USA! USA! USA!

I know, it has been a while since I last posted. Over a week. Well, not that there hasn’t been anything exciting to report. On the contrary. The Olympics alone have taken their toll on my time. Particularly of late because Gymnastics is occupying the majority of that viewing. I used to be in gymnastics (through high-school and college). So I like this sport a lot.

Speaking of the Olympics - how bout that Hamm? Fantastic! I feel a little for Yang Wei, however. He really had that locked up until high-bar. Poor guy. And those South Koreans. Absolutely amazing results from those fine fellows. You gotta feel a little for Kim Dae-Eun and Yang Tae-Young as well. They were putting up consistent scores with no horrible performances and that effort resulted in Silver and Bronze for their country, but they were still edged out by someone who -was- in 12th place. All the same, way to go, lads. But Hamm. Paul Hamm. Coming from a barn in Wisconsin to the gold medal podium in Athens. Just incredible. After a disaster of a vault, landing him a 9.137, it looked like his dreams of Olympic Gold were shattered beyond recovery. It would be easier to repair fine china dropped from 10 stories up. If there is such a thing as Olympic Gods, they certainly showed themselves to the world on that night. Yang Wei, fumbles on high-bar, dropping to eighth. Brett McClure dropped from third to ninth on his final event, Rings. Ioan Silviu (of Romania) dropped to 4th after a decent, yet disappointing, parallel bar routine. This opened the door for Hamm to recover from his vault. You don't get second chances at the Olympics. At least, not usually. But Paul got 2 second chances. Parallel Bars: 9.837. Phenomenal grit and steadfast nature when most athletes would crack to the pressure. He saw others falter and he capitalized on it, resulting in a jump from 12th to 4th in the standings. Quite a leap from someone who sat down moments before. He said he was now fighting for bronze. Working for third place. Not considering a gold, but not considering failure or quitting either.

On his last event, high bar, he had his last chance for any kind of medal. He had misfortune strike him in the team competition on this very event. A missed third release move helped fade America's dreams for team gold. He now stood under that bar with hopes of bronze and memories of missed moves and fumbled landings. But what makes a true Olympic champion? Apparently, conviction and a strong routine. 9.837 — Again! Of all the high bar routines, Paul Hamm led the pack. And he led it well.

Olympic champions don't give up until that final score is posted. Even third place is worth fighting for and when you drive to get every ounce of tenths, hundredths and thousandths of a point out of your routine, you get them. Paul Hamm got them. Every last one he could giant swing out of that routine. Point-Zero-One-Two. That was the spread between First and Second. Gold and Silver. Champion and Competitor. Paul Hamm was crowned champion because he fought for third place. That's an Olympic champion. The ones who fight no matter how hard they are knocked down. The ones who get back up and shrug it off. The ones who want third as much as first. Here’s to Paul Hamm for getting gold in the Men’s Individual All-Around competition, being the very vessel of an Olympic Champion and a reason we get to hear crowds chant “USA!” at the Olympics.

In other news: sorry about SPeCks. This last week and a half (two weeks almost) has been rather busy. I have to remind myself that the comic is a hobby and shouldn’t dictate how I spend my free-time and weekends. I was a little stressed at the beginning of this week and while I am still motivated to do SPeCks, I just haven’t found the time to work on them lately. I anticipate page 3.4 to be up by the end of the weekend. The same with the DSNLG I have going now. Just no time to really look into a solid reply on that one yet.

And for those of you expecting something a bit on the lighter side; a sampling of the finer points of female parking: Drop In and Park Fu.