Winter Olympics: NBC's Coverage Plan

The 2014 Winter Olympics are upon us! With Opening Ceremonies on Friday night, audiences across the world are getting pumped for their favorite events. Now, we've already covered the new competitions this Games, but there are so many other factors affecting the sixteen-day period full of sports that we wanted to take a closer look at some of the potential differences in watching the Olympics this time around.

NBC will be providing America with its coverage again this time around, which many have been voicing concerns over for the past 18 months, ever since the US had to wait hours to see how Michael Phelps won the Gold that everyone reported he did. Last summer, at the TCA press tour, NBC Sports had a panel for their Sochi 2014 coverage, featuring Chairman of NBC Sports Group Mark Lazarus, Executive Producer Jim Bell, and NBC Olympics reporters Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, and Apolo Ohno. During this time, Bell talked about the time-delay in a positive way, noting that NBC always wants to provide coverage at a time when most people can watch. So, although many Americans would be unable to watch live competitions because of their work schedules, those who have more flexibility will continue to need to turn to the internet and NBC's app or online viewing for live looks at the sports.

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

NBC will also continue to include the human interest stories woven into their nightly primetime coverage, as Bell mentioned that most viewers don’t know about the athletes, so it’s important to connect with them. And, speaking of connection, when asked if there were special challenges in dealing with Russia to cover the Olympics, Bell responded that every country has its share of challenges and language barriers, but there are no more special challenges than other countries. Now, five months later, he might have a little more to say, given what has been surfacing about journalism in Sochi these days.

One of the more exciting aspects of NBC's Olympics coverage this time around is the addition of Apolo Ohno to the reporters list, as he is currently the most-decorated US Winter Olympian ever, with eight career medals. Ohno made the tough choice to retire from competitive speed skating and is "looking forward to the next chapters in my life as a broadcaster.” He added that, “as an athlete, I think you never fully rule [competing] out until there comes a time to decide," and “even today, I feel like I could do it one more time.”

Ohno should make an excellent field reporter as he still gets goosebumps seeing athletes, knowing what they've gone through, and is very very excited for the opportunity to bring that passion and enthusiasm to the world."

Ohno is expected to cover short track, his signature event, as well as other sports in the Games.

This Weekend: The Gabby Douglas Story

In the interest of full disclosure to non-longtime readers, I'm an Olympics nut. My parents recorded the 1988 Summer Games' Opening Ceremonies, and I actually hunted down magazine articles about Kristi Yamaguchi when I was seven years old. I set my alarm clock for 3:30am for the 1996 Summer Games to watch early rounds of women's gymnastics. For the London 2012 Games, my husband and I actually rescheduled our lives to match Greenwich Mean Time and stream the events live. And those are only some highlights of my Olympic craziness!

So, when I heard about The Gabby Douglas Story, I was intrigued. Gabby was an athlete I followed closely a year and a half ago, though she was not my favorite from Team USA. Still, I had watched her special on Oprah and read some other stories, so I was interested in sitting down to learn more about the athlete. I came away with a lot of questions regarding what I saw, and I was able to ask the young champion about some of the issues that were bothering me.

Photo by Allen Fraser

But, first, let's look at some of what is in the movie.

- Gabby is born with a rare blood deficiency, and the fourth child in a poor family. After quite a while living in the family van when Dad can't find work, her mother, Natalie, takes the kids to her mother's house for stability. Her father is not mentioned for the rest of the movie.

- By the time Gabby is walking, her bloodcount is about normal, and complications from her condition are never mentioned again.

- Natalie becomes a great bad-debt collector, buys a house in Virginia Beach, and helps the kids make a vision board of things they want to accomplish. One of the items on there is a dog, and Natalie eventually gives in.

- Gabrielle picks up cartwheels and backflips in no time, so Natalie looks into putting her in a real gymnastics class. She’s too good for the basic class, and is soon starting on the apparatus. The kids charge classmates to watch Gabrielle do tricks, but Natalie makes them return the cash. Her sisters then decide to give up their sports so Gabby has the money to go to camp, because they know she has talent. But, her sisters do little else in the rest of the film.

- Natalie begins getting terrible migraines and constantly battles getting medication to manage them. She eventually has a bad reaction to the medicine and must stop working so she can rest. However, her condition is never diagnosed on-screen, nor is the current state of her health.

- Gabby qualifies for junior elite, which has her traveling frequently, and needing to be homeschooled. But, her homeschooling is never covered. 

- Gabrielle is upset that she didn’t make the national team, because of her skills on uneven bars. Shawn Johnson did, however, and when the family watches the Olympic trials,  Gabrielle decides she wants the same coach as Shawn. And, although she eventually works with him, she's never seen meeting Shawn. 

- As money gets tighter, Natalie pawns some jewelry, then decides to accept food stamps, something she said she’d never do when she was with Gabrielle was born. It is not shown how long the family depends on them. 

- When Gabby attends a clinic with Liang Chow, she is able to learn the Amanar vault, with a blind landing. The way the biopic depicts it, Chow works with Gabby all day and not the others in the clinic, which seems odd. 

Photo by Allen Fraser

- Gabby is desperate to continue learning from Chow in Des Moines, IA, and despite learning that Chow trained away from his family in China, Natalie continues saying Gabby cannot move to Iowa. Gabby quits gymnastics and goes on a hunger strike, but it's her grandmother's support that convinces the family to allow Gabby to move to Iowa for two years, living with a host family while there. There is no background on how the host family (with four young daughters) came to the decision to offer up their home, though Gabby is seen interacting with them and spending Christmas with them. Their current involvement in Gabby's life is left unmentioned. 

- Gabby arrives in Des Moines 22 months before the London Games, and begins training 28 hours per week. She gains ten pounds of muscle in a matter of months, and picks up routines she couldn’t do before, but suffers a hamstring injury two months before the VISA Nationals, forcing her to work on her upper-body strength. How this factors into her overall training and abilities is not addressed.

- Although Gabby quickly notices the lack of black people in Iowa, issues surrounding racism are largely absent. 

- Her family watches from home as Gabby competes in the Championship, where she messes up on the beam multiple times. The experience makes her want to quit, just 210 days before the Olympics are scheduled to begin. Her mother visits, but Gaby tells her that gymnastics is no longer her passion, but Natalie won’t tell Coach Chow. Gabby decides to be honest with her coach, who tells her that she must have the heart of a champion to continue. It's her brother who reminds her to go for the gold, thanks to the vision board. It's nice to see her family once again influencing her (it seems for a long time she just does what she wants), but let's not forget what year it is - long-distance phone calls are cheap, email is free, and we're under the impression that Gabby rarely talks to her siblings... it's not really plausible and should be fleshed out more.

- Pretty much the final part of the story in the movie is Gabby nailing the Amanar vault as an alternate in a New York competition 21 weeks before the London Olympics, and then a quick look at the San Jose Olympic Trials and a glimpse at her winning at the London Games. This, perhaps, made me the angriest; her story doesn't end there.

Now, there are obviously a lot of details in the biopic worth learning, and I liked a great deal of the background information. Still, I was left wanting to much more, which influenced the questions I had for Gabrielle Douglas, as well as what I found most interesting in her responses to others' inquiries. There were many reporters desiring chances to speak with the Olympian, so it was courteous that most people asked only a few things before re-joining the queue, though only a couple were able to make it to a second round. My own questions first:

Amy: I wanted to go back to the faith part for just a moment. I know it’s a big part of your life and it’s come up in interviews and articles and things like that elsewhere but I felt that your faith was absent from the majority of the film. Do you see it that way or have any comment on that?

Gabrielle: I think in the film or the end of the film - not really. You know, in real life it’s still there but in the movie I think it’s really focused on my life story. I don’t really feel like it’s distant.

Amy: What about the bullying issue? In the film we see the actress portraying you explaining that your mom had told you to let her know if anybody had ever said anything and later she asked her mother about her nose. But otherwise you really don’t see any concerns about bullying or any of the issues regarding your hair or other things that you commented on in other interviews. Any thoughts on why the bullying didn’t play a major part in the movie?

Gabrielle: Well I explained on it a couple of times in the media and I - or me and my mom and, you know, people that were in the loop with the movie, we just felt like we didn’t want to touch on it again because it’s like the movie’s something more like the challenges and the difficulties and we didn’t want to put the hair issue in there because we really weren’t focused on what people had to say about my hair. It was, you know, the road to London.

