Kobe Bryant has skipped the Los Angeles
Lakers' practice to rest his aching right foot.
The Lakers announced Monday that Bryant's
foot is sore and bruised.
Bryant was injured during the third
quarter of the Lakers' 99-92 preseason loss to Sacramento on Sunday night. He
stayed in the game and scored 21 points.
Bryant has fought a handful of nagging
injuries in training camp this month. A sore right foot kept him out of an early
practice, and he missed a preseason game in Ontario, Calif., to rest a strained
right shoulder.
Forward Metta World Peace practiced on
Monday with a splint on his right middle finger. World Peace dislocated his
finger Sunday night, but popped it back in and kept playing.
When Dwyane Wade ended his association
with Jordan Brand only a few weeks ago, the assumption and reports of everyone
indicated that he would sign a new deal with emerging Chinese brand Li-Ning. It
was a big change for Wade, but also an opportunity for him to help establish a
new market force rather than help a preexisting power player. The only question
was if his new products would entice basketball fans to buy them.
On Tuesday, Wade revealed his Li-Ning
deal and "Way of Wade" shoes at an event in Beijing (the Heat are in town for a
few preseason games). While it may seem that Li-Ning got these shoes together
awfully quickly following the end of Wade's deal with Jordan Brand, Jonathan
Sawyer of Complex reports that Li-Ning had done prep work for a superstar's
sneaker and brought those preexisting designs to Wade. They also claim that Wade
is and will continue to be heavily involved in the design process, so we should
see some changes and new colorways for the "Way of Wade" shoes soon.
Wade's Li-Ning look is quite different
from the more familiar designs he wore for Jordan Brand, but that's not
necessarily a bad thing. The key will be for the designs to reflect his
sensibilities, and for the nation's consumers to care.
That last bit is where things get tricky.
Li-Ning has worked with a superstar before — Shaquille O'Neal represented the
brand from 2006 to 2010. However, as most basketball fans know, Shaq was nowhere
near his peak during that period, which helped ensure that Li-Ning didn't get
quite the sort of brand awareness they likely hoped for when they signed him.
While Wade is not especially old at 30 years old, there have been signs that
he's entering a new period in his career, one where he might not be quite the
league-altering player he once was. He's an All-Star, certainly, but also
clearly a level below his teammate LeBron James. It's an open question as to
whether he can still command the attention (and dollars) of the sneaker-buying
public.
However, those questions haven't been
answered yet, and Li-Ning has many reasons to be positive. In a few years, we
could identify Wade's launch as the moment when a new power emerged in the world
of basketball shoes and apparel.
Three-and-a-half years ago, Dwight Howard
slumped his shoulders inside Staples Center and responded sheepishly on the
issue of Shaquille O'Neal trashing him over and over.
"I can't tell you why he's said a lot of
discouraging things," Howard said to me. "I wish he wouldn't say it because he's
one of the few guys that we all look up to."
As a 23-year-old reaching the NBA Finals
against the Los Angeles Lakers, Howard was still an earnest young star searching
out the blessing that never came from Shaq.
For all the preaching Shaq had done about
paying respect to your elders, Howard never understood why his relentless praise
of Shaq was reciprocated with ridicule and scorn. Howard never understood why
Shaq didn't see it as flattering that an engaging, dynamic young center had
grown up idolizing, even emulating, him.
"Shaq played the game and he is done,"
Howard told reporters on Thursday. "It's time to move on. He hated the fact when
he played that older guys were talking about him and how he played. Now he's
doing the exact same thing. Just let it go. There's no sense for him to be
talking trash to me. He did his thing in the league. Sit back and
relax.
"Your time is up."
Howard doesn't need to respond to Shaq to
win over Kobe Bryant, because Bryant's already a believer in him. Bryant knows
that Howard will come to work every day, that he'll keep himself physically fit.
Those are things that Bryant could never count upon with O'Neal. Howard doesn't
need to stand up to Shaq for Kobe's sake, but his own.
Howard has come to the Lakers to win
championships, the way that Shaq did all those years ago. He's an iconic talent,
and Shaq's kidding himself to try to minimize Howard's dominance. The greatest
Lakers center before Shaq believed that, too – long before Howard made his way
to Los Angeles.
Outside the interview room that day
during the June '09 NBA Finals, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shook his head, and told me
of Shaq, "Sometimes I wonder about his maturity. He doesn't need to do that.
