Okay, NOW the Olympics!

Well, what can you say? We seem to be getting our butts kicked in stuff where we usually do pretty good. I blame the product endorsement mentality of some of these folks. What they don't seem to understand is that no one wants an endorsement from A LOSER! Same thing is happening with Anna Kournikova--she was hot because she was hot, but then Sharapova came along--someone just as hot, who could WIN. You go from hot to not overnight. Same thing with the vaunted Dream Team, who played as if they were all asleep, and got whipped all over the place by the Puerto Ricans. Maybe they'll wake up. As for young Mr. Phelps--possibly a few too many laps between the Statue of Liberty and Greece--it seems he might have tired himself out shilling for credit cards and telephones. Which is fine--sic transit gloria mundi and all--get it while you can, but still, it would help things along to be able to not think you have to concentrate on all your press and the hype and just go out there with some fire and win. Good thing we have the women's soccer and softball teams--they seem to understand what it takes.

And yes, all the breathless "compelling drama" crap everyone is complaining about from NBC is played out, too. Along about '84 or so. I am quite tired of the "stern eyes just above the water" shot, the "stern arms akimbo" shot, the "slow turn of stern head" shot, the "slo-mo stern eyes and hands on hips" shot. Enough. Please. Just show us the wedgies.

And what in the world has happened to Jim Lampley? It's been a while since I've seen him since I don't have cable or anything, but WHOA!, he looks like a burlap bag now! I never have really cared for him--his smirky self-important sarcasm is rivaled only by that of Bryant Gumbel (who?), but when he was doing the college football halftime stuff, he was at least John Edwards pretty, with a smooth face and a dark, full head of hair. Now he looks like a mob palooka with slicked-back grizzled hair and a face like a dried apple. Eww.

Dude--it looks like you need to dial back on the smirky self-important sarcasm a bit. It's awfully unseemly for a man of your years.

AS FOR THE ATHLETES THEMSELVES, the most important thing is that TWENTY-EIGHT Auburn University students and four coaches are competing in Athens--more than any other SEC school, and part of a total of 49 athletes with some tie to the Cotton State. The article does point out that not all of the athletes are competing for the U.S.--only six of Auburn's squad are. The rest of the Tigers are playing for their home countries, and as near as I can make it, these include Australia, Bahamas, Croatia, England, Estonia, France, Hungary, Jamaica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zimbabwe. Quite a crew! My favorite is Jana Kolukanova, swimming the 100m freestyle for her home country of Estonia. This preference is based entirely on cuteness.

In other Olympic-related stuff, it sure seems to have been lovely weather in Athens, and at least on camera, everything appears to have gotten a nice spiffing up. I wish they had more coverage of the equestrian events and shooting on primetime, and I still think blogging would be a good sport.

Thus ends the Possumblog Olympic Wrapup!
posted by Terry at 10:25:00 AM