Redeem Team 1, Phelps 8

Early Sunday morning the USA Olympic Basketball Team aka The Redeem Team took on 2006 reigning World Champs Spain. The game is really worth watching in its entirety as the game was a battle down to the last minute. With the amount of hype and pressure put on this years Olympic team (not to mention Lebron's guarantee) anything less than a gold would be considered failure.

Earlier in pool play the US beat Spain by 37 points. The USA overcame early foul trouble by Kobe Bryant and Lebron James with a great off the bench performance from Dwayne Wade. The game was close throughout with Spain having solid play from Juan Carlos Navarro, Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez. 17 year old Ricky Rubio started at point guard with Jose Calderon out due to a hand injury. It was a 4 point game with 2 minutes left but the USA was able to pull out the victory and our first gold medal in 8 years.

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***HIGHLIGHTS***

Lebron vs Yao, Grizzlies vs Pandas

I've noticed a few different Coca-Cola commercials during the Olympics so far. The one about "if you've had a Coke in the last 80 years you've had a hand in making EVERY Olympic dream come true" kind of bugs me just because it seems like they are trying too hard to invoke an emotional response. The Lebron James & Yao Ming animated commercial however I find pretty memorable.

There's a catchy beat with a cool concept of each country trying to one up each other but both end up sharing the same interest in Coke. The slogan "Unity on the Coke side of life" even makes you feel kind of warm and fuzzy inside. It's not a commercial that will change the world but I enjoy watching it and remembered it and that's more than you can say about a majority of commercials.

16? Really?

If you watched the Woman's Gymnastics Team Final, the difference between the American & Chinese teams was apparent. Well, the first difference was the skill level of the Chinese, who took gold, but that may be in part to the age controversy surrounding some of the Chinese team.

Questions were raised before the Olympics about the age of some members of the Chinese team but the IOC and FIG (Federation International de Gymnastique) both deemed the girls' passports to be legitimate. Recent reports are saying that maybe as many as 3 of the Chinese gymnasts are under the age of 16.



Sports Illustrated Articles: #1 #2 #3

***More Pictures of the Chinese Team***

Backwards Elbows......never a good thing

This is the moment Hungarian weightlifter Janos Baranyai's first Olympics ended in agony when he dislocated his right elbow in the ugliest moment yet of the Olympic weightlifting competition.

Baranyai was trying to snatch 148kg (325lbs) in his third lift in the men's 77kg (170lbs) division, when his elbow popped out of its socket.

No longer able to support the weight of the barbell, his right forearm bent backward. The 24-year-old Hungarian fell to the floor in shock, shaking and crying out in pain.

Hungary's coaching staff and competition officials rushed to Baranyai's aid as he lay trembling on the floor, his arm limp and twisted out of position.

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*****UPDATE: THERE'S A VIDEO (BE WARNED....IT'S GROSS)*****

2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony Highlights

In case you missed the awesome opening ceremony Friday from Beijing here's some highlights. The sheer number of performers and the vibrant colors and costumes used was extremely impressive.

Vide Highlights from the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony

*most uploaded videos of the opening ceremony have been taken down and the official video has embedding disabled, hence the link

China Censors US Speedskater

"Olympic gold medalist and outspoken Darfur activist Joey Cheek has had his visa revoked by the Chinese embassy, hours before the speedskating champion was set to fly to China. And he wasn't even planning on wearing a mask when he got there.

Chinese officials don't need a reason to revoke anyone's visa but, in their eyes, they had plenty of reasons to snatch Cheek's. He is the founder of Team Darfur, a group of 70 athletes whose goal it is to raise global awareness of the human-rights violations taking part in the Darfur region of Sudan. China's military, economic and diplomatic ties to Sudan have been well-publicized in the lead-up to the Games."

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