He's achieved so much. I don't know why he stoops to that."
Shaq is a forever star in the NBA, and
gets paid to deliver his opinions on television now. Howard has earned
criticism, absorbed it, and yet his talent is too immense for Shaq to believe
for a moment that Lakers fans will be longing for him over Howard this
season.
Dwight Howard might not make his Los
Angeles Lakers debut in the team's Oct. 30 season-opener against the Dallas
Mavericks after all. Howard is now hopeful he can return from back surgery
earlier than expected and possibly play in the preseason.
"Hopefully, I will be back for some
preseason games," Howard said following the Lakers' first practice on Monday. "I
think we are going to need it for chemistry and all that stuff."
When asked if his optimism was reason to
think he would definitely play on opening night, Howard was more cautious with
his words.
"All I know is we had a great practice
today," he said. "I don't know the date when I will return. But I'm looking
forward to tomorrow's practice to see how my body feels when I wake up. We can
only go by time right now and how I feel after practice. We are not in a rush.
These guys need me for the whole season."
Howard had been playing one-on-one games
against assistant coaches Darvin Ham and Chuck Person prior to the start of
training camp. Lakers coach Mike Brown said Howard took part in the majority of
Tuesday's lengthy practice that lasted about four hours, but Howard was given a
break during a drill to give his feet a rest. The Lakers engaged in light work
on the Princeton offense with Howard taking part in each first-team exercise.
Howard said he had no setbacks.
The Lakers play their first preseason
game Sunday against the Golden State Warriors in Fresno, Calif. Howard isn't
expected to be in uniform. But even if Howard doesn't play in the preseason, the
Lakers still have 23 practices scheduled before the start of the season, giving
him and Steve Nash time to build chemistry with their new teammates.
"As long as he's in practice and able to
go through things offensively, go through our system and stuff like that, I
don't think it will be an issue," Bryant said.
Lakers assistant coach Eddie Jordan spent
time at the end of practice working with the players on implementing the
Princeton offense. The Lakers averaged 97.3 points per game last season, a drop
of more than four points per game from what they averaged in the 2010-11 season
while running Phil Jackson's triangle offense.
Bryant, who has met with Brown and Jordan
about the offense, is excited about the change.
"The more talent you have, the more
imperative it is to have an equal opportunity system where you let the flow of
the game determine which shots come for me," Bryant said. "You just work to get
the best shot possible and really just read the defense."
Terrence Williams has agreed to an NBA
minimum, non-guaranteed contract with the Detroit Pistons.
Williams will report to Oct. 1 to
Detroit's training camp.
He was drafted No. 11 overall in the 2009
NBA draft by New Jersey, but hasn't played up to his potential.
The 6-foot-6 Williams averaged 8.4 points
in 78 games, including nine starts, as a rookie for the Nets. They traded him to
Houston during his second season in the league after he repeatedly broke team
rules and played just 11 games. He averaged 8.8 points in 18 games last season
in Sacramento and 4.5 points over 12 games with Houston. The 25-year-old
Williams is from Seattle and was a standout for Louisville.
One of the things that earned Bruce Bowen
a reputation as one of the NBA's chippiest (and some, even former teammates,
might say flat-out dirtiest) defenders over the course of his 13-year NBA career
was his penchant for sticking his foot underneath an opposing jump shooter after
contesting a shot so that, when the shooter came back down to the floor, he ran
a serious risk of stepping awkwardly on Bowen's foot and turning his ankle (or
worse). The practice was at the heart of a November 2006 Sports Illustrated
feature on Bowen, in which most executives interviewed said they didn't think
the eight-time All-Defensive Team selection was intentionally trying to hurt
opponents with dirty pool.
And with that, we come to "The Jalen Rose
Show," a podcast on ESPN.com's Grantland Network in which the Fab Five member
talks shop and spins yarns from his playing days with producer Dave Jacoby. In a
clip from the show released Tuesday through Grantland's new YouTube channel (the
same outlet that gave us the stellar documentary on Houston Rockets rookie Royce
White's draft-day experience), Rose reiterates that not sticking your foot under
a shooter is basketball's "No. 1 unwritten rule" ... and then relates a story of
when, as a member of the Indiana Pacers, he himself did it on the sport's
biggest stage.
"NBA Finals, 2000," Rose says. "Kobe.
Bean. Bryant. Goes up for a jump shot on the right wing, I contest the jump
shot, Kobe lands on my foot. He hobbles off, and he actually misses the next
game."
