Women's medley relay

The Americans came in second. That's three silver medals for Dara Torres. Not too shabby for a woman who is old enough to be the mother to, like, three-quarters of these athletes. They got beat by the Australians. Those Australians swim like they're born in water.

More Olympics happenings...

41 year old Dara Torres, the oldest person to make it on the American swim team, just won the silver in what looked like the 100m free. She's racing again in about 15 minutes in the women's relay medley. And then, most excitingly, Michael Phelps swims in the men's relay medley for what would be a record-breaking eighth gold medal. I missed his seventh gold, but talk about a nail biter! I was freaking out for him just watching the highlights today, even though he already nailed it. What an athlete. He's just an amazing, gifted athlete and how awesome to see him so excited after that win. He seems like such a dorky goofball. I love it. I hope he gets that eighth gold tonight...

And congrats to Nastia Luikin and Shawn Johnson from the American women's gymnastics team, who came in first and second respectively in the overall competition. Apparently, Nastia is only the third American woman to win gold in that event. And as someone who has never mastered the cartwheel, who can barely do a somersault, and who can't keep her balance on solid ground much less on a balance beam, I am in awe of what these girls can do with their bodies. How they flip and jump and contort and launch themselves into the air, I'll never know.

Michael Phelps, still on track...

Last night, Michael Phelps (who, more and more, I am convinced is absolutely part fish) won two more gold medals. This not only keeps him on track for eight golds to beat the record of seven golds won in a single Olympics, but puts him at the very top of all time Olympic athletes as having the won the most gold medals ever. All this, from a 23 year old kid. The worst and best part is how easy he makes it all look - he makes it look effortless!

And congratulations to the US women's gymnastics team and men's gymnastics team, who both medaled, silver and bronze respectively...

Olympic highlights from the opening weekend

They're calling it the most exciting race ever, and I'm not entirely sure they're wrong. Swimming is one of the Olympic events I enjoy watching. Michael Phelps is a favorite of mine. But watching the US men's 4x100 relay team come from behind to not only win, not only smash the world record to win, but to beat the French, who were trash talking the Americans beforehand, by .08 seconds...it was pretty amazing. If you missed it, you can watch the video on the NBC Olympic web site, or follow the link below:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0811_HD_SWB_HL_L0194

That feeling you get in your stomach as you realize, oh my God, this team actually has a chance, they might actually do it...that excitement? That's sports at its best.

Also at its best? Watching Brendan Hansen, who came in 4th (and is incredibly cute) in the 100m breaststroke, sincerely congratulate Japan's Kitajima, who not only came in first but broke Hansen's record.

Other upcoming competitions to watch: the men and women's basketball teams; men's soccer; Michael Phelp's quest to break a record by winning 8 gold medals in one Olympics (2 down, 6 to go...I don't think I'll love him any less though if he doesn't make it); women's gymnastics, who are struggling but hanging in there.

Summer Olympics 2008

Today is the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games. If you want to get technical, that ship already sailed, as Beijing is 12 hours ahead of New York, I think. But the ceremony was taped and will air tonight on NBC at 7:30 pm EST.

My brother, like many people, is very much into the pageantry and spectacle of the opening and closing ceremonies. I kinda like to see the interesting ways they decide to light the official torch with the relay torch. One year they shot the flame into it with a bow and arrow. That was pretty cool. But I prefer the sports. I just love rooting for my team.

Running is obviously a big one - I remember watching Michael Johnson, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Flo Jo...

Gymnastics is huge - watching Kerri Strug land on a twisted ankle and not fall down in order to win gold for the women's team was pretty frickin' awesome. Paul Hamm was a big name I remember watching last time who was pretty impressive.

I'm kinda into swimming the past couple games - Dara Torres is a huge story this year. She's 41 years old, is in her fifth Olympic games I think, and is supposed to be phenomenal. I'd like to watch her race. Michael Phelps and Aussie Ian Thorpe, who went head to head in the games last year, race again this year. were fun to watch - Phelps is amazing. And a cutie ;)...keep an eye on him this year.

And for those of you who aren't really into all those "Olympic sports," there's also "regular" sports like soccer and basketball. The US women's soccer team lost their first game to Norway but are still considered medal contenders. The US men's basketball team is star-studded for all you NBA fans, from Dwayne Wade to LeBron James to Kobe Bryant. All on the same team. Sounds fun.

There's a lot of controversy over the Games being held in China. China is a controversial country. I don't agree with their politics and practices concerning the Sudan, concerning Tibet, concerning their own people. But I also don't agree with those people who are protesting and boycotting the Olympics. I support our athletes. They trained their whole lives for this and when an American excels, I feel proud to be an American, even though I did nothing. And I am proud to see people from every nation engaged in a competition of national pride that doesn't involve deadly weapons. And I am proud when an American and someone from China and someone from Russia can stand on a podium together and acknowledge each other as people, people who excel in and love the same things, the same sports, the same spirit of competition and excellence, not as an American and someone from China and someone from Russia, but just as people.

