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Dadcentric endorses Obama

DadCentric picks Obama In a move that will shake the foundations of political pundits more than John McCain's choice of running mate, the blog DadCentric has chosen to endorse Barack Obama for President. (full disclosure: Famecrawlerer Whit Honea writes for Dadcentric. We support our own.)

Posted Aug 29 2008, 07:30 PM by Brett Singer with | with 1 comment(s)

Shawn Johnson, Democrat? (UPDATE: Now with video)

While Michael Phelps is buying condos and making out with Australian swimmers (not that I blame the guy for having some fun, mind you), adorable pixie-person Shawn Johnson is in Denver, leading the pledge of allegiance at the Democratic Convention. The L.A. Times points out that Johnson hasn't declared an official party affiliation, "but the point is somewhat moot -- she's too young to vote." Jennifer Hudson ("Dreamgirls") sang the national anthem.

Posted Aug 28 2008, 09:00 PM by Brett Singer with | with 2 comment(s)

Why the puppy games are better than the Olympics

OK, that's not true. But if you haven't seen this dopey show on Animal Planet, you're missing out on something very cute.

Posted Aug 24 2008, 03:00 PM by Brett Singer with | with 1 comment(s)

Nastia Liukin's mom watches from the stands (video)

Apparently Nastia Luikin's mother, Anna Kotchneva Liukin, has a hard time watching her gold-medal winning daughter compete.

Posted Aug 23 2008, 11:00 AM by Brett Singer with | with 2 comment(s)

IOC orders investigation of Chinese Gymnast's age

He Kexin won a gold medal in the uneven bars and also contributed to the Chinese beating out the U.S. in the team gymnastics event. She looks really really young, and there have been questions about her age for awhile now. The IOC has begun to formally investigate...

Posted Aug 22 2008, 03:54 PM by Brett Singer with | with 1 comment(s)

They Say: no junk food ads at the Olympics

Like 30 million plus people, I've been watching a lot of Olympics the past few days. Which means I've seen a lot of commercials from the sponsors of the Games; I think I've seen that McDonald's ad touting chicken sandwiches for breakfast (ew) at least 50 times.

Posted Aug 22 2008, 12:00 PM by Brett Singer with | with 2 comment(s)

Bela Karolyi likes to kill things

When Béla Károlyi isn't training world-class gymnasts or telling Bob Costas that, "The lack of competence of certain judges [in this year's Olympic Games] is obvious," he likes to go…hunting.

Posted Aug 21 2008, 06:00 PM by Brett Singer with | with 5 comment(s)

Misty May-Treanor Scatters Mom's Ashes at Olympics

Misty May-Treanor’s mom sure does get around. She has frolicked freely in the playing fields of not one but two Olympics stadiums. Well, not her living and breathing self but rather her ashy remains.

The star beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor’s mother passed away in 2002 after a battle with cancer. While going through chemo, she was lucky enough to cheer Misty on as she finished fifth at the 2000 games in Sydney. Sadly, she didn’t live long enough to see her daughter’s stellar gold metal victories in both the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing summer Olympics. But she’s there in spirit and then some!

After her two gold medal winning matches,

Posted Aug 21 2008, 04:38 PM by SunnyChanel with | with 6 comment(s)

Filed under: olympics, beijing, misty may-treanor, Ashes

Did Michael Phelps actually win 8 medals?

Usually when an athlete is accused of cheating, it's a doping issue: this year alone, at least four athletes have been caught using banned substances. But in Michael Phelps' case, there may be something else going on.

Posted Aug 21 2008, 03:00 PM by Brett Singer with | with 6 comment(s)

Michael Phelps to endorse Frosted Flakes

Maybe they should call them Phrosted Phlakes?

Posted Aug 21 2008, 12:30 PM by Brett Singer with | with 5 comment(s)

Other Old Olympians

Dara Torres is 41, and Oksana Chusovitina is 33 (and saved her son from leukemia), but they aren't even close to the oldest Olympic athletes in history, or even this year. Most aren't in the more physically strenuous events, but competing in anything at their age is pretty impressive. (And yes, this photo is of a multi-medal winning Olympic athlete.)

Posted Aug 21 2008, 11:00 AM by Brett Singer with | with 4 comment(s)

Elderly Chinese Women Sentenced to "Re-Education"

Chinese authorities have sentenced two elderly women to a year of “re-education” through labor because they repeatedly sought permits to protest in one of the official Olympic protest sites—areas that Chinese authorities designated as the only places where protests were allowed during the Olympic games, but which have yet to see a single protest.

The women, Wu Dianyuan and Wang Xiuying, are 77 and 79.

Posted Aug 20 2008, 07:17 PM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with no comments

Filed under: China, punishment, protest, labor, homes, olympics, sentence, beijing, chinese government, disappeared, inadequate compensation, applicant, demolish, re-education, permit, elderly women, labor camps, wang xiuying, wu dianyuan

Table Tennis Women, Flaunt Your Stuff!

One part of this news will not surprise you: the Olympic stands at table tennis tournaments have been consistently half full. But the remedy proposed by the International Table Tennis Federation is a bit surprising, if only because undisguised sexism is so passé: the ITTF has encouraged female players to step up their game—game referring not to sports, but to sex appeal, of course!

