What can you say about Michael Phelps? This week has been incredible, with more drama per second than any film you could imagine watching. Eight Gold Medals?!? A victory of .01 seconds? Jason Lezak’s comeback touch against the French in the 4x100 Freestyle Relay? The Phelps story had it all, and his humility and charm only adds to his legend. Get your endorsement contracts ready, folks; America has a new hero.
In case you didn’t know, Michael has spent the last four years at my alma mater, The University of Michigan, preparing for this Olympics with his coach Bob Bowman, who took over the U of M Swimming program. Phelps, because of his endorsements after the 2004 Olympics in Athens, was ineligible to compete for my Wolverines, but he was instead a volunteer assistant coach, all the while training for Beijing and going to school. I am sure that Baltimore will welcome him with open arms when he returns home to swim for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club with Bowman, but I am proud that Mr. Historic enjoyed his time in Ann Arbor.
In the entire week of coverage, my favorite piece was NBC’s look into Phelps’ eating habits, featuring his 10,000 calorie-a-day diet courtesy of some of my favorite old haunts in Ann Arbor (what, no Zingerman’s?!?)...
Congratulations to Michael Phelps on his historic Olympic achievement and GO BLUE! What an amazing week.
Director Zhang Yimou’s Opening Ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics have restored my belief in the power of spectacle. The evening’s performance was a mind-blowing mixture of history, culture and the latest in technology, all of it choreographed with unbelievable precision I have always admired Zhang’s films, but even the spectacle of his recent epics like House of Flying Daggers and Hero could not match the raw power of this presentation. For me, it was the scale of having the cast of thousands mixed with the modernity of the stadium’s architecture and technology that was so captivating. I have read some criticisms of the Ceremonies, all of which seem rather irrelevant to me…Let me pull a quote, too:
“But despite the beauty of the spectacle, the conscious decision to create a narrative that rewrites both Chinese history and reality and presents a sugar-sweet sunshine portrait to the world is alarming—but the fact that the NBC commentators unquestioningly went along with it is downright appalling…it’s unacceptable for NBC to be, or appear to be, in the Communist Party’s pocket. This is about more than routine criticism about commentators being trite. There is a lot more at stake right now, and we must vigilantly demand that Olympic coverage is never compromised.”—Katherine Goldstein, Huffington Post
Who in their right mind thinks the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics is the proper place to express dissent? Did announcers covering the Atlanta or Los Angeles Olympics highlight the absence of a discussion of our nation’s shameful history of slavery or our treatment of Native Americans? Should the Super Bowl Halftime show have raised the issue of detainees in Guantanamo Bay? I don’t need Matt Lauer and Bob Costas to spend their time during the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics to share their thoughts on the history of Chinese political oppression; We’ve heard, and continue to hear, that story. Instead, all they did was parse the actual event itself in the simple terms of Zhang’s own symbolism without commenting on that symbolism itself. More than enough, I think.
Besides, the visual power of this piece was so overwhelming, it seems to stand above these minor critiques and, somehow, has redefined the nature of human spectacle. This was pure theater, above and beyond anything we’ve ever seen before; Bigger than any opera, larger than any film, pulled off by thousands of peformers in perfect harmony with one another. I was riveted, dying to see what was next.
The relationship between cinema and the Olympics is nothing new; Leni Riefenstahl’s brilliant Olympia redefined the way we look at the athletes and the Olympic games forever. She practically invented modern athlete worship; I can’t watch a Nike commercial or NFL Films presentation without thinking of her. But Zhang’s Opening Ceremonies were beyond the limitations of sport, using the moment to reimagine the relationship between sport, culture and spectacle. Step aside, Leni Refenstahl; You’ve been topped. We have a new Olympia for a new century.
Just up the road from the Sarasota Film Festival offices lies the IMG Academy; The premier sports academy in the United States for soccer, tennis and golf students. What started as Nick Bollettieri’s modest tennis academy has grown into an amazing campus for young athletes of all types; They even hold the NFL Draft combines at this facility. Saturday afternoon, after watching Rafa Benitez shit the bed with some misguided tactics against Reading, I grabbed my camera and headed up to IMG to watch the USA Men’s National Under-17 team take on the Brazil Under-17’s. There was a nice, vocal crowd surrounding the pitch, and it was a blast watching the boys beat Brazil for the first time, 2-0.
The game was end to end action, with Brazil’s No. 10 Wellington Aguilar impressing with his silky skills, while the USA’s No. 13 Joseph-Claude Gyau matched Aguilar move for move. These kids were all born in 1992 or later, many of them under the age of 15, and their abilities were pretty spectacular for being so young. But the immaturity showed in other ways; with the USA leading 2-0, the boys from Brazil lost their cool and the handbags came flying out. In addition, at least four players were stretchered off after suffering rash challenges. There was a long break late in the match when one of the Brazilian players received a red card for spitting at a USA player; when he didn’t leave the bench area, the refs demanded he depart, but there was nowhere to go as this wasn’t a stadium with an adjacent locker room. After reaching a compromise, cooler heads finally prevailed, and the USA left the field as the victors. Unfortunately, the Brazilian players surrounded the referee, furious with his decisions, only to have another player red carded after the whistle. The drama!
It was a lot of fun on a sunny afternoon, and I look forward to the opportunity to head back to Bradenton to watch these young men play the beautiful game. Well done, USA! Any win against Brazil is a a cause for celebration.
Carlos Martinez Takes A Corner
Carlos Martinez celebrates His First Goal
Stefan Jerome Cuts The Ball To The Endline
Stefan Jerome Scores A Penalty After A Clear Handball In The Box
The Boys Celebrate Their 2-0 Lead While Edson Lemus Gives A Smile
Handbags: Stefan Jerome LITERALLY Invites The Brazilians To A Fight (the things you hear that close to the pitch…)
An absolutely World Class finish. Stopped me in mid-sentence yesterday…
Now, back to trying to assemble my thoughts on I’m Not There, which has been the most difficult experience I have ever had in terms of writing about a movie… More soon, come hell or high water!
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