Beaten to the Punch

I was all set to comment about the latest comments from Jacques Rogge (head of the IOC) about phenom sprinter Usain Bolt, which further cemented Mr. Rogge's reputation as a paragon of hypocrisy. This bourgeois Belgian's buffoonery cannot be bested!

But Sally Jenkins wrote it better than I could in her latest column (albeit absent the alarming attack of alliteration).

Olympics Logo, Regurgitated

Maybe I just don't "get" this type of artwork, but why does the 2012 London Games logo look like something that the high-paid graphic designer's kid puked up on the morning of the deadline to finish the logo?

Who knows, maybe I won't hate it so much in another five years.

Sign Me Up for the Shaun White Fan Club

Looks like ratings are down for the Winter Olympics, but I could care less whether the U.S. has two fewer gold medals than Germany. Not when you have just one great athlete like nineteen year-old snowboarder Shaun White to entertain, both in actual competition and in front of the cameras. I've seen this guy in X-Games of years past, and while I appreciated his skills on both the skateboard and snowboard, I figured, hey just another X-Games athlete, complete with the slacker persona and fashion sense (fashion in this case used very liberally). But I don't know if I can remember a more likable athlete - the best in his sport, no less - give a more entertaining interview.

I caught him on ESPN News last night after I got back from running, and the kid is good. He's got a natural enthusiasm that's infectious, and seems unconcerned with appearing cool, even though he competes in sports where cool is a big part of your markteability. He also stays away from the awfulness that is the sports cliche, and he's funny as hell. In the span of a 2-minute interview, he managed to hit on twice-his-age SportsCenter anchor Linda Cohn (who wasn't conducting the interview, but it was still funny), diss his silly Flying Tomato nickname while still reminding viewers that the tomato is a cool vegetable that's good for you, and seem genuinely in awe of winning a gold medal that he was the favorite to win. Now, someone explain to me why the hell anyone would "Join Bode" when there are guys like Shaun White who we could be watching instead?

Winter Olympics: More Medals Needed?

Even though the good old U-S-A is, as of this writing, third in overall medals, the perception in the media seems to be that we're not doing so well. That's probably due to the seemingly large number of events in which U.S. athletes are finishing fourth, fifth, or sixth. Never fear though, loyal readers, I have a solution!

First of all, do we even know why there are medals awarded for only the three top finishers? It probably dates back to ancient Grece, but this is the 21st century, baby! Time to expand the medal platforms to include a few more participants: from now on, medals to the top five.

Now, about those medals - why do they have to be metal? Medal is just short for medallion, not for a hunk of mined ore. Time to switch that up as well, put some animal alongside the mineral: fourth place - medallions of beef, fifth - pork medallions. Just don't leave them in the trophy case too long, and you'll be fine. Plus they both go well with a nice marsala sauce.