Olympic stuff - AND Brett's a Jet

Yes I saw Brett on the sidelines last night at the Jets game, talking to the quarterbacks, tossing a few balls, fitting in with the guys. He was quoted as saying "To a certain degree, I don't know what I'm getting into."

But hey that's just the football part. What's important is that jerseys are already selling and EA announced that their newly released Madden 09 football game cover will show Brett in his Green Bay uniform but a downloadable cover in his Jets uniform will be available on their site for fans.

Now that we ALL have that out of the way, I'd like to share an Olympic link Don just sent me. Click here for videos and a schedule of the events at this Beijing 2008 Olympic Games site. What's special about this Olympic site? I see links to the upcoming Paralympic games posted over there too.

In Olympic news: the second Hamm twin, Morgan, had to drop out of the men's gymnastics competition a few days ago due to injuries, as did his brother Paul who dropped out at the end of July. Both twins, who took a break from the sport to finish their degrees in college before returning for an Olympic 2008 run, plan to retire and pursue other careers.

This flamboyant Greco Roman wrestler is sure to attract attention at the games from someone I know who loves the sport, name not to be mentioned but you know who you are. His name is Ben Askren and he says he's going to win. He's shown in two pictures below: with his flamboyant reddish hair "poofed out" on the left and in dreadlocks on the right, wearing wrestling outfits in both pictures.



At the University of Missouri, he won two NCAA titles and two Dan Hodge trophies as college's top wrestler. If there was an award for flamboyance, he'd have won it, too. As a junior, he sported a hairstyle he'd let grow for two years.

His poofed-out, blondish-brown hair protruded from all sides of his headgear. Some of his fans wore wigs to mimic him.

At the Olympic trials, his fans wore T-shirts showing his face, silhouetted from the side, against the flag of China. Askren has a jutting chin. The T-shirts carried the slogan he coined: "Putting the CHIN in CHINA."
via usatoday.com

US Boxer Russell had to drop out of the Olympics, after collapsing and allegedly suffering dehydration while trying to make weight.

Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders issued an on air message to Chinese officials, stating they want human rights, not games.

President Bush, during the dedication of a new embassy building, talked about freedom of speech and religion and was criticized by the Chinese government that he was meddling in the internal affairs of China. He then attended services in a government sanctioned church.

Olympic athletes are praying with state sanctioned religious affiliates as well. This article discusses how religions work in the Chinese government where the state controls religion.
The Roman Catholic Church is outlawed in China because the government considers papal influence to be interference in its domestic affairs. Instead, churches are overseen by the state-run Patriotic Catholic Association. The Vatican opposes the association's ordination of priests and appointment of bishops, decisions normally made by the church. via bloomberg.com

I wrote about Catholics in China in this post.


The Opening ceremonies, already being held, will be televised this evening in the US.