String Theory

Physicists think we might have about 12 dimensions: 3 regular ones that unfurled completely, a bunch that stayed curled up in infinitesimal balls, and then there's time. While the regular dimensions can go either way, time doesn't, and no one knows why. Time has an arrow.

Archers at the Olympics are a weird breed. This is a sport that requires concentration and relaxation at the same time. These zen masters spend their days in ever-shrinking concentric circles. The live inside their heads, with a sport that despite all the gadgets reduces to nothing other than consecutive 20 foot putts to win the Masters.

The men's team archery finals were fun to watch. First there was the French team with their matching "Party of Five" length stubble beards. They were fun and loose, but also out quickly. Then the Chinese with the Nike-branded bucket hats. But they were dispatched by the Americans. The Americans were anchored by Brady Ellison. While his Wikipedia entry says he's from Arizona and is called "The Prospector" we all know his nickname is really Bear when he's pounding a case of Old Milwaukee with his boys in Wisconsin. They were the class of the field - until the South Koreans, that is.

Bear on the hunt

Like cycling's yellow jersey, I suppose, being #1 in the world means Kim wears the white half-bra instead of black

Korea led off with Kim Woo-Jin, the world-record holder in the event, who is so cool, he wears  prescription glasses and some sort of evil genius patch on this cheek where the string rests at full draw. Thousands of arrows day after day comes down to a handful in Brazil, with a setting sun, and some stray thundersticks in the crowd. In the first set of the gold medal round, Korea unleashed 6 straight bulls-eyes for a perfect score of 60. It was over after that. Americans never found the confidence to come back.

A deviation of even a half of an arc-second (1/3600 degrees) left, right, up, down, or draw strength means a terrible miss. Once you release, the arrow cannot be called back. It only goes one way. Whether one believes in free will or a clockwork predestination since the universe was a billionth of a second old, in this sport, the score is already determined before the arrow covers 70 meters and buries itself in the target. Korea had already won - we were just waiting for the formality.