John Powers; Speedo vs. TYR; Wonderful Helpful Phrasebook; Greek Embarrassment?; Investigating the Marathon; Commentary; Favorite Olympic Moments and More with Charlie Pierce

An author writes from the tailgate parties and parking lots of Southern football fanatics.

Russia’s Olympic Committee has lodged an official appeal, to protest a decision by what its head coach calls a “judging mafia that rules gymnastics.”

The hundreds of hours of television generated by the 2004 Olympics have left viewers with lots of images by which to remember the games: the triumph of Fani Halkia as she circled the track wrapped in the Greek flag after winning the 400 meter hurdles on Wednesday; the presentation of Michael Phelps as happy, selfless, [...]

Olympics Update with Helene Elliott; Endangered Olympic Sports; Mickey Mouse to the Rescue; A Bad Dream Team; Gary LeMoine; Iraqi Soccer Team; Olympics and More with Charlie Pierce; Letters; Mark Spitz

The great gift of the athletes is that they make so much of it look so natural, with the form their muscles have learned and the confidence they’ve achieved through grueling work.

Athens Olympics with John Powers; Olympic Security; Blitzkrieg – It’s Only A Game; Shannon Miller; More Than Just a Game; Gail Devers and More with Charlie Pierce; Letters; The Devil Rays

It’s too bad that so much of the pre-Olympic news has been gloomy. But no edition of the games escapes without warts and scars.

“More Than Just A Game” shows the ways in which our culture’s devotion to sports has reflected and caused changes that have spread well beyond the arena and the stadium.

It’s too bad that so much of the pre-Olympic news has been gloomy. The lesson is how to rise above the inevitably muddy context of the daily business of sports to pursue an ideal.