Those of you actually following the Beijing Olympics probably already know about this, but I’ll bravely move forward for those who aren’t. The U.S. Olympic softball team was handed a huge Godzilla-sized plate of defeat at the hands of the Japanese - their first loss in nearly a decade. Many tears were shed. Military action against Japan is sure to follow.

Another gold was certainly within reach. Instead, they walked off Fengtai Field with their heads bowed.

The U.S. team never led and made two uncharacteristic errors in the seventh inning to help the Japanese add an important insurance run — one they didn’t even need.

When Caitlin Lowe grounded to third for the final out, Vicky Galindo, who led off the U.S. team’s seventh inning with a pinch-hit single, wrapped her hands over her helmet and cringed.

Moments later, U.S. coach Mike Candrea huddled his stunned players, many of whom couldn’t even look up. Lowe choked back tears as slugger Crystl Bustos tried to console her overwhelmed teammates.

Bustos, who homered in the fourth for the Americans’ only run, was first in line to congratulate the Japanese players. As she shook hands with the U.S. team, Japan catcher Yukiyo Mine was overcome by tears.

“You don’t want it to end this way, but it’s all we could do,” said Bustos, who attended the medal ceremony wearing sunglasses.

Man, just how deep is this rabbit hole? Hot on the heels of yesterday’s revelation that the fireworks extravaganza at the tail end of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony was a CGI simulacrum, I now read that Lin Miaoke, the cute-as-a-button tyke that performed at said ceremony didn’t actually sing. Which isn’t such a big deal, I suppose. But the reason she took center stage strikes me as a bit superficial…Beijing had 7-year-old Yang Peiyi on hand, who was every but up to the challenge - but they felt she wasn’t ‘cute enough’. So what we got was a composite performance - Peiyi’s voice, Miaoke’s face.

China, welcome to the club…

Lin Miaoke’s performance Friday night, like the ceremony itself, was an immediate hit. “Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke becomes instant star with patriotic song,” the China Daily newspaper headline said Tuesday.

But the real voice behind the tiny, pigtailed girl in the red dress who wowed 91,000 spectators at the National Stadium on opening night really belonged to 7-year-old Yang Peiyi. Her looks apparently failed the cuteness test with officials organizing the ceremony, but Chen said her voice was judged the most beautiful.

“The national interest requires that the girl should have good looks and a good grasp of the song and look good on screen,” Chen said. “Lin Miaoke was the best in this. And Yang Peiyi’s voice was the most outstanding.”

Bonus: Here’s a news video about the controversy…

As I sat at home the other night, watching the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I noted with some astonishment to my wife that the fireworks display which capped the festivities was ‘unreal‘. Not my exact wording, but certainly the same connotation. And now I know why! They were unreal, or at least partially unreal. Word has it that the drop-dead amazing pyrotechnics we saw on television were aided by computer graphics, tweaked a year in advance by Olympics organizers.

Now I know why Beijing was so touchy about the South Koreans getting a look at the practice run…

It took planners almost a year to create the 55-second sequence which appeared to be fireworks of more than two dozen footprints in the sky, said Gao Xiaolong, head of the visual effects team for the ceremony, in the Daily Telegraph story.

Even those at the city’s new Bird’s Nest National Stadium, where the Olympics are being held, viewed the fake footage from their seats as they watched the on the stadium’s giant television screens, said Britain’s Sky News, in a story, “Olympic Fireworks Faked for TV.”

“Stunned viewers thought they were watching the string of fireworks filmed from above by a helicopter,” said SkyNews.com. “ But in reality they were watching a 3-D graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce.”

There were some real fireworks going on outside the stadium. But the footprint display was “inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment,” the Daily Telegraph said.

I didn’t bother to see if any of the networks were broadcasting this, but once again YouTube has come to the rescue! Of course, being YouTube, it looks like raw ass, but you takes what you gets. Here’s part one, more after the jump…I should mention, however, that part 3 was nixed by copyright nazis, and I presume the rest will follow soon…(bah, humbug!).

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Man, China - you really need to take a breather. What with all your Obsessive Compulsive precautions to ensure a *perfect* Summer Games, and now you’re throwing a temper tantrum because the Koreans get a preemptive look-see at your opening ceremonies? Do you really think anyone who purchased tickets to attend the Games, is participating, or planning on watching from home is gonna skip the full-blown spectacle because of some crappy online clip? Give yourself some credit and relax.

Authorities acted quickly to control the damage. The video — which features floating dancers, thousands of synchronized martial artists, and giant blue whales — was yanked from YouTube by mid-morning on Thursday and entirely blocked in China.

The Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG) was furious, saying that the filming was unauthorized.

“We are disappointed and frustrated with the broadcast by SBS,” Beijing Olympics committee spokesman Sun Weide said at a press conference today.

OKay, I’ll say it…I don’t understand why people are so wierd about eating dogs. I mean, why do we draw the line at dogs? I can kind of understand from a ‘they eat their own poop’ standpoint, but I’m pretty sure that all the other animals I eat are pretty filthy, too. And the whole ‘cute’ thing doesn’t wash with me either, because surely that’s a subjective thing, no?

At any rate, Beijing officials have taken steps to ensure that foreigners visiting their fair city for the upcoming Summer Olympics don’t encounter any of their furry friends on the menu at their hotel. Because, human rights violations notwithstanding, they don’t want to give any of the out-of-towners bad impressions.

A directive from the Beijing Food Safety Office issued last month ordered Olympic contractor hotels not to provide any dishes made with dog meat and said any canine material used in traditional medicated diets must be clearly labeled.

Concerned that canine dishes might offend animal rights groups and Western visitors, Beijing said restaurants expected to be popular among foreign visitors must stop serving dog meat “to respect the dining customs of different countries.”