Back in the (School) Day

At the risk of looking really old, I've been thinking back on my high school days in the '80s.  It's September now, and I'm reminded of all those Friday nights when we went to the football games.  I went to a Catholic high school in southern Illinois and we didn't have our own football field, so we used the stadium of the big public school about 5 miles away.  (For those of you still in Belleville, that's my best guess.)  I specifically remember those games as a freshman, because we didn't have cars or rides from anyone but our parents.  God forbid our parents would drop us off at the stadium - NOOOOO.  We would have them drop us off about a mile or two away and then we would walk down West Main Street.  Now that I think about that, we were kind of stupid because that was a long walk and sometimes it was cold.

Back in the day, we wore big hair and clogs.  I was never too much into the big hair thing, but I did have clogs.  You know, backless shoes with wedge heels.  Our heels were never that high, but they were wooden and made a lot of noise when you walked.  I can also remember how much my feet hurt at the end of the day - my heels from walking on a wooden block and my toes from scrunching them to keep the clogs on.  But as my mother would say "Beauty knows no pain."  (Although I definitely don't remember her saying that about those clogs.)

Yeah, we went through some weird clothing trends during my high school years.  I started high school at the very beginning of the 80s and went off to college toward the end.  We started with the "preppy look."  For most of you who were born after my high school years, that consisted of plaid skirts (preferably pleated), long knee socks and loafers.  You could wear a button down blouse with a ribbon tie at the collar, with a muted sweater over the blouse.  You could always wear clogs instead of loafers.  By the end of high school, we were teasing our hair and getting "punked out" with the big shirts/sweaters, bright colors, leg warmers and leggings.  Yep, we wore some crazy stuff.

I remember my freshman year at Homecoming.  We had a parade down West Main Street and every class (freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors) also had their own floats on flatbed.  Everyone used wood forms, chicken wire and tissue paper flowers to make figures for the float.  I made so many of those tissue paper flowers, my fingers were cut up by the floral wire we used to keep them together.  (See, even then I was crafty!)  The freshman float always looked pretty sad.  I remember that year the seniors made a giant Pac Man eating a player from the other team - impressive.  That year at football games, we saw the appearance of a new mascot - the Crusader.  Here was a guy dressed in armor (yep, the real thing), riding a big white horse and carrying a banner.  It was very cool.  We never knew who the Crusader was until the last pep rally of the football season when it was revealed to be one of our school priests.  Oh man, was he awesome!

Yep, the 80s were a very strange decade.  We saw the birth of MTV and music videos, very crude video games (remember Pong?), crazy fashions and awesome music.  I was there and I wouldn't change that for all the world.

Go Althoff Crusaders!

cindy


I'm participating in the SITS Girls "Fall Back into Blogging" this week.  

Random Olympic Thoughts

We're getting closer to the end of the Olympics now and my DVR is full.  I'm sure I will miss it when it's over, although I must admit that I'm getting a little overloaded with all the events.  With only 53 medals up for grabs, the U.S. is in the lead over China.  I think we got past all the Chinese Olympic events.

After watching over a week, there are a couple of things that occur to me:

1.  Bob Costas is the next Dick Clark.

2.  If Tim Daggett or Elfi Schlegel says a gymnast "shouldn't have a problem here" or "she's absolutely the best vaulter in the world right now" or any number of positive things about upcoming gymnastics, it's the kiss of death.

3.  You can't help but smile at our fun Olympic swimmers (but you will have to click through to YouTube to see the video):

4.  Best quote from my husband:  "Watching the volleyball finals. Hoping the hot chicks in bikinis win."

5.  McKayla Maroney is not impressed

6.  Most photoshopped Olympic athlete - McKayla Maroney

7.  The German heavyweight weight lifter who dropped the 432 pound weight on the back of his neck - ouch!

8.  Not to be outdone, a German diver lands on his back.

9.  Did anyone else see that short piece of former Olympic gymnasts (Shaun, Nastia, Carly, Mary Lou & Nadia) right before the women's all around started?  They were so serious, saying things like "this is the most important moment of your life" and "this will change your life forever".  Heck, why not try a little more pressure: "If you blow this your life will be ruined."  "If you screw this up, don't bother coming back to the U.S.A, loser."  Excuse me, but no matter how important the Olympics are for these teenagers, I hardly think it will be THE MOST IMPORTANT day of their lives.  If so, everyone but Gabby Douglas would have hanged herself.

10.  Samuel Jackson is the most prolific (and profane) Olympic tweeter ever! (If you have sensitive eyes, don't go there.)

