Watch and listen (Skip ahead to 14:45 for the good stuff). I defy you not to get the chills. Amazing. The old lion still has it after all he's been through. Text here.

As chronicled in a pervious post, I'm something of an Olympics junkie, and with the closing ceremonies tonight, I'm a little sad to see it all end. Sad, and a bit outraged that China was even allowed to host the Olympics in the first place. A few interesting thoughts from various media outlets:

That’s what this country is about. Here, the government, not the people, controls what you say, what you read, what you do and how many babies you can have (one).

A million and a half residents expelled. Free speech strangled. Elderly women jailed. That's what it means when a police state like China hosts the Olympics... That's what happens when the free world cons itself into believing that China's Communist rulers, who sustain genocide in Sudan and torture nuns in Tibet, will refrain from doing whatever it takes to turn the Olympics into a vehicle for totalitarian self-glorification.

Along the way, government critics were pre-emptively rounded up and jailed, domestic news outlets tightly controlled, foreign journalists denied full access to the Internet and thousands of Beijing’s least telegenic residents were evicted from their homes and out of camera range. On Friday, the Chinese police confirmed that six Americans protesting China’s rule in Tibet had been sentenced to 10 days of detention.

So now that our fellow countrymen (and presumably women) are the ones being trampled on, do we care? Probably not. There are many Americans being deprived of basic human rights in our own country and no one cares; why would we care now? It's nice to hear about how much people want to change the way things are in China, but by giving them the Olympics, haven't we just validated their actions? That is what makes me really sad.

HENCHMEN NEEDED

(+1 for use of the Queen's English)

The pineapple is a harmonious place because Spongebob checks that shit at the door.

Latest bit of China Olympic failure: Seems like all of the national anthems they've been playing are pirated versions of copyrighted arrangements from the 2004 Olympics.

I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.

Sorry for ignoring the blog for so long... I've found myself wrapped up in the Olympics in a bad way lo these many days... And I've also become somewhat disenchanted by much of what I've seen, even though there have been so many awesome things. Let's see:

Awesomeness:

- Michael Phelps. Eight races, eight golds. Enough said.

- Dara Torres. 41 years old, two silver medals in swimming, including an incredible last lap in the 4x100 relay. Like nothing I've ever seen, out-swimming girls literally half her age. Champion.

- My personal favorite Olympic moment thus far, on the first day of the Games, the finish of the Men's Cycling Road Race. Ridiculous. A chase group of three riders, including Fabian Cancellara, catches the three race leaders, including Andy Schleck, in the last hundred meters, with two of the chasers (Cancellara and Spaniard Sam Sanchez) taking bronze and gold, respectively. Unbelievable finish. It could make a cycling fan out of anyone.

Did I really just see that?:

- Natalie Coughlin. US backstroke specialist. Won something like 10 medals over the last two Olympics, but is interviewed by NBC and explains how swimming isn't the most important thing in her life, and that she'd much rather do other things... Wait a minute... You mean to tell me that for some unspeakable reason God has decided to reach down and bless you with other-worldly talent, but you'd prefer to spend your time doing other things, rather than honing your skills? Maybe if you took practice more seriously you wouldn't have continuously bumped the lane markers in your two biggest races, jerk.

- Armenian-born Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian throws his bronze medal down on the podium in protest of a judges decision relegating him to the bronze medal match. Not only does the IOC take back his medal, but they kick his sorry ass out of the Games. Turn about is fair play as far as I'm concerned. The Olympics is all about fair play and sportsmanship, and this clown forgot that last part. Speaking of sportsmanship...

- Usain Bolt of Jamaica hamming it up before his 100 m sprint made me sick to my stomach. He might have noticed that no one else was acting like a pompous ass, but it didn't matter. Then, as he is blowing the field away, he slows down and starts celebrating with 15 m left in the race. He then proceeds to react to the win like he'd never won a race before. I can understand the celebration afterwards, I mean, it is the Olympics, but the posing and chest-thumping before hand was way too much. What a dick.

Remember folks, I love the Olympics. I just kind of wish that things could be a little bit more than an ego-fest.