Amy: Okay, that’s wonderful. And then last question, did you donate any personal items to the film like posters from your bedroom or leotards that we saw the actress wear or any other props?

Gabrielle: I don’t know if I donated any personal things.

And, to round things out, a few other fun things I learned from being part of the group interview: 

- She's a Patriots fan.

- On Regina King playing her mother: "She is amazing. She’s such a doll and she played my mom so well. Me and my sister were joking around, 'Mom she even played a better you.'"

- She's looking forward to watching figure skating in the upcoming Winter Olympics.

- When she was at her lowest point and wanted to quit, her plan was to work at Chick-Fil-A, because "they have good sandwiches and really good food."

- Right now, in her training for 2016 in Rio, she's training 4-6 hours/day, 6 days/week.

- To put things in perspective, she used to get mad when she didn’t get to go school shopping. Her mother explained that “not everyone gets to go Italy for a competition,” and she realized that was a good point. She does get to hang at the mall and have sleepovers, though.

- Fashion-wise, she likes crop tops with skirts, long skirts with short-sleeved tops, or tank tops or long-sleeved shirts with jeans and combat boots.

- She texted and talked on the phone with Imani Hakim, who played her.

- Her celebrity crushes include Ian Somerhalder and Dave Franco. 

Tune into the premiere of The Gabby Douglas Story on Lifetime tomorrow, Saturday, February 1st, at 8pm ET/PT.

The New Winter Sports

During the 2010 Games in Vancouver, we covered what the different sporting events were and a little about how they were scored. Well, there are more than forty new medals being awarded this time, so let's look at what has changed.

conceptdraw.com/mosaic/olympic-winter-sport-symbols

First, let's look at the one event that has changed its scoring: Ice Dancing. There's no more Original Dance or Compulsory Dance, and instead now there is a Short Dance that is part required pattern (like Compulsorywas ) and part Original Dance, with required moves. A team's score from that is added to their Free Dance like before.

Now, for the twelve new events debuting!

Biathlon: They're adding a Mixed Relay, where two females race 6km each, then two males race 7.5km each. Each person shoots once prone and once standing, and there's a penalty loop for each miss. The team with the lowest combined time wins.

Figure Skating: There is now a Team event, with six skaters from each country. One man does a singles event, one woman does a singles event, two skaters do a pairs event, and two skaters do an ice dance event. The team with the highest total score wins. 

Luge: There is now a Team Relay, where a doubles sled starts, as soon as it finishes, a women's sled goes, and when that finishes, a men's sled goes. The fastest combined time wins.

Ski Halfpipe: For both men and women, it's a lot like snowboard halfpipe, where competitors get two runs in prelims, and the top 12 qualify for two runs in the finals. You're scored on your air, tricks, and landings, and you keep your best score out of each two-run set.

Ski Jumping: Women are competing for the first time, and use the same "small" hill as the men, with 260-330 foot markings. Each competitor gets two runs in the first round and the final round, and your score is based on distance and style. All four scores are totaled to determine the winners.

Ski & Snowboard Slopestyle: For both men and women, skiers or snowboarders go down a course that has rails, bumps, ramps, etc., and try to pull off different tricks. There are five judges giving scores, and the highest and lowest are dropped. There's a qualification round and a final round (of the top 12), and you only get one run in each.

Snowboard Parallel Slalom: For both men and women, two snowboarders race head-to-head down identical courses, and the first to finish wins.

I'm personally looking forward to checking out the slopestyle events and the parallel slalom... what strikes your fancy?

Quadrennial Hot-Weather Events Descriptions III

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Here we go with Part 3 of explaining the various events that go down at Hot-Weather Events currently taking place in the UK capital. You can find Archery through Diving here, Equestrian through Shooting here, and the remaining events below. Also, remember that there are a ton of words that the average person can't use because of copyrights and trademarks, but I think you can make sense of it all below. 

Swimming is a huge area, with 34 events! 17 are for Men and 17 are for Women. Each country can send two athletes in each regular event and one team in each relay event.
For events that are 50M, 100M, and 200M, there are a bunch of heats and the top 16 swimmers do the semifinals with the top 8 going for the final. For the 400M, 800M, and 1500M events, you go straight from the heats to the finals.
There's Freestyle, which is the typical swimming stroke with which most people are familiar, and that comes in 50M, 100M, 200M, 400M, 800M, and 1500M.
There's Backstroke, which you've probably seen before, too. It comes in 100M and 200M.
There's Breaststroke, which is the one that has your head out of the water a lot, and is usually the slowest type of stroke. It comes in 100M and 200M.
There's the Butterfly, which is the one where you use the dolphin kick, and is generally considered to be the most difficult stroke. It comes in 100M and 200M.
Then there's the Individual Medley, which comes in 200M and 400M, where you switch from Butterfly to Backstroke to Breaststroke to Freestyle, with each stroke getting an equal amount of distance.
Then we have the Relay events, in 4x100 Freestyle, 4x200 Freestyle, and 4x100 Medley. The first number is the number of team members, the second is how many meters each swims, and it only comes in all-freestyle or medley.
Last, there's the 10K, known as the Marathon, where there are no heats or semis, and all male or female contenders swim together, approximately 25 in each.

Synchronized Swimming is for women only and comes in Duet (two people) and Team (eight people). If a country has competitors in both events (eight countries do), you can send nine athletes. If a country only has a Duet, and you can only send two people. The actual events are heavily choreographed to music (thankfully, they have underwater speakers), and you are scored on your difficulty, synchronization, artistic impression, music interpretation, and execution. Teams do a technical routine and a free routine, and their scores are added for their final marks. Duets have preliminaries, where they do a technical routine and a free routine, and the twelve best duets move to the final, where they do another free routine. The three scores are added together to determine final rankings.

Table Tennis has four events - Men's and Women's Singles and Teams. Each country can send three men and three women, but you can only have two contenders in each Singles event. Singles matches consist of a best-of-seven games, with each game ending when someone hits 11 points, but you have to win by a margin of two. Team matches are four singles matches and one doubles match, each played best-of-five. But you don't even have to do all five of those - if one team wins three, they win. Both are played single-elimination, with the semifinals winners vying for first and second while the semifinals losers play one another for third.

Taekwondo has four Men's and four Women's events, divided by weight class. You can only send two total men and two total women per country, and they have to be in different weight classes. Each competition is three two-minute rounds, and players wear colored padding over their uniforms. If you kick the trunk protector, you get one point (a turning-kick gets you two points). If you kick the head, you get three points (a turning-kick gets you four points). It's a single-elimination tournament to get first and second place. Any team who lost to either of those people gets to go through another round against one another, and the two winners of that repechage go against the semifinals losers, and two people are awarded third place.

Tennis has five events - Women's Singles, Women's Doubles, Men's Singles, Men's Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. Each country can send six men and six women, but only four men and four women can go for Singles, and two teams per type of Doubles. All matches are best-of-three sets, except Men's Singles, which are best-of-five. The scoring for tennis is a bit wacky, if you're not familiar with the sport. The points are counted 15, 30, 40, and then the next point wins... unless it gets to 40-40, then you have to win by two. All events are single-elimination, with the semifinal winners playing for first and the semifinal losers play for third.

Triathlon has a Men's and a Women's event, and each country can send three athletes to compete in each. It's a 1500M swim, then a 43K bike (laps, not road), then a 10K run (laps, not course). There are no breaks and the first person to cross the finish line wins.

Volleyball has a Men's and a Women's event. It is different from Beach Volleyball because it's played indoors and there are six players on a team instead of two. Plus, each country can only send one men's and one women's team. Twelve teams compete in each event, and they're divided into pools of six. After playing everyone in your pool, the top four from each pool moves on to play single-elimination through to the end. All matches are best-of-five sets, and while the first four sets go to 25 points, the fifth only goes to 15.

Water Polo has one Men's event and one Women's event, and each country can enter one team. Twelve teams compete for Men and eight for Women, and there are 13 people on a team, though only seven are in the water (2M deep) at a time. You can substitute out as often as you wish. A match has four periods of eight minutes, but the bigger point is that your team only has thirty seconds to score before the ball is given to the other team. You can't touch the sides or bottom of the pool, and you want to get as many points as possible. Competition begins with teams being divided into two groups, and you play everyone in your group. Two points are awarded for a win and one for a draw. Things progress directly into quarterfinal or semifinal rounds, and it's single-elimination onward to the end, with the semifinal losers going for third place.