Wow, this has really been a fun Olympics!  AND it's not over!

cindy

The Olympic "Bod"

It's Day 5 of the Olympics and I'm only 1 day behind (I have all of today's coverage recorded).  I've seen so many sports.  I have to give NBC kudos, especially the coverage on their "alternate" channels (Bravo, MSNBC and other cable channels).  Those channels cover sports that might not be so popular  (equestrian, judo, white water rafting) and full length games (soccer, basketball, volleyball).

While I've been watching these sports, I've noticed that there is no "prototype" Olympic athlete.  Women athletes vary by sport - gymnasts are very short (I saw a Romanian girl who is 16 and 4'7"!), while beach volleyball, indoor volleyball and basketball players are very tall.  Women swimmers are bulked up above the waist with thick necks while the rowers and bikers have rock hard legs.  Women weight lifters are . . . umm . . . square.  They are short and built like barrels.   Just sayin'

Men seem to have more similarities.  All appear to be very muscular.  The gymnasts are strange looking, with huge shoulders and legs on short little bodies.  Basketball and volleyball players are just too tall.  Water polo players have amazing bodies but faces like hockey players, and swimmers . . . even when they lose they look good.

Older athletes can be found in sports that feature specialized skills, like archery, shooting and equestrian events.  The average age of the human equestrian competitor is 40, while the horses average about 13-15 years old (which is not a young horse).  Men and women compete against each other.  Sometimes I wonder how much skill and stamina is the horse and how much is the rider.  About the time I start to compare riders to dog trainers, I see a picture of the equestrian cross country.  BTW, that's a woman, and no, she's doing exactly what she's supposed to be doing on that course.

All kidding aside, I've seen some great Olympic moments - the American women winning the gold medal in team gymnastics; Michael Phelps winning his 21st medal in the 200 freestyle relay; the British men's team winning a bronze in team gymnastics; the American girls who won the synchronized diving silver medal; and the astonishing beauty and difficulty that was the equestrian cross country event.

Yep, I'm loving it.  I don't think too many people are geeky Olympic junkies like I am (except for my friend Linda), but I hope you're all enjoying it too.  We still have another whole week!

cindy

It's ON!

I said I was going to be an Olympic junkie.  Yep, about 15 hours of TV coverage in so far.  I've seen beach volleyball, volleyball, table tennis (we all know it's just ping pong), archery, soccer (which I love to watch in fast forward), swimming and biking (another sport I love watching in fast forward).
So far the best part was the Opening Ceremonies.  We recorded all 4 1/2 hours and watched every minute.  For those of you who live under a rock and didn't see it, here are the highlights:

1.  The Queen jumped out of a plane with James Bond (you had to be there)
2.  Mr. Bean played "Chariots of Fire" with the London Symphony Orchestra (my son's personal favorite)
3.  The Industrial Revolution creating the 5 Olympic rings
4.  The fast pace of the Parade of Nations and the tiny tiny graphic that showed the location of each country by showing it in relation to the U.S. (for the truly geographically challenged)
5.  Paul McCarthy, Paul McCarthy and Paul McCarthy singing "Hey Jude" with the crowd (although I don't think the young Olympians had ever heard it)

Some of the huh? moments:

1.  The Queen agreed to jump out of a plane
2.  The "girl meets boy" concept through a dance set of the 70s through the 90s.
3.  The HORRIBLE Beatles cover band, especially the lead singer who sang every note flat.  It was especially embarrassing because Paul McCarthy was in the stadium.
4.  The goofy costumes and signs for the girls carrying the names of the countries in the Parade of Nations
5.  The homage to the British National Health Service.  Huh??



There haven't been very many personal stories about the athletes just yet, which is a bummer.  I'm assuming it's because the networks are just trying to cram in as many sports as they can.  There were a couple about bicyclists, including the piece on how biking is a huge deal on the tiny Isle of Mann between England and Ireland.  The site of all these young children cycling (we would call it spinning) was very interesting.

Perhaps the most interesting sport I've seen yet is fencing.  I watched a couple of matches with women fencers.  It looks like the ultimate Wii game - you have all the electronics and beeping, but you also get the physical exercise.  The fencers score points by touching their electronic foils (swords) on their opponent's torso body padding (looks a lot like a bullet proof vest to me).  You know a fencer scores a point because a big beep goes off and their helmet lights up (very Tron-like).  It's cool for a while, but between the beeping, the French speaking referees and the screaming fencers, it gives you a headache after a while.

So, that's my first Olympic report.  Are you watching?  What's your favorite part?

cindy