Since I've Been Gone, Part Deux

My apologies once again. I had to travel, get settled at my new job (which hasn't happened yet) and look for a place to live (which might end soon). So the world of sport hasn't been on my mind.

Though I did watch that great screw job that Nastia Liukin got yesterday on the uneven bars (more on that in a second).

So I've missed a few things from the Olympics, here's what I think are most important.

• Oh No They Didn't: I feel for Liukin. I really do. That routine was amazing. That little Chinese girl's routine? That was amazing too. But they tied. And somehow the computers picked He Kexin to win the gold. Oooooooookay. What about both of them doing another routine to decide the medal? That would have been nice. But that overshadows the fact the Liukin out-shined everyone on the team--including over-hyped 16-year-old Shawn Johnson--by tying Mary Lou Retton and Shannon Miller's record of five medals in a single Olympics. Johnson, by the way, finally got that gold medal.
  

• Enticing Rematch: Team USA gets that rematch that it wanted against Brazil. And it will be for the gold medal. On Thursday. I wonder how many times the Americans will be replaying that 4-0 beat-down it got from the Brazilians last year. Probably not many times. It's most likely ingrained in their minds.

• So I guess They Do Want Gold: I'm not as converted as Andrew Bogut. But I'm almost converted. Now the U.S. men's basketball team has go to win the gold.

• Underperformance: I would like to take this time to thank all the American track and field athletes for failing to entertain me in this last week of the Olympics (congrats to those hurdle guys though). Yes, that includes you Tyson Gay, who didn't even make the final in your ONE event. I guess swimming is just the better event.
  

My Top 10 Things to Watch at the Games

The opening ceremonies are Friday. Olympic football starts a few days earlier. Beijing is ready to "let the world in" as those really stupid NBC commercials say.

Here are 10 things to lookout for at the Games this year (and of course there's a little bit of an American slant to this).

10. Chinese Regatta: Okay, maybe this one isn't so American. China has been excited for this for seven years, and trust me, they've been breeding their Olympians ever since they won the right to host. One of the more interesting tales of this comes in the world of rowing, where China hasn't done anything. That might all change this year. If there's a Chinese wave in the rowing waters this year, don't be surprised.

9. U.S. Versus China: Continuing on this Chinese versus the world theme, this might be the first time since the end of the Cold War that the United States might be challenged in the medal count. It's those breeding programs in China, trust me.

8. USA Basketball: The women will be a lock for the gold. I'll guarantee that. But the U.S. men, that's a whole different story. The Americans haven't won a major international tournament since 2000. Is the United States' monopoly on global domination waning? With a team full of uber-stars like Lebron and Kobe, anything but gold will be a disaster.

7. Swan Song for Softball and Baseball: The USA dominates softball. Since its inception in the Games in 1996, no one else as tasted gold. It's different for the USA Baseball, which has only won one gold medal since 1992. With baseball gone for the 2012 Games in London, can the Americans capture the gold for their national pastime?

6. Women's Soccer Rivalries: Brazil left a bad taste in the Americans mouth after last year's World Cup. Team USA is ready for a rematch. But the Games are in China, and ever since that 1999 World Cup, China and the USA haven't been the best of friends.

5. How's Tyson Gay's Leg: Gay is the track star for the Americans. But after injuring his hamstring in Eugene, Ore., during Olympic Qualifying, can he still be the fastest American alive, or will Team USA have to look to someone else for Olympic gold?

4. The Next Great American Gymnast: The Hamm brothers are back and are likely to strike gold again. But the women always steal the show. Sixteen-year-old Shawn Johnson now has the chance to put her name along side the likes of Mary Lou Retton, Kerri Strug and Carly Patterson.

3. The Wise Old Master: Can Dara Torres be the 41-year-old sensation and one of the oldest athletes to ever touch Olympic gold? She only has two events to do it in, which is just fine for that body that has to be massaged after every race.

2. Argentina's March to the World Cup: I'm going to make it official right now: Argentina is going to win the World Cup in 2010. The gold medalists from 2004 return with a star-studded side and play with a fierce aggression and creativity that scares the shit out of me. They play fast and any time they touch the ball, they can score. But of course, the Olympics have always been a place for upsets, so I wouldn't be too surprised if someone either than Brazil, Italy or the Albicelestes wins the thing.

1. Believe the Hype: Michael Phelps wants eight gold medals. He can get eight gold medals. Anything else for the American swimmer, then there's goes that title of "best ever."

Just Let'em Play and Nike Does Rule the World

I agree with this semi-op-ed on the NYT Olympic Blog.

It's a shame that the IOC stepped in a had to ban Iraq from this year's Summer Games. Okay, so it's a severe punishment that's supposed to get the Iraqi government in check and to prevent them from meddling in Iraq's Olympic Committee. But of course, the people hurt the most are the seven Iraqi athletes who qualified for the Olympics but don't actually get to go.

I don't see what the problem is with letting governments try to sway athletic committees in their nations/countries. We saw the same thing with FIFA, after it also made the same decision to ban Iraq, the reigning Asian champions in football (soccer), from international competition. That almost killed Iraq's chances for qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. But FIFA lifted the ban, after Iraq said that changes to the nation's Olympic Committee didn't effect it's soccer federation.

I don't understand why it's so wrong for an Olympic committee or a soccer federation to be state run. Also, there has to be some other way to punish a country for doing such a thing that doesn't also hurt the athletes who probably, most likely have no say in the matter.

They just want to compete. Let them.

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I love the Uni Watch blog. It's amazing. It's like fashion-sense for the sport world.

The blog has a piece dissing Nike's Track and Field and USA Basketball outfits for the Olympics.

Their main point is that Nike doesn't use an "American" color scheme. I disagree. I like the uniforms. I think they're sleek.

Nike sure has learned from its 2002 World Cup debacle, when it used cookie-cutter uniforms for the teams it outfitted. The 2006 World Cup was much better.

And so we're here at the Olympics and Nike decided to splash some light blue on Team USA's track unis. So what? There are so many ways to adorn an athletic outfit and make it look good with just three colors. And the colors of the United States are red, white and blue. It doesn't say which shade of blue, which I think is the main point of contention.

Nike has made some awful uniforms in the past, but I think they actually hit the mark for this year's games. I especially like the kits for the U.S. Men's Basketball Team. It isn't boring, finally.

Now if there was only a way to make that Nike "swoosh" a bit smaller.