What Makes the Olympics Great

HANK:
Phelps, Bolt, now USA basketball. Okay, it's great to see Olympic athletes compete. It even brings a swell of unironic patriotism to my eye to see us take the 4x400 relay. But, it's moments like Team USA's celebration early this morning that make the Olympics great. I won't recap the game. There are others out there who do that far better than I do. I'll just remind everyone of the times when Kobe looked like the most selfish person on the planet, that 'Mello looked like he couldn't win a 21 tournament, that they called Lebron "LeBronze" (which is pretty lame), and that Team USA looked like, well, a bunch of whiny losers sulking over a third place trophy. And, sure, who didn't expect them to win? But as one of my idols Tony Kornheiser always intones - "the toughest thing to do in sports is win when you're supposed to." It's a comment that's always kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Living up to expectations should be what atheletes do, but come on, Herm Edwards - "Hello! You play to win the game."

Okay, cliches aside. Because if there was one thing about this celebration, this win, it wasn't cliched. Or old hat. To see Kobe and D. Wade, two NBA finals winners, beam...and I mean BEAM...after downing Gasol and the Spaniards was phenomenal. The stoic visage of their NBA selves were down, and you could tell, their hearts were pounding in their chest. It was really wonderful to watch and in an age where emotion's been struck from professional sports (re: Tiger) it's been great to see world-class athletes like Phelps and Team USA exhilirated by pure emotion after accomplishing what they were meant to.