Rose is talking about Game 2 of the 2000
Finals. After getting drubbed by the Los Angeles Lakers by 17 points in Game 1
thanks to a monster Shaquille O'Neal performance (43 points on 21-for-31
shooting, 19 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 44 minutes), the Pacers
were hanging with L.A., playing to a 28-all tie after the first quarter. Then,
in the second quarter:
Bryant played just nine minutes in Game
2, which the Lakers went on to win by seven, but as Rose says, he missed Game 3,
which Indiana won 100-91 to get back into the series at 2-1.
"Now, if it was up to me? If it was up to
me? He should've just missed the whole series," Rose says. "I would've had a
championship ring, and it'd be no harm, no foul."
Dwight Howard won't finish his
rehabilitation from back surgery in time for the start of the Los Angeles
Lakers' training camp or their first preseason game next month.
The Lakers provided an update on the
newly acquired center's condition on their website Thursday night, confirming
their long-anticipated decision to take it easy in Howard's return from spinal
surgery.
The team doesn't intend to announce a
timetable for Howard's recovery, but says he won't participate in the start of
training camp on Oct. 2, or the preseason opener in Fresno five days
later.
The six-time All-Star has said he hopes
to be ready for the start of the regular season Oct. 30, but the team isn't
speculating.
Howard recently began working with the
Lakers' training staff on his recovery from surgery last April repairing a
herniated disc and doing additional cleanup. Howard's personal trainer is
working alongside the Lakers' staff, and the center has experienced no
setbacks.
Howard is doing core stabilization
training while also getting in a little light running and shooting.
The Lakers can afford to be cautious with
their new big man, acquired from Orlando in a four-team trade on Aug. 10 that
sent All-Star center Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia.
Pau Gasol will be ready to play in the
middle when training camp opens in two weeks, and the Lakers have years of
experience in dealing with injured centers during Bynum's injury
struggles.
Way back in late June, when the Miami
Heat's championship was but a few days old, Dwyane Wade indicated that he would
hire a shooting coach this summer. It was a smart move for a player who
occasionally looked a little limited in the playoffs, both because of injury and
the diminished athleticism that comes with it. At 30 years old, Wade is reaching
a point where he has to adjust his game to a changing set of skills and
abilities.
However, Wade's work has not focused
solely on his shot. In fact, he's particularly focused on another aspect of his
mechanics: the catch.
By "catch," Wade is referring to more
than just catch-and-shoot situations — the issue is really more about how he
brings the ball up into his motion in all shooting situations. It's similar to
how a hitter in baseball must work on both his step as well as the swing
itself.
When we talk about shooting, we typically
look at the most obvious elements of the play: squaring up, elevating,
releasing, following through, etc. What Wade recognizes, though, is that
athletic motions are interrelated. In other words, a player can't shoot properly
if he doesn't first get himself in a good position to shoot, just as a point
guard can't make a good pass if he doesn't first get himself a usable passing
lane. It's a holistic view of the sport, not one where skills can be isolated as
if one didn't affect the other.
As Wade ages, then, changing his game
won't just be a matter of adding and discarding various aspects of his game.
He'll have to consider how those individual parts relate to each other and the
kind of player he wants to be. He can't flip a switch and become a different
kind of player — the transition never ends.
After cleaning up a record number of
medals at the Olympics, Michael Phelps has extended his winning streak at the
poker table.
According to TMZ, the retired gold
medalist raked in $100k from a single poker game at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas
this week.
A source reports that the 27-year-old
athlete spent a chunk of it afterwards at Tryst nightclub in the
Wynn.
Recently, Phelps came under fire for
possible International Olympic Committee violations when photos for his Louis
Vuitton ad campaign were leaked during the London Games. The IOC prohibits
athletes from promoting non-official sponsors during a time period around the
Games. Sanctions include stripping medals won by the offenders.
However, Phelps' agent Peter Carlisle
insists the leaks were not the fault of the
swimmer. "He didn't violate Rule 40;
it's as simple as that. All that matters is whether the athlete permitted that
use. That's all he can control. In this case, Michael did not authorize that
use. The images hadn't even been reviewed, much less approved. It's as simple as
that. An athlete can't control unauthorized uses any more than you can guarantee
someone isn't going to break into your house."
Andy Roddick 's spent nearly a decade
trying to claim that ever-elusive second Grand Slam singles title, and now Andy
Roddick seems to be down to his very last opportunity.