Okay, enough of that. For all things Olympic - times, schedules, results - check out http://www.nbcolympics.com/

There's something about Brett Favre

So, Brett Favre, who had supposedly retired from the Green Bay Packers after last season (and to be more specific, after the Packers were knocked out of the playoffs by the New York Giants on the way to their underdog Super Bowl victory...I really need to get all those games on DVD so I can rewatch that playoff run. When current sports glory evades my teams, I over-revel in past glories...), was traded to the New York Jets late last night, early this morning.

For anyone who doesn't know Brett Favre from football, you might know him from his itty bitty but pivotal role in "There's Something About Mary."

I like Favre. He seems like a good guy. I like the Jets. They practice on a nearby field at Hofstra University and my dad and grandfather used to take us to watch them. My sister's friend from junior high and high school, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, plays (played?) with them. My dad and brother are diehard fans. And as much as Chad Pennington totally deserves a spot as a Crush of the Day here, he always seemed to be injured or not coming through the way top calibur quarterbacks do for their team.

But here's my problem with the deal, and it's the same problem I have with many of the trades made by the Yankees (speaking of which, I go to Australia for two weeks and there were so many deals and trades made by the Bombers while I was gone that I come back to a team I don't even recognize! Not sure how I feel yet about all that...)...the Yanks always go for the quick fix. And for them, the quick fix is signing an expensive, aging superstar for what will probably turn out to be a year or less, whose best days are pretty much behind them. Am I saying that this is the case with Favre? Not necessarily. But he's 38, which is practically ancient in the sports world. And he did retire. And how long do we expect him to stay in New York? And how many up and coming young guns with promising careers ahead of them will the team have to pass over because they spent all their money on him? I don't know the answers to those questions. Maybe I'm worried about nothing. And I use "worried" losely because I'm still not a total football convert (you can tell what sports I actually love by which sports I watch all season, not just during the playoffs or postseason), and because I might decide to become a Giants fan, not a Jets fan (sorry, Dad!)

Anyway, in honor of whatever contributions Chad Pennington did make to the team while he was here, here's this edition of Sports Crushes of the Day:

Chad Pennington, quarterback, New York Jets - he didn't always win me over on the field, but he was always fun to look at.

Mark Texeira, first base, Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim - loved him on the Texas Rangers, loved him on the Atlanta Braves, love him on the Angels even though he's beating up on my beloved Yankees. He's just an awesome player to watch play.

Justin Christian, outfield, New York Yankees - this kid is normally a bench player, but he totally earned his last two starts in outfield this week. He has been tearing it up on the field offensively, hitting balls, getting on base, stealing bases like a bona fide thief, and manufacturing runs. Could he be this season's Melky Cabrera or Robinson Cano or Joba Chamberlain, another edition to the Yankees' New Guard?

Australian sports: and I thought American sports could be confusing...

So I recently returned from a sojourn to the Land Down Under. It was a business trip, so I spent most of my time working, but I did have some down time in which to take in a bit of the local culture, including Australian sports.

First important thing to note: I was staying in a rather posh hotel in a rather posh room. I thought I'd have more of a tv channel selection and definitely more of a variety, so I'm going to assume what I did get were the channels deemed most of a priority for Aussies - of the twelve or so channels on my telly, three or four were constantly showing either Australian football or rugby. To be honest, I really can't tell the difference between the two, but either or both was always available for my viewing pleasure.

Now, I admit that I only just recently began to understand the rudimentary rules behind American football, so it's not a longshot to say that I found both Australian football and rugby beyond bewildering. Most important note, which most people are probably aware of, is these sports seem just as rough and tumble and full of pounding contact as American football, only the players are running around in nothing more than rugby jerseys and shorts. Score one for the Aussies in terms of physical toughness. Or sado-masochism. Take your pick.

But seriously. American football may be difficult for me to understand, but at the very least I can follow that there are plays, with a clear beginning and an end. One team has the ball, they either pass it or run it, the other team tries to stop them, play continues if the offense succeeds, or they switch sides if the defense is successful. The sports I was watching on television in Sydney had tossing forward and backward, had kicking, had people knocking each other down and then play continuing as if the defense had not been successful. In fact, there were no individual "plays" I could identify. It was kinda like watching American football, 2 years ago, all over again for me.

Some of the guys I was traveling with kinda got into the Aussie sports thing while we were there, or tried to anyway - they attempted to go to a local rugby match, but it ended up not being able to fit into their schedule, and a couple of them invested in a rugby ball to toss around in their own American-style version of the sport, which was basically just touch football with a rugby ball instead of a pigskin...