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2008 Beijing Olympics Go Out With a Bang

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-24T12:34:00 00:00

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

After all, the Chinese did invent fireworks so you'd expect quite the pyrotechnic performance during closing ceremonies. From my vantage point about 50 yards away from the Bird's Nest, it didn't disappoint.

For those of you who've been following along with my Olympic adventures in Beijing, you may recall how the impenetrable security at the opening ceremonies thwarted any attempts I made to see some of the fireworks on 08/08/08. But after spending the past two and a half weeks in China, I learned a few key facts that helped me gain entrance to the Olympic Green for this evenings closing ceremonies. The most important of which is that I don't speak Chinese and they don't speak English so if you just act like you're supposed to be going through a certain security check point they seem cool with it.

So yes, tune in to NBC later this evening to watch the taped version of what I just saw in person. (I had to rub it in a little bit.)

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The Most Exciting Olympic Event to Watch in Person: Beach Volleyball

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-23T01:34:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China, USA

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won themselves a gold medal on Friday by beating Brazil on the hot sand in Beijing. If you ever get the chance to attend a summer Olympics event in person, beach volleyball is the way to go.

Having seen a riveting performance of rhythmic gymnastics a day earlier, the gold medal match of men's beach volleyball was absolutely the most exciting event I've attended at the 2008 Olympics thus far. Not only is there high flying spikes, slams, blocks, and digs, but there is cheesy rock and roll in between plays.

Oh, and cheerleaders in bikinis.

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Watching Team USA Win by 49 Points Is Fun but Also Kind of Boring

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-20T02:51:00 00:00

Filed under: Americas, China, Europe, USA

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

Before coming to Beijing for the games, all of the buzz in my group of travelers was about trying to score the hot events. Right near the top of the list was a ticket to see Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and the rest of the 2008 USA basketball team play. The opponent didn't really matter.

I was lucky enough to score a seat in the second row of the upper bowl of Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium to watch as Team USA made Dirk Niwitzki and the German team look like a third world country. The US squad won by forty-nine.

Sure the high flying dunks and attempted alley-oops off the backboard were entertaining but after the US had a twenty-five plus point lead things got a bit boring. Should a fan in attendance simply marvel at the display or hope for a more competitive game? I say both.

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Watching Team USA Win by 49 Points Is Fun but Also Kind of Boring

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-20T02:51:00 00:00

Filed under: USA Basketball

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Havertown, Pennsylvania Produces Winners (And Me!)

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-18T14:05:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China, USA

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

I'm in Beijing, China. Not sure exactly how far it is from Havertown, Pennsylvania -- the town I grew up in -- but it's safe to say it's a few thousand miles away from the comfort of a WaWa Shortie Italian. Knowing that fact, I wonder what the chances were that I'd run into not one, but two people from Havertown while in Beijing on the same night.

And both of them just happened to be sporting Olympic Medals they won earlier that day.

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A Quick Glimpse of Team USA's Training Facility, WNBA Stars Included

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-17T06:42:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China, USA

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

The U.S. Olympic Team is the only country other than the host nation with their very own training facilities located in Beijing. They've contracted out a relationship with Beijing Normal University to set up the kind of training center our nation's top athletes have come to expect.

During a tour I took of the facilities the other day I got the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the ladies hoops stars -- including Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, and Diana Taurasi, among others - in the middle of a closed practice.
They seemed light and loose during their shoot around, as they should with the rest of the world struggling to even compete with our dominant women's team.

More photos of the basketball team as well and the men's water polo squad after the jump.

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Beer Is Really, Really Cheap at the Bird's Nest

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-16T09:26:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

There's certainly no two drink limit per person at the Bird's Nest in Beijing as there are at every single venue in America. One friend of mine actually purchased eight beers at one time and had the friendly concession workers put them nicely in a box for him to carry back to his seat.

Not only are beers plentiful but they're also ridiculously cheap. You can see my purchase of 6 Budweisers and two ice cream above that came to a whopping total of 40 RMB or approximately $5.75 US. As you may imagine, we had quite the fun time watching Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay run really, really fast last night.

A few more photos I snapped of the Bird's Nest last night after the jump.

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The Water Cube Is Amazing, Swimming Prelims Not So Much

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-15T11:36:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

As I'm sure you can see on NBC back home in the states, the Water Cube and Bird's Nest are two breathtaking buildings. When we entered the Water Cube on Thursday evening here in Beijing, the sun was still out and the full effect of the amazingly unique structure wasn't visible just yet. But as you can see from the photo I snapped above after exiting the 100-meter butterfly prelims, the Water Cube's aura is ridiculous when lit up in pool blue and purple.

