Thoughts On The Olympics So Far...

* First of all, I'm not a huge fan of the Olympics. Never have been. While I admire the ideals of the Olympics and what they meant in the past, once the Cold War ended the Olympics stopped being about nationalistic pride and became just another modern competition where professional athletes can, would, and did do anything possible--including using performance enhancing drugs--to further their own careers. The myriad of sandals--both among the athletes themselves and the corrupt officials running the games--proved my point: the games had lost their luster.

This year, however, has been a bit different. There has been a bit of a return to the nationalistic pride in these games, for one simpler reason: we are witnessing the possible fading of one superpower and the emergence of another superpower, and the rising power is evil.

In other words, we've got a return to the Cold War/World War II games: democracy v communism/nazism, good v evil, right v wrong. I'm not going to go into the reasons why I consider China evil--that's a post in and of itself--but yes, I do see that country that way, and I believe most of America deep down inside does, too.

So that being said, here's what I think of as an intense and entertaining an Olympics we've had in years.

* Michael Phelps: really, what else can be said? This guy is simply amazing. I don't fully buy into "the greatest Olympian ever" debate as much as many; he might be, but just because Swimming hands out medals like Cracker Jacks doesn't mean he's necessarily eclipsed Jesse Owens, Al Orter, Carl Lewis, etc. I'm not saying he isn't part of that debate, and I could be convinced that he is the best. I'm just saying, we like to annoit the latest guy too easily. Anyway, Phelps is not only submitting a legendary performance, but he appears to be the perfect American hero: clean cut, good lucking, humble, entertaining. Good for Michael Phelps, the latest to join the long list of legends who have the greatest name in the history of the world.

* Does anyone know why America didn't have anyone compete in any of the Olympic weightlifting competitions? That seems odd to me. I also found it hilarious that China swept almost all weight classes for both sexes in the Olympics. Let me bring up for the first time the communist country cheating in the Olympics. Good times!

* Also include me among those worried about Team USA (basketball, of course). While they have looked impressive in their first two games, I'm still seeing the same old holes in this team: inconsistent three point shooting, bad half court offense, really bad half court defense. I'm very worried/excited about the game against Greece tomorrow; I'm ready to see how Team USA performs against a country where they can't force an insane number of turnovers that lead to easy breaks. I'm not saying their not going to lose, but if they have a game against one of the other good teams--Greece, Argentina, Lithuanis, Spain--where they can't get lots of turnovers and are cold from three point line, then yes, they will lose. And it's not out of the question that those two things happen in the same game.

* Congrats to the Men's gymnastics team for getting the Bronze. After losing two starters (the Hamm brothers) due to injury, they did a great job to medal. Did a coupla of the guys on the team choke? Yes. But a couple of the guys--most especially Sasha Artemev--went to the other side of the equation and turned in outstanding clutch performances. Good job to them for placing.

* Is the Spanish basketball team really stupid enough to think it's cool to make Chinese eyes? Maybe Team USA has a better chance than I thought.

* Andrea Kramer: would it really hurt you to smile every once in a while when doing a postgame interview?

* Is it just me, or is seeing an adult Shannon Miller in the Claritin commercials creepy?

* Yes, I understand that softball is our sport and we should win the gold like the Dream Team did in Barcelona, but it's still pretty damn impressive to throw a no hitter against the Silver medal team in the 2004 Olympics. Great job, Cat Osterman.

* Finally, a word on the women's team gymnastics, which China won the gold in last night while the US took home the silver. First of all, I feel for Alicia Sacramone, who had two costly errors that did cost the US the gold. This is a girl who obviously wanted the gold so badly that it hurt her performance. You always feel for an athlete like that. So nice try, good job, and take solace in the silver.

She can also take solace, however, in the fact that they really won the gold. Why, do you ask? Because the Chinese cheated. There is an age floor of 16 to compete in the gymnastics.

I don't think a single member of the Chinese team was 16. I think most of them were between 10-12 years old. I think the Captain of the team might be 16. I think she's really about 14, but at least she's close enough that you can kind of by it. The rest of the team, however, is UNQUESTIONABLY 10-12 years old. One of the girls weighs 68 pounds! She's so short she can walk under the balance beam without ducking! THERE IS NO FUCKING 16 YEAR OLD GIRL IN THE WORLD WHO CAN DO THAT!!!!!

This is one of those lies that's even worse because it's so insulting bad. I challenge anyone to look at those girls and honestly tell me they think they're 16. You can't do it. You just can't.

So congratulations US girls. In the end, you really should have won the gold.