The picture I was waiting for is here! Now I can out-do my mom and her dumb Mark Spitz poster.

Quoted: With eight gold medals hanging from his neck, Phelps posed for SI's exclusive cover portrait after completing his Beijing swim through history.

It's obvious to any NBA fan that officiating varies greatly and that officials give up at the end of games. But it's stupid to point out specific non-calls as conspiracies because it happens in a hefty percentage of games every season. How can one non-call be a conspiracy (like their Brent Barry example) and all of the rest are just shoddy ref-ing? It's ALL just shoddy ref-ing.

Quoted: It's a lot harder to laugh at the NBA conspiracy theorists today, isn't it?

Interesting questions raised here ... is there such a thing as "technological doping"? Should swimsuits have minimal effect to show the true athletic ability of the athlete? And should you sacrifice your performance level because you need to stay true to a rival sponsor?

Quoted: The Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit is making such a splash in the pool that U.S. head coach Mark Schubert believes every record in the sport could fall at the Beijing Olympics.

Shocking news ... or not. This does seem to let David Stern off the hook a bit though. I read elsewhere that Governor Gregoire was going to ask the NBA not to approve the relo next week due to these revelations and to instead find a way to have some REAL "good-faith" efforts to keep the team in Seattle.

Quoted: E-mail messages between SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett and team co-owners appear to show Bennett misled NBA commissioner David Stern on the group's intentions to move the team to Oklahoma City before all avenues for a new arena in Seattle were closed. The messages have become part of the team's dispute with the city of Seattle over the two years remaining on its KeyArena lease. - National Basketball Association news

Quoted: A brutal training regime caught up with Michael Phelps at the Columbus Grand Prix on Saturday when the American pulled out of the 400 meters freestyle after falling asleep on the diving tower.

Did I mention that I love the Olympics? A nice article on Phelps.

Quoted: Remember this guy? It's American swimmer Michael Phelps, who became the first swimmer ever to win eight medals at a single Olympic Games four years ago in Athens. He won six golds and two bronzes, and since then, almost impossibly, he has gotten better.

I love that they have also "re-housed newts, frogs and fish". Much better than the stories we hear coming out of Bejing ...

Quoted: LONDON (Reuters) - More than 160 feral cats and kittens have been rescued from the site of the London 2012 Olympics as demolition work continues at a pace. A local animal charity has been allowed access

Fascinating look at a country's quest to improve the manners of its citizens in the next 6 months ... and to teach them the rules of volleyball.

Quoted: BEIJING (Reuters) - On the top floor of the Yansha Friendship Shopping Centre in Beijing, Huang Kuoshan and 49 of his colleagues are waiting to be sworn in to the Beijing Workers' Civilisation Cheerleading Squad.

Sounds like Bode has cleaned up a bit and is more focused on skiing again.

Quoted: American Bode Miller blew away the field to claim his first World Cup win of the season in Saturday's men's downhill, according to provisional results.