Weightlifting has fifteen events - eight Men's events and seven Women's events, based on weight class. A country can send six men and four women total, with a maximum of two in any one event (weight is double-checked two hours prior to the event). Each event has two parts: Snatch is lifting the bar from the floor over your head in one movement; Clean and Jerk is lifting the bar to your shoulders first and then over your head. Each competitor is allowed three tries at each part, and their best lift in each is combined for their total score. If an athlete can't make the snatch in three attempts, they're eliminated. In a tie, the lighter athlete wins. If bodyweights are tied, it's whoever lifted first. The bar starts off light and is loaded as the stronger competitors attempt.

Wrestling has two disciplines, Freestyle (entire body) and Greco-Roman (upper bodies and arms only). Men have seven weight classes for Greco-Roman and seven for Freestyle, and Women have four weight classes for Freestyle. Each country can send one athlete per event. A bout lasts three periods of two minutes, with thirty-second breaks  between periods. You earn points for various holds and throws, and you want the most. A period can end if someone does a specific five-point move, does two three-point holds, has a six-point lead, or pins the opponent. It's best two-out-of-three, and in Freestyle wrestling, if the third period isn't decided when time is up, it can be extended until someone gets a point. There are some moves that are illegal in the Women's event but allowed for Men. It's single-elimination, but anyone who loses to a finalist, including the losing semifinalists, re-competes against one another for third. 

Quadrennial Hot-Weather Events Descriptions II

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Here we go with Part 2 of explaining the various events that go down at Hot-Weather Events currently taking place in the UK capital. You can find Archery through Diving here, and we cover Equestrian through Shooting below. [Update: part three link] Also, remember that there are a ton of words that the average person can't use because of copyrights and trademarks, but I think you can make sense of it all below. 

Equestrian has Individual and Team Dressage, Individual and Team Jumping, and Individual and Team Eventing. Men and women compete together.
Dressage is one person and one horse at a time doing set movements, especially the piaffe (horse kinda lifts its feet in a cadence) and passage (a special trot). Everyone does the Grand Prix, then the seven best teams (teams are scored at the same time! three people per team) and the 11 best individuals move on to the Grand Prix Special, which is another round of the same, and determines final Team placement. Just the best Individuals then do the Grand Prix Freestyle, where you still show off moves but you choreograph it to music.
Jumping has you riding your horse on a course and jumping over bars and walls and stuff. You want the fastest time with the fewest errors. Round 1 has everyone, with the top 60 (and their team partners even if they're lower) moving on to Round 2, where the best 45 Individuals and the top 8 teams from this round only move on again. Round 3 has the top 35 moving on, but only 3 per country now. Team winners are based on your scores in Rounds 2 and 3. Round 4 has the top 20 moving on, based on scores only in this round. Round 5 is for final Individual placements, which are based on your score from Round 4 and Round 5. Jump-offs break ties.
Eventing is a culmination of four days, two of which are dressage. Day 3 is Cross-Country, which has 45 jumps. Day 4 is jumping/showjumping, which has two rounds. After the first, team placements are completed, and 25 or so go to the second to score the individuals.

Fencing has ten events, six for individuals and four for teams, and about the same number of men and women get to compete. Individual events are three rounds of three minutes each, or until someone gets 15 points. Team events can have nine rounds of three minutes, and a cumulative 45 hits win the match. In this day and age, hits are recorded through wireless technology. It's single-elimination and your seed is based on your International ranking.
Individual Epee for Men and Women allows both opponents to score at the same time, by hitting the other with the tip of the weapon.You can double-touche.
Individual Foil for Men and Women has very strict right-of-way rules where you're aiming for the torso. Foil is the lightest sword and no double-touches are allowed.
Individual Sabre for Men and Women is a hit-above-the-waist event where double touches aren't allowed. The sabre is a shorter sword than the others.
Team Foil - Women and Men have this, and there are three fencers on a team. Each fencer goes up against each other one, and each bout ends when someone scores five points, or, if the team from behind does well, they can go until they reach a multiple of five. Of course, the three-minute rule is also still in play. Men's Team Sabre and Women's Team Epee are played the same way, as far as I understand.

Football/Soccer has Men's and Women's events. Each country can send one team, with Men having 16 teams in competition while women have 12. It's a typical game in that it has two 45-minute halves. The teams are divided into four groups, and you play the other teams in your group. You get three points for a win and one for a draw, with the best eight teams moving on to the quarterfinals. It's single-elimination from there, with the top two teams going for first and second while the next two teams are playing for third place. Also, from quarterfinals onward, no ties are allowed - instead, two 15-minute periods are played, then five penalty shoot-outs each, then sudden-death penalty kicks if needed.

Gymnastics has three disciplines- Artistic, Rhythmic, and Trampoline. Men and women both compete in Artistic and Trampoline, while only women do Rhythmic.
Artistic awards 14 medals - one for each individual event (10), one each for Women's and Men's Team events, and one to the Male and Female All-Around best individual. It all starts with the qualifying round. If you don't have a team, you can compete in all areas or just the ones you want to. If you have a team, four (out of five) gymnasts compete in each area and the highest three scores are added together for each event. The eight highest teams can compete for Team, where only three gymnasts per team do each event and every score counts. Regardless of whether you're on a team, your scores from the qualifying round determine if you go on to the event finals - you need to be in the top eight for an individual event or the top 24 in all events. Artistic for Men includes six events: vault, floor exercise, parallel bars, horizontal bar, still rings, and pommel horse. Artistic for Women includes four events: balance beam, floor exercise, vault (which requires two different routines for women), and uneven bars.
Rhythmic has two medals - Individual and Group. Six people make up a group, and a country can send different people for individual and group, for a total of eight women per country. The events are set to music. Your apparatus must always be moving, and you're judged on difficulty, artistry, and execution.
Individuals use a ribbon, some clubs, a ball, and a hoop, each in its own routine. The group event has two routines, each with five participants. One has five balls while the other has three ribbons and two hoops. After the qualifying round, the top ten individuals move on to do it all again, as do the top eight groups.
Trampoline has a Men's and a Women's event, with 16 competitors in each, with countries having a limit of two per event. Each competitor does two routines for qualifications (one simple and one unlimited), with the top eight moving on to do a single routine, containing 10 required elements. You're judged on control, technique, difficulty, execution, and time of flight.

Handball has a Men's event and a Women's event, each with 12 teams competing. There are seven people on a team, and you can have seven substitutes. Each country can have one team per event. Teams are divided into groups of six, and you play everyone in your group. Winners get two points, draws get one. The four best teams in each group move on, and it's single-elimination from there, with the best two teams playing for first and second place while the next-best two teams play for third place.

Hockey, or more appropriately, Field Hockey has a Men's event and a Women's event, with 12 teams competing (limit of one per country) in each event. A team has 11 players and five substitutes, and a game has two 35-minute halves. Teams are divided into groups of six, and you play everyone in your group. A win gets you three points and a draw gets you one point. The two four best teams in each group move on, and it's straight to the semifinals, the winners play for first place and the losers play for third place. In the semis and finals, ties are broken with two extra 7.5 minute periods, sudden-death-style. If nobody scores, you move into a five-attempt shoot-out, then a sudden-death shoot-out if necessary.

Judo has seven Men's events and seven Women's events, broken down by weight class. Each country can only enter one person per event. You start by being grouped into one of two pools per weight class, and it's single-elimination until you get to the semifinals. The losers of the quarterfinals compete against one another, with the winners competing against the losers of the semifinals for third place (awarded twice here). The actual competition is five minutes long, and you earn points based on the throws and holds you do against your opponent. It is possible to win with a single move. If it's a tie, you get three more minutes and the first point wins.

Modern Pentathlon has a Men's and a Women's event, and each country can enter two people in each, with the total number of competitors in each event being 36. You have to epee fence (each competitor fences everyone else in their event, but you only need one hit to win, and there's a maximum time limit of a single minute), swim 200M freestyle, and ride a 350-400M course with 12 jumps on horseback. After that point, your score is determined so that you have handicapped times for the rest of the event. The last part reminds me of the snowy-sport biathlon, only here, you shoot five targets within 70 seconds, then run 1000M, then shoot the same, then run the same, then shoot the same, then run the same. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins. It all takes place in one day, too. 

