Truth Merchants

Tobias Hustleman 18 August 2008 Pop Culture 140 views 3 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

Yes, I am a sports junkie. In a normal year,I would be in a drought for my fix. From August to June, I overdose on NFL, college football, NBA, and college basketball and I can’t get enough. My DirecTV lineup now includes ESPN Gameplan and Fullcourt, but this year I may re-up the Sunday Ticket and NBA packages. Before the two latter packages seemed like too much for one man, but in the game of life, are they really? I think not. Yes women, I am that guy. Tobias is the guy who stops by a park and watches youth league games just to see competition. If God blesses me with children, my children will have headbands and fresh Nike gear replete with fresh throwback J’s (Jordans). No, I will not interfere or be a boisterous parent because my pops did not do that. It would be a built in fix for my need though.

Why give you this preface? Under normal circumstances, I would be gearing up from a cold start for football season. My fantasy football drafts would normally be the jump off for my fiendish needs Before this though, my fix would come from random soccer events, Formula 1 and Indycar racing, and of course baseball, but this is an Olympic year. My mind is subjected to what seems a limitless amount of competition. Today I watched fencing, rowing, women’s gymnastics and track and field.

*SHAKING AND SCRATCHING MY NECK RIGHT NOW!*

O.k. so it’s a little overboard, but let’s check to see if there are other values to watching these sports. I’ve learned a little more about some of the human rights offenses in China, the oppression in Chinese media, earthquakes, Tibet, and pollution. More positively, one can see that the Chinese fans love U.S. Basketball, good competition, and put on the most amazing spectacle I’ve ever seen in the opening ceremonies. By the way, did anyone see the commercial with the Chinese kids fighting over the McNugget? I watched that commercial with the same awe as I did “Enter the Dragon.” As much as politics should not be apart of the Olympics, there is no broader world stage. There is an unspoken (maybe it is more pronounced) rivalry between China and the US in the medal count. In one of the shooting events, the competitors from Georgia and Russia embraced and their countries are at war. Conversely, this same bitter political feud produced tension during a women’s beach volleyball match with the Russian team refusing to acknowledge their Brazilian born competitors as Georgians. There is much to be seen besides sports.

But it is about the sports so here are the moments that have grabbed me so far:

• Michael Phelps is a beast. He swam 17 times, won 8 gold medals, and set 7 world records!! I haven’t swam 17 times in the last 5 years. Phelps did this in around a week’s time. Amazing…

• Usain Bolt may have done something even more amazing. Bolt broke the world records in the 100m final in a time of 9.69. World records are broken all of the time, right? Well, he broke the record after celebrating the last 15m and his left shoe was untied. He put on perhaps the most freakishly overpowering performance I’ve seen by an athlete. Oh by the way, he is 21 and this isn’t his best event. That would be the 200m. Check out Jim Caple’s article at ESPN.com for his pre-race prep).

• Our women’s gymnastic team won the silver medal but I actually choked up watching Alicia Sacramone fall on the balance beam and floor exercise. It is really tough to face disappointment when it’s just your friends, but there is a potential for a billion people to see your failure. Though she didn’t medal in the vault in the individual round, it was good to see here recover.

• Women’s Volleyball–both beach and indoor…Hey, I’m just a man. Google “Brazilian Beach Volleyball Team.” Nuff said.

• Some of the Chinese gymnasts are NOT 16.

• After watching the male gymnasts on the rings, I am convinced I would tear every muscle, tendon and ligament on the rings. There would be probably be a groin tear from the fall I would have and the unplanned split performed as my dismount.

My opinions on the Redeem Team will be held until I see the medal round. The boys look good so far, but I am going to knock on wood.

As you can see, I do have a problem. Anything with a point and scoring system will catch my interest. Heck, that’s why I watch Iron Chef on the Food Network. My vices are sports, women, and alcohol, but then again, aren’t these most men’s vices? Don’t expect me to get the sports smack yet. My first fantasy draft was friday which puts me on the long and winding path to NBA finals in June of 2009.

Pardon me while I crack a beer and watch the women’s 100m final.

–Tobias Hustleman (El Toberino if you’re into the whole brevity thing).