Aaaaaaaand that's a wrap! Whew. After 16 action-packed days, the 2008 Summer Olympics have come to a close and America brought home the most medals (110) in spite of a fantastic effort by the host nation, China (100), who brought home more golds (51) than anyone else. And Chicagonia fared well themselves. We have no problem calling this one of the more exciting Olympics we've seen. Drama, intrigue, age controversies, this Games had it all (except a juicy ice skating scandal involving the Russian mafia). The last day recapped after the jump. more ›

We're inside the final 24 hours of the current Olympiad and there seems to be no need for Jack Bauer. Lots of Gold Medal team finals to go and many with Chicago connections, including both men's and women's indoor volleyball and men's and women's basketball. If Chicago were a nation (say, Chicagonia), it would wind up with a pretty dang decent medal count, eh? I, for one, am in favor of this new nation. I welcome our new Chicagonia overlords. And to them I say, "Full results after the jump." more ›

Words cannot even express how much I am going to miss having Bela Karolyi in my life from now on. The man could make watching someone paint sound exciting. Where's the drama in my life now? How can I get excited about anything else after having Bela's exuberance in my life for the last nine days? Fortunately, there's still plenty of Olympics to go as we close in on team finals as well as some individual finals. Today's Chicago-area results after the jump. more ›

While gymnastics has taken over for Michael Phelps in providing all the fireworks and dramatics this week, several Chicago-area athletes are providing drama of their own as part of several U.S. teams entering the medal round. It's "win or go home" time and while we'll be happy to welcome back our athletes with open arms, we hope they get to extend their stay in Beijing just a little longer to bring home some medals. Basketball, volleyball, softball, etc. It's time to bring home some more gold! more ›

About this time on Friday afternoons, we start getting Friday brain. We feel punchy. We feel silly, maybe a little argumentative, and certainly unable to complete substantive tasks or engage in meaningful discourse. Sometimes, this becomes a leg-wrestling tournament. Sometimes a walk around the block to play that stupid road trip game where you put the word "anal" before the names of cars ("anal Explorer," "anal Liberty," etc). Today, Marcus and I decided to discuss the Olympics, which we've both been watching damn-near constantly. more ›