More Medals

To celebrate the conclusion of the 2008 summer games, I have a few medals of my own to hand out.

OBNOXIOUS NBC COMMENTATOR
Gold - Tim Daggett, gymnastics. I expect him to repeat in 2012.
Silver - Cynthia Potter, diving.
Bronze - Rowdy Gaines, swimming. We like Rowdy - but wow - what a fitting name.

BOB COSTAS HEIR APPARENT
Gold - Bob Costas.
Silver - Bela Karolyi. I'm convinced that Bob was training him.
Bronze - Jim McKay? I know he's passed on, but we don't have to worry, since Bob doesn't age.

WEIREST OLYMPIC RITUAL
Gold - Divers taking 15-second showers
Silver - Track medalists draping themselves with flags
Bronze - That single-file march that gymnasts do before & after competitions

CUTEST OLYMPIAN
Gold - Shawn Johnson, US gymanstics
Silver - Shelly Ann Fraser, Jamaica 100 meter gold medalist
Bronze - Jonathan Horton, US gymanstics

MOST OVERDONE OLYMPIC CONTROVERSY
Gold - Usain Bolt's showboating. If you're from Jamaica and those are the only medals your country is going to win, I say you can get away with just about anything.
Silver - Chinese under-16 gymnasts. Really, who cares? If they take them out of their homes as toddlers to train, it's not like they have much else going on in life.
Bronze - The time-reducing swimwear. I love how swimmers are so worried about how to shave another one-hundredth of a second of their time, but the sprinters have all these sunglasses and bling that they run with.

BEST OLYMPIC UNDERDOG
Gold - The white sprinters from Russia or Europe. They try SO hard.
Silver - The swimmers in lanes 1 & 8.
Bronze - Female gymnasts not from USA or China.

MOST ANNOYING NBC HABIT
Gold - Interviewing Michael Phelps at every possible moment
Silver - Showing Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin as they warm up or stand around instead of showing other gymnasts compete
Bronze - (On behalf of my wife) Showing close-ups of gymnasts as they sprint down to do the vault

SPORTS I WATCHED THE MOST (because that was pretty much all they showed)
Gold - Gymnastics
Silver - Swimming
Bronze - Track

SPORTS I WOULD HAVE WATCHED MORE OF (if I had more time and more TV channels)
Gold - Volleyball
Silver - Tennis
Bronze - Basketball

SPORTS THAT WOULD BE FUNNER TO SEE THAN BOB COSTAS INTERVIEWING PEOPLE
Gold - Table tennis
Silver - Water Polo
Bronze - Badminton

SKIMPIEST OUTFITS
Gold - Men's diving
Silver - Women's beach volleyball
Bronze - Women's track

LEAST SKIMPY OUTFITS
Gold - Fencing
Silver - BMX Racing
Bronze - Baseball

MOST MEMORABLE OLYMPIC MOMENT
Gold - Jason Lezak coming from behind to beat the cocky Frenchman to win gold for the USA in the 4x100 swim
Silver - Thinned-out US Men's gymnastics team winning a bronze medal.
Bronze - Usain Bolt winning the 200 meter run - easily.

MOST ANTICLIMACTIC OLYMPIC MOMENT
Gold - Michael Phelps winning gold after gold after gold.
Silver - Kerri Walsh and Misty May winning gold in beach volleyball - again.
Bronze - The "Redeem Team" winning gold - as they should.

BEST NAMES
Gold - Libby Trickett, Australian swimmer
Silver - Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter
Bronze - Natasha Kai, US soccer

So that's about it. The scope of this exercise was somewhat limited giving that I didn't see much Olympics outside of the holy trinity of gymnastics, swimming, and track. But it was fun to do anyways.