Leslie Jones Is America’s Best Olympic Commentator
There was plenty to get excited about over the first weekend of the Summer Olympics in Rio. World records were broken, heartbreaking injuries occurred, American basketball dominated and even some welcome surprises all marked the first few days of the games.
And Leslie Jones was there to pretty much comment on everything. From fencing to U.S.A. gymnastics, nobody has been covering the games quite like Jones. She kicked off her coverage by writing, “Yep I love the Olympics it’s the only time all countries come together to compete! I love it!!” while sharing a photo of herself wrapped in a stars and stripes ensemble.
Yep I love the Olympics it’s the only time all countries come together to compete! I love it!! pic.twitter.com/YQue72tQ5c
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 6, 2016
You can easily spend your time talking about everything that’s bad about the Olympics, from the doping to the displacement of poor people in order to build the stadiums and host the games. But in that one tweet, the Ghostbusters star and Saturday Night Live cast member did a pretty good job of reminding us what’s actually really great about the Olympics. It was warm and fuzzy and nice, but it definitely was not the last of her Olympic tweets. In fact, maybe almost as enjoyable as some of the actual events was watching Jones tweet shots of her television (with closed captioning on), sometimes with Jones adding a word or two of commentary.
OMG pic.twitter.com/poiLIhfnxn
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 7, 2016
If you didn’t think Jones was totally serious about her Olympic viewing, she made sure to show her followers exactly the kind of setup she was dealing with.
Serious pic.twitter.com/L7HjH8y8wn
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 7, 2016
You ever watch sports and turn down the TV and maybe listen to the radio announcers? It’s not like NBC has bad people covering the games, but every now and then you’d rather have anybody other than some expert and some sportscaster who the network shuttles in and out of various sporting events. One of the better moments on Sunday, for instance, was watching Mara Abbott of the U.S. give it her everything to try and win a medal. She didn’t win, but if you had Leslie Jones’s Twitter account on from the moment when race leader Annemiek van Vleuten crashed, to Abbott taking the lead, to the moment where the athlete you’re rooting for looks like they’re on the verge of either winning big or losing it all, and then the ultimate heartbreak, you had a fan rooting right along with you, and it made it all the more exciting. Her fandom even earned her an invite from NBC to cheer on the Olympics in Rio. Although some of us would probably rather her keep it local.
Wherever she decides to do her cheering from here on out, Leslie Jones, you win the gold medal for Olympic fandom, and we hope your enthusiasm doesn’t wane one bit over the next two weeks.