To be quite honest with you, the swimming prelim wasn't all that exciting and simply getting the chance to enter the amazing structure out-shined the actual swimming. The highlight of the action in the pool was clearly getting the chance to watch Michael Phelps in person during the Olympics where he is trying to break history.

More photos of Phelps and the Water Cube after the jump.

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Olympic Mascots Are Typically Annoying Unless They're Falling On Their Faces

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-15T02:54:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

For those of you who read my personal website, The700Level.com, you'd know that I'm a bit of a Phillie Phanatic apologist. I love the furry green fella even when many sporting enthusiasts believe there is no place for mascots in serious competition. To those people, I say "I hope the Phanatic spills a giant vat of popcorn on your head, you miserable hater of fun."

Anyone who has ever been associated with the Olympics knows that the chosen official mascots of each games are almost assuredly annoying. So it was with great pleasure that I got to see the five elements of the Beijing games get to trip over themselves and fall on their faces. Yes, I know. I'll grow up someday.

The below video is from the epic Spain vs. China battle that took place a few days ago here in Beijing.

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Challenging Tickets Can Be Found in Beijing if You Try Really Hard

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-14T04:59:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

As of today, I've been in China for a week and have only seen one event in person: China vs. Spain basketball. That's about to change as I've got an action packed line up of events over the next two weeks ranging from random small competitions like cycling or team handball to huge marquee events like seeing the Kobe Bryant-led Redeem Team.

When I boarded my flight to China last week I only had tickets lined for the lesser-known competitions but with a bit of legwork, some networking, and sweat - okay, a lot of sweat - tickets to some of the bigger events can be had.

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Olympic Moments: Watching Yao Ming & China Play in Front of Home Crowd

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-13T14:40:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China, Europe

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

The very first Olympic event I had the pleasure of attending couldn't have been a more amazing experience. At the games an entire culture has waited 100 years for, their biggest sporting icon took center court yesterday to try and show the supportive Chinese fans inside Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium and all across China a win.

Pau Gasol and his gang of offensive Spaniards allowed China to build up a fairly comfortable lead at the end of the third quarter and into much of the fourth but the host nation couldn't get things going in the fourth and Spain sliced through the exhausted Chinese squad like a chef's knife through a Peking Duck. (Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week, try the mutton!)

FanHouse already covered most of the on-the-court action of the most exciting basketball match of the 2008 games, so after the jump I take a look at the atmosphere along with photos and a video of the impressive Chinese fans.

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Strange Things in Beijing: Posed Pictures

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-13T05:52:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.
In addition to locals tucking their shirts under their arms exposing their gut to cool off and naked babies peeing in public, there is a third phenomena unique to Beijing: people doing odd poses for photo ops.

Whether it's in front of Chairman Mao, in the middle of Tiananmen Square, or in front of some cheap Olympics signage, the Chinese love them some Kung Fu posing.

My sorry attempt to fit in with the locals after the jump.

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There is This Little Wall in China

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-11T17:01:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

I've been in Beijing for almost 5 full days now and I've yet to see an actual Olympic event just yet but I've hit plenty of the amazing places this city has to offer. Without a doubt the most amazing part of my trip so far has been our visit to the Great Wall of China.

Setting foot on the wall is something all who love to travel aspire to do and the thrill of actually walking on the wall did not disappoint in the least.

The Forbidden City was amazing at parts but the sheer size and scale of the Great Wall, at such an amazing height, is simply breathtaking. A quick video I shot from the wall after the jump.

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The Pitfalls of an American Watching USA vs. China at a Bar in Beijing

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-11T06:50:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

Aside from the gold medal game the clear marquee event of basketball at the 2008 Olympics was the August 10th match up between the newly dubbed Redeem Team from the U.S. versus the Yao Ming-led host nation. My friends and I had hoped to watch the game from Wangfujing shopping area on giant televisions but a consistent downpour sent us in search of shelter and a cold beer instead.

We picked what seemed like a fairly touristy spot that had some quality TVs to view the game on. It was a festive atmosphere with the majority of the bar pulling for China with only my group of 15 or so Americans rooting on Coach K's squad.

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Taking A Cab in Beijing Is Not Exactly Easy

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-10T02:12:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

Taking a cab in Beijing has proved to be challenging without any of our taxi drivers knowing a word of English. We've quickly learned that the best way to get to where you want to go is to have somebody at your hotel write down the address in Chinese and simply show it to the driver. This has about an 80% success rate.

