Shouldn't we be proud?

The Summer Olympics have come and gone. I'm not really big on the games, but I try to at least watch a few things, if I can. Due to my extremely busy schedule this summer, though, I didn't really get to see anything, but boy howdy did I ever hear about what went on.

First, we have basketball. On the women's side of things, these proud females won yet another gold, but for some reason they're received less press than someone stepping swatting a fly. Why is that, I wonder? Could it be because these women are squeaky clean and not controversial? Perhaps it is because the US isn't really fond of women's basketball, but the same can be said for swimming and gymnastics. A real head scratcher, if you ask me.

On the men's side of things, they won another gold medal *YAWN*. Yes, I'm proud they did that, but is it really fair anymore? At this point, we're just sending pros to do overkill. I think it is time we get back to letting amateurs play. When the Dream Team was formed in 1992, they were made to ensure we got gold. Now, I think we've just gotten greedy. Oh, and did I mention that this year's team thinks they can beat the Dream Team! I don't think anyone can beat a team with the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, etc.

Next, there was swimming. Michael Phelps won another bunch of medals, but it was young up and comer named Lochte who has emerged as a rival or the heir apparent. Of course, in this day and age, no one can just be quiet. He made a sad attempt to discredit Phelps by bringing up his drug history and claiming he was out of shape. Pathetic!

Gymnastics is where the American media really shined. Here we have Gabby Douglas, the first African-American gymnast to make the top 16 (or whatever it is they call it) and rather than focusing on that, what do they decide to write stories about? Her hair! Yes, respectable newspapers were more focused on saying that her hair, which was in a ponytail, was unkept. From the pictures I saw, there wasn't anything wrong with it, other than they just needed something to criticize. Heaven forbid someone who is doing athletic stuff have her hair in a ponytail. For goodness sakes, what was she supposed to do, have her hair in some fancy prom-type style?

The final thing that was brought to my attention was camaraderie. There was a photo that was going around facebook that showed US athlete embracing Saudi Arabian athletes with a caption saying something along the lines of if only our countries could get along as well as we do. It was quite a powerful photo.

Anyway, I just wanted to get a quick Olympic rant out of the way! Thanks for reading!