The American ace made a surprise
announcement during his press conference at the U.S. Open in Flushing, NYC on
Thursday (August 30), as he revealed his plans to retire from tennis after
tournament's end.
Talking with media on-hand at the USTA
Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Roddick said, “I have decided that this
is going to be my last tournament. I wanted an opportunity to say good-bye. I
hope I’m sticking around.”
And while he'll certainly be missed,
there's no need to feel sorry for Andy - who turned 30-years-old today - as he
gets to look forward to open days with his stunning Sports Illustrated Swimsuit
Issue wife, Brooklyn Decker.
In a revealing interview on "Oprah's Next
Chapter," U.S. Olympic gymnastics team member Gabby Douglas spoke about the
obstacles she had to overcome to make it to the Olympics.
The 16-year-old gold medalist admitted to
Oprah Winfrey she was a victim of racism at the gym she trained at in Virginia
Beach. She confessed, "I was just, you know, kind of getting racist jokes, kind
of being isolated from the group. So it was definitely hard. I would come home
at night and just cry my eyes out.”
More specifically, "One of my teammates
was like, ‘Could you scrape the bar? And they were like, ‘Why doesn’t Gabby do
it, she’s our slave?’"
Later, the young gymnast found relief
when she moved to Iowa to train with a new coach. The "Fierce Five" member also
talked with Oprah about the gossip involving her hair style.
Oprah responded disgustedly, "You know
why it sickens me?” She told Gabby, referring to African-Americans in general.
“We’re the only ones who would care to notice, because the whole world is
looking at your athletic prowess, and there are a few naysayers — haters — who
are on talking about your hair.”
President Barack Obama sees the
presidential contest as a clutch moment in his favorite sport - the fourth
quarter of a taut basketball game.
Fundraising with the help of current and
former National Basketball Association stars, Obama told a small group of donors
gathered Wednesday night at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center that the current
campaign is like the final minutes of a basketball contest with his team up by a
few points.
''But the other side is coming strong,''
Obama said. ''And they play a little dirty. We've got a few folks on our team in
foul trouble. We have a couple of injuries. And I believe they have one last run
in them.''
Obama raised $3 million with the help of
the players, who included former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan and former
New York Knicks Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley. NBA Commissioner David Stern also
was there.
Invoking Jordan's competitive nature,
Obama concluded, ''If you have seven minutes to go and you have a little bit of
a lead, that's when you put them away.''
The players were part a daylong
fundraiser. Earlier, former and current players participated in a
$250-per-person autograph session and in a skills camp priced at $5,000 for two
people.
''It is very rare that I come to an event
where I'm like the fifth or sixth most interesting person,'' Obama joked at the
Lincoln Center dinner.
Later, Obama changed out of his dark suit
to shoot baskets with some of the players out of sight of the press. Obama, an
avid basketball fan and a player, made a splash during his 2008 campaign by
sinking a 3-point shot while visiting troops in Kuwait. His most recent
star-studded game, also played in private, featured actors George Clooney and
Tobey Maguire.
The idea of an estate sale is creepy
enough as it is. Usually they're put together in an attempt to sell off the last
remaining vestiges and assets of someone who has recently passed on, or a person
run afoul of either the law or their own checking account. Phoenix Suns forward Michael Beasley appears to be in no such trouble, and even though he didn't
exactly break the bank with his second pro contract, its average-sized makeup
falls right in line with the rookie deal he started working under in 2008 that
paid him just over $20 million over four years.
This doesn't explain why the former
Minnesota Timberwolves forward, as he moves on to his third NBA city in five
seasons, needs to set up an estate sale for his abandoned Minnesota home, rather
than just hiring a crew to toss everything into a truck and move his clutter
down to Phoenix. This also doesn't explain why Beasley, even while we're aware
of his goofball reputation, has so much goofball stuff in his house. Though it
is well-penned, to read her recap is to be left confused; all because Beasley is
such a confusing dude.
Tchotchkes and oddities seemed to dot the
house; and it wasn't just that hoops-related memorabilia wasn't available for
sale, apparently there wasn't any in the house to begin with. What was available
were the sort of dusty book-filled shelves and animal-themed salt and pepper
shakers that you'd tend to pick up at an estate sale set up for someone four
times Beasl
ey's age that had shuffled off this Minneapolis coil.