But there are of course circumstances when you don't have the time or brains to do this which often leads to a lot of pointing at a map. This probably has about a 20% success rate. There's also some sort of strange law where certain cabs can't drive to other portions of the city that are a bit far. There's seemingly a line on a map that they gesture to you that they're not allowed to cross. That didn't help us on our endeavor to watch the Opening Ceremonies.

Anyway, the following video is our attempt at communicating with a Taxi driver to get "close" to the opening ceremonies. He tries to asks us if we have credentials or tickets which we clearly did not. Perhaps the highlight of the video is around the 1:05 mark when he shows his love of Yao Ming.

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Nike's Beijing Presence Outshines Adidas

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-09T07:17:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

Adidas is an official sponsor of the 2008 Olympics here in Beijing but Nike has a much more remarkable presence throughout the City.

On a trek through many of Beijing's different shopping areas I came across four Nike stores and only two Adidas stores. The display setup at Nike had dozens of mannequins -- including LeBron, Kobe, and Yi replicas -- sporting the Olympics jerseys of their respective countries. While the Nike store had a distinctly Olympic vibe to it, the Adidas stores didn't really scream Olympics or China nationalism.

Pictures of the Nike displays as well as a small sampling of Adidas after the jump.

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People In Beijing Watch the Opening Ceremonies Just Like You: On TV

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-08T19:03:00 00:00

I spent about three hours on Friday trying to get as close to the Bird's Nest in Beijing to get an up close look of the opening ceremonies. We had hoped to find an outdoor area nearby -- maybe a park? -- with a TV screen of sorts so we could catch a glimpse of the pageantry on TV as well as the fireworks above the stadium.

That mission was a failure but it didn't stop us from enjoying the festivities. A recap of our attempt after the jump.

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A Random Chinese Guy Who May or May Not Work at Harvard Paints for Us in Beijing

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-08T12:28:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

On Thursday night, having been in Beijing for less than ten hours, the most random, spontaneous thing that will likely go down on my trip has already happened.

We arrived to our digs for the next few weeks on Thursday around 1:00 pm Beijing time. After a quick breather at the hotel me and my buddy Chris headed out to explore this year's Olympic host city.

They weren't kidding about the smog because it is hot and hazy. We must have walked around half the city yesterday. We hit up parts of the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, an indoor mall, an outdoor shopping area, and just some random hutongs around town.

After a few hours of trekking around aimlessly our legs were pretty beat, so we sat down in the main outdoor shopping area to enjoy a few cold ones and take in some people watching.

So to finally get to the good part of this post: We get lost, can't find our way and are standing on the corner with a Frommer's map out like a bunch of tourists. Then the guy you see pictured to the right asked us if we needed some help -- in English!

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China's Roads Are Ready for Olympic Traffic

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-07T20:55:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

The trip from the airport to our hotel in Beijing was traffic free for the most part but in the off chance that we did hit some gridlock the Chinese government had made us our own lane just for those traveling to the Olympics. I took the above photo while in the back of a taxi cruising down the highway.

The main roads were very nice and were lined with light posts bearing the Olympics logo flags every 20 yards or so for the entire length of the highway. The painting of the Olympic rings to designate an Olympics-only lane weren't as frequent as the flags but there were still quite a few of the markings in the middle of the highway.

Our very first impression of Beijing was obviously of the smog. Apparently the clean up effort wasn't working too well on Thursday as skies all across the city were tremendously misty with a strange stench of uncleanliness.
The Beijing airport was simply remarkable. It almost seemed to perfect with its unique design which featured a roof that tapered quite seamlessly, letting light through in many parts.

The whole airport experience from walking through the clean terminal to taking a very nice shuttle type train to the baggage area was seamless. The only odd part was the "volunteers" and security every 20 feet. There were smiling faces wearing Olympics gear just kind of standing around doing who knows what. It was a bit eerie.

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Free Internet Makes the 32-Hour Journey to China Bearable

Enrico Campitelli — 2008-08-07T00:47:00 00:00

Filed under: Beijing, China

FanHouse blogger Enrico Campitelli Jr. is on the scene in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

After four airports, three ergonomically packaged airplane meals, two glasses of really harsh cheap wine, and one celebrity sighting, I've finally arrived in Beijing.

You'd think a door to door travel time of 32 hours would be a miserable experience but really it wasn't all that bad. A solid eight hours of sleep on the LAX to Seoul leg certainly helped - as did some free wifi and my iPhone.

Much more on Beijing, which is smoggy and HOT, later but first I'd like to tell you about two fun anecdotes from my travels.

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