IS LEARNING THE PRINCETON OFFENSE
Where to start? Yes, it is as foggy, smoggy as advertised. It's a sunny Friday morning here, but the sun is a round yellow ball amid a sea of light gray. It's muggy but not intolerably so. We've had days like this in Philly. But not a summer's worth.
I expected it to look different than when I accompanied a high school soccer team here in 1984. But it's still a shock seeing all the highways, all the cars, all the buildings. Now when Chinese men huddle in crouches to play their various gambling games (I presume), they do so on cleanly paved sidewalks and amid flower-lined walls. Back in 1984, it was a scene often played out on dirt roads and rubble. Beijing looks very Western these days.
This may go down as the most manned Olympics of the five I have attended. The effort to be helpful may be unparelled. Australia had the weather and the water, and the people were great. Much more would have been made of Turin's rainy weather -- indeed days here look like days there only warmer. But Turin had the Alps nearby, and the food and wine. and their people were so welcoming.
Beijing is trying and trying hard. It's not an exaggeration to say that five people are ready to help you at each turn through even the smallest problems, and their English is at least passable and usually much better. Even the bathrooms are manned with helpful volunteers. Enthusiasm is always best at the start of these things, but the time and effort already taken by the workers here -- and I assume they are workers more than volunteers -- suggests that they will maintain it for the entire two weeks. still, I will be looking, for entertainment purposes, for signs that they are getting sick of us.
Tonight here, tomorrow morning there, I will attend the Opening Ceremonies. On our last day back in 1984, we watched the Closing Ceremonies in Los Angeles while having breakfast with Chinese diplomats. So it's fun for me thinking now it will be you watching at breakfast.
Speaking of food, I have yet to eat real Chinese. This is not all my fault. Handed out in a package given to the media was a list of phrases including this one:
War shamg my yee ger jew woo baa.
Translation: I would like to order a Big Mac.
Right after Sudanese immigrant and Team USA flag bearer Lopez Lomong 
relayed his heart-rending, significant narrative of a life torn by trials, punctuated by his overwhelmed and thankful gushing about being elected the flag bearer by his Olympic teammates, the Dream Team sauntered into their press conference, late and haughty and regally smug 
. For an hour, the First Name guys -- Kobe, LeBron, Melo et al -- asserted in world-weary tones that they would really try hard this time, that winning for country was more important than winning for NBA city or franchise.
Sadly, nobody asked them if winning for country was more important than winning for sponsor 
.
But then came Team Lopez.
That's not really fair; obviously, 17-year-old blondie Charlotte Craig is not a Lopez. However, the Lopez clan supplied the USA Taekwondo Olympic team with siblings (from left) Steven, Diana and Mark as well as coach Jean, the eldest, who is not pictured. Scrubbed and peppy and lean and supercute, they looked like the cast of a teen soap; Jean kinda looked like of of those really fit TV dads who make the soccer moms swoon.
In contrast to the million-dollar babies, Team Lopez made sure to articulate sincere, uncoerced, unrehearsed respect both for China, the host country, and Korea, the birthplace of their sport.
Mark even took a picture with his iphone. Of the gathered press.
kihap, baby
.
The air might be a little dingy, but the Temple of Heaven 
was spotless. The attendant sweeping debris even picked up the rare fallen leaf.
Clean, too, was the subway that got me there, not to mention the station. Unusual, waiting for a subway that doesn't smell like an overused American Standard product.
A pair of volunteer graveyard-shift concierges at the Media Village offered to act as tour guides today, Thursday, which was yesterday, Wednesday night, in Philly. I think. An adventure.
First, we bought chicken and bread for a sightseeing picnic at the equivilent of a Super Wal-Mart. Charlie talked me out of buying a camera; lousy quality at the store, he said.
Then, to the train. It was crowded, but, hey, 18 million people live here. And, for the Olympics, half of the private cars have to stay off the road to lower pollution output. The train was cool, and clean, and fast.
