Silver and bronze medals rock too

Last night, the US women's gymnastics team won a silver medal and the night before the men's team won the bronze.

One of the women team members faltered twice on events and, since her name is splashed all over the media, I'm not going to add it. Been there, done that myself. The gold medal was on the line, but the team rallied together and won the silver. Afterwards team member Memmel revealed that she competed on a broken ankle.The underdog men's gymnastic team felt fortunate to get the bronze medal. And their team spirit was powerful, showing heart and soul as one member said. Meanwhile Phelps led the men's relay swim team to another great win last night, swimming a world record first lap to give them a comfortable lead they maintained.

In the middle of all this a friend called.

"Can't talk," I said. "We're about to do the beam."

"The what?"

"It's the Beam Team," I said. "Gotta see their beam routine. Call you back."

That was when the first big mistake happened, when the female gymnast mounted the beam only to fall. I called my friend back.

"On the other hand," I said, "I can multitask."

Which just goes to prove that the hype behind who's going to get this or that medal or which routine will be the strongest doesn't work sometimes. It left the announcers rather quiet afterwards as well. And raised some interesting media discussion about whether gymnasts are pushed too hard, the number of injuries this year and the new point system.

I think silver and bronze medals rock too.