You know where I stand with Summer Olympics: FENCING!!!!

Mariel Zagunis is going for her 3rd consecutive Gold Medal in Women's Sabre and 2nd Consecutive Women's Team Sabre.

I know two of the men going for Men's Epee (I think they got a silver medal in 2008), Seth Kelsey and Jimmy Moody. Both guys kicked my rear when I've competed against them.

Fencing got the US their first medals in 08. Before Michael Phelps got his.

Looking forward to seeing the Olympics this year. Though I must express my sadness at there being no women's softball anymore after the Beijing games
I usually skip some events like basketball, as I can watch the same players when they play professionally. Same with hockey in the winter games.
It will be interesting to see if Micheal Phelps adds any more gold to his collection.
Fencer. I too would like to see fencing, as well as more of the lesser known sports see more viewing time, and not just the highlights. Perhaps the trap-shooting, or archery.

On archery. Has anyone heard of the armless archer representing the U.S. in the Para-Olympics this year? His name is Matt Stutzmen. I have see many videos of him already, and am truly amazed. Even more so when I heard he took up the sport only two years ago.
Anyone know if they are televising the Para- Olympics

Great job with your detailed analysis of the gymnastics, Gymfan! It's like having our own expert right here!

Gymnastics is one of the Olympic sports I like to watch, though I'd have to confess I'm one of those 'casual' observers who only see it every now and then. So it's fun getting all that background.

I always like watching the opening and closing ceremonies; since it's on Friday I'll probably record it for later viewing.

A while back Matt Smith (who is the Eleventh Doctor Who) got to carry the Olympic torch. (A fun echo of the episode a few years back in which Tenth Doctor David Tennant carryied the torch for the London Games).

I'm soooo stoked for the Olympics to start tomorrow.

I remember reading a long time ago that they were going to stream the Olympics on YouTube (I think). Does anybody know where to go on YouTube to see it? I found this station here....
http://www.youtube.com/channel/HCiQRN0zEDu5Y
... but based on the lack of Subscribers, I wasn't sure if that was correct or not.

Well, you're partially correct. They're using Youtube's video player to stream the live feeds, but it's not on Youtube.com; it's on NBCOlympics.com. And you have to confirm that you have a cable subscription in order to access it.

Apparently their promise to live stream all the sports does not cover the Opening Ceremonies, and they're only showing it on tape delay on TV tomorrow. Guess I'll be hacking into a Brit feed tomorrow...for real, NBC; it's 2012. In the age of Twitter and FB, you can't expect people to go cold-turkey on the OPENING CEREMONIES and all the surprises like who gets to light the torch! So dumb.

In other news, Women's podium training for gymnastics was today, and the US team looked very sharp. Our star vaulter McKayla Maroney is suffering from a re-aggravated broken toe, and is only vaulting here at the Olympics. She didn't train much, but what she did show was just stunning. For her not to win the vault gold in event finals would be one of the biggest shocks of the entire Games.

All the other girls looked good too. You can never count out the other teams and of course silly competition day mistakes, but I have such a good feeling about these girls.

Bad news from Podium Training today...Romanian star gymnast Larissa Iordache is suffering from very painful inflammation of the foot and may be unable to compete all-around at the Olympics, which is a real blow because she is a gold medal favorite in several events. Also top Chinese gymnast Yao Jinnan has a pulled leg muscle and is still dealing with a knee injury she sustained a few months ago, and isn't looking in very good form.

Also, US alternate gymnast Anna Li had a VERY scary fall on bars during training yesterday and is in a neck brace as a precaution. She only would have competed had one of the five girls on the Olympic team been injured, but it's still very bad luck for her and we're all glad that she's ok.

Men's gymnastics; I don't know much of, but I do know that the US men had an iffy podium training yesterday. They're still in the hunt for a medal, but they have a lot of cleaning up to do before Saturday. The Chinese team is getting hit hard with injuries and honestly, I really do think this team gold is Japan's to lose.

I'm assuming they wanted to air the opening ceremony during prime-time coverage in the US, hence the tape-delay. Rather annoying, but it makes sense from a networking perspective. I'm just glad I finally found what time it's airing in my local time.

