I don’t really have much to say about the Olympics as a whole but I do have some random thoughts about what I’ve seen so I’ve organized them as bullet points below. These are just my opinions and are worth whatever you think they are.

• Any sport that relies on the sole judgment of judges isn’t a sport. After watching boxing and gymnastics I only am further emboldened to say that any sport that relies on judges to determine a winner isn’t really a sport. My reasoning is people are not only error prone, but terribly biased as well. I’m not an expert in either sport but you don’t have to be a dummy to see that some of the scores, or points awarded in boxing, just don’t add up. Great routines receive poor scores while bad routines receive high ones. And punches that land in boxing apparently don’t always count. When you start to factor figure skating into the whole mix it becomes clear how it can be very difficult to respect a sport decided by the whims of judges. Don’t get me wrong. The people who participate in the events that rely on judges are athletes and I respect their skills. But their sport is tainted by too much BS.
• Phelps is cool, but….I am totally down with an American just kicking the world’s butt. I really am. I also totally understand just how difficult his feat was. Heck, not only was he doing world class swimming multiple times a day, but he beat the world’s best swimmers and set records virtually every time he did it. But some other really cool stuff is happening in Beijing and it’s being overshadowed by one person. Yes, it’s amazing. Yes, I care. But let’s move on now to other things that the rest of us care about. I’m glad there wasn’t a ninth event. If there was I would have started calling Michael Phelps, Brett Favre.
• I don’t want to learn to fence anymore. I used to think fencing was a cool sport. You dual and try to find an opening in your opponents defense and then strike for the victory. But after watching Olympic fencing I realize that only happens in movies and commercials. In the real world most of duels are sends long. If they are even that long at all. With the glamour gone so went my interest.
• If two people/teams can someone compete apparently it is a sport. This just in: in the 2012 Olympics they will have pancake tossing and cord untangling as new events. I’m all about competition and wanting to play against the best opponents you can. But there are an insane amount of sports that are official Olympic events.
• Cheating is alive and well. Those Chinese gymnasts were 16 years old like I am six feet tall. Only in someone’s dreams.
• Brokeback floor routineWatching the men’s floor routine in gymnastics is like watching Brokeback Mountain in tights. I say the men and the women should ditching the dancing and stupid showmanship which has nothing to do with gymnastics and just let them run around jumping and flipping and rolling. All that artistic crap is silly and a distraction to everybody. Just get on with the skills.
• It’s still awesome watching France lose. Well, they didn’t exactly lose but they sure as heck ate crow. Frenchman Alain Bernard talked some serious smack before the 4×100 free relay finals. He said the French would “smash” the Americans. To make a long story short not only did we beat the French but they were leading on the final lap and who blows the lead? Bernard himself. It couldn’t have been more poetic. Or awesome. And yes, I did jump off of my couch and celebrate. A lot.
• I used to like indoor volley ball more then beach volley ball. But not anymore. I have a new appreciation for beach volley ball.