Medal Count

TigerBlog wanted to watch the women's 8 rowing gold medal race this morning, except it was only online.

By the time he had his laptop set up ...

Okay, TB will get back to that in a few minutes. First, he has to interject with the fact that as he writes, he is watching equestrian, and he continues not to get it. The horse appears to be breakdancing. First he goes forward. Then backward. The he runs in place. Then he does a little cross-over step. Then across the field.

TB readily admits that the horses are way better dancers than he is. And some of them have such nice little hats that really accentuate their ears.

On some levels, it appears to be a contest to see who can get closer to the white fence without touching it. With some research, it seems something like a dog show, which isn't in the Olympics. TB doesn't get how this is.

Anyway, by the time he had his laptop set up, the race was over.

So what did he do? He put on SportsCenter, where he was saw the four words that immediately draw scorn and derision: "Live From Jets Camp."

Seriously, this has to be a joke, right?

TB watched for awhile and was enthralled to find out that Tim Tebow threw from the shotgun 82.7% of the time (vs. under center) and ran from the shotgun at around the same percentage. The Jets, of course, scored touchdowns on 80% of their goal-to-go situations last year to lead the NFL, so there was a spirited discussion about whether or not Tebow would help improve that and how.

During this whole time, there were dramatic shots in the background of the Jets doing calisthenics, followed by gripping footage of Tebow as he went through a drill in which he took a football and, TB is getting breathless here, handed it to a running back.

Again, this is a joke, right? TB cannot believe that ESPN can put this stuff on with a straight face. It's almost like a "Saturday Night Live" skit.

He would have preferred to see the rowing race.

As it turned out, the winners were the United States, Canada and Princeton.

The American boat won, as Princeton alum Caroline Lind earned her second goal medal.

The Canadians came in second, with silver medals for Princetonians Andreanne Morin and Lauren Wilkinson. Morin was competing in her third Olympic Games and won her first medal, while Wilkinson won a medal in her first Olympic appearance.

TB mentioned this before, but was he supposed to root for the Americans, even though the Canadians had twice as many Princeton alums in their boat?

The race gave Princeton its first three medals of these Olympic Games. In fact, of the 16 golds and silvers, three went to Princeton, for a percentage of .188.

If you're inclined to do such things, then that one race moved Princeton ahead of Mexico, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Greece and a bunch of other countries for total medals won.

Princeton has won more gold medals than, among many others, Canada.

Can Princeton win any more medals? Glenn Ochal has a shot, also in rowing. Diana Matheson could with the Canadian women's soccer team.

To date, 15 of Princeton's 16 Olympians have competed.

The last one? Hint: the steeplechase heats are tomorrow morning at 8.