The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat

The Olympics are upon us, and while there are plenty of stories about China's atrocious human rights beliefs, the choking haze of pollution that surrounds Beijing, and sadly, the tragedy of the murder and attack of a U.S. Olympian's family, the real story is always the athletes themselves.

As for patriotism and pulling for the U.S., sure, I'm rooting for our boys and girls. But I also root for all the athletes.

But understand the amount of time, effort and pure hard work that these athletes put in, often for only a 3 minute performance. To see the joy when one wins the gold, to see the disappointment when they come up short says it all.

Oh, the U.S. basketball team? They are not Olympians. Sorry, LeBron, Kobe, et al. Good luck getting a medal, but it doesn't count. Not in this writer's book.

Swimming and men's gymnastics are on tonight. Michael Phelps won the first of possibly eight gold medals with a world record performance in the 400 meter medley, and that was cool to watch. But the thing that always blows my mind is the gymnastics still rings.

You know. This one:

The strength, the flexibility and the outright determination and focus just amazes me. For every move they make, the athlete must hold the position for two seconds. Two seconds.

I don't think I could even hang on to those rings for two seconds, much less pull my ass up into a handstand on them.

Granted, that's not saying much, but still. You get my drift.

I know a lot of people think the Olympics are boring, and sure, some of the events don't exactly scream "Must See TV!" But if you get the chance, watch some of the action. Do it for the athletes.

WTF, part 3

I, what the...are you seri-

Noooo. They can't really think-no, get out of here. Really?

John McCain's new ad has folks reading between the lines

It's not easy to make the infamous Willie Horton ad from the 1988 presidential campaign seem benign. But suggesting that Barack Obama is the Antichrist might just do it.

That's just what some outraged Christian supporters of the Democratic nominee are claiming John McCain's campaign did in an ad called "The One" that was recently released online. The Republican nominee's advisers brush off the charges, arguing that the spot was meant to be a "creative" and "humorous" way of poking fun at Obama's popularity by painting him as a self-appointed messiah. But even this innocuous interpretation of the ad — which includes images of Charlton Heston as Moses and culled clips that make Obama sound truly egomaniacal — taps into a conversation that has been gaining urgency on Christian radio and political blogs and in widely circulated e-mail messages that accuse Obama of being the Antichrist.
(Source: CNN.com)

Here's the ad in question.

I, I, I don't know what else to say...

I'm pathetic

I'm a pathetic blogger.

Ok, I realize that's an oxymoron. But I trust you get what I'm saying.

I can't even maintain regular updates on my blog. Hell, even the old man updates his blog daily.

I'm a slacker.

I've missed so much. I've failed to keep you fair readers up to date on what's happening in the world. To wit,

Paris Hilton, presidential candidate.

Bill O'Reilly, children's book author. Er, not so
fast.

Brett Favre, a New York Jet?

Preacher's wife with a case of air rage.

Um, whatever this is.

Dick Cheney's new favorite amusement park ride.

I think that's enough for now, kiddies. I'll write more soon.

No, really. I will. I promise.