After Atalanta

In the car this morning I heard a preview on NPR for this evening's All Things Considered which would air a profile on the US women's water polo team. How interesting, I thought. I don't know anything about the team. I should remember to go to the website and listen to it. Of course by this evening I had forgotten all about it. Luckily I happened to be in the car when the segment was running. And luckily there is this really long light in my town where I sat through two cycles which enabled me to hear the whole thing . And I was really surprised by a few things. No, not that some players have such strong legs and good egg beater kicks (it's described in the segment for the uninitiated) that they can propel themselves out of the water to about their hips. Though that did impress me greatly. I was surprised that women's water polo has only been in the Olympics since 2000. That fact I learned today. But what the whole segment got me thinking about was that this team--t...

Not that I have actually seen any women's water polo. I saw a clip of a match in which someone got punched in the nose. Bloody mess! But the NPR story a few weeks ago has engendered a curiousity in the sport and the team. That's why I found this USA Today piece interesting. It offers a few more details about the history of the team and two of its veteran players who are competing in their third Olympic games. The team is doing well, by the way. They have already qualified for the quarterfinals. They tied with defending gold medalists Italy and have no losses on their record yet. They play Russia tomorrow. The outcome will only affect the group standings (US and Italy are tied for the top spot) as the US is already moving on and Russia is not.

I just love NPR. They are all about women's water polo . Today they covered the team's win over Australia that put them into the gold medal round . And it wasn't just a brief score with two sentences of description. There were actually splashing sounds in the background. They were there--well someone was there. They had an interview with a player. They provided history of the team and recounted the team's road to the gold medal game--a little rocky but successful nonetheless. Makes me glad I donated twice this year.* *OK the second time was motivated by the desire to win the $2500 gift certificate to a bike store, still I like to think that that extra donation maybe paid for the extra bag of checked luggage the reporter had to take to Beijing or maybe a few drinks on the plane.