Before they get too distant in the rearview mirror, I wanted to comment on the 2008 summer Olympics. I think they were great. I enjoyed watching them, but I really don’t like it when the Olympics are held in a time zone on the other side of the world and many of the events happen in the middle of the night here in the USA. But with the Internet, it was easy to keep up the results. It’s just too easy to go to ESPN.com or some other website to find out ahead of the broadcast who won the event – and I did that often.

I also found that when I was up in the middle of the night that nothing put me in the sleepy mode faster than watching the 50 km race walk.

One night when I was not at home, I even accessed the Internet via cell phone to find out if Michael Phelps won his eighth gold and if Dara Torres won the gold in her event. Of course, there were some NFL games that night so I had to check those scores.

NBC did a decent job in covering the events. NBC needed a win as they are faltering mostly due to their cable network, MSNBC. China put on a good “show” and managed to keep their dismal record on human rights, religious freedom, and freedom of speech out of the limelight.

Michael Phelps did what no person had ever done. To me he was the star of the 2008 Olympics, although some may argue that the Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, winning three gold medals on the track and breaking world records was equal. Beside five more gold medals for Phelps, Phelps also acted like he’d won a race before, while Bolt’s actions before the 100 meter race was even over was too much showboating and not in the spirit of the sportsmanship. Of course, his actions are pale in comparison to the Cuban Taekwondo athlete who kicked the referee in the face after he was disqualified.

I was also very proud of Nastia Liukin for her winning the Women’s individual all-around gymnastics title. I think she was only the third American woman ever to do that. I was also happy to see Shawn Johnson win the gold in the balance beam. These young ladies and their teammates made me proud.

Of course there were some issues with lip-syncing, fake fireworks, underage gymnasts, etc. Those 14 year old China gymnasts should have another Olympics in them, shouldn’t they? Maybe they will find some other “young” gymnasts from their sports factory for 2012. The scoring system in boxing was messed up and who can forget the dropping of the batons by the men and women’s 4 by 100 relay teams. USA softball suffered a setback, but the USA Men’s Basketball team was redeemed. The USA is once again home to the world’s greatest athlete, Bryan Clay, who destroyed the field in the men’s Olympic decathlon. All in all it was a normal Olympics with highs, lows, and some conflicts.

For a couple of weeks the world came together (except Russia invaded Georgia) and the competition was great. China put on a great show that will be hard for any other country to match. There were around 43 world records set and 132 Olympic records. Many of the venues were built recently just for the Olympics and helped with so many records being set.

It was a nice summer break, but now it’s time for some football.