Category: All Other Sports

As I’m sure we’ll all aware, the 2004 Athens Olympics are (somewhat surprisingly) underway on time.  To me, the Olympics are still one of the most exciting and engrossing events of the year.  They represent the highest level of competition in nearly every sport represented therein, and there’s someone to cheer for in every event.  Hell, you don’t even have to understand the event you’re watching to become totally captivated by it.

Since the inception of the original Dream Team in 1992, a gold medal has always been a given for the men’s U.S. Olympic basketball team.  Allen Iverson shows up late for practice and Team USA brings home the gold in basketball, some things in life are always certain.  Well times are sure changing my friends.  The 2004 version of the Dream Team has made winning a gold medal look like a pipe dream.  There is still time, but only if they can overcome a few glaring shortcomings.  

On Tuesday I ventured down to the Wonder of It All, Foxwoods Resort Casino in lovely southeastern Connecticut.  (I pledge that that is the last time I will ever use the words “lovely” and “Connecticut” in the same sentence.)  As a former high school teacher and future graduate student, you can imagine I have a lot of time on my hands this summer.  And, as I so aptly rationalized, what better way to spend said free time than in a smoky, tacky, leech-filled poker room 70 miles away?  

If you’ve read any of my earlier work, you may have surmised that I am rather displeased with several recent actions of the NCAA as it concerns college football. This is completely true. My latest regularly scheduled rant is on the ruling of the NCAA that Jeremy Bloom, a Colorado wide receiver and world-champion skier, cannot collect endorsement money, thus forcing him to choose between football and skiing. Here we go…