Article:Olympic Fever

Hey fans,

Don't worry, Michael Phelps has swam his last race - at least until 2012, and his face will soon adorn the Wheaties' box in your local food store and countless other products and commercials, on which his agents are feverishly at work. The second story coming out of the Beijing Games involves the use of an underage gymnast (they must be 16 years old) by the host country. I guess the Chinese government believes that if they can use children in the factories to manufacture Nike sneakers and WalMart products it's OK to use them to win a Gold Medal. For those of us who wish to believe that everything in the Olympics is on the up and up forget it. I just learned this morning that this whole charade started with the Opening Ceremonies, in which the Chinese faked fireworks - and they've been doing those for centuries! In addition, they had some type of contest to sing at the Opening Ceremonies, but it turns out the girl who had the best voice wasn't quite pretty enough to showcase on TV and mobile phones around the world, so her voice was lip synched and a more attractive young girl was used to "sing" before the world. What kind of message does this send to China's youth? NBC is happy though. The TV ratings have been high which shows that Americans still love the chance to sit on their couch with family and friends and chant USA! USA! USA! I know I did that all last week and now with track and field in full swing, I'm looking forward to a few more USA chants for athletes who are above the legal age.

Till next time.

Chuck T

www.wonfan.com