Michael Phelps’ 14 career Olympic gold medals is an incredible accomplishment.. for a swimmer!!!    Phelps should be regarded as the great swimmer ever, no doubt about that.  Lets not make Phelps the greatest athlete or Olympian ever.  He is not even close.

Not to take anything away from swimming, but dominating track and field is much more difficult.  Its is not uncommon for Olympic swimmers to take home 4 or more medals in a single Olympic games.   How often does a track and field athlete win 2 or more medals in a single Olympics games?  How often are world records broken in track and field?  Its is very uncommon and exteremly difficult to win multiple gold mdeals in track and field because very few related events that an athlete can train for simultaneously and fewer relay opportunities. 

Personally, I find Carl Lewis’ 9 career Olympic gold medals and 4 in the 1984 Olympic games an even greater accomplishment to the 8 gold medals by Phelps at the 2008 Olympics.  Lewis won his 9 gold medals during an Olympic career that spanned over 4 Olympic Games.  Lewis won a single event, the Long Jump in 4 straight Olympic Games.  Roughly,  that is 12 years of performance at a very high level.  I would like to see a swimmer accomplish that same feat.    No swimmer has won the same event over 3 Olympic games. 

Its unfortunate that Carl Lewis has never received the appreciation of his accomplishments.   Lets see how dominating Micheal Phelps is at the 2012 Olympics.  In the meantime, Carl Lewis is still the greatest Olympic athlete ever.

This is unbelieveable that the Spanish national basketball team would take a photo like this with a racist pose.    The Olympics are being held in Beijing, China.   Many of these players play in the NBA and play against Yao Ming.  They should know better.  There is nothing funny about this photo.   I hope these racists get butt-kicking they deserve in the Olympics.

In 2006, Chambers returned to the track with much success.  In fact, Chambers has run an  Olympic qualifying time in the 100 meters and is now one of the best sprinters from the UK.  The British Olympic Association has a rule of a lifetime ban on any athlete that fails a drug test.  This penalty is harsher than they receive from the IAAF.  Chambers is now taking his appeal to the highest court in Britain.    Unless Chambers wins his appeal, the best UK sprinter will not be allowed to compete in the Olympic Trials  to earn a spot on the 2008 Olympic Team. 

Chambers has paid his dues, served his 2-year suspension and should be allowed to compete in the Olympic Trials.    Everyone deserves a second chance to redeem themselves.  Chambers is no different.

As a Lakers fan, I was happy to see the Lakers win and I am all for making the team win the game at the end instead of a ticky-tack foul.  On this play, there was too much contact for a no-call. 

Oh well, the refs blew that call, but they also blew many other calls in the game.  The NBA ought to be happy since no one wants to see the San Antonio Spurs back in the finals and have poor ratings. 

In a dramatic penalty shootout, Manchester United wins the Champions League Final in penalty kicks.  Overall, a great game which you hate to see decided on penalty kicks. 

For a Champions League final (aka the Super Bowl of soccer), why was the turf in such crappy shape.  Players were slipping like crazy.  No excuse for this. 

Didier Drogba was sent off late for giving Carlos Tevez a little love slap.  What an idiot.  Drogba should know better.

Last but not least, John Terry.  This guy gets paid over $100,000 a week at Chelsea and he misses the most important kick of his life that would have won the Champions League.  This guy is so overrated.  Big time players step up and make big plays.  Clearly, Chelsea is paying this guy way too much money to miss critical PKs and be injured as often as he has been.  England ought to consider leaving Terry off their national team as he clearly cannot be relied on when it counts.

Piazza was one of my favorite players and I only wish he had a chance to retaliate against Roger Clemens for the two occasions when Clemens beamed Piazza in the head and when Clemens threw the broken bat back at him during the World Series.   

I cannot help but think Henin had a few more Grand Slams victories in her.  When Henin was at her best, she could beat anyone.   I have always said that the only woman that could consistently beat the Williams sisters was Henin.  In this day and age when athletes get paid so much money on and off the court, I guess the desire to keep competing for as long as you can trying to break records and win more Grand Slams does not mean as much anymore. 

It makes sense why NCAA player of the year Tyler Hansbrough did not leave school early for the NBA.  Hansbrough is enjoying college life too much.  Have fun getting drunk and picking up chicks at the fraternity parties at UNC.  Becoming a crappy player in the NBA can wait another year.  Toga!  Toga!

I just do not get it.  There is an obvious problem with this system, yet the people in charge do not want to fix it.  We fans want to see a playoff, so why not give it to us!  

I do not want to ever see another undefeated team from a power conference finish 3rd in the BCS final standings and be shut of  the title game.  Like this past season, I do not want to see Ohio State weisel their way into the title game by playing a soft schedule over stronger teams like Georgia. 

These officials are idiots and clearly have no idea what they are doing.  They have already ruined the New Years’ Day bowl day by scattering the BCS Bowl games to other days.  I wonder what is next..

I remember New York Mets GM Omar Minaya saying to the press that he just could not justify to the Mets’ ownership giving Barry Zito a 7-year contract instead of a 6-year deal.  Well, lucky them.  I give much credit to super-agent Scott Boras for his incredible negotiation skills in getting Zito this huge deal and for suckering the Giants.