Wisconsin Be Representin'!

So I managed to catch a bit of the Olympics last night (it seems to be about all I'm doing this week with Liz gone). Apparently, while I wasn't looking, Wisconsin has become an athletic powerhouse.

First, I was watching women's whitewater kayaking (yeah, I didn't realize that was an Olympic sport, either) and I spotted Rebecca Giddens, who hails from the whitewater mecca that is Green Bay. She nabbed the silver in slalom racing.

And late last night, I saw the men's all-around gymnastics competition. Well, the men's team has twin brothers on it, Paul and Morgan Hamm. These two boys hail from Ashland, Wisconsin. Paul even marked as one of his hobbies, playing Sheephead. That's my boy! Last night during the competiton, Paul fell flat on his can during the vault and scored a measly 9.137 (out of 10) and fell to 12th place after 4 of 6 events. Apparently, Wisconsinites don't go down easily. Paul dusted himself off (lots of chalk in gymnastics, you know) and proceeded to nail scores of 9.837 on both parallel bars and high bar to storm back and take the gold. Very cool.

So, now that we've talked about the sporting paradise that is Wisconsin, it's time for me to start rambling about various things that make me mad.

First of all, although this doesn't make me mad as much as I just found it to be quite funny, I have a story to shar staring none other than one of the whitest white guys on the planet, Bob Costas. With the Olympics being in Greece, there's all sorts of talk about the history of the Olympics and how this is a "return to home" for the Olympic games. I caught a late night story they had a reporter do about the venue for some of the track and field events at Olympia. It was very nicely done but, when it was over, they went back to Mr. Costas in the studio of Athens. At that point, from the mouth of Bob, I heard him say, "Props to you on a great piece of work." Props?!? Props!!! Is Bob trying to identify with his peeps in the hood? Next thing we know, he's going to change his name to Mr. C and start wearing some real bling bling. I tell you, this is the beginning of the end of Bob Costas as we know him. Apparently, Puff Daddy has claimed another.

Yeah, so I was going to go on a rant about cell phones (more about the idiots that have no sense on how to use one or when might be an appropriate time to use one), but that story about Bob just put a smile on my face and I now have no ambition to ruin my newfound good mood. Thanks, Bob. I needed that. :)