Look at Niesen's photo gallery (or Jake
Nyberg's Twitter-based run). It's not so much that Beasley took his
modern-as-tomorrow entertainment systems and "Scarface" posters down to Phoenix
and left the estate sale to deal with his flotsam and jetsam, it's that he had
all this Your Aunt-styled clutter to begin with. And, again, instead of dumping
it all in a truck or piling it in the back of a U-Haul dragged by his PT Cruiser
(we're guessing, after looking at the remnants of this sale), Beasley decided to
add to his bank account 15 bucks at a time by selling off every last throw
pillow.
It's all so wonderfully Super Cool Beas,
even if it's the furthest thing from "Super Cool" that we could imagine.
Toasters and stuffed animals and more coffee table books and all sorts of stuff
that even you or I would leave behind, regardless of whether or not we were just
given a three-year, $18 million contract to go play in a state with lax income
tax laws.
Heads-up, Phoenix. You're getting a
goofball for the ages. Hopefully one that, after three-straight seasons of
declining production, is using his "Everything Must Go"-sale as a way to
completely leave his past behind, and start over from scratch.
Or maybe Michael just wanted an excuse to
shop for some new pillows with tassels hanging from them.
After a pre-trade deadline telephone call
when Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant hung up believing they could never co-exist
as teammates, months and months passed and, still, the two superstars never
spoke again. Howard wanted Bryant to tell him what the Lakers could do to
elevate his offensive stature, and Bryant wanted Howard to tell him he was
determined to come with a defensive and rebounding mindset to make the Lakers
champions again.
The call ended poorly, and it wouldn't be
long until Howard had turned toward a path of far less resistance with the
Brooklyn Nets.
As much as anything, Howard was
determined to stop marching down the path of Shaquille O'Neal: From No. 1
overall pick to ring-less Orlando Magic center to self-proclaimed Superman,
comedian and goofball musician, there was a part of Howard that resisted the
inevitable power play to also make him a Laker.
Nevertheless, Howard made a mess of an
easy exit out of Orlando, obliterating his march into a max-contract salary slot
with Deron Williams and the Nets with an impulsive choice to reject his contract
opt-out. Freedom of choice was gone, and the Magic wouldn't do a deal with
Brooklyn.
In the end, Howard needed the Lakers and
Bryant. And yes – for now and the future – Bryant and the Lakers needed Howard.
The trade was completed on Friday and Howard gets the bright lights, big city
and a championship chase with the Lakers. Howard gets his Showtime, but make no
mistake: Howard comes without leverage in the locker room and doesn't have the
latitude to revert back to his old class-clown self.
"I think that changes just by the
pressure that he's under now," Bryant told Yahoo! Sports late Friday night "That
pressure is on us all. We have to win championships. The focus will be higher,
the intensity will be higher."
[Yes, the Lakers need a serious-minded
star for a serious-minded basketball franchise. Stan Van Gundy tried so, so hard
to instill that within Howard, but the culture of Orlando always made the Magic
beholden to Howard. No more. Howard is bigger than life, but he isn't bigger
than the Lakers.
So, yes, Bryant searched out Howard's
cell phone on Friday morning and made the call to Howard that the two superstars
had resisted for months now. When the time comes rest assured Bryant will make
something clear: The carnival act ends now. The clowning and goofing are done.
During games, players used to hear Kevin Garnett screaming at Howard: "Paint
your face, clown!" up and down the floor.
In a tight race, the U.S. defeated Spain
today (August 12) to win the gold medal for Men's Basketball.
Kevin Durant scored 30 points for the
team, topping LeBron James' 19 and Kobe Bryant's 17. The game echoed the 2008
Beijing gold medal game in which the U.S. pulled away in the fourth quarter from
Spain to win 118-107.
After bragging that their team was better
than the 1992 Dream Team, the U.S. just squeaked by Spain to win 107-100. The
win does help to detract from the 2004 bronze medal disaster in
Athens.
Unfortunately, U.S. team coach Mike
Krzyzewski has announced that he'll be retiring as the national team coach
following this Olympics, after taking the team to gold in 2008 and now
2012.
Extending their Olympic winning streak to
21 consecutive games, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings bested fellow
Americans Jen Kessy and April Ross at the beach volleyball finals in London on
Wednesday (August 8).
The faceoff between the pair of American
squads marked the first time since the sport debuted at the Olympics in 1996
that two teams from the same country battled in the gold medal match.
