First off, there was, of course, Michael Phelps who eclipsed Mark Spitz’s record by winning EIGHT GOLD MEDALS. Then, there was the USA Men’s Gymnastic Team, who won the bronze medal with their ‘back-ups’ essentially. Sasha Artemov, a kid who was told just 3 days before the Olympics that he was going to compete, had the chance to seal the bronze on the pommel horse. While he was notorious for making nervous mistakes, he absolutely nailed his routine and USA captured the bronze. USA’s Nastia Liukin won the all-around gold medal for women’s gymnastics. And, of course, there’s Jamaica’s Usain Bolt. He broke world records in both the 100m relay and 200m relay, surpassing the times of the former unforgettable record holder, USA’s Michael Johnson. Essentially… AMAZING things happened, and people wanted more and more.

On Sunday, the USA Redeem Team had a shot to solidify their name with a Gold medal game against Spain. The medal didn’t come easy, however, with Pau Gasol and Spain giving it everything they had. But in the end, the US prevailed 118-107 behind Kobe Bryant and a spectacular game from Dwayne Wade (27 points). The US Women’s Team, however, easily coasted to their 4th gold medal.

NFL

And, of course, more on the Brett Favre saga. He has been adjusting relatively well to New York, however, when the Jets signed Favre, they had to cut their long-time veteran quarterback, Chad Pennington. Now, Pennington gets a shot in Miami, and it would be interesting to see him thrive, and possibly even BEAT Favre and his old team when the Jets and Dolphins meet on their opening day, Sunday September 7th.

Very sad news for the Giants. In Saturday’s preseason game against the Jets, the Giants’ Pro Bowl defensive end, Osi Umenyiora tore his lateral meniscus in his left knee and is now out for the season. This is very bad news for the Giants as their other Pro Bowl defensive end, Michael Strahan recently retired. There is buzz however on trying to get Strahan to come back for another season…stay tuned!

WATERCOOLER DISCUSSION: WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE EVENT/EVENTS OF THE 2008 OLYMPICS?

Legendary and often controversial NFL Players Association Executive Director, Gene Upshaw died Thursday from pancreatic cancer only a few days after his doctor diagnosed him. Prior to the NFLPA, Upshaw was a hall of fame guard for the Oakland Raiders.

Olympic Update

U.S. Women’s Soccer won the Olympic Gold with a 1-0 victory over Brazil in overtime….that’s the good news!

After a 22 consecutive game winning streak and 3 gold medals, the U.S. Women’s Softball team lost to Japan and had to settle for a silver medal.

And, to top it off, the Men’s and Women’s 4x100m relay teams dropped batons in the preliminaries. Both teams did not advance to the next round.

Legendary!!!!

Michael Phelps is unbelievable. If you didn’t see the 100m butterfly Friday night, you HAVE to watch it on a replay. It was the most exciting and unbelievable race I’ve ever seen. Phelps barely won…..in fact, he was behind until he charged the wall and won by 1/100th of a second (basically the skin of a fingernail). The Serbian swimmer Milorad Cavic touched the wall seemingly convinced he’d already won. In fact, it was so close that the Serbian delegation filed a protest, which was overturned by swimming’s governing body who confirmed the accuracy of the touch pads.

The look on Phelps’ mom’s face when she saw he won was classic! She looked like she was going to faint. Phelps tied Mark Spitz’s record of 7 gold medals in one Olympics. In an interview with the Associated Press, Spitz gave a classy endorsement of Phelps.

“It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he’s maybe the greatest athlete of all time,” Spitz said. “He’s the greatest racer who ever walked the planet.”

Football News

I just LOVE this story. Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren’s daughter, Calla was thrown off her fantasy football team because the team thought she was getting inside information.

“My daughter, who’s a doctor in Salt Lake City, she captained one of the fantasy teams and then was thrown out of the league because of ‘inside information.’ But I will say, she was clean,” the 60-year-old Holmgren said, chuckling. “It was the appearance. “She did not phone me about it. And she was very upset about it. But she knows football, as all my girls do.”

Alain Bernard (France) won the 100m freestyle swimming event (surprised, well, you shouldn’t be, Phelps did not race in this event).

Yang Wei (China) won the men’s all-around gymnastics gold.

In basketball, Spain won its match against Germany 72-59. Many thought Spain would crumble amidst the controversy over the photo ad of the team in a Spanish newspaper. The completely insensitive and idiotic ad showed the Spanish team pulling their eyes out in an apparent attempt to look like the Chinese players. The controversy was not reported by the state owned media in China, so there was no uproar in the crowds that watched the game.

