Fordlandia

Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, James Feigen, and Ryan Lochte--dumb, dumber, and dumbest.

'I couldn't make it to #Rio for the Olympics this year, so the Olympics came to me. Now if only Ryan Lochte would go on a date with me!' wrote American Airlines flight attendant David Anthony on the photo.  (link)

Now that it is pretty much over, the most memorable words are those of Brazil's Olympics chief who said they're young men who're having fun.  

I came very close to being killed in Rio about where the volleyball stadium is today on Copacabana beach.  Despite my knowledge that you shouldn't walk on the beach at night, I did it and I was mugged by one man at knifepoint.  At one point he was on top of me in the sand trying to stab me in the chest.

I am arrogant.  I am bigger and, I guess, stronger than most people.  My new Rio t-shirt was ripped, and he grabbed-at and tore one pocket (the wrong one) of my shorts, and I still had my cellphone.*  But I was fine.  

I remember my Brazilian friend, host, and colleague taking me to make a police report.  I was rattled--the knife was two feet from my heart--but I was fine.

My wad of cash was intact.  "Let's spend it, " Eduardo said.

Many others there told me stories.  You were mugged?  "It has happened to me three or four times," is the comment I heard most often.  

In Sao Paulo there were a lot of robberies, in cars, when stopped in traffic or at lights.  Homes have fences and cameras.  Business executives have drivers and guards.

In Rio there have been something like 2,500 killings by police already this year.  Brazil, as a whole, has some 60,000 murders a year.

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I bet the swimmers didn't think the bathroom was being watched that closely.

Ryan Lotche probably isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but he'll be fine.  For anyone who wants to follow him on Twitter, buy his gear, or watch his reality show, I say go for it.  Flaky?  Gadfly?  That is his job, or at the very least, his personality.  He has a strange way of communicating/promoting, but there are tidbits of truth in what he has said.    He's brash, arrogant, and successful.  His flamboyance could be called lying.

The (local) police--investigating, recommending prosecution, and deferring to higher-ups--did their job too.  With an overall (non-local) force of some 85,000 the task is unimaginable.  So far, knock on wood, there hasn't been anything serious, so I also say, job well done.

Brazil has bigger problems to deal with and here's hoping this Olympics are a success for the country.  The U.S. State Department was involved and probably Brazil's interim president too. 

The problem was they lied.  And it blew up.  You know it reached higher political levels.  Like college scholarship athletes arrested for who knows what...  It became a major distraction no one wanted or needed.

All over the internet there are a lot of angry people.  Sally Jenkins is an example.  Why exactly does Ryan Lochte make you mad?

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Mario Andrada is classy:

I do not regret having apologized. No apologies from [Lochte] or other athletes are needed. We have to understand that these kids came here to have fun. Let's give these kids a break. Sometimes you make decisions that you later regret. They had fun, they made a mistake, life goes on.

It was a great Olympics.  My favorite sports were women's volleyball, equestrian, and sailing.  The internet and streaming sports really allows one to see a lot.

Favorite moments include Katie Ledecky (best smile), Michael Phelps, and Kevin Durant showing Maryland love.  The Serbian volleyball team and its star; Brazil over Germany.  Women's soccer.  The marathon.

The Games took a different spin when watching mostly on foreign stations.  NBC and sporatic/selective channels, with endless commercials, have ruined it in the past.  World competitions and global channels go together, and the video doesn't change because of the language.  Many of the broadcasts were CBC and BBC; some of the announcers, e.g., Hazel and the male closing ceremony announcer, were definitely less pro-American than...  Americans. 

By the last days--two weeks was the perfect amount--it was a geography lesson thanks to the only thing on (wrestling).  Those guys looked mean.  Team handball is unusual and rugby is rough.  Modern pentathalon was the weirdest.

Fordlandia.  Like Chinatown, you don't always know what is going on.


* That was my initial memory of the attack, that I still had my cellphone.  It was actually stolen or lost.  I worked for a cellular company and it was replaced immediately.  Sometimes people say the wrong things.



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http://www.espn.com/olympics/


There is something disingenuous here.  Brazil and Rio de Janeiro have a severe crime/murder problem.  Apparently there was a major effort to rid the city of criminals (i.e., kill them) before the Olympics.

The four Americans take a cab to the gas station.  The men's room is locked and they go in the alley or against an outside wall.  There may have been some very minor damage (a poster) and, while being held and threatened with a gun (and probably badges) they paid $50 for it.

Seemingly they did not report a crime.  Lotche said something to his mother and authorities began to question the four swimmers.  They lied or exaggerated and there appears to be a lot of cultural miscommunication too.

Lotche has a new cough drop sponsor and will be on Dancing with the Stars!

Let it rest.  It is an overexaggeration.