In the end, 33-year-old Walsh Jennings
and 35-year-old May-Treanor put forth their third consecutive event winning
performance - as the duo won top honors in Athens, Beijing, and now
London.
Of the feat, Kerri told NBC, "Misty and I
have something really special. The world knows it, we know it, and we embrace
it."
Having trouble finding words, Misty May -
who plans to retire from the sport following London's 2012 Olympic Summer Games
- overwhelmingly uttered, "I'm a little speechless right now. I can't believe
this is my last match."
With Prince Harry watching from the
stands, the 11-year teammates pulled ahead in the first set and came out strong
in the second, never losing their lead.
After the match, the exuberant partners
made a victory lap in the stands, high-fiving fans and hugging friends and
family.
Following the medal ceremony, Walshj
Jennings summed up her feelings, saying, "It's insane. It doesn't feel like it's
real. I told Misty when we were getting our medals, 'If I wake up tomorrow and
we have to replay this match, I'm going to be furious.' Because it feels like
I'm in a dream. It truly feels surreal and it didn't feel like that the first
two times for whatever reason. But this, it's almost too good to be
true."
Kessy and Ross earned a silver for the
U.S. while Juliana and Larissa of Brazil beat Xue Chen and Zhang Xi of China to
take the bronze.
Kate Middleton ventured to Weymouth,
England, today to watch Olympic sailing. She was on a boat, armed with
binoculars, to see the women's Laser Radial competition. China's Xu Lijia won,
while Kate's own Team GB's Alison Young came in fourth and the USA's Paige
Railey was number six.
Kate was joined by her husband's aunt,
Princess Anne, as well as Anne's husband, Sir Timothy Laurence, who has some
familiarity with the water as a retired British naval officer. Kate's likewise
demonstrated her own interest in aquatic sports. She practiced helming a dragon
boat for a 2007 competition across the English Channel, though she had to drop
out due to security concerns. During a stop on Prince Edward Island during her
Canadian tour in 2011, Kate raced William in a dragon boat. William was the
victor in that matchup.
At 17-years-old many people would be
happy to graduate high school, but for swimmer Missy Franklin the
accomplishments go much further.
The Team USA member beat out her fellow
competitors in the 100-meter backstroke on Monday (July 30), which meant she was
bringing home the gold medal in her first individual win.
Overjoyed about her achievement, the
young Olympian tweeted, “I am so grateful for everything that has happened. God
has blessed me with so much. Thank you so much for all the love and
support!”
Although Missy, who resides in Aurora,
CO, is celebrating her win, the soon-to-be high school graduate says that right
now all of her races are dedicated to her grief-stricken hometown.
In a recent interview with the Los
Angeles Times Franklin explained, "Right now, all of my races are dedicated back
home to Colorado," adding, "No matter how well I do, I'm going to give my best
in every single race, and every single race, I'm going to have that Colorado
incident on my mind."
As previously reported by GossipCenter,
Aurora was the setting for a horrific tragedy where James Holmes, who was
charged with 24 counts of murder, entered a midnight screening of "The Dark
Knight Rises” killing 12 people and injuring 28.
Aside from bringing home top honors
today, Missy and her relay team were already proud holders of a bronze
medal.
Making for quite the sight to be seen,
the 2012 Olympic Summer Games Opening Ceremony was held in London, England on
Friday night (July 27).
Taking place at Olympic Stadium, the
kickoff to the event that sees 26 sports contested by 10,500 athletes over 17
days of competition drew out royals including Queen Elizabeth II, Prince
William, Kate Middleton and Prince Harry, as well as U.S. First Lady Michelle
Obama, actress Nicole Kidman and footballer David Beckham - who helmed a
speedboat carrying the Olympic flame during the UK festivities.
As for the theme of London's Opening
Ceremony, spectators were treated to a colorful display charting Britain's
history from the start of the modern Games back in 1896 to the
present.
With 80,000 people in attendance for the
production, director Danny Boyle took on choreographer duties while including
segments such as 1,000 drummers marching through a pastoral setting complete
with cows, goats and sheep roaming about with farm children.
The complete Opening Ceremony was put
together with Boyle trying to remain under his $15 million budget, which falls
far below Beijing's 2008 production that ended up being the most expensive
Opening Ceremony ever at a hefty $40 million total cost.
Of his low-cost efforts, Boyle told the
AP, "There has to be a modesty. You can't get grandiose with this job because
you are following Beijing."