NFL News:

Adam (Pacman) Jones mailed a letter to NFL Commish Roger Goodell asking for full reinstatement to the League. Jones was granted partial reinstatement in June which allowed him to work out at the Cowboys’ training camp and play in pre-season games. Jones has been arrested 6 times with 12 police intervention incidents. The most recent incident occurred in February, 2007 at a nightclub in Vegas that led to the shooting of 3 people. Cornerback Jones was traded from the Tennessee Titans to the Cowboys in April 2008.

1) NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: This team has no holes. A great defense, and possibly one of the most balanced offenses we’ve seen in years. On every play, you have absolutely no idea what they are going to do. Trust me, I know this, I own Laurence Maroney on my fantasy team. And even though he is their featured back, and even though he’s the one that marched them down the field, and even though it would only be fair to all of his fantasy owners to give him the ball at the goal line and let him run it in for the touchdown, I know they won’t. Why? Becauase you never know what the Patriots are gonna do. They might hand it off to back-up running back, Sammy Morris. Or back-up to the back-up running back, Kevin Faulk. Or maybe they’ll hand it off to Defensive Back Junior Seau, and let him pick up the TD. Or maybe Bill Bellicek himself will take the handoff from Tom Brady, and jump over the middle for the score. They’re so unpredicatable, making it very difficult for any defense to prepare for them. On Yahoo Sports, Laurence Maroney mentioned, that “he’s not worried about all the other backs. He’s sure he will get a plenty of touchdowns and still become, as promised, an offensive force”. This led me to believe that Laurence Maroney writes for Yahoo Sports.

2) INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: Their defense looks pretty strong, and their offense, well, you know their offense. Peyton Manning no longer has anything to prove, which is seemingly resulting in a more laid back style of play. This is always good for a team aspiring to go 16-0. They’re not demolishing opponents like the Patriots, but they do whatever it takes to win the game. Also, isn’t it time for Nike, Reebok, or Gatorade to produce a series of commercials featuring Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. It would be like those Michael Jordan/Larry Bird ads from the 90s where they called their shots (Remember — “off the building, through the senior-care center, off the backboard, etc…”) Maybe Brady and Manning could battle in pithy competitive contests, like playing chutes and ladders or SORRY!, all leading up to their week 9 showdown. C’mon, this is a great idea. I’m positive about this.3) PITTSBURGH STEELERS: They clobbered the Browns in Week 1, struggled a bit on offense in Week 2, then manhandled the 49ers this week. Their defense is stellar, and their offense knows how to comfortably move the ball down the field and the eat the clock; a key component to winning games. Their running back, Willie Parker, went undrafted and STILL plays with something to prove — EVEN THOUGH HE ALREADY LED THEM TO A SUPER BOWL VICTORY!! When you have a guy like that on your team, your chances of 16-0 significantly improve. However, Roethlisberger is injury prone, and when your back-up QB is Charlie Batch, your chances of 16-0 significantly decrease.4) DALLAS COWBOYS: Their offense is seriously putting up some points, and they even dissected that wall of a Bears defense last night on NBC. Their defense is certainly beatable, as their secondary (meaning the guys who stop receivers from catching the ball) is abysmal. However, as the Colts teams of the first part of this decade proved — you can give up a lot points, just make sure you score a lot more. These guys are now definitely the favorite to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Then again, Joey Harrington threw for over 300 yards this week, so you neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeever know. And, my fantasy team would have won this week if we had only, only played the Cowboys D not the 49ers defense….so very sad for us.5) GREEN BAY PACKERS: The underdog of the bunch. Most people were sticking a fork in the Packers, awaiting the inevitable and long overdue Brett Favre retirement. But these guys have become fighters. It’s like they want to prove everyone wrong. They have Willie Parker-itis. All the sudden, the franchise you love to hate (due to their NFC dominance in the late 90s) has become the team… well… the team, um… you kinda wanna see win. Everybody senses this is Favre’s last year, and there is a kind of feeling in the air that you REALLY want to see him go out on top. Like Super Bowl really. Like 16-0 really. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, they hate McNabb if he loses; they want him off the field. They couldn’t care less that he brought them to 3 consecutive NFC title games and a Super Bowl. He’s gotta go, no allegiences in Philly. And the sad truth is even though he helped score over 50 points this week against Detroit, this only buys 6 days of ‘no-booing’. And what if he set a precedent? What if he has to score over 50 points every week to be even mildly appreciated in Philly. This would be extremely frustrating. Can you imagine those same expectations at your job? Man…Watercooler Discussion: Who has the best chance of actually going 16-0. Also, take note, the 5 currently undefeated teams are also 5 of the NFL’s biggest and most historic franchises. I can’t put my finger on it now, but trust me, this is interesting in some way… right?

