kind of come out of nowhere after weeks like this.
Like I think of someone like Taylor Townsend, who is
a lucky loser, capitalized on that did really well and
is now up to fifty three in singles, which I
think is a new career high. I think Harriet Dart
(49:43):
something similar where she's up to your career high now, Popper,
And I mean, these points are huge, massive, and not
only is that masters one thousand beside his name, like
that's that's pretty epic. So I mean, I'm very fascinate
to see who can ride this, who can who can
capitalize on on this weird week which definitely was and
let's see what happens from there. But Cincinnati, I think
(50:04):
will be the same Bush really overall, like it's gonna
be let's see what happens in the lead up to
the US Open. If the vibes improof.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
I feel like one of the stories which kind of
maybe circle and just keep an eye on is the
on excenta run out of steam, a little bit of
considering how good the start of the year, or maybe
that's a bit harsh, But at the same time, kind
of doesn't feel like he has the same pop. I
think he's been We've been told that he's not injured.
(50:34):
Cat is juiced, so exactly, it's been turned into a
smoothie or whatever people do with carrots. He just doesn't
look the same. And I think it's gonna be hard.
When you tried his best to get to the top
of the sport, get up everything to win that first
round sound at the start of the season, but this
doesn't seem like the same energy and the same pop anymore.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
Agreed. Okay, two challenges remaining, sert. Do you want me
to go first?
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Sure, go for it.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
I'm going to. I think I've done this before actually
on the show, but spare me your scorn. I'm shetting
out the library. The Toronto Public Library was cyber hacked
last year and it was basically not usable for a
while because of a ransomware attack. But they battle through
it and they got back online, and I've just started
(51:24):
to take out books again and also like audiobooks, which
I had been doing through the outage because that was
still up, but physical books getting there from the library.
It's right down the street. Just finished one today. In
my effort to use social media less, I'm trying to
read more again and it feels good, so I'm going
to keep trying to do that.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Can you imagine in twenty twenty four if someone would
propose the idea of a library system?
Speaker 1 (51:54):
God, how how would they make it bad?
Speaker 2 (51:58):
Right? And then could they make it best? As I
say that and you imagine it in your brain, think
how lucky we are that a lot of places still
do have library systems. Take advantage of them, support them
any way you can do. They are really really a
special thing. And if you're looking for a potential version
of the world, think about an expanded library. Think about
(52:20):
how much that looks like what else could be put
into your library system? Many many things.
Speaker 1 (52:25):
Can't see the glint in Simon's eye. What do you cut?
So what do you?
Speaker 2 (52:33):
And my two challenges remaining is the Vancouver Public Library
as well around the same wave of lend. My two
challenges remaining, what is the correct grammar on that? My challenge,
My challenge. What am I talking about? My challenge is
together Jesus Christ again. It's still really warm here in
(52:55):
the city. I'm sweating my balls off sitting here.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
It's wearing a sweater, folks, he's wearing.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
It's the thing. When it went from thirty two degrees
in Vancouver to twenty one, I had to start putting
all of my long layers on again to put a
base layer on the go outside. My challenge is Scavenger's Rain,
the anime slash cartoon which got one season on Netflix.
It is a spectacular demonstration of creativity in the way
(53:22):
that the world building is put together, in terms of
its animation, in its style, very very very creative across
the board, and really worth a watch. I think it's
only ten, maybe twelve episodes long. It didn't get a
second season. It should have had many more seasons. But
if you have Netflix, or alternatively, if you would like
to use other means to get it, I think that's
a great idea. It's a good.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
Show, wonderful. We'll leave it there a reminder. We're on Patreon,
dot com, Forward Slash open air pod. Join us there,
get the show at free Get it early plus join
us on the discord where we're chatting tennis, Olympics still
probably and other stuff all the time. Please join us there.
We love chatting with our friends on the discord. For
(54:03):
producer Dylan on the Ones and Tuesday, and for Simon,
thank you so much for listening to Opinera. We'll talk
to you next time.
Speaker 2 (54:44):
This is going long, isn't it. Yeah, Okay, I'm fine
with them. Man, can know you are you are, but.
Speaker 1 (54:50):
My sense of time is homeless. Okay,
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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.