Last night we were wowed by the Opening Ceremonies of the 30th Olympiad, including the queen, or rather a stunt double, parachuting to the ceremonies. The oaths were recited, the anthems played, and the cauldron was lit. Queen Elizabeth II then performed the official act that would start two weeks of competition, saying “I declare open the Games of London, celebrating the 30th Olympiad of the modern era.” Many will be wondering what will come of the Lochte-Phelps rivalry. Others will see who comes out on top of the medal count. But one question on many people’s minds will be what will be the economic impact of the games on the UK.
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Athletes are not the only ones who will be tweeting during the 2012 London Olympics. You can also follow the US Olympic Team and various sports such as USA Swimming, USA Diving, USA Archery and several other sports organizations through Twitter. These feeds will give you a more complete view of the team and the sports, including any official information about times or schedules. It’s a way for them to get the most information out about their athletes. I’ll add as many as I can find unless the page becomes overloaded. Then I may have to break out the team by various aspects. Read more…
As you know, I’ve been exploring how social media will play into the coverage of the 2012 London Olympics. So far, I’ve built pages to follow San Antonio Olympic athletes and official Olympic organizations. Since there are a lot of Texas athletes at the Olympics I decided to build a page to follow them and track their tweets from the Olympics. This will not include the San Antonio athletes. The entire point is to bring the Olympics closer to all of us and explores how social media will play into the experience. So far, it’s proving to be quite interesting and giving some very unique views over in London. So here are the Texas athletes I know of. I’ll update the page as I find more. Read more…
Here are the feeds of all the official organizations of the 2012 London Olympics, starting with the local organizing committee. From here you can stay abreast of any of the official things happening with the Olympics, including NBC for broadcast information. The 2012 London Olympics will be the most watched social media event in history. Using Twitter to get the word out about a variety of topics and events. Enjoy the information. Also, note that as new information Twitter handles are found I will add them to the page. We’ll see how this goes and how well the information is carried. Read more…
London 2012 will probably be the first truly social media Olympics and to help you stay abreast of the action I’ve built a blog post that follows the Twitter feeds of key San Antonio athletes. It’s a single page with the latest tweets from athletes who have a San Antonio connection, either from here or who compete here. Not all the San Antonio athletes have Twitter accounts or have protected their accounts. But for those who do, you can see what’s happening with them as they experience the 2012 Olympics. Based on what I’ve seen, it’s a way to really connect with the Olympic experience from an insider view. I’ll probably keep updating this page or add other pages as I find new ways to explore the Olympics socially. Read more…
I’m in Houston this weekend enjoying my annual MLB weekend. Unfortunately my friend couldn’t join me due to work issues. But I’m still going to make the most of it. The weekend started with a presentation to the Texas Festivals and Events Association (TFEA) Conference on Fiesta Verde. After that, we’re at the Inn at the Ballpark (great deal through Priceline) which puts me literally across the street from the park. I’ll have to say the highlight was presenting what we learned during Fiesta Verde to about 15 people in the session. Read more…
Saturday many of us woke up to what’s becoming the normal headlines about BP and the Gulf crisis. However, along with those headlines we saw a banner graphic telling us that John Wooden, former basketball coach at UCLA and one of the greatest legends of the game, passed away at 99 years of age. Many of us who follow college basketball knew this day would come but I think we all held out hope that the Wizard of Westwood would outlive us all. While Wooden made his mark by coaching the UCLA Bruins to a record 10 NCAA championships his real mark on history was in his lessons on life and leadership which he instilled in his players and any around him. Read more…
As if there wasn’t enough to do in Congress Rep. Joe Barton-TX thinks the issue of the BCS should be dealt with in Congress. Feeling the BCS championship system is an issue our leaders should deal with in Congress he’s been pushing for overturning the BCS and instituting a playoff system. In fact he equates it to “communism.” Now it appears he’s rallied people to help push other members of Congress through with PAC dollars. The Playoff PAC has been formed to fight the BCS in Congress by supporting candidates or members who see things their way. Their first member to support is Rep. Barton, of course. But to elevate this to PAC level status and target candidates in support of their ideas? Too much time and money on their hands if you ask me. Read more…
