Sports Report Olympics Edition: The opening ceremony at its best

Welcome to our Olympic newsletter on the first real day of competition. I’m John Cherwa and I’ve never watched an opening ceremony that was as creative as the one in Paris. Now it’s competition time.

There are many comments about the opening ceremony as well as reports from our staff on site. So, I’ll make some random comments while watching the opening ceremony from a distance. The first season show was tighter and did away with the slow parts.

—The best opening ceremony ever, despite the constant rain. We’ve come a long way from the 84 grand pianos of the LA Coliseum peristyle in 1984.

-I am happy to be the art director for opening LA28. You better improve your game. Let’s see, Seine or LA River? Well, anyone has other ideas.

-Once you let go of the idea that everything has to live, it really opens up your options.

-We will forgive the fact that Lady Gaga is not French, we think the French people are too. He was great, as always.

– Lots of good times in Paris, but in 2012 when James Bond (Daniel Craig) escorted Queen Elizabeth II to the London Games first in a helicopter and then pretended to parachute into the party, he has never been promoted.

– Treasure to three it was strange and unexpected. Although it would have been more fun if it was a man, a woman and a French poodle. (But there’s no funny business with a dog.)

—While watching at home, I didn’t mind the rain one bit.

—What did the servants do in the beginning? Oh, right, NBCUniversal. The Minions stealing the Mona Lisa was a dud that was easily the low point of an otherwise great opening.

-Kelly Clarkson, whose original show is distributed by NBCUniversal, (see the article here) did not add anything to the announcement. Peyton Manning added even more. But they did not get in the way.

-As the party went on, you could see that it was losing power due to the heavy rain.

— The end of the torch run seemed to go on forever. But it was well forgotten in the rising cauldron with Celine Dion. He couldn’t believe the last good time.

-I would like to have the approval of Robitussin in Paris next week.

Was the Mona Lisa ever stolen?

Now that you were wondering, we asked our anonymous co-author Mr. Google, who reported that the painting was stolen in 1911 by an employee of the Louvre, who wanted to return it to Italy. Obviously he was caught and the artwork was not damaged. Now, what Dan Brown has planned for the Mona Lisa remains to be seen.

Planning your day

There will be 24 matches in the tournament today, 21 of which are for the first time in these Games. It’s true, if you sleep like a normal person, you will miss some live events. But, don’t worry, if anything happens, NBC and its various platforms will have you covered. For example, if you’re reading this, you’ve missed the training sessions for the US men’s gymnastics team. It went at 2 am PDT. The corresponding women’s springboard diving also went off at two o’clock in the morning

Perhaps, the top watch today will be the finals of the swim, which will be between 11:52 am and 12:44 pm But feel free to join the broadcast at 11:45 am or later. One thing about swimming, and most Olympic events, is that it is timed. The schedule is very tight. Katie Ledecky who competes in the women’s 400 freestyle will be in the finals today and will also come first. He is trying to increase his total of 10 Olympic gold medals. It is not necessary to observe the qualified temperature.

If you watch all of the men’s soccer games between the US and New Zealand, which start at 10am PDT, you’ll miss kickoff. If the US loses this game, it’s over. There is no chance of future strikes.

Unfortunately, there is another phenomenon of great interest during that time window, men’s street skateboarding. It’s an event that Nyjah Huston should reign as, by some standards, the best in the world. He had a bad day in Tokyo three years ago and didn’t get a medal.

If you’re up early, the US plays Greece in women’s water polo at 6:35 a.m. Check our TV list for the channel you can find these events on. Or go to Peacock where you can get it all.

Gold for Hoda Kotb

We call this daily feature “journalism crash” as we document the number of times “journalist” Hoda Kotb hugs an athlete. He took one on Thursday, but by Friday he had five more gold medals, mostly from his visit to the Team USA Welcome Center. (Note: we don’t count hugging the same person twice in one day.) He pressed cotton with three members of the US BMX team and US sprinters Noah Lyles and Tamari Davis . It was all a front-to-front hug, as opposed to the side hug he had with Davis on Thursday.

Summary of application:

Kotb and US athletes: 6

Lester Holt and Jill Biden (or others): 0

Savannah Guthrie and athletes: 0

Times reporter David Wharton and athletes: 0

Links you should read

Let’s take a look at some stories you may have missed, but shouldn’t have:

Your TV guide

How can you watch the Games today? Check out the list of Saturday’s Olympic Games.