Brilliant & Baffling

The Olympics have proven to be awe-inspiring as well as groan producing. In the awe dept Michael Phelps takes center stage making history by breaking fellow swimmer Mark Spitz’s 1974 record of 7 gold medals in one Olympic Games. Number 7 for Phelps was won by 1/100^th of a second (unbelievable!) and an early relay was won in come from behind fashion as well. It was definitely fun to watch him pursue this amazing feat and very satisfying to see such a seemingly genuine individual accomplish such a thing. It may be decades (if ever) before we see something like this again. Dara Torres the 41 year old swimmer (and mom of a two year old) was also in fine form although she missed gold by the same basic time frame as M.P. got it in #7. I must admit, now that MP is done with his events I will miss the excitement and anticipation of seeing him go against the best in the world (and win). What I won’t miss is seeing his mother’s bug-eyed bouncing in the stands while alternatively choking and/or being choked by her daughters (or other innocent bystanders). Who can blame her really, I’m just saying I won’t miss that part. One other musing about MP and that is: where is dad in all of this? I haven’t heard a peep about it only that she is a divorced mom and he was raised in the pool (and by his coach?). What gives?

In the groan department after the first full week of competition there is plenty to talk about:

• The switch of a cuter lip-syncing version of the little girl who sang as the less-cute girl sang off camera.
• Greek sprinter Anastasios Gousis sent home after failing a drug test.
• The Spanish men’s and women’s basketball teams and their idiotic photos. Which has been mentioned here already.
• The ethnic groups staged as a cross section of Chinese culture were fake. The fireworks were fake. (IMO not a bad idea since the pollution is already out of control)
• Then there were the Chinese women’s (I use that term VERY loosely here) gymnasts who looked like little fairy pixies, especially in comparison to the 5 foot AMAZONS we put out there from the USA. Did you see them side by side in the team competition? Woah! I guess we need to cut WAY BACK on the estrogen in the meat here in the US (or feed the Chinese some!).
• The tragic stabbing of Hugh McCutcheon’s (coach of the U.S. men’s volleyball team) in-laws in a seemingly random act of violence by a 47 year old lunatic.
• In the “let’s just settle down” department: Usain Bolt’s mom lost her mind when her son won the gold in the 100 meter dash. She must have mugged 20 people in the stands as she was bouncing around screaming like a deranged woman. Dignified celebration, not hardly.

One last tidbit in the groan dept for you. This one actually came from the ‘04 games in Athens… Do you remember the Brazilian distance runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima who was on track to win the gold medal (would have been the first ever in this event) but was knocked off the road by a defrocked Irish Priest (and clearly out of his mind) Conelius Horan? What a tragedy that was! In the piece by Chris Connelly (on ESPN) I saw on this incident I found it ironic that Horan (a religious fanatic) took out De Lima, who was wearing a crucifix around his neck and so putting 2 and 2 together I’m thinking he’s “Christian” too. The Grand Prix incident went beyond the pale. The video I saw looked like some video game except the little man figure was Horan (!) running against traffic!! WOW!