Here’s a local angle to the Olympics – Shalane Flanagan does a lot of her training on Durham’s stretch of the American Tobacco Trail. The ATT is where I first started my love of cycling on my old Mongoose full suspension mountain bike.

Anyway, congrats to Flanagan for getting the bronze in the 10,000 meters!

USA’s Flanagan Wins Bronze in 10,000 Meters

I don’t know what it is about the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but we’ve watched so much more of it than pretty much any game in the past – watching it all in high definition has been part of it for sure, but we have been totally glued to all the events shown during primetime – cycling, swimming, diving, track and field, beach volleyball and a few others.

My only complaint on the coverage is a bias and want for more cycling. It doesn’t look like we’ll get to see the track cycling events whatsoever, and earlier in the week, the individual time trial was severely limited. I understand the interest will never be on par with gymnastics, track and field, etc., but how about more than a glimpse of some of these other events.

Nothing beats being there, but Amanda and I are sitting here enjoying NBC’s HDTV presentation of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, China and it’s absolutely breathtaking – the sheer magnitude of it all and the meshing of the latest technologies with massive amounts of human power and synchronization.

We can’t remember any opening ceremony of this size nor beauty. The bright vivid colors are amazing in high definition, but I can only imagine what it looks like in person. It’s crazy the amount of planning, practice and polish that went into this ceremony.

We’re looking forward to this set of summer games – lots of HD sports to watch over the coming weeks in the Keefer household.

Just catching up on the final day of the 2008 Tour de France on Versus/TiVo tonight. I’ve gotta be honest, I’ve only had the chance to watch parts of like 6 of the stages this year between our travels, work home and my own cycling.

Congrats to CSC and Carlos Sastre for taking the tour. It’s cool to see all the CSC riders today with the yellow bar tape on their final stage bringing them from Étamps to Paris.

Sastre Wraps Up First Tour Victory as Steegmans wins the finale

Amanda sent this to me this morning and it would really be cool to become part of Durham, NC’s history. The Bulls’ original ball field is being renovated, and all the seats are being replaced. Seat “sponsorship” looks to range from $100/seat to $5000 for a box I believe.

Become Part of Durham’s History

This would have been cool to see in person. The former UNC players team included Jawad Williams, Jackie Manuel, Melvin Scott, and Jerry Stackhouse. Wish we could have been there to check it out!

UNC Basketball Current Players VS. Formers

Carolina basketball fans worldwide had fingers, toes and whatever else crossed. Today was the day where we found out one way the other of whether a trio of players would return for another season at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, or make the leap to the NBA. Lucky for Tar Heels everywhere, Ty Lawson, Danny Green and Wayne Ellington will be back this year. Let’s hope their return will bring a great season and hope it doesn’t blow up like it did this year against Kansas.

Let’s also hope that Lawson can keep from behind the wheel and away from the alcohol.

UNC’s Lawson, Ellington, Green to Return

Great column from bicycling.com. I think this speaks to the majority of cyclists out there. Like any sport, very few of us are doing the sport at the professional elite level. The part that really speaks to me is one singular paragraph buried in the column:

I tell myself that cycling is my sport, but I’m like a kid playing dress-up. I put on my expensive jerseys and imported shorts and rub lotion into my legs and mix up energy drinks and I suck wheels from the local pros and neighborhood strongmen, and I do my little races, most of which are really just training races, and I sprint for town signs and our arbitrary KOM peaks at lunch and it feels good to win and bad to lose but mostly it feels great just to be out there. The suffering is fun. The risk is fun. Even the aches are fun, the way nursing them is a little like owning an exotic pet.

So true, and written better than I could have/would have expressed it.

Not My Sport

As both a die-hard Tar Heel and a democrat (who still is unsure who to vote for in the primary), I just had to post this video of Obama scrimmaging with the Tar Heels:

Obama Scrimmages With UNC Tar Heels

*sigh* I hate this time of year in terms of sports. NCAA basketball is over, and you start hearing the swirling rumors of who is jumping ship for the NBA. After the 2005 season when the Heels won their last championship was particularly painful.

As a baby blue-blooded Tar Heel, I obviously hope the whole team returns, but really hoping Tyler and Ellington come back for the 2008-09 season. I tend to agree with the Tar Heel Fan blog’s assessment of the likelihood of that and other scenarios.

Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop