What would it be like to be the greatest ever at what you do?

THC, it's time to come back to the fold. We need you. The olympics are here and there is only one blogger qualified to explicate on such events as badminton, canoeing, and archery. It's you. All kidding aside, I have caught the fever that is Michael Phelps. After all of the commercials, I figured he was just the marketing team's poster boy, a personality they were trying to sale to anyone that was buying. However, one thing I am a sucker for is greatness. I typically root for the underdog (the Spud Webb's, the small market team, the non-BCS programs), UNLESS there is someone that is the best that has ever been. I root for Federer, I root for Tiger, and now I root for Phelps. Dude destroys his own world records every time he gets in the pool!!!

I hope some of you had the chance to watch Phelps help the U.S. win the relay last night. I know nothing about swimming, but it was one of the greatest sporting events I've ever watched. I love storylines and this was ripe with them. If you missed it, check out the front page of espn.com. Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer in the history of the planet, and he will likely be the most decorated olympian in the history of the planet when it's all said and done. I'm too much of a busy body to spend very much time on the olympics, but I love to identify a few highlights and follow them to the medal ceremony. This is a good pick.

And will the real THC please stand up.

It Was a Wardrobe Malfunction!

College football fans…

Can you hardly wait? I have never been more excited about the start of a sports season in my life! I get so sick of hearing about the NFL in May, but I have admittedly anticipated college football for months now. A couple comments on semi-local competition. I don’t care if you’re for Utah or BYU, the entire conference needs a booster seat if either are going to get anywhere. How great would it be for the MWC Big 3 to be top 25 this year? It’s a long shot, but they won’t be able to blame their schedules if it doesn’t happen.

That said, we need to send a fruit basket or a boo-yah or something to the few BCS’ers that are kind enough to throw our feeble conference a bone. There is very little to gain for a BCS-conference program to play a top-tier non-BCS program like BYU, Boise State, Utah, and the like. Such teams are good enough to catch you sleepin’, but not good enough to bolster your schedule. What that means in BCS terms? If you win - you were supposed to. If you lose – there goes your season. The Sooners will get no credit for beating TCU this year, but lose and their shot at a championship bid is nil.

So whatever shape your props come in, give them to these trail-blazing programs. Be it letting the car with a Michigan decal in on the merging lane (instead of driving them into the burrow pit), defending the Boston College nerd at work when the other guys try to steal his lunch money (Easy fellas, he’s with me), or donating a research wing to the new Bruin science building (GOOOOOOO, RESEARCH!!!!). It just takes one to make a difference.

The most underrated athletes...

are skaters and BMX-ers. The hubris in me likes to think I could play some major sport if I was just a little bit faster, a little bit more disciplined, a lot taller, or if I had round-the-clock trainers. I'd like to think I have a vivid imagination, but I have yet to create the alternate universe wherein I would be able to do the things that I see at the X-Games. I do not foresee them getting their due anytime soon either, since their athletes will continue to look like punk kids, and their announcers will continue to say 'dude'. But the things happening at X-Games in 2008 are a lot different than what was going on in 1998. "Extreme sports" often carry a stigma of being a spectacle more than a sport, but next time you see one of these events as you flip through the channels, do yourself a favor and stop on it for 5 minutes. You'll be glad you did.