Come on, ladies, the ITTF has said, put on a cute lil’ mini skirt and that shirt I love, you know, the one “with more curves.”

Posted Aug 20 2008, 03:00 PM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: China, popularity, olympics, tennis, beijing, sex appeal, female athletes, shirts with more curves, unpopular, ping pong, baggy clothes, skirts, international table tennis federation, table tennis, viewers, tight clothes, half full stands

Michael Phelps father in Baltimore, not Beijing

We've seen quite a bit of Michael Phelps' mom Debbie in Beijing. But what about his dad?

Posted Aug 19 2008, 09:00 AM by Brett Singer with | with 10 comment(s)

33 year old mom wins silver medal, saves son from leukemia

Dara Torres is an inspiration to many, competing in the Olympics at age 41, and winning. But I think the story of Oksana Chusovitina, a German gymnast, might be even more inspiring.

Posted Aug 18 2008, 11:00 AM by Brett Singer with | with 4 comment(s)

Dara Torres inspired two current Olympians

Back in the year 2000, Dara "Superwoman" Torres was at a swimming camp in California. Two sisters, Sandra and Danielle Fong, were fascinated by her, and the medal she had just won at the Santa Clara International Invitational. So she did what anyone would do: she gave them her medal.

Posted Aug 18 2008, 09:00 AM by Brett Singer with | with 1 comment(s)

Should Countries be Allowed to Ban Women from the Olympics?

Some women’s rights activists are calling to ban Saudi Arabia and Brunei from the Olympics—unless they start allowing women to participate. Right now, Saudi Arabia and Brunei are the only two countries that forbid women from competing in the Olympics. The two countries justify the ban on the grounds that some conservative Muslims see women’s sports as a sin.

But, since every other Muslim sends women to the Olympics, this view on female athletes is clearly not endemic to Islam.

Posted Aug 15 2008, 08:15 AM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: China, women's sports, islam, olympics, muslim, Saudi Arabia, ban, beijing, female athletes, muslimah media watch, religious freedom, brunei, misogynist, sin, compete, don't allow women to participate, female participation

Do All These Chinese Gymnasts Look 16 to You?

There is no question that the performances of the young women on China's gymnastics team were strong enough to earn them a gold medal. But apparently there are questions about whether all of these girls are actually 16.

Based on Olympic rules, all gymnastic contenders must turn 16 sometime during the Olympic year in order to be eligible to compete. Time magazine and other media outlets have reported that past Chinese records and news stories say two of the team members are 14, and another is only 15. The Associated Press cited a story, printed by the Chinese government's news agency, that said gymnast He Kexin was just 13 as of nine months ago. Chinese gymnastics officials maintain that all of the girls meet the age requirement, and that those sources simply printed factual errors.

Of course, this whole situation again raises the issue of whether such age requirements should exist in the first place.

Posted Aug 14 2008, 11:28 AM by Jen Chaney with | with 9 comment(s)

Filed under: Cheating, 2008 olympics, beijing, Summer Olympics, Bela Karolyi, young athletes, women's gymnastics team, gymnasts, Nadia Comaneci, Chinese gymnastics team, age requirements, He Kexin

Some Parenting Lessons From Michael Phelps's Mom

Deborah Phelps -- mother of swimming stallion and Olympic gold-medalist Michael Phelps -- could teach us all a few lessons about parenting.

As this New York Times article notes, she didn't have it easy as a mom. Following a divorce, she raised three kids, including Michael, as a single parent. And when the budding athlete was in fifth grade, she had to deal with the possibility that he might have A.D.H.D. But she did several things right, as the following list -- again, based on the Times story -- indicates. It's a reminder that we all have the ability to bring up children who can maximize their potential, no matter what anyone else says.

Posted Aug 11 2008, 08:02 AM by Jen Chaney with | with 4 comment(s)

Filed under: olympics, ADHD, ritalin, swimming, hyperactivity, beijing, Summer Olympics, Deborah Phelps, A.D.H.D., attention defecit, Michael Phelps, gold medal

Another girl that can kick my ass

This is the second story from the New York Times about female weight lifting; someone over there must have a thing for it. Not that I'm knocking them. A good story is a good story.

Cheryl Haworth made news years ago when she started weight lifting, capturing the country's attention with the phrase, "It's fun to be strong." At 5'9", she weighs...

Posted Jun 01 2008, 11:00 AM by Brett Singer with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: news, sports, good news, olympics, Brett Singer, 2008, beijing, weight lifting, melanie roach, uplifting, cheryl haworth, it's fun to be strong

Mother of autistic boy is going to Olympics

I love a good Olympics story. Maybe it's because I'm so out of shape myself. This tale, though, about a weight lifter mom with an autistic son, has enough in it to appeal to everybody.

Posted May 19 2008, 10:00 AM by Brett Singer with | with no comments

Filed under: news, parents, autism, sports, good news, olympics, Brett Singer, 2008, beijing, weight lifting, melanie roach, mormons, uplifting, autistic

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