For its 23rd (!) season premiere, The Oprah Winfrey Show will be paid a visit by more than 150 U.S. Olympic team members.The guest list includes gold medalists such as Michael Phelps (who has become about as omnipresent as Eddie Cibrian on ABC), Nastia Liukin, volleyball queens Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and hoops stars Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Lisa Leslie and Dwayne Wade (who always cracked me up on A Different World).As reported by the AP, the episode tapes Wednesday at Chicago's Millennium Park (to air Sept. 8) and is fancied as a both a "welcome home celebration" for the athletes as well as a showcase for the Windy City, which is among the candidates to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. By noon Saturday, the line of Oprah and Olympic athlete fans hoping to nab one of the 2,000 free tickets up for grabs stretched several blocks. — Matt Mitovich
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Jeers to David Letterman for dropping the ball during his interview with Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. The Late Show host beat out Jay Leno for the first sitdown with the Olympics' golden girls, yet all he did was make sniggering remarks about their skimpy beach-volleyball uniforms (aren't we getting a little old for that?) and have them repeat overexposed anecdotes like the one about Walsh's lost wedding ring. (Shockingly, Dave didn't seem to know — like the rest of America does — that they're both married to fellow athletes.) And Letterman didn't even mention May-Treanor's just-announced gig on Dancing with the Stars. I know that'd be promoting another network's show, but he didn't use to care about that. With lazy chats like this, Dave's never going to win the late-night ratings gold again. • Share your own raves and rants about other shows on the Reader Cheers & Jeers discussion board.• We may feature your Cheer or Jeer on TVGuide.com or in TV Guide ...
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Not even a seemingly endless storm could disrupt Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walshs reign as the Queens of the Beach The world No 1 beach volleyball tandem secured its second straight Olympic gold medal with a 21-18 21-18 triumph over Chinas Wang Jie and Tian JiaI hope this means were deserving of being No 1 in the world a jubilant Walsh said Im so glad that we won and Im happy that its overMay-Treanor and Walsh became the first team men or women to defend Olympic beach volleyball gold and while there were certainly tense moments during the match it was clear the two would come through in the clutch as they always do After all coming into the final they were riding a 107-match win streak hadnt lost in over a year and were perfect in Olympic competition How perfect They have never even lost a set The 62 Walsh punctuated that perfection with a spike on their first match point and sank to her knees to embrace her partner of seven years on Cha
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Lifes not a beach for anyone on the other side of the net from Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh The bikini-clad Americans arrived in Beijing having won a record 18 beach-volleyball tournaments and 101 matches in a row and are trying to become the first duo to repeat as Olympic champions on the sand They have this knack of hitting their best volleyball when it counts most and the pressures biggest says NBC analyst Karch Kiraly a three-time Olympic gold medalist twice in indoor volleyball once on the beach And even their worst is better than anyone elses best Walsh uses her 6-foot-2 inch height to block shots and Kiraly calls May-Treanor the best defensive player in the world They begin their quest for another gold Sunday morning against Japans Mika Teru Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara airing live in the US on Saturday evening Aug 9 8 pmET NBC As the competition progresses US teammates Nicole Branagh and E
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