Yesterday Chicago lost in its bid to become an Olympic city in the first round of voting even after a personal appeal from Pres. and Mrs. Obama. GamesBids.com, a site that heavily watches such bidding competition, keeps a bid index that rates various aspects of a city’s bidding prospect. Going into the voting they raised Chicago’s chances to 61.24, up 1.23 points, but not enough to overtake Rio’s index of 61.42, a drop of 0.19 points. On Sept. 10th GamesBids.com had moved Chicago from last place to second place and Rio from second to first, overtaking Tokyo. What I find interesting and completely insane is how conservatives and conservative blogs have jumped on Obama after the loss as if he created the situation. Did these people all of a sudden become Olympic movement experts? Read more…
I’m heading up to Austin today to enjoy some more Longhorn football with friends. One has never been to a college football game so we’re going to give him the full experience. So, in context of football weekend, here’s a great little funny clip from the new TV series “Glee” with some Beyonce thrown in. After all, who isn’t doing something to “Single Ladies” these days? Watch the YouTube video after the jump. Read more…
I guess the economy has been saved, health care is in a perfect state, our nation’s infrastructure is top notch, and we have no problems with world affairs. So what’s left to do? Investigate the BCS and why we don’t have a college football playoff system. At least that’s what Rep. Joe Barton (R-Ennis) seems to think. He’s even held Congressional hearings on the matter and pulled Alamobowl executive director Derrick Fox on the carpet about it. Recently he even threatened to file perjury charges against Fox and threatened further investigations after a Yahoo! Sports report noted that Fox’s statement of charitable contributions by bowls may be overstated. Read more…
I recently returned from attending the 1st/2nd Round of the NCAA tournament in Kansas City. The games were great and I had a great time in Kansas City. This was the inaugural NCAA event in the newly built Sprint Center in the downtown across from the Power & Light District, an entertainment center designed for year-round events. The event was a great success for Kansas City and helped showcase both the hospitality and entertainment aspects of the city. Expect the city to see more NCAA tournament games in the future, something every city likes to have. But what about San Antonio? Personally I think we have a great opportunity ourself based on comments from KU fans I met during the weekend. Read more…
Today is that day when college basketball enthusiasts gather around the tube and Internet at 5 p.m. to see how the Selection Committee sages set the brackets for the biggest basketball tournament in history. Yes, it’s the start of the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, otherwise known as the Road to the Final Four. Okay, now that I’ve gotten all the “official” names out of the way it’s time for March Madness and what madness it really is. Throughout this past weekend so many of the big teams were upset in their conference tournaments. It’s really hard to predict what the brackets will look like. Read more…
I was reading through my blog reader tonight and found a nugget in the pile of entries about everything from efforts to draft Sen. Leticia Van De Putte for governor to city politics. It’s from a sports blog I follow and it involves the sportsmanship of a high school basketball team in IL. A young basketball player had just lost his mother to cervical cancer after a five year battle. The young man had been at the hospital when the decision was made to turn off life support. To help fight the grief he decided to show up late to play in a basketball game. Amidst all the issues of “following the rules” the coach and a player from the opposing team did the right thing. There’s not a lot more for me to write about it since the story really speaks for itself. Read more about it in the news report of the game. The bottom line is that sometimes we have to step back from it all and do the right thing.
I finally made my way to the Sports section of the E-N and discovered the Longhorns fell to the Aggies last night in the Lone Star Showdown at Reed Arena. Not only did they fall but they fell hard, 81-66. For a team to have started in the top of the heap the Longhorns have been a very disappointing team to watch throughout this season. Granted I haven’t had a lot of time to catch Longhorn basketball but from what I have watched it has been painful at times. Even with a great ending on this season the Longhorns will barely make the tournament in the at-large field. Before last night’s game ESPN’s Bracketology had them as a #8 seed in the West region. Read more…
Last night we were wowed by the Opening Ceremonies of the 30th Olympiad, including the queen, or rather a stunt double, parachuting to the ceremonies. The oaths were recited, the anthems played, and the cauldron was lit. Queen Elizabeth II then performed the official act that would start two weeks of competition, saying “I declare open the Games of London, celebrating the 30th Olympiad of the modern era.” Many will be wondering what will come of the Lochte-Phelps rivalry. Others will see who comes out on top of the medal count. But one question on many people’s minds will be what will be the economic impact of the games on the UK.
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