Rowing has 14 events, eight for men and six for women. Both men and women have quad sculls, double sculls, single sculls, eight, coxless pair, and lightweight double sculls. Men also have coxless four and lightweight coxless four. Each country can send 28 men and 20 women, but only one boat per event. Each race is 2000M, and six boats race at a time. If an event has 12 or fewer boats, they have two heats, and the best boat from each moves on. The rest try again and four more get to move on. Everyone who moved on tries for places 1-6, and everyone else tries again for 7-12. If an event has 13-18 boats, they have three heats, and the same basic process happens only on a larger scale. Again, the same with 19-24 boats, only with four starting heats. If there are 25+ boats, you start with heats and the four best in each heat go for quarterfinals, but more can go on from the repechage round. The rest kinda plays out like the others.
Quad Sculls uses two oars for each of four people.
Double Sculls uses two oars for each of two people.
Single Sculls is one person in the boat using two oars.
Eight uses one oar for each of eight people.
Coxless Pair uses one oar per person and no coxswain to steer the boat.
Lightweight Double Sculls uses two oars for each of two people. Women can't weigh more than 59kg and Men can't weigh more than 72.5kg. 
Coxless Four uses one oar for each of four people. Rather than a coxswain using a rudder to direct the boat, one of the rowers uses a cable attached to his foot to steer.
Lightweight Coxless Four uses one oar for each of four people, who cannot weight more than 72.5kg.  

Sailing has ten events, six for men and four for women. Each country can send one boat per event. Generally, an event is a series of races. Each time you race, you get a number of points based on your place (first is one, second is two, etc). After ten races (or 15 for skiff), your worst race is dropped and the rest are added together. The ten best boats move on and in the final race, points are doubled, and you want to have the lowest number to come in first. Events that work like this are: Two Person Dinghy for Men and Women, Windsurfer (like a sailboard) for Men and Women, Keelboat for Men, Skiff for Men, One Person Dinghy for Men and Women, One Person Dinghy Heavyweight for Men. On the other hand, the Elliot 6M (a keelboat) for Women plays by different rules, because it's a "match race" and is done head-to-head. 12 boats all race one another with winners getting one point and "dead heats" getting half of a point. The eight best boats then race one another in a series of races, and you want to be the first boat to get to three. It's single-elimination from there on out, but still needing to get three points to win each round.

Shooting has fifteen events, nine for men and six for women. Each country can send 20 men and eight women, which works out to two athletes in everything but women's trap and skeet, which can have one each. There's 10M Air Rifle for Men and Women, 50M Rifle 3 Positions for Men and Women, 10M Air Pistol for Men and Women, Trap for Men and Women, and Skeet for Men and Women. Women also have 25M Pistol. Men also have 50M Rifle Prone, 50M Pistol, 25M Rapid Fire Pistol, and Double Trap.
For Rifle and Pistol events, you're trying to hit a 10-ring target from the specified distance. Shotguns are used in skeet and trap. Trap is a clay disk being launched to shoot, 125 for men, 75 for women, and an additional 25 for the finalists. Double Trap is two clay disks at a time, with 75 sets for men and 60 sets for women. Skeet launches 25 discs at random heights, sometimes two at a time. Men do it five times and women do it three, with the top shooters doing an extra 25.
The Pistol and Rifle events are 60 shots within 105 minutes for men and 40 shots within 75 minutes for women. All shots are done standing up, except for the Prone (all lying down) and the 3 Positions, which has you standing, kneeling, and lying prone. Men do 40 shots in each position while women do 20.
The Rapid Fire Pistol, from what I understand, is doing 10 shots in 8 seconds, 10 shots in 6 seconds, and 10 shots in 4 seconds. You do this twice, and then the finalists do four sets of five shots in the 4 seconds series.

Quadrennial Hot-Weather Events Descriptions I

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Ever wonder what events are in the Pentathlon? I have. In fact, I've been watching the Quadrennial Events for over twenty years and still struggle to remember the differences between Judo and Taekwondo, and why some volleyball is played on a court while some is played on the sand. So, like we did for the Snowy Sports, we wanted to explain what some of the different activities are for which you can earn shiny circles every four years when it's hot outside. [if you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, be aware that there are all sorts of copyrights and trademarks in place for the words and images one might traditionally see used every time an international competition of this magnitude takes place. I've read a ton about who is allowed to use the "real words" and when, and I just don't want to take any chances, because I certainly didn't apply for permissions.] So, let's get on with it! Because there are so many Hot-Weather Events, we're going to break it up into parts. Below is part 1. [Update: you can find part 2 here and part 3 here.]

Archery has Men's and Women's events, both Individual and Team. Individuals start with 64 competitors who each shoot six "ends" of 12 arrows. Scores "seed" you in a single-elimination bracket, and when you go against somebody, each shoots three arrows and the best score gets you 2 points (if you tie you get 1 point each). You repeat this until someone gets 6 points (if you both hit 6 at the same time, it's a shoot-off until someone does better).
Teams are made up of three archers, and their first-round scores from the Individual event are added together to figure out their seed. Each single-elimination round allows each archer on a team to shoot eight arrows.

Athletics means Track & Field. It's really big... we're talking 24 events for men and 23 for women (they don't do the 50K speed walk)
There's the 100M, 200M, 400M, 800M, 1500M, 5K, 10K, Marathon for running.
There's the 100M hurdles (Men's is actually 110M) and the 400M hurdles. There are ten hurdles 42" high that you have to jump over in the 100/110. Knocking them down doesn't hurt your score. The 400 is just doing the lap four times.
There's the 3000M steeplechase, which has you jumping/stepping on a 36" bar (30" for women) 28 times and dealing with a water puddle (12 feet long and 27" at its deepest) seven times.
There's the 4x100M relay and the 4x400 relay
There's the 20K walk (and the 50K walk for men)
There's the high jump, long jump, triple jump, pole vault, shot put, discus throw, hammer throw, javelin throw. High jump is running at a bar and jumping over it repeatedly as it keeps getting higher, with the highest successful jumper winning. Long jump has you running at a pit, taking off at a set spot, and seeing who can go the furthest. Triple jump starts off the same way, but when you land you can jump two more times from there. Pole vault is running with a pole and using it to get yourself over a high bar, over and over until you've cleared as high as you can. Shot put is the little cannonball, which you hold near your neck to throw - you want it to go far. Discus is the frisbee-looking thing (4.4 lbs for men and 2.2 lbs for women), again wanting to get it as far as possible. Hammer throw is the ball with the wire, weighing 16 lbs for men and almost 9 lbs for women, getting it as far as possible. The javelin is the 8' spear you throw as far as possible.
Men have the decathlon: 100M, 100M, long jump, high jump, shot put on one day, then 110M hurdles, 1500M, pole vault, discus throw, and javelin throw another day.  
Women have the heptathlon: 100M hurdles, 200M, 800M, long jump, high jump, shot put, javelin throw. Scoring is done with a pretty specific formula for decathlon and heptathlon.

Badminton is the court sport with the racquets and the birdie, where you don't have to be the server to get a point. You win when you get to 21 points, as long as you have 2 points more than your opponent. You keep playing until someone has 2 points more than than your opponent, or someone hits 30 points. There's Singles and Doubles for Men and Women, as well as Mixed Doubles. Your world ranking sets your seed and it's all single-elimination.

Basketball has Men's and Women's. 1 team qualifies per event because of world championships and the host nation also qualifies. 7 more for men (5 more for women) qualify through regional championships. 3 more for for men (5 more for women) have a qualifying tournament. Those 12 teams are divided into two groups of six teams, and you play those five games, earning two points for a win and one point for a loss (and 0 for a forfeit). The best four teams from each set play a knockout round and the winners all move forward to the semis, with the winning teams going for the finals and the losing teams playing for third place.

Beach Volleyball has Men's and Women's teams of two. 24 teams start each event (a country can send two teams) in preliminaries in six groups of four. You play those three games, and the top 16 teams (two from each pool and then the two best third-ranked teams all go, plus the two winners of the other four third-ranked teams after they play a two-match round) play single-elimination brackets from there. A match is defined as best two-out-of-three sets, with 21 points needed to win the first and second but only 15 needed to win the third.  