Disgorged at the Temple, an edifice built in 1420 by Ming dynasty emperors, in which they gave thanks for the harvest and prayed for bumper crops the next year.
It featured a Hall of Abstinance, 
where, perhaps, they prayed for strength for married men all over the world.
It was cool. We ate chicken 
and bread, and, more importantly, we talked -- Charlie, Jack and I.
They're exceptionally cool guys.
They, like most Chinese, want to be accepted.
They, like most Chinese, want to see the world and are delighted the world can now see them.
They, like most Chinese, want the world to give China more time to right itself, to incorporate itself, to grow from a closed and defensive society into a more responsible and complete nation.
They will be tomorrow's post.
Yesterday, gymnast Morgan Hamm was eager to learn that his twin brother, Paul, was thinking of joining him in Beijing to provide support.
Now, neither of them will be competing in the Olympics. Morgan Hamm withdrew with a left ankle injury, USA Gymnastics announced in a statement released at 5 a.m. Eastern time. Talented but error-prone all-around contender Sasha Artemev was chosen to replace Morgan Hamm on the roster instead of David Durante.
“I have been dealing with this for the last year, and it recently has gotten worse here in Beijing,” said Hamm, a two-time Olympian. “Right now I am unable to perform my tumbling skills at the level that I need to. This has an impact on my ability to contribute to the team’s goals and I believe by continuing I would be putting myself at further risk. There are two very capable athletes who can step in and help this team more than I can right now.”
The defending all-around gold medalist, Paul Hamm, withdrew from the team July 28 due to complications from a broken right hand and a strained left shoulder. That left Morgan as the sole veteran on a team left hoping for perfection to challenge for more than bronze.
“Morgan’s dedication to helping the USA claim a team medal for the second straight Olympics has been exemplary,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “He has done every thing he could to contribute to this team, and we appreciate his efforts. We also appreciate his putting the team’s best interests first. He has once again demonstrated why he is a champion.”
Great flight. Blue skies. No traffic. Nice people. Huge room. HBO. Cocoa Puffs. Minute Maid. Highway signs in English.
Talk about putting your best foot forward.
The Chinese government views the Olympics as a method of opening its country – commercially. The people view it as a chance to show their progress, to refute stereotypes, to be considered a 21st-century nation, a power, progressed, significant.
So far …
Around 2 p.m. local time yesterday, or Tuesday, which would have been 2 a.m. in Philly on Tuesday, I landed. (BONUS: Shared a three-seat row with one skinny guy – Rick, I think, IBM bank machine troubleshooter – so we had a seat between us.) Rick (I think) slept almost the whole flight (no inane chatter) and even snagged my snack for me while I was sleeping.
Why do you care? Well, the thought of 14 hours in the air made my gizzard curdle 
Shuttle ride to the hotel a little unsettling: Seriously: No traffic. Maybe 30 cars in sight on our side of an 8-lane highway in from the airport. Mostly Volkswagens, if that matters 
.
Since July 20, there have been traffic restrictions on both private and government vehicles. Saw maybe 20 private cars en route from the airport – true, it wasn’t rush hour, but still: Imagine I-95 near the airport virtually empty at 2 on a Tuesday. Cops at every onramp checked to see that no one violated the odd-license-plate-on-odd-dates policy.
(Hey, despite considerable easing of personal liberties over the past 30 years here, it’s still a very conformist communist country. What the Man says, goes. Period.)
And … Blue skies, baby. You know those photos of smog-shrouded buildings, the stories of not being able to see 30 feet in front of you, of feeling the grit in your teeth? Well, factory slowdowns and construction restrictions, combined with a spate of air-cleansing rain and wind last week, seems to have scrubbed the city to an acceptable, Pittsburgh-like dinginess. A damp haze hung over the city, but it was a foggy sort of obfuscation, not a dirty sort.
An asthmatic, I was worried, but I’ve been fine; no need to pull out the Brookstone personal air purifier (which, oddly, came with a free bag of magic beans).
