Lian Dolan’s Random Thoughts on the Paris 2024 Olympics
A Satellite Sisters Tradition continues! It’s a Compendium of Random Thoughts about the Paris 2024 Games. I watch and write down my thoughts. It’s low concept but high effort. Here’s a selection of some of the Random Thoughts I’ve published from the Opening Ceremonies through Day 11.
You can find all my Random Thoughts on the Satellite Sisters Facebook Page.
Here we go:
It’s important for all of us to remember that the French don’t care what we think.
For those of you who missed the aw shucks commentary of Chris Collinsworth from Olympics past, I present…. Peyton Manning!
I love, love, love this boat parade. So fresh and fun for the athletes. Happy to see the joy on their faces. And the singing and dancing. And all the different boats. 85 of them!!!
Everyone in LA is thinking right now: we gunna flood the 405 and show these Frenchies. You may have a river but we have Hollywood.
Oh no. Kelly and Peyton are spitballing.
I’m sorry about this rain. But it’s a little sexy. Like everything in this Opening Ceremonies: Sexier than it ought to be.
LA, first production meeting is Monday because we gonna rewrite the show flow.
Also trying to manage the time-space continuum of live coverage/delayed coverage/taped coverage/social media spoilers/texts from family and friends/news alerts from the NYT. I gotta get in the zone.
Let’s agree to applaud anytime a British or American announcer uses and butchers a French word.
Every Olympics I’m reminded of that brief time in the 1970’s when we were all supposed to learn the metric system, but basically, America refused. And now we’ll never know how tall any of the Argentine volleyball players are. The graphic reads 1.98 M. Is that 6 feet? 10 feet? We don’t know.
Pour coffee, turn on TV and start crying within 5 minutes while watching a previously unknown French woman mountain biker win the gold medal and see the crowd go with with crying and singing. By the time the American Haley Batten crossed in second, I know all about her concussion and recovery and I was a sobbing mess.
By the end of the Olympics, I’m pretty sure we’ll see all of Wicked in 30 second clips.
LeBron James is everyone’s Dad at this Olympics.
Hard to think of anything more glorious than a horse and rider galloping over the bridges and through the forests of Versailles, jumping over fences and through those antlers. 10/10, Paris 2024
You know what? I think everybody does watch women’s sports. There were like a million people at the France vs. US women’s rugby match. A million.
To girls who didn’t grow up with brothers: if you want to know what childhood looked like for those of us who did, watch women’s rugby. I used to get stiff-armed by my brother walking down the hall to the bathroom, tackled to prevent me from getting the good spot on the couch and piled on for no particular reason. Sibling Rugby.
I feel like I’ve been swimming in a “slow pool” my entire life.
Hey, Simone Biles. I also have a very tight right calf and here’s what I do: I sit on the couch and pound on it with my fist while drinking wine and watching Felicity. Just a thought.
Women’s RUGBY! Enjoyed every second of this competition. Every team, every athlete. And the thrilling final seconds of the USA’s bronze medal game versus Australia were magic.
Feed The Scrum is my new personal pep talk.
If you’ve been a Random Thought follower for a while, you know I’m not a lifelong gymnastics lover. The whole sport made me uncomfortable. Very young girls and middled aged male coaches. Constant pressure to be tiny and perfect.(Emphasis on tiny.) Those tight ponytails and those weird bear hugs. None of that seemed like a healthy atmosphere to me, even as a teenager when I watched. But terrible revelations, rule changes and incredibly brave and talented (not so) young women like Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles and Suni Lee have changed their sport for the better. I was excited to watch them yesterday and see what happens in the future to the sport.
Genuine smiles of joy from the US women. What a difference! These are confident competitors at their zenith. And they smashed it.
Katie Ledecky sits atop the Pantheon of Katies. Stunning race, Olympic record, perfect post-race interview. Top Katie.
The British woman calling the Mixed Doubles Badminton match sounds like Judi Dench playing Queen Elizabeth I. Brilliant, restrained and slightly condescending. Of the losing Malaysian team, she proclaimed. “They must be bitterly disappointed… and I can see why.”
Well, I’ve gone over to the other side: More Snoop. The pairing of Snoop and his pal, Martha Stewart in their equestrian gear did it for me. Perfect pair to underscore how fun and unifying these Games have been. Paris delivers all all fronts: sports, stories, glamour, and joie de vivre. Can you hear the people sing? The glorious crowds, the stunning venues, the tremendous performances. I love the NBA Players at table tennis. I love the tennis players at field hockey. I love Elmo with the fencers. It’s all working for me. Like the Games of Yore– when they weren’t held in places that specialized in doping and human rights violations. Infectious to see the spirit and inclusion of these Games. Bravo, Paris!
I’m writing this while watching the US Women limp towards the end of regulation time against Japan with the same 11 players they’ve started for the last 3 games. I’ll never understand not subbing. Somedays, I’m halfway around the loop at Target and I start rolling my hands making the substation sign and yelling, “Fresh legs!”
Seriously, Shot Put Officials, the best you got to dry off the pad is a bunch of wet white towels and a squeegee?
Ryan Crouser is so deserving of all the medals.
I, too, am self-coached.
Yes, I did almost book a Viking River Cruise in Provence yesterday.
Hey, as an occasional producer of live events, nobody appreciates dramatic walk-in music more than me. But you know what doesn’t need a musical prelude? THE MEN’S 100 METER FINALS AT THE OLYMPICS. What was that starting block concert, Paris? The delay absolutely affected Noah Lyles’ start.
My top speed is grocery store parking lot.
The conclusion of the Woman’s Road Race yesterday through the streets of Paris with the shocking victory by Kristen Faulkner, the American Venture capitalist turned bike racer, was one of the most glorious moments of these Olympics. The overhead shots of the packed streets on Montmartre. Her move that left the other 3 cyclists flat-footed ( or flat tired.) The finish on the bridge across the Seine. Her unsuspecting parents in the stands, stunned by her win. Brilliant and beautiful.
But it seems like the rest of the world has discovered Men’s Pole Vault. It’s Mondo’s Mondo and we’re just living in it. Mondo DuPlantis is not a foot condition. He’s Jeremey Allen White meets Timmy Chalamet meets that blow up guy outside the car dealership. He’s the world record holder in a sport that 99.9 percent of us can’t even imagine trying, never mind mastering. And he’s a charmer. We watched him set a world record in Eugene at the World Championships a few years ago and he brings the joy. We salute you, Mondo.
Cole Hocker ~ law firm or distance runner? Long hair, mellow personality, grinds away until a path opens up? Yup, distance runner. The mark of a great Olympic event is when you are all alone in your house and still yelling and screaming at the TV. Check. The 1500 was incredible.
Parents cams are a fantastic TV production gambit. Seeing the thrilled reaction of the Hocker fam and the tears of the Naguse fam was beautiful and moving.
I’m grateful that in the future all my doctors will also be Olympians. Is it me or are half the athletes in med school?
That’s right, Gabby Thomas. Gold for you, finally. Now get back to your double life as a super model/public health expert/pug mom/spy.
Who is braiding everyone’s hair at the Olympics?
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