Boxing has ten weight classes for Men and three for Women (this is the first time they have this sport, actually), and you can qualify through the prior year's World amateur Boxing Championships or the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships, the Continental Olympic Qualifying Events, and the host nation gets some spots as well. One person per country per weight class is the rule. Men get three rounds of three minutes to score points, or knock-out someone for the count of 10. Women get four rounds of two points to do the same. It's a single-elimination tournament, but the winners of the semis in every weight class both get first while the losers both get third.

Canoeing and Kayaking has a lot of different things. There are two categories: slalom and sprint.
Slalom has Women and Men having kayak while Men also have single canoe and double canoe. Each country can send one boat per event, which is a time-trial down a 250M whitewater course. There are 25 gates, some which you go through regularly and some which you have to go upstream to get. Touching a gate adds two seconds to your time; missing a gate adds 50 seconds to your time.
Sprint has Men's singles kayak in 200M and 1000M, Men's doubles kayak in 200M and 1000M, and Men's four-person kayak in 1000M. There's also Men's singles canoe in 200M and 1000M, plus doubles in 1000M. Women have singles kayak in 200M and 500M, doubles in 500M, and four-person in 500M. Each country can send one boat in each head-to-head event, and the number of heats depend on the number of boats in each event.

Cycling is another big one, having events in BMX, Mountain Bike, Road Bike, and Track Bike.
BMX has Men's and Women's, with each country sending up to three men and two women. Men's track is 450M and women's is 440M. Each rider does the track once to determine seedings, and then I think the process is kinda confusing, so here is what london2012.com says: "The women progress straight to the semi-finals and the men’s event continues with the quarter-finals, which are held over five runs, with points for places on each run. After three runs, the best two riders from each quarter-final progress to the semi-finals. The remaining riders compete in the final two quarter-final runs and the best two from each quarter-final also progress to the semi-finals. From here, the semi-finals in both the men’s and women’s events follow a three-run format. The top four riders from each semi-final advance to the final, where the medals are decided over one run."
Mountain Bike has Men's and Women's, with each country sending up to three men and two women. It's a 4.7km course with a 4.4m loop. You do a set number of laps (I seriously can't find the exact number!), causing it to go 90-115 minutes. All competitors in each event start at the same time and that's that.
Road Bike has Men's and Women's Road Races and Time Trials. Each country can send five men and four women for the Road Race and two men and two women for the Time Trials. Road Race is 250K for men and 140K for women, and everyone starts at the same time. Time Trials have a course of 44K for men and 29K for women, plus riders start one at a time at 90-second intervals, and the fastest total time wins.
Track Bike has Men's and Women's Sprint, Team Sprint, Keirin, Omnium, and Team Pursuit. They do these in an indoor, oval track that is 250M. The Sprint is three laps and the Keirin is up to seven riders on a track, paced by a motorcycle and then sprint to finish. The Team Sprint has 3 men on a team doing 1 lap with all three, then 2 laps with just two of them and a third lap by just one of them. Women have two people on one lap and one person on a second lap.
The Team Pursuit is 16 laps for 4 men and 12 for 3 women, and everyone rides at the same time. Getting three of your four team members across the line is your time.
The Omnium has six parts - a flying lap, a points race (30K for men, 20K for women), an elimination (where either the fastest person every lap wins or the slowest person every lap loses), an individual pursuit (4K men, 3K women), a scratch race, and a time trial (1000M men, 500M women).

Diving has four events each for Men and Women: 3M Springboard, 10M Platform, 3M Synchronized Springboard, and 10M Synchronized Platform. Each country can send two individuals for the regular events and one team for the synchronized event. Divers submit their dives in advance so that their difficulty level is known. They receive a score 0-10 from each judge and it's multiplied by the difficulty. For the synchronized events, two sets of judges are used - one set determining execution and one set determining how synched they were.

Quadrennial Hot Weather Events: NBC Special

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Note: we're working with a limited vocabulary, guys. This cuts out a lot of what we can cover, based on the words (and images) we can't use. We're still going to get a few articles out there, though, because these events don't happen every day!

My parents recorded the "first festivities" for the 1988 events, and I remember watching those parachuters a dozen times through the years (a quick search reveals that I've mentioned this before, too). By 1992, we were given all sorts of reading material in school about that series of competitions, so it only made sense that I'd wind up infatuated with them. In a past post I've talked about my 2004 revelation that I would never be an a great athlete, and in 2010 TheTalkingBox did a rundown of the various events that make up the snowy sports. Well, NBC figured it was a great time to recap some moments, too. [Seeing some of these old clips made me remember just how poor resolution used to be LoL!] They narrowed down the large field to twenty-five years and only the hot-weather times. They chose the 30 contenders and had the internet order them from #30 to #1. So, let's see what made the list and how the internet ordered them...

NBC Sports Special "30 Greatest Olympic Moments"
30. Pablo Morales swims to win in the 90s Spain Events after being shafted several times before. [can't say that I personally remember his history or this moment, but it's sweet.]

29. Ian Thorpe swims to win in Greece. [again, nothing in my own memory on this one.]

28. Donovan Bailey breaks the world record in a track event in the Georgia city. It has now been beaten, tho. [breaking a world record is cool and all, but if it's been broken already, is it worth noting?] 

27. The 10K in Spain - Ethiopia and South Africa women go for it and Ethiopia wins. [I thought this was a really nice clip!]

26. Jackie Joyner-Kersee pulls through in a handful of events in Spain. [I totally remember her. She was a big favorite in the reading material specifically geared for girls to have idols. I then ran track in the spring of 1993... and never again, LoL.]

25. Rowing - Steven Redgrave goes for his fifth yellowish shiny circle at the turn of the century. [I think the repeat athletes are my favorites.] 

24. Janet Evans was only 17 when she won BIG over her opponents. [She was another one who I grew up favoring, so I was excited that she was trying to make a comeback this year. too bad she's won't be competing, though.]

23. In Greece, Hicham El-Guerrojj won for the 1500 after tripping up in the previous two quadrennial events. [no recollection of this one, but that's nice that he was even able to compete again after those - I don't know if I'd have the guts to!] 

22. Carl Lewis and the US go for the 4x100 track relay in Spain and win, PLUS come up with a world record. [I find swimming relays way more exciting than running relays, which probably explains why I have no real memory or interest here.]

21. US Men's Basketball with LeBron, Kobe, and Shaq in China. [If you know me in person, you probably are aware that basketball is one of those sports that I just can't stand. So, I never watch it, even when the quadrennials come around. good for them, tho!] 

20. Cathy Freeman running for Australia in Australia and winning. [I only vaguely have a memory of this one, but it was nice to see again.] 

19. Men's 4x200m Freestyle Swim Relay in Greece - Australia was the big favorite but the USA pulled it out. [you may recall this one... Michael Phelps was one of the guys on the team and you know you've seen clips of pretty much all of his major races. it's a heartwarming moment and I'd say it would be worth looking up on youtube or something similar.]

18. Paul Hamm, Men's All-Around in Greece - Hamm vaults and takes a messy fall. BUT, his high bar is so fabulous that he walks away with a win anyway. [tears AND goosebumps, baby! LOVE IT!]

17. Women's Beach Volleyball in the pouring rain of China: Kerri Walsh and Misty Treanor of the US beat China to win! [the rain was the memorable party here. unless, of course, you're all about the girls on the beach.]

16. Michael Phelps in Greece, 100m Butterfly, against Crocker, another American. It's close, but Phelps wins. [I don't know what made this race particularly notable, honestly. the fact that it was US vs. US?] 

15. Carly Patterson in Greece gets the win in the All-Around. [I'm actually embarrassed to say that I missed this one originally. That summer was all over the place for me, and I don't know how I didn't make it to a TV for this gymnastics legendary moment.] 

14. Laura Wilkinson in Australia wins diving, despite a foot injury. [it's kinda creepy, but I would have placed this one higher - injured athletes continuing to compete is one of the most impressive things ever.]

13. The First Festivities for the Events in China. [I'm pretty sure I've watched these four times by now. All the use of humans to make everything work was the most exciting thing ever!] 

12. Usain Bolt, in China, huge lead and big win for Jamaica. [shockingly awesome!]

11. The Men's Basketball Dream Team in Spain, including Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, and Magic Johnson, among others, had some amazing matches leading up to the big win. [again, it's a basketball thing so I don't have much background, but I know all of the names (cough, thanks Space Jam! cough) so I know this was a big deal.]