5) Two Words: Randy Moss. He was like the Randy Moss of old. The ‘I’m-going-to-gain-183-receiving-yards-and-one-TD-if-I-feel-like-it’ Randy Moss all-star that we remember. And, coincidentally, those were his exact stats! And, can we talk about Moss’ quarterback, Tom Brady? Wow, these Guys looked poised for the Super Bowl. (New England Patriots dominated the New York Jets 38-14)

4) In a surprise, it looks like Vikings rookie Adrian Peterson is going to be an absolute force in the NFL, finishing with 163 all purpose yards and 1 TD — IN HIS FIRST NFL GAME! However, the real shock was that the Falcons were able to score 3 points!!! This is amazing considering they played the entire game without a quarterback — something that has never been done in NFL history. Kudos to the Falcons. (Minnesota Vikings 24, Atlanta Falcons 3)

3) The Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins gave us a nail-biter of a game. An action-packed, lead-changing contest that even went into overtime!!!! I have never been this excited watching a game between two teams that will come absolutely nowhere near making the playoffs. (Redskins 16, Dolphins 13)

2) The Pittsburgh Steelers looked like a Super Bowl contender again, as they beat one of Ohio’s best High-School football teams (we’re talking of course of the disastrous Cleveland Browns) 34-7. Ben Roethlisberger threw for 4 Touchdowns in this remarkable victory. (Pittsburgh Steelers trounced Cleveland Browns 34-7)

1) Green Bay won their first season opener since… well, since the last time they won their first season opener. Trust me, people — it’s been awhile. For the last 4 seasons, FOX has featured the Green Bay Packers as their opening game, and I never understood why. And they always advertise it the same way: “Can the mighty Brett Favre lead the Packers to the Super Bowl one last time?! Then we watch the Packers go 1-4 over their first 5 games while the announcers redundantly talk about Favre’s possible retirement (Note: this has happened the last 4 seasons). But yesterday, they won. Not convincingly, but they won. So now we know two things for sure: (1) the results of the Packers next 4 games, and (2) what the announcers will talk about. (Green Bay Packers 16, Philadelphia Eagles 13)

And I eagerly await more football tonight because “Monday = Football, and that’s that.” I also look forward to the closing weeks of the season when “Thursday = Football, and that’s that”, and “Saturday = Football and that’s that.” The NFL makes life a lot less stressful… don’t ya think.

Watercooler Discussion: Who looks better after week 1, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots or Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts?

The first day of school, terrible. First day of a new job, frustrating. First day of a serious/committed/he’s-mine-and-only-mine-so-why-is-he-still-talking-to-his-

ex-girlfriend-Kristen-Chambers-between-3rd-and-4th-period when-he-promised-he-wasn’t-going-to-talk-to-her-anymore High School relationship, terrifying. The point is: First Days Are Difficult.

And this is the exact reason why the NFL kicks-off they very first game of a long, exciting season… at night. Can’t take any chances. And this year, they couldn’t have picked a better matchup. The defending Super Bowl champs, The Indianapolis Colts, take on everybody’s favorite underdog, The New Orleans Saints. Many experts have picked The Saints for the Super Bowl this year, namely because of their marquee, endorsement friendly running back, Reggie Bush. If you can’t put a face to Reggie Bush, his picture is above and he’s the guy who played football with the Diet Pepsi machine from last year’s intelligent commercials. He’s also rumored to be dating Kim Kardashian (famous for being the daughter of OJ Simpson’s defense lawyer and for a leaked sex video with her boyfriend). But don’t hold that against him, for he will need all your support in Thursday night’s offensive shootout with Colts’ Peyton Manning and arch-nemesis, fellow second-year running back, Joesph Addai. This game might even be bigger than the Super Bowl, which ironically… could be the very same game.

For those that are unfamiliar with fantasy football, the beauty of the game is that you pretend you are an NFL coach and you draft your own team of players (from all 32 teams in the League). The draft takes place before the start of the season (which is Thursday, September 6th this year).