IT CERTAINLY WASN’T NASTY ENOUGH EITHER DAY TO WARRANT WEARING A MASK, AS THE U.S. CYCLE TEAM DID AS THEY SLUNK THROUGH THE AIRPORT.
The IOC medical chief, Arne Ljungqvist, scoffed at the precaution. USOC chief communications officer Darryl Seibel called it “unnecessary”
Nothing like insulting the hosts. Way to go.
The cyclists, Michael Friedman, Sarah Hammer, Bobby Lea and Jennie Reed, later issued a statement through the USOC in which they apologized.
The statement read, in part: "The wearing of protective masks upon our arrival into Beijing was strictly a precautionary measure we as athletes chose to take, and was in no way meant to serve as an environmental or political statement. We deeply regret the nature of our choices. Our decision was not intended to insult BOCOG or countless others who have put forth a tremendous amount of effort to improve the air quality in Beijing."
Anyway, thanks to a screwed up body clock I got up at 4 a.m. today, Wednesday. Like most sportswriters, I’ve seen my share of 4 a.m.’s, but seldom from the rested, fully sober perspective.
Upon rising I went to the front desk, where volunteer concierges Charlie, a new dad (with a SUPERhot wife), and Jack, a student in Beijing, attempted to correct my atrocious Chinese (hence, the headline). Pitying me, perhaps, they then offered to show me Beijing when they finished their 11-7 shifts.
I accepted, but had to cancel; seems swimming’s answer to cardboard cutouts and the latest middle-aged hero (Michael Phelps and Dara Torres) will hold court at midday.
Sigh.
Other observations:
• Unlike most Americans, but like people from most other nations, Chinese people are relatively lean. Especially compared with me.
• Highway signs were in English as well as Chinese.
• There is no litter.
• Recycling is the state religion, and everyone worships.
• At this point, anyway, there are 47 volunteers/workers/sponsor gofers for every journalist. You can’t open a door or empty your cafeteria tray, and you ask for something, it’s done, immediately. I feel like a Pewterschmidt 
.
Let the Games begin ...
Sam Donnellon and Marcus Hayes will provide the news, perspective and insight you have come to expect from the Daily News sports section throughout the Games, with special attention on their experiences in Beijing.
The Olympics start Wednesday with women's soccer, featuring the United States, with Delran's Carli Lloyd, facing Norway. The game will be aired on MSNBC at 7:30 a.m. Eastern.
While Marcus and Sam will experience the Olympics live, most Americans will experience them in new ways, via television and the Internet.
The numbers are just staggering
3,600: Hours of competition available, live and on-demand on your television, your cell phone or online
2,900: Hours of live competition available
176 1/2: Hours shown for the entire 1996 Games in Atlanta
212: Hours of Olympic competition available PER DAY
9: Networks involved in coverage, counting the new Olympic Basketball Network and Olympic Soccer Network
2,200: Hours available as streaming video on NBCOlympics.com
900: Million dollars that NBC reportedly paid for the rights
Want to know what's on when and on which channel? Check out the full television schedule.
MARCUS HAYES grew up on a small farm outside of Hermon, NY., a small town near the Canadian border about the size of Reading Terminal Market. In high school he played three varsity sports and aspired to be faster, or more skilled, or taller. Having failed in those aspirations and seeking a warmer climate, Marcus attended Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and eventually graduated with a degree in Magazine Writing. He also earned a degree in English from the College of Arts and Sciences. To date he has written for no magazines. His English is spotty at best. Upon graduation in 1990, with Jim Boeheim's talent-leaden SU basketball teams having won no titles, Marcus spent 4½ years working for the now-absorbed Syracuse Herald-Journal covering high school sports, local small college sports and non-revenue sports at SU. Marcus joined the Daily News as a feature story writer in 1995. Among other assignments he has covered the Eagles and Phillies beats for most of his tenure. Still, the paper soldiers on. This will be his first Olympics assignment for the Daily News.