10. At the events in Australia, a Russian hadn't lost a wrestling match in 13 years, but lost to American Rulon Gardner. [wrestling is another sport I just don't pay attention to, but that's CRAZY!]

9. Michael Johnson, in the Georgia city, wins the 400 and the 200 - first person to do so AND destroys his own world record! [he's one of the big male idols that were in all of those readers, and I've particularly found it interesting when runners succeed in multiple events - it doesn't seem to be as common as it is with swimmers.]

8. USA Women's soccer in the Georgia city, beats China. [yeah... I don't really do soccer all that much, either. I guess you could say that I just prefer individual sports to team ones?]

7. Usain Bolt, 100M, in China, new world record. [I found it interesting that two moments from Usain Bolt in the same year was odd.] 

6. Muhammad Ali, in the Georgia city, gets to light the main stick at the First Festivities. Others who took part in the pass-off just before him included Evander Holyfield and Janet Evans. [I honestly don't know why this is such a big deal. Maybe it was because I didn't see it live and it has lost some significance over the years?] 

5. Nastia Liukin & Shawn Johnson, at the China competition Women's All-Around - it was neck-and-neck but Nastia wins and Shawn comes in second. [such an amazing feat! the excitement over two Americans placing was incredible!]

4. Phelps goes for 7th yellowish shiny circle in China with the 100M Butterfly, getting 1/100th second over Cavic. [I don't even know how to comprehend this small margin of victory, but it's astounding and exciting. :)]

3. Derek Redmond in Spain, 400M semifinal - injury knocks him out but he hops along until he is in too much pain to do anything but hang onto a trainer. [good for him! An interview with him is included, and he talks about how he gets more letters from the Americans now than the British, his own people. He and I both find it interesting that the Americans voted this moment so highly, but I guess it comes from that heart-wrenching moment when you don't want to see a DQ but some sort of time on your record.]

2. Michael Phelps - 4x100M freestyle - France was in the lead when a Phelps teammate made up some time and won in the end! [well, I guess relay races are a type of team event, and I like those, so maybe not all hope is lost on me, LoL. Like so many others, I had Phelps Phever last quadrennial and most likely will again.]

1. In the Georgia city, the Women's Team Gymnastics event comes down to Kerri Strug's vault. She needs a 9.493+, and falls on her first try, injuring herself. She limps back to the starting point and vaults again, unable to even leave the platform on her own, but her 9.712 wins the event for the US. [My God! The Magnificent Seven were sixteen years ago already?? I was up until the wee hours watching the gymnastics that year, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this moment. I'll never forget it and it seems that most of America won't, either. I knew it had to place, and I have to say that I'm proud it made it all the way to the top of the list!]

Quadrennial Hot Weather Competition Time!

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Confused by the title of this article? I'm very sorry. But, I'm going to try to follow the rules regarding all of the copyrighted words which surround that big series of activities that begins this Friday and runs until August 12th. Oh, and no pictures, either, as all of the symbols associated with the event are also trademarked. We'll see how this goes...

Now, we've talked about such quadrennial activities before, like in early 2010, when the "snow varieties" were taking place. We didn't say all that much about them, but they ARE a big event and they DO only take place every four years. While I'd love to cover those "first festivities" and maybe talk some about the wacky coverage that we'll be getting in the US (particularly on the West Coast) and the strange camera angles and commentary that sometimes ruin what could have been fabulous and memorable moments, it's going to be nearly impossible to do such things. But, we do have a couple of articles planned anyway. One will look at the NBC television special, "30 Greatest Olympic Moments," which is an hour-long set of clips and background on some of the greatest hot-weather sports memories. Another will be a companion piece to the aforementioned snowy explanations - we think you deserve an explanation of what, exactly, the events are. Note, this is different from just what the different "sports" are, because the differences within are quite daunting at times. After seeing how those do, we have a few other ideas in mind, but we'll have to play it by ear... and see how tiring it'll be to come up with alternate wordings as necessary, too.

HIMYM: Trade-Offs

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I held back on talking about this episode so I could let it sink in a little bit. The got pretty good reviews across the board on the internet, but I was less than impressed. In fact, I didn't particularly care for the bulk of this episode. And the part that I liked the least - Marshall's house-decorating storyline - was the plot that seemed to earn the most acclaim from others. I've thought about it quite a bit at this point, and all I can attribute it to is different tastes. Other than that, I've simply got nothin'. Weigh in and let me know what you think...

How I Met Your Mother "Symphony of Illumination" (S07E12): The episode opens with a Robin voice-over telling her two kids about the time she told their father she was pregnant. Then we see Robin in the bathroom with Barney, where we left off last week. Robin is a week late, yet Barney's first comment is "are you sure you're not just getting fat?" No better is his second remark, "no one told your boobs." [I can't say I was 100% surprised, but I really thought that Barney would carry himself differently in this situation.] After Robin explains that Barney would have to be the father (apparently she and Kevin have not yet slept together), he's excited and says it's wonderful... and she faints.

At the bar, Robin drinks iced tea and talks about how she never wanted kids. [trade-off #1: you have to give up liquor. iced tea isn't ideal because of the caffeine, but baby steps.] The pair is interrupted when Ted, Marshall, and Lily show up. Lily is headed to register for the baby, but Marshall is placing more importance on decorating the Long Island home for Christmas, in an attempt to have more visitors than anyone else in the area. [trade-off #2: sometimes you have to decide between doing something for your future and doing something for the present. Lily and Marshall have different outlooks on this one.] So, Robin and Barney go with Lily, and Barney runs into his old best friend - InsaneDuane, who now has four kids. [trade-off #3: Duane no longer has time to spend with Barney - he had kids.]

At the doctor, Barney and Robin find out that she isn't pregnant, and they both party. In fact, Robin parties hard - with a cigar, liquor, and sushi. However, Robin soon learns that she's infertile, and that comes as a crushing blow, even though she never wanted to have children. Her doctor suggests that she talk to someone about her feelings, but Robin anticipates that everyone's reactions would be bothersome. She imagines Ted trying too hard to comfort her, Lily imploding, Marshall barraging her with questions, and Barney stopping at nothing to make her laugh. [I thought that this was really well done... each of those scenarios seemed pretty true-to-character, in my opinion.] Caught with something on her mind, Robin tells the gang that she just found out that she can't be an Olympic pole vaulter for Canada. [this part rang a little close to home. During the 2004 Olympics, it hit me that I'd never win an Olympic medal, and I shared that with a few people I worked with. A few days later they presented me with a construction paper medal, and it's still a cherished memento. But, I digress...] Strangely, the gang all acts just like she thought they would in the other scenario.

Marshall makes friends with a neighborhood teen, Scott, who is going to help him with the lights. Marshall is pretty stoked, even introducing himself as "Mr. Erikson" and whatnot. It starts off all innocent, with the kid spotting the ladder, but soon the kid makes an excuse to go inside (offering to get Marshall a beer), and knocking the ladder away... trapping Marshall on the roof. The kid goes into Marshall's home, smokes weed (via the ever-so-clever sandwich metaphor that Carter & Bays have going), steals a case of beer, and has a party. [trade-off #4: you can be friendly with someone, but you have to remember that they may have ulterior motives. Poor Marshall was just trying to be Minnesotan, and it backfired.] To keep Marshall quiet, Scott even takes a picture of his genitalia with Marshall's phone! [CBS had this happen TWICE this week - the other time with Oleg on 2 Broke Girls.] The kid even talks Marshall into letting him have the party another 30 minutes. Lily returns home and pays the kid $50 for helping Marshall... then she walks into the house and sees how torn up it is. [hahahahahaha!]

Barney and Robin return to the registry store with Lily, and they find kids cute again, now that she's not pregnant. [LoL.] Later, Lily and Ted try to figure out why Robin is upset. Ted invites Robin to go with him to Cleveland for Christmas, but she doesn't want to go. [trade-off #5: you can try and guess what would make someone happy, but you could be completely wrong, so splurging on something that is only a hypothesis might not be the way to go. Also, oddly placed LeBron joke.] Robin yells at Ted, telling him that it's not his job to cheer her up. She goes for a walk around Manhattan and we learn that the kids that Robin has been talking to are ficitonal. Robin returns home to a decorated apartment with lights set to "Highway to Hell." Ted appears, claiming that it IS his job to cheer her up, of course.

