Olympics

It happens every two years.  I end up watching the Olympics to all hours of the night. (Yes, I watch the winter Olympics too)  But, what can you say about the Michael Phelps drama. I thought it was awesome. Yeah, he absolutely dusted the competition in some of his events, but the 4x100 free relay and 100 fly finishes were amazing. I'm glad it's over, because I can get some sleep now.  I'm OK with watching some of the remaining events via DVR.  There have been a lot of comparisons of Phelps to Spitz and Carl Lewis; who's the greatest olympian, athlete, or whatever. But there's no deying that Spitz had a sick pornstar moustache.  Combine that with the red, white & blue speedo, some attitude and you have the ultimate Olympic pimp. Carl Lewis can't sing and reminds me of a Gary Coleman/Michael Jackson combination too much.  Phelps seems like an all around good guy, I hope he can translate that into some endorsements.  I don't mind him getting paid for swimming success.  Also, the story about him getting down 12,000 calories a day makes him a superhero in my mind.  Like an amphibious Kobayashi!

 

I have been watching volleyball, water polo, diving, some gymnastics, trampoline, and handball.  I can admire the strength of gymnastics and body control of diving and trampoline, but it kills me that these sports are judged events. I know that all sports are judged/officiated to some extent. But it can often be a tough pill to swallow. In my mind, judged sports are not true sports in a lot of respects. This reasoning happens to make bowling and billiards more of a sport than gymnastics, so it's not perfect.  Also, I consider basketball a judged sport more than officiated at times.  Anytime there are refs or judges there are bound to be problems.

 

Handball is awesome. I first saw this sport 4 or 5 olympics ago. It's a hybrid of water polo, basketball and volleyball.  The men's is especially cool, 'cause the guys go flying in the air from the shooting line. If you have never seen it, make it a point to check it out.