Olympics free from steroids, clean air, dudes with no legs

Say what you want about International Association of Athletics Federation (and much is said, surely): they care very, very much about the sanctity of their Games, Olympic and otherwise. Yep, after that whole 20+ years of performance enhancing drugs running rampant in track and field, they would HATE to lose anymore face. So that's why this guy:

won't be racing/competing/crawling/blading into the arena carrying the South African flag, thankyouverymuch.


The IAAF announced Monday that 21-year old South African Oscar Pistorius can't 'run' in any IAAF events -- which means he can't run in pretty much anything, seeing as how Pistorius runs, uh, you know, on a track in a track and field event. Home Depot doesn't sponsor many track meets, you see. This means, oddly enough, that a man who can still run the 400 meters in under 47 seconds despite no, you know, effing lower legs is barred from the Olympics. Have to protect the Olympics' reputation, after all.

A German scientist -- whose acumens are always used for the greater good -- was nice enough to take the time and effort to find out that Pistrorius's fake legs provide him a clear competitive advantage over those athletes who have their own lower legs and feet to work for them. If only Barry Bonds had received said memo.

So instead of this:

(I usually hate Nike commercials but come on, that's cool)

This summer, we'll get lots of this:

Wonder what choking Industrial age smog does to an athlete?

Just pretend I'm not here

It's not too hard to ignore some people, but sometimes a body can just get under your skin. Reading over your shoulder. Answering their own questions. Cracking their knuckles ever 30 seconds. I do all three, but one thing I shy away from is The Micromanagerial Hover. I would especially try to avoid this one if I were a megalomaniac of a football owner with a long history of futzing with his coaches, especially when said coach du now is three minutes away from tying an NFL record with a sixth-consecutive playoff loss for my hallowed, storied, extremely-marketable franchise.




No pressure, Wade.

Going too far -- a fair-weather inkling

I'm from New Hampshire. This, the run-up before the Presidential primary -- still the first in the nation, though the state nearly moved the vote up to 2007 to keep it first -- is the only time the state draws the world's attention. The humble residents of 'Arkansas with snow' are humble residents of import -- as then-Governor Sununu said in 1988: "The people of Iowa pick corn -- the people of New Hampshire pick presidents."

All eyez on New Hampshire, then. Under a lens. A magnifying glass. What better time to tattoo the Patriots logo on the side of your head?

From The Citizen of Laconia:

When it comes to being a fanatic about his team even the most ardent New England Patriots fans would likely agree that Victor Thompson is a head above the rest ... literally.

Thompson, 39, a longtime Laconia resident, wanted to pay homage to the team's recent completion of a perfect season and Sunday's victory against the New York Giants prompted him to turn his shaved skull into the canvas with which to voice his appreciation for their dominance.

On Monday Thompson made his way from his Winter Street apartment around the corner to House of Tattoos to get a full sized Patriots emblem permanently emblazoned on the side of his head.

For full effect, here's it is, in all its glory. The young son's lifelong look of familial humiliation is coming along nicely.
I really, really want to be shocked/outraged about this in some superior-sounding kind of way, but it's proving tough. Maybe it's just not all that big of a deal -- other Anglo Saxons have been inking stupid stuff for ages.