Future Stories: Robin a bull-fighter. [plus, let's not forget, she also has to go live in Argentina, Morocco, and Greece...]

No Resurrection for Firefly; Updates for Next Season; Comic Book Store Show?

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

There have been a few interesting occurrences on The Price is Right lately. The first of which being that the winners of the showcase showdowns both spun $1.00 (one did it twice!), but guessed horribly off on the actual showcases. Being off by more than $20,000 and still winning? Craziness. A few days later, a woman won two cars. I feel like this used to happen somewhat regularly, but it made some news this week!

Though Netflix realizes how much Firefly is streamed, it will not be helping to resurrect the show, since the cast has aged and the sets have been destroyed.

Josh Lucas is joining The Firm on NBC. This will be his first major tv gig.

Season 4 of Jersey Shore will premiere in early August, and season 5 has been confirmed.

Extreme Couponing has been renewed for a second season, premiering in September. 

The new 90210 has ditched Teddy's character, writing him off early next season.

Kevin Smith is working on a reality show about a comic book store for AMC.

In case you missed it, Sarah Palin gave some bad American history last week, about Paul Revere. People tried to change Wikipedia to match her story, and Stephen Colbert acted it out according to her version.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey was renewed for a fourth season.

Various critics are starting to put out some first thoughts on the new shows for next season. You can see some snap judgments for ABC and FOX. And, similarly, there's now a longer preview out for Terra Nova.

Although it's been off the air for about five years now, Fear Factor is returning to television.

Katie Couric will indeed have a syndicated talk show on ABC.

Michael Cera lends his voice for an episode of The Simpsons next season.

NBC will get to air the Olympics until at least 2020, despite the fact that they won't necessarily air the events live.

NBC's The Marriage Ref will return to the air on Sunday, June 26th.

A Look at the Emmys

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I feel like the nominations were announced super early this year. I've been reading about picks for a couple weeks already, and there's still 4 more days until the awards. Still, I haven't made an predictions yet, so I interrupt the normal Monday flow to do so today (even though it's Tuesday, I know). Oh, and I'm not touching the Creative Arts Emmys... maybe next year.

I do want to say, however, that it never ceases to amaze me that I watch a TON of television and most every show I watch is never nominated for anything, so I often feel like I have more of a basis for picking Oscar and Tony winners than I do picking Emmy winners...

Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series

Glee "Pilot - Director's Cut" (FOX), Ryan Murphy, Director

Glee "Wheels" (FOX), Paris Barclay, Director

Modern Family "Pilot" (ABC), Jason Winer, Director

Nurse Jackie "Pilot" (Showtime), Allen Coulter, Director

30 Rock "I Do Do" (NBC), Don Scardino, Director

- Not thrilled with this selection, but at least I saw it. I still feel like Glee is ridiculously overrated.

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series

Breaking Bad "One Minute" (AMC), Michelle MacLaren, Director

Dexter "The Getaway" (Showtime), Steve Shill, Director

Lost "The End" (ABC), Jack Bender, Director

Mad Men "Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency" (AMC), Lesli Linka Glatter, Director

Treme "Do You Know What It Means (Pilot)" (HBO), Agnieszka Holland, Director

- I've never seen three of these shows at all, and I'm anti-Mad Men, so that leaves Dexter.

Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special

Georgia O'Keeffe (Lifetime), Bob Balaban, Director

The Pacific Part Eight (HBO), David Nutter, Director; Jeremy Podeswa, Director

The Pacific Part Nine (HBO), Tim Van Patten, Director

Temple Grandin (HBO), Mick Jackson, Director

You Don't Know Jack (HBO), Barry Levinson, Director

- Well, it sounds like an interesting subject...

Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Series

The Colbert Report "#5076 (in Iraq)" (Comedy Central), James Hoskinson, Director

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart "Episode #15054" (Comedy Central), Chuck O'Neil, Director

Late Show With David Letterman "Show #3289" (CBS), Jerry Foley, Director

Saturday Night Live "Host: Betty White" (NBC), Don Roy King, Director

The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien "#146" (NBC), Allan Kartun, Director

- um, Betty White for the win. >

Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Special

In Performance At The White House: A Celebration Of Music From The Civil Rights Movement (PBS), Ron de Moraes, Director

The Kennedy Center Honors (CBS), Louis J. Horvitz, Director

63rd Annual Tony Awards (CBS), Glenn Weiss, Director

The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert (HBO), Joel Gallen, Director

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony (NBC), Bucky Gunts, Director

- Yay, Olympics!

Outstanding Directing For Nonfiction Programming

The Amazing Race "I Think We're Fighting The Germans, Right?" (CBS), Bertram van Munster, Director

By The People: The Election Of Barack Obama (HBO), Amy Rice, Director; Alicia Sams, Director

Monty Python: Almost The Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) "Lust For Glory" (IFC), Bill Jones, Director; Ben Timlett, Director

My Lai (PBS), Barak Goodman, Director

Terror In Mumbai (HBO), Dan Reed, Director

- Um, guessing blindly here. But, hey, what the heck. Let's support the President... after all, it's his election itself which may be the best thing he's done...

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series

The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO), Larry David as Himself

Glee (FOX), Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester

Monk (USA), Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk

The Office (NBC), Steve Carell as Michael Scott

30 Rock (NBC), Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy

- Um, I'm sure not voting for Larry David, 30 Rock, or The Office. Big Bang is okay... I kinda hate Glee, and while Tony Shalhoub is great, that character didn't have much this season since it was pretty much over... so, Sheldon it is!

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

Breaking Bad (AMC), Bryan Cranston as Walter White

Dexter (Showtime), Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan

Friday Night Lights (DirecTV), Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor

House (FOX), Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House

Lost (ABC), Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard

Mad Men (AMC), Jon Hamm as Don Draper

- um, Hugh Laurie is amazing. That is all.

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

A Dog Year (HBO), Jeff Bridges as Jon Katz

The Prisoner (AMC), Sir Ian McKellen as Two

The Special Relationship (HBO), Michael Sheen as Tony Blair

The Special Relationship (HBO), Dennis Quaid as Bill Clinton

You Don't Know Jack (HBO), Al Pacino as Dr. Jack Kevorkian

- um, again, nothing solid to go on. But, Sir Ian McKellen gets my vote.

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series

Glee (FOX), Lea Michele as Rachel Berry

The New Adventures Of Old Christine (CBS), Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell

Nurse Jackie (Showtime), Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton

Parks And Recreation (NBC), Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope

30 Rock (NBC), Tina Fey as Liz Lemon

United States Of Tara (Showtime), Toni Collette as Tara Gregson

- I support Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series

The Closer (TNT), Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson

Damages (FX Networks), Glenn Close as Patty Hewes

Friday Night Lights (DirecTV), Connie Britton as Tami Taylor

The Good Wife (CBS), Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC), Mariska Hargitay as Det. Olivia Benson

Mad Men (AMC), January Jones as Betty Draper

- um, I haven't seen this show, but Julianna Margulies was great in ER, so let's pretend she's great here, too.

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Capturing Mary (HBO), Maggie Smith as Mary Gilbert

Georgia O'Keeffe (Lifetime), Joan Allen as Georgia O’Keeffe

Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) (PBS), Dame Judi Dench as Miss Matty

The Special Relationship (HBO), Hope Davis as Hillary Clinton

Temple Grandin (HBO), Claire Danes as Temple Grandin

- not sure what it's about, but I haven't seen Claire Danes in anything in the longest time, so kudos to her.

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series

Glee (FOX), Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel

How I Met Your Mother (CBS), Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson

Modern Family (ABC), Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell

Modern Family (ABC), Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker

Modern Family (ABC), Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy

Two And A Half Men (CBS), Jon Cryer as Alan Harper

- Well this was an easy choice. NPH is brilliant as Barney!

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series

Breaking Bad (AMC), Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman

Damages (FX Networks), Martin Short as Leonard Winstone

Lost (ABC), Terry O'Quinn as John Locke

Lost (ABC), Michael Emerson as Ben Linus

Mad Men (AMC), John Slattery as Roger Sterling

Men Of A Certain Age (TNT), Andre Braugher as Owen

- Again, I've never seen any of these shows. But let's go Martin Short.