Gymnastics has always been my favorite part of the summer Olympics, probably due to the slight similarity it has to dance. Same reason I like watching figure skating during the winter Olympics. I hope to catch some of the fencing and the martial arts competitions as well. Those are always interesting. The swimming races I would be okay without watching but I'm sure they will get a lot of coverage. Synchronized diving on the other hand is fascinating to see.

Oh, the TV airing is not the issue. They aren't showing ANY gymnastics live on the TV, but they will be providing it live online. I had assumed that they would also stream the Opening Ceremonies live ONLINE for those who wanted to watch, but no.

I've done some research and I have a few links I'm going to try tomorrow; I'll let you know if they work.

I get NBC on our converter box thingy - does this mean that I'll be able to watch it, or is NBC not covering the Olympics live and so I'll only be able to see snippets of what happened throughout the day/whatever was taped?

(apologies for lack of substance)

Found a website that legally streams the opening ceremonies. They start at 3pm today my time (that's Central). I'm trying to decide if I want to go ahead and watch right away or wait til tonight so my husband and I can enjoy them together.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qf9w ... s/upcoming

More information from Yahoo....
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics- ... --oly.html

ETA: *grumbles and moans and wails* BBC only works for those in the UK. Sorry for getting everybody's hopes up.

I'm not going to lie, I was REALLY hoping David Tennant would carry the torch at some point, even though I knew it would never happen.

I never really watched much of the Olympics, but I am really looking forward to archery (no, it's not because of the Hunger Games). Taekwondo also sounds really interesting. I'll probably pay more attention to the Olympics this year than before and will be rooting for...England? Britain? Great Britain? UK? which is it?? and Canada.

Watched the opening ceremony. Quite amazing. Only real let downs were Sir Paul's singing. Sorry fans, but whether it was all the smoke after the fireworks, or his voice is just giving out, he was not in top form. I also would have liked something alluding to Narnia in the whole Children's liturature/national health care tribute. If they could have images from Alice in wonderland, Peter Pan, and Harry Potter, why not have two girls riding a lion?
Other than that I was much impressed. The transformation of the arena from a farm field to an industrial complex was well done.
Her Majesties entrance, with special escort, showed the Grand Lady has some pluck
I also rather enjoyed the singing of the children's choirs at the beginning. Did anyone else catch the hymn sung by the children in Wales? I cannot remember the name of it.

I'll probably pay more attention to the Olympics this year than before and will be rooting for...England? Britain? Great Britain? UK? which is it??

Great Britain. (But if you knew that already, ignore this, please.)

I watched parts of the Opening Ceremony, but I shall reserve my thoughts on it as I am sure no one wants to hear what I really thought of it. Anyway, the Queen was the best part, as always she is. (but I must say, I found that having "her" parachute in was really... out of place and odd).

I'm going to try and watch the dressage today, but I'm not sure we get the channel its on. I may have to settle for radio, but I love watching it.
The opening ceremonies were a bit weird. I agree that I would have liked to see something from Narnia, or Tolkien, for that matter.

If they could have images from Alice in wonderland, Peter Pan, and Harry Potter, why not have two girls riding a lion?

I've been wondering the same thing. Especially given how much longer Narnia has been around, compared to Harry Potter. It's more of an established, true classic. And like Lady Haleth said, why not a LotR cameo as well? I guess the national healthcare bit took up too much time to include those...

This will be the first Summer Olympics my family doesn't watch - we used rabbit ears for all the prior, and I have fond memories of watching the Opening Ceremonies in Greece. Eight years ago, was it? But now that TV has switched over, our rabbit ears don't work and we've never upgraded.

I watched the opening ceremony last night at work and enjoyed it a great deal. I especially liked the opening cinematic with the camera starting at the source of the Thames and following it "downstream" until it becomes a river, and ultimately to London and the Olympics itself . I also enjoyed the 2nd portion where you see Britain represented as a small Medieval village which then transforms into a major industrial power (with Kenneth Branagh even). And of course Rowan Atkinson's part was a hoot. But the part everyone is talking about is the Queen's Bond-esque jump out of the helicopter over the Olympic Stadium with a Union Flag parachute opening up (right out of The Spy Who Loved Me ).

The bit with the Mary Poppins and kids bouncing on the beds was merely ok to me, but the part with the history of British music was just long in the tooth. And I liked almost all the music they played, it was just kind of disjointed and too fast paced to really fully appreciate what was happening. Other than that, great opening ceremony!