My draft is Tuesday, September 4th. Our League will gather in a conference room in New York where the winning team from last year (unfortunately not us) will provide pizza and drinks and we’ll spend the better part of 3 hours drafting what each of us thinks will be the winning combination of players. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, 15 million Americans play fantasy sports and 90 percent play fantasy football. Most of these players will have spent the last few months sifting through magazines, newspapers and sports web sites attempting to have a leg up on who might be the “sleeper” of the season. Of course this is a great strategy, but just to play devils’ advocate, the best year our team ever had, we went into the draft completely unprepared. With the first pick of the draft we spent over half of our money on a superstar running back and then picked up our remaining team with whatever money we had left. We won the League that year. I’d love to say we played brilliantly, but in all honesty, we simply got lucky, didn’t have any significant injuries and had great matchups. So with that said, maybe we’ll wing it again this year and see what happens. In any case, we are guaranteed to be brilliant for at least a few days (until Thursday night at least when the NFL season officially begins).

And speaking of Thursday night, the New Orleans Saints vs. last years’ Super Bowl champs, the Indianapolis Colts. What a way to start the season….stay tuned for our preview and how to talk the talk Thursday night.

Watercooler Discussion: If you play fantasy football or would like to, whom would you draft with your first pick?

Saratoga Springs, NY is one of the all-time best places to watch horse racing. The month of August is dedicated to Thoroughbred horse racing in Saratoga. Swarms of fans descend on this quant, beautiful town that lives and breathes horses. The most famous race during this month is the Travers Stakes, which was run this past Saturday and attracted 38,909 people. Street Sense, winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby, took the prize by only half a length. Street Sense barely edged out Grasshopper who was racing in his first stakes (the highest level of racing) competition. Look for Street Sense to try and win the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Monmouth Park October 27th. If he wins the Classic, there should be no doubt he will crowned horse of the year.

Watercooler Discussion: Where’s your favorite place to watch a thoroughbred horse race?

I wanted to avoid mentioning Michael Vick this week, but unfortunately that’s not possible. Vick is expected to formally plead guilty Monday (on the same day that his Falcons will play the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football). With pre-season games not getting the attention of the regular season (for obvious reasons), you can bet that MNF will have high ratings this week. People will tune in for the Vick banter and more importantly for observing whether the Falcons’ new quarterback, Joey Harrington, will lead the team to a few wins.

Watercooler Discussion: How many games will the Falcons win this year? Will we ever stop talking about the Falcons and Vick in the same sentence?

On a happier note, congrats to Georgia for winning the Little League World Series Championship over Japan. These boys could be the future of Major League Baseball. And, what touched me was that before the game, the Japanese coach gave the team a listing of players’ names and addresses in case the boys wanted stay in touch. Now that’s sportsmanship!

As if this is any real surprise, Michael Vick agreed to plead guilty to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that Michael Vick who was a star quarterback (known for his amazing running and passing abilities) for the Atlanta Falcons was accused of participating in illegal dogfighting and, from what has come out so far in this case, of extreme cruelty to the dogs (drowning, electrocuting, strangling etc).

Vick’s plea hearing will take place Monday Aug. 27th where we’ll find out what kind of punishment he’ll receive. It could be up to 3 years in prison and a hefty fine.

The big question on many football fans minds right now is will he return to the game after his prison term. I can’t imagine how the football world and particularly the fans will allow him back, but there are those who feel adamant that he’ll be back. As reported by the US Presswire, one NFL Manager said the following:

“If he goes to prison, time will pass,” said the general manager, who spoke before news of a potential Vick plea agreement and asked not to be identified, claiming the NFL has asked current team officials not to publicly comment on the Vick case. “Months or years will pass, if he does go to jail. If he went to jail, and then left prison down the road, he’d still be relatively young, and there’d be a line of 15 to 20 teams waiting to sign him. Trust me on that. Teams are going to say, ‘F— PETA. F— the bad pub. This guy is one of the most talented players of the last 10 years. I’ll take my chances.’

“Teams may say one thing publicly. But if he gets out of jail, we’ll all be looking at Vick hard. We’re all whores in football. You know the saying. We’d sign an ax murderer if he has ability. He’ll be back. He won’t be back in Atlanta probably but he’ll be back in professional football. You can count on it.”

Watercooler Discussion: If Vick reforms after his prison term (and still has the ability to play) should he be allowed back in the League?