I was up until 4 a.m. watching Team USA eke out a victory over Spain for the Gold medal. You gotta hand it to Spain, they came to play.  They are the world champions and left everything they had on the court. We beat them by 37 points last week and at one point were only ahead by 2 in the 4th quarter of the Gold medal game. Our lack of interior defense (just a thought: With Shaq’s recent legal problems and the huge boost in Kobe’s image from these games, think Mr. O’Neill missed a golden opportunity?) almost came back to bite us in the ass. Dwight Howard looked pretty damn terrible at times. But in the end Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant saved the day. It was an exciting game.  Too bad most of America was asleep.

As we wind up the Olympics, the USA still has the most overall medals even as China crushed us in the gold medal count. So it goes for the host country, who automatically qualifies every team in every sport. Overall, it was a great Olympics. China put on a show, Michael Phelps went crazy, and we all found out that Usain Bolt is not only The Flash, but a poor sportsman as well. Our volleyball teams rocked the courts while our softball team choked (why don’t women play baseball? Why do they have to throw underhand and use a cantoloupe for a ball?). And our gymansts put up a helluva fight against China’s 7 year olds.  The only thing that was really disappointing for the US is our track and field squad, which, literally, dropped the baton.

The Olympics get a lot of grief from people who want to politicize any number of things. Whether it is human rights, war, or environment. It’s easy to throw darts at the IOC. But it’s also one of the only non-(most of the time) tragic world events that can really galvanize the citizens of a country into feeling genuine pride for what they have accomplished. Sure, I wanted to see Michael Phelps win all those golds, but what I was really cheering is the USA. You want your country to win. Individual accomplishments are great, and lord knows that we in America love our individual accomplishments, but it comes down to that old cliche: There’s something about putting on the Red, White, and Blue. I’m sure it is the same way in every other country. You just get that sense and feeling that somebody like Michael Phelps is representing much more than himself, and it’s fun to wrap yourself up in that Country First feeling every few years in a non-political context. Seeing Team USA genuinely freak out after they won the gold medal filled me with such a great feeling.  They were running around, grinning, and yelling like little kids who just got what they wanted on Christmas. Regardless of the people who attempt to politicize the games or governments who aren’t all they are cracked up to be (I’m sure glad George Bush looked into Putin’s soul and found out he was a good guy! I was beginning to worry about…wait, what? Putin doesn’t have a soul?) , the Olympics mean a lot. Not just to the athletes, but to everyone they represent back home. Michael Phelps was sort of our international congressman. And it’s always great to see your congressman kick all sorts of ass

It was a fun Olympics. I can’t wait for London in 2012. Maybe the Splattercast can go live on location from Explody Jo’s or something Oh, and if you want another reason to vote for Barack Obama: Chicago is one of the finalists for the 2016 games. By then, Barack will have ended all disease, brought peace to the world, and thrown Dick Cheney in prison. What better way to celebrate his last year in office than with a hometown Olympics sendoff wherein we kick China’s ass all over the map

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