Rested While Watching Olympics Yesterday

Yesterday I had one of those days, more present in my life as I approach becoming 60, when my energy level has plummeted and just about every place in my body slightly aches.  I do feel doubly blessed, though: they still come but rarely and this episode happened when I was off from work.  And what's more, there was a lot of good stuff to watch on TV while I was in my semi-incapacitated state...especially with regard to the first full day of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics...

While I rested throughout the day, mostly in my comfy recliner facing a wide-screen television, I surfed back and forth along the dial, mainly from one Olympics sport to another.  I watched swimming, field hockey, soccer, rowing, table tennis, basketball, weightlifting, judo, bicycle road racing, tennis, volleyball, and archery, to name the main sports I enjoyed the most.  Of these, I was the most intrigued by the table tennis, judo, and archery, while the volleyball was overall the most fun to watch.  It was interesting to learn how each sport is scored...well, I'm not sure I learned all that much about judo!  Most of the athletes in these areas, while at the top of the world in their skill levels and accomplishments, don't generate enough general fan interest in their sports to be able to earn a reasonable living from them.  But then again, maybe here we can still see some vestige of the old creed of amateurism whereby folks would work their main jobs and train for their sports in the after-hours.  Having said that, however, I wonder how many athletes competing for their respective countries in Rio de Janeiro in this early 21st Century really conform to that pattern anymore.  It instead seems more likely that the participants have their own sponsors, either as a special Olympic organization within their own countries or as wealthy individuals and businesses...and train for their sports full-time without any unnecessary distractions imposed by the "real" world...y'know, having to actually get up in the morning and earn a living working at something we commonly refer to as a "job"...

In the evening I was able to switch away from the Olympics and watch soccer matches in the Mexican Liga MX...week four in their current 2016 Apertura season.  I got to watch "my" UANL Tigres play, as well as Necaxa, the league's new entry for this year, promoted to the premier league after winning the title for the second-level Ascenso league last year...

There were also bits and snatches from other TV shows and movies that I would watch every now and then...and several episodes of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown series were being aired on CNN.  One thing I steadfastly avoided were shows about the ongoing presidential campaign...ugh!

Today it's 6 pm, I feel much better, and haven't yet flicked on the television set...but I may do so when I get back home...I'm sitting right now in my favorite Starbucks on NW 39th Avenue here in "Hogtown" Gainesville.  I've also taken a break from my running the last two days...I'll probably resume that, too, on a limited scale this evening...