And So it Begins...

So far it looks like these 2008 Olympics are going to be the epic struggle NBC has been hoping for. It's still really early, but the Americans have so far kept pace with the surging Chinese. It's been the swimmers that have kept Uncle Sam's squad afloat, and there should be many more chances to pull some precious medals from the pool.

It felt great to see our guys make the Frenchies eat their words. It couldn't have been scripted any better: the guy who talks the most shit loses it in the last 25 meters! And the celebration was perfectly suited for the moment. The one place where NBC blew it had to be during the National Anthem. 75% of the song featured close-ups of Michael Phelps, as if he needs any more exposure. The person they should've showed is Jason Lezak. The dude makes up for past Olympic failures by going out and swimming the fastest split ever. 'Phuckin Phelps', as I'm calling him, has 6 more podiums, interviews with Leno, Wheaties boxes, and countless opportunities for national facetime. Odds are, two weeks from now, Jason Lezak will be a name we'll only hear every four summers and that will probably be only as a sidebar to any Michael Phelps montages...give the man some pub!

So after three full days of the Games, the U.S. trails in both the overall and gold metal count, but it's still early. Because of the scheduling, the Americans are notoriously slow starters. The Chinese have picked up a ton of golds in weightlifting (one of our weakest sports--speaking of weightlifting, how painful does that look?). Don't you worry however, there's plenty of magic left in that '97 Hummer with the Stars and Stripes paint-job. Watch out China, there's a freight train comin' and you better get off the tracks...