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie

Emma (Masterpiece) (PBS), Michael Gambon as Mr. Woodhouse

Hamlet (Great Performances) (PBS), Sir Patrick Stewart as Ghost / Claudius

Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) (PBS), Jonathan Pryce as Mr. Buxton

Temple Grandin (HBO), David Strathairn as Dr. Carlock

You Don't Know Jack (HBO), John Goodman as Neal Nicol

- as a theatre scholar first, Sir Patrick Stewart as Claudius all the way.

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series

Glee (FOX), Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester

Modern Family (ABC), Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy

Modern Family (ABC), Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett

Saturday Night Live (NBC), Kristen Wiig as Various Characters

30 Rock (NBC), Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney

Two And A Half Men (CBS), Holland Taylor as Evelyn Harper

- um, I think just about any average American is going with Sue Sylvester. And while I'm not personally a fan of the character, I think she's a good actor.

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series

Burn Notice (USA), Sharon Gless as Madeline Westen

Damages (FX Networks), Rose Byrne as Ellen Parsons

The Good Wife (CBS), Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma

The Good Wife (CBS), Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart

Mad Men (AMC), Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris

Mad Men (AMC), Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson

- Aha! I finally have seen AND have a good perception of a nominee. As loyal readers know, Burn Notice is a biggie in my household, so I go with Sharon Gless.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

Alice (Syfy), Kathy Bates as Queen of Hearts

Temple Grandin (HBO), Julia Ormond as Eustacia (Temple's Mom)

Temple Grandin (HBO), Catherine O'Hara as Aunt Ann

You Don't Know Jack (HBO), Brenda Vaccaro as Margo Janus

You Don't Know Jack (HBO), Susan Sarandon as Janet Good

- I go with the classic here, Brenda Vaccaro.

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series

Glee "Wheels" (FOX), Mike O'Malley as Burt Hummel

Glee "Dream On" (FOX), Neil Patrick Harris as Bryan Ryan

Modern Family "Travels With Scout" (ABC), Fred Willard as Frank Dunphy

Nurse Jackie "Chicken Soup" (Showtime), Eli Wallach as Bernard Zimberg

30 Rock "Emmanuelle Goes To Dinosaur Land" (NBC), Jon Hamm as Dr. Drew Baird

30 Rock "Into The Crevasse" (NBC), Will Arnett as Devin Banks

- and while I haven't actually seen this particular episode, I did hear some great things about Neil Patrick Harris guesting on that show.

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series

The Closer "Make Over" (TNT), Beau Bridges as Detective George Andrews

Damages "The Next One's Gonna Go In Your Throat" (FX Networks), Ted Danson as Arthur Frobisher

Dexter "Road Kill" (Showtime), John Lithgow as Arthur Mitchell

The Good Wife "Fleas" (CBS), Alan Cumming as Eli Gold

The Good Wife "Bad" (CBS), Dylan Baker as Colin Sweeney

Mad Men "Shut The Door. Have A Seat." (AMC), Robert Morse as Bertram Cooper

24 "1:00 PM - 2:00 PM" (FOX), Gregory Itzin as President Charles Logan

- well, not only is Dexter the only show here that I have ever seen, but John Lithgow is one of my favorites.

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series

The Big Bang Theory "The Maternal Congruence" (CBS), Christine Baranski as Beverly Hofstadter

Desperate Housewives "The Chase" (ABC), Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey

Glee "The Rhodes Not Taken" (FOX), Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes

Saturday Night Live "Host: Tina Fey" (NBC), Tina Fey as Host

Saturday Night Live "Host: Betty White" (NBC), Betty White as Host

30 Rock "The Moms" (NBC), Elaine Stritch as Colleen Donaghy

Two And A Half Men "818-JKLPUZO" (CBS), Jane Lynch as Dr. Linda Freeman

- Well, I saw Kristin Chenoweth in that episode. But Betty White ALL THE WAY!!

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series

Big Love "The Mighty And The Strong" (HBO), Mary Kay Place as Adaleen Grant

Big Love "End Of Days" (HBO), Sissy Spacek as Marilyn Densham

The Cleaner "Does Everybody Have A Drink?" (A&E), Shirley Jones as Lola Zellman

Damages "Your Secrets Are Safe" (FX Networks), Lily Tomlin as Marilyn Tobin

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit "Bedtime" (NBC), Ann-Margret as Rita Wills

Lost "The End" (ABC), Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet Burke

- I'm anti-Lost, and anti-Big Love, and I hate Law & Order. I recognize Lily Tomlin's name, so let's go with her.

Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program

The Amazing Race (CBS), Phil Keoghan as Host

American Idol (FOX), Ryan Seacrest as Host

Dancing With The Stars (ABC), Tom Bergeron as Host

Project Runway (Lifetime), Heidi Klum as Host

Survivor (CBS), Jeff Probst as Host

- I don't like DWTS (but at least I tried it) or Survivor. I've never seen Project Runway, and I'm not an Idol fan. I've seen a few episodes of The Amazing Race, but it was so long ago that I don't remember much at all. Thus, Ryan Seacrest, because he's pretty popular anyway.

Outstanding Comedy Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

Glee (FOX)

Modern Family (ABC)

Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

The Office (NBC)

30 Rock (NBC)

- I hate 30 Rock and The Office and Glee. I fell asleep halfway through the only episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm I've tried to watch. Modern Family just didn't grab me. Nurse Jackie it is.

Outstanding Drama Series

Breaking Bad (AMC)

Dexter (Showtime)

The Good Wife (CBS)

Lost (ABC)

Mad Men (AMC)

True Blood (HBO)

- I've seen and don't care for Dexter. Otherwise, I've got no back to my selection, except I like Julianna Margulies.

Outstanding Miniseries

The Pacific (HBO)

Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) (PBS)

- No selection made because I have absolutely no basis whatsoever.

Outstanding Made For Television Movie

Endgame (Masterpiece) (PBS)

Georgia O'Keeffe (Lifetime)

Moonshot (HISTORY)

The Special Relationship (HBO)

Temple Grandin (HBO)

You Don't Know Jack (HBO)

- I'm not a big HBO fan, and Georgia O'Keeffe sounds pretty interesting, actually.

Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)

Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO)

Saturday Night Live (NBC)

The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien (NBC)

- Um, I don't watch late-night junk. But SNL had Betty White, so okay.

Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special

Bill Maher "...But I'm Not Wrong" (HBO)

Hope For Haiti Now (MTV)

The Kennedy Center Honors (CBS)

Robin Williams: Weapons Of Self Destruction (HBO)

The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert (HBO)

Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me (HBO)

- I've got nothing. Choosing Haiti because people are still feeling bad for them.

Outstanding Special Class Programs

ABC's LOST Presents: Mysteries Of The Universe - The Dharma Initiative (abc.com/lost)

82nd Annual Academy Awards (ABC)

Avatar: Enter The World Of Pandora (HBO First Look) (HBO)

The Daily Show: Ask A Correspondent (thedailyshow.com)

30 Rock: Webisodes (NBC.com)

63rd Annual Tony Awards (CBS)

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony (NBC)

- I love the Olympics. That is all.

Outstanding Children's Program

Hannah Montana (Disney Channel)

iCarly (Nickelodeon)

Jonas (Disney Channel)

Wizards Of Waverly Place (Disney Channel)

Wizards Of Waverly Place: The Movie (Disney Channel)

- I know very little about children's programming that is not animated. The kids I taught over the summer were into iCarly more than anything else on here, but Phineas & Ferb was their absolute favorite. That, and SpongeBob. So... yeah.

Outstanding Children's Nonfiction Program

Nick News With Linda Ellerbee - The Face Of Courage: Kids Living With Cancer (Nickelodeon)

When Families Grieve (PBS)

-I actually really wanted to catch this special. I had read a lot about it and never saw it.

Outstanding Nonfiction Special

Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story (EPIXHD)

By The People: The Election Of Barack Obama (HBO)

Johnny Mercer: The Dream's On Me (TCM)

Saturday Night Live In The 2000s: Time And Again (NBC)

The Simpsons: 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice! (FOX)

Teddy: In His Own Words (HBO)

- Not sure what Teddy is or who Johnny Mercer is, but I'm not a big fan of Eddie Izzard or SNL. I saw the Simpsons special and it sucked. This leaves Barack Obama... by default.

Outstanding Nonfiction Series

American Experience (PBS)

American Masters (PBS)

Deadliest Catch (Discovery Channel)