Olympic Swimming - Michael Phelps Wins Third Gold!

Well, it really wasn't a contest in the 200 m free style. He won it in world record pace of 1:42.96. The amazing thing is that he won it with more than a body and a half length. Was there any doubt? He just destroyed everyone. Next challenge!

Olympic Swimming - Michael Phelps Wins Second Gold!

The drive for eight gold medals is still alive for Michael Phelps thanks to some help from his friends in the 400 m free style relay. It's hard to believe that the Americans are the underdog to the French but after a grave mistake by the French anchor to swim at the lane marker and let American anchor Jason Lezak to come from behind and that was the difference between gold and silver. And to boot, the Americans got the World Record 3:08:32.

If his team mates can come through for him in the two remaining relay races, then Michael Phelps schedule looks good for his quest for eight golds.

Olympic Basketball: USA Wins Over China

Even with the home court advantage and the national hero, NBA star Yao Ming, the might of the US basketball was too much for the Chinese as the US won 101-70. It looks like the US team is looking for redemption from the Athens bronze embarrassment and what better way to get pumped for their quest for a gold medal than to go against the host Chinese?

And just like having celebrities court side on US soil, president George Bush junior and senior were in attendance along with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

The Chinese team was surprisingly strong and held their own until late in the second quarter. Hey, when you have a team full of all stars the likes of Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard TRULY motivated, that's the results you should be getting. Let's see if the US team can keep their motivation the rest of the way onto a gold medal.

Michael Phelps Wins First Gold Medal in 400 IM

Michael Phelps history making quest for eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympic Games started tonight in the 400 IM. And he did it in World Record time of 4:03.84. That's one gold down, seven to go!

At first he was pressed by American team mate Ryan Lochte but Phelps was strong on his breast stroke and really pulled away in the freestyle. In the end, Phelps was just too strong and Lochte got left behind and finished third behind Hungarian Laszlo Cseh.

It's a good start for Phelps, he's sending a message that he's all the hype and more. It will be interesting to see if he'll be the story of the Beijing Games.

Beijing Olympic Games Opening Ceremony

The Beijing Olympic Games are finally underway and boy, did they put on quite a show for their Opening Ceremony! It helps when the host country has a storied history like China. I've been a veteran Olympic Game watcher of previous Olympiads and I have to say this ranks one of the best. From the opening drummers, the themes of the four Chinese inventions: gunpowder, paper, movable printing type, compass, it was nice to learn what the country was about. The precision in which they did everything was just amazing... I also noticed they used a lot of children in the Opening Ceremony. I guess that with all it's gloried history and recent troubles with human rights issues, China is looking forward to making amends with the future generation.

The Olympic cauldron was lit by Li Ning, a legendary Chinese gymnast from the Los Angeles Games. It was really neat how it was lit too. He was hoisted in the air by wire fu and he mimicked running a lap around the birdnest Olympic stadium as a paper scroll unfurled. It must have taken a lot of strength to keep the legs moving and also the arm up.

In all, it the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony was a very impressive fusion of history and art. You passed the first hurdle Beijing, and it went off without a hitch. Congrats. Prove the naysayers wrong the rest of the way!

Bad Luck Beijing

It seems as though the Beijing Olympics can't buy a break. There have been earthquakes, floods, train wrecks, and protests. There was even a joke that the Beijing FUWA mascots were bad luck instead of good luck as each of the mascots had some sort of motif dealing with the tragedies.

Now the latest incident is despite putting billions into security, there was an attack by a Muslim ethnic group in a Chinese city near the Afganistan-Pakistan border. 16 Chinese border officers were killed. I guess the media will be all over this one and security will get even more antsy.

This also does not include the leaked video of the opening ceremonies and the ever looming clouds of pollution. Will it or won't it dissipate in time? All this bad luck and the Games haven't even opened yet!

Allowing Steroids in the Olympics

I turned on the TV today and was hooked on a documentary called "The Man Whose Arms Exploded". Now I had also read an article recently that this guy got arm transplants so I had automatically related the two events together thinking it was a medical special. To my surprise, it was a show on bodybuilding and steroids. This 5'5 guy had 28" arms and looked like a freak in general. Finally, one arm exploded when he got an infection and his biceps and triceps looked like they had been inflated to the size of small melons.

So where am I getting at this? I wonder whose athletic career is going to explode for the worse at the Olympics. My thoughts on steroids at the Olympics is just screw it. Let them do it. Aren't we skeptical of the Olympic winners anyways? I don't even know if any Olympic medal winners can be clean. And don't we want a spectacle? Don't we like to watch trainwrecks? Let them get juiced up out of their minds and push the limits of human capabilities. Or die trying. Our kids revere these athletes but then they can see who these freak shows really are and what steroids can truly do to you.

Let's peal back the layers of hypocrisy and not have our kids worship false idols. And in the meantime, let the athletes put on a good show.