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?

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.

Watercooler Discussion: Which teams do you think will make the playoffs?

Tennis

Speaking of history books, Roger Federer just keeps getting better and better. At only 26 years old, he just won his 50th tournament title (5th youngest player ever to do this).

Watercooler Discussion: Is there anyone playing today that can rival Federer?

Soccer

Beckham seems to be on his way to earning his exorbitant salary. Saturday night at Giants stadium against the Red Bull New York, Beckham played a full 90 minutes and attracted a crowd of 66,237 people. Even though he didn’t play all that spectacularly (apparently he’s still getting used to artificial turf), he did manage to make some good plays and the game (by soccer standards) was unusually high scoring. With a total of 9 goals (5 for Red Bulls and 4 for the Galaxy), this game marks the first major league soccer match this year and the 10th in League history to record this number of goals.

Watercooler Discussion: Is Beckham changing how soccer is viewed in this country yet?

Football

Pre-season games are here and we can’t help but join the hype in who’s hot and who’s not (and I do mean their performance on the field and not who’s currently dating Paris Hilton). I’m loving the hype, but really more concerned right now with pre-season injuries. I can’t even watch my favorite players take the field in fear that they’ll twist their ankle (which happened a lot around the League this weekend) or worse. With that said, September 6th is the first game of the year and you can be sure I’ll be glued to the TV then!

Watercooler Discussion: Is the Pre-season too long? Does it unnecessarily create more injuries?

Cycling

Not sure anyone even cares at this point, but Alberto Contador won the grueling Tour de France. He’s 24 years old and the youngest athlete to win in a decade. The problem is no one is talking about Contador. We’re all talking about how the leader, Michael Rasmusen who was disqualified due to suspicion of doping charges and lying about where he was during training. Last year the Tour Champion, Floyd Landis also tested positive for an illegal substance.

Watercooler discussion: Will the Tour de France ever regain its credibility or will the race and cycling in general suffer?

Football

The Falcons quarterback, Michael Vick continues to slide deeper and deeper into trouble (and now it’s financial). In case you haven’t been following, Michael Vick was indicted on charges that he participated in illegal dog fighting. Nike suspended his contract (which he’s had ever since he became the first draft pick in 2001), and Reebok pulled his jersey from the shelves in its stores.

Watercooler discussion: If you owned a Vick jersey, would you still wear it or burn it?

Baseball

The San Francisco Giants’ Barry Bonds is just one homerun away from tying Hank Aarons’ hallowed home run record and two away from breaking it. Bonds is generally unpopular due to suspicion of taking illegal substances during his career and because of his surly personality.

Watercooler discussion: Will Bonds break the record this week and do you care? 

You’ve got to love sports, every time it brings you down, something happens to cheer you up. After all the talk of the tainted Tour de France, the disgust over Michael Vick, the reluctant Bonds watch and the Donaghy referee scandal, we finally have something to cheer about. Two of the most revered baseball players were inducted in to the Hall of Fame, Cal Ripken Jr. (Baltimore Orioles) and Tony Gwynn (San Dieog Padres).

Michael Vick, star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, has been indicted on dog fighting charges. He hasn’t been convicted yet, but he’s in real trouble. In case you didn’t know, dog fighting is illegal and really sick. I’ve never seen it (or ever will) but it’s incredibly inhumane and incredibly brutal. In addition, Vick is charged with killing a number of dogs that were unable to fight. And, he apparently killed them in a really disgusting manner; hanging, strangling, drowning and smashing on the floor. Whether or not Vick actually gets convicted of this illegal crime, his reputation is shot. I can’t imagine he will ever get another sponsorship deal. Who in their right mind would want someone like that endorsing their products? I’m sure we’ll be hearing more on this story as details come out, but as of now, I’m thoroughly disgusted and can’t imagine a person in their right mind who would torture dogs for sport.