Bolek Blog Series - Fans of Out of Market NFL Teams: Tennessee Titans

As many of you have seen through my whored out Facebook statuses, I am profiling people who live in the Chicago area and are fans of out of town teams.

Thank you to everyone who has filled out a survey so far. If you're a fan of an out-of-town team and I haven't given you a questionnaire to fill out, please let me know ASAP, as I am looking to profile as many people as possible.

My second feature is on the lone AFC South fan in Chicago that I can find. Thank you to Josh, a good friend  who worked with me about 5 years ago. Tennessee-bred, he is a fan of his home state's team. Here are his thoughts on the Titans' chances this year.

Here's a list of other blogs in the out-of-town feature series:

Dallas Cowboys



Unlike many fans of out-of-town teams, Josh Sumner was originally a fan of the Bears for a long time before switching allegiances to a hometown team. Although he can be excused - Nashville didn't get an NFL team until the Houston Oilers relocated to Tennessee in 1997.

"I actually liked the Bears as my #1 team until the Titans came to town," Josh said. "The 1985 Super Bowl was the first one I remember as a child and I remember how all the adults were pulling for them. Plus, they made it fun. Hell, I can still sing a good portion of the 'Super Bowl Shuffle'".

Repping his hometown college, now a Titans fan

His fandom was rewarded almost immediately, as the touchdown-underdog Titans were a foot short and an extra-point away from forcing overtime against the run-and-gun St. Louis Rams in the 1999 Super Bowl.

Josh's change of rooting interest hasn't made things all that difficult in following his home-town team despite moving to his former favorite team's city 10 years ago.

"We do not play each other usually, nor is there any big rivalry," he said. "Plus, Chicago is a cosmopolitan town and all are welcome to go to our bars and root for whomever you like...even Packer fans."

His consumption of Titans games is a combination of Internet streaming and going to friend's houses who have the NFL Package (DirecTV). However, Josh still seems apt to watch a good Bears match-up over a boring Titans one.

"If the Titans are playing the Browns and the Bears and playing the Packers at the same time, love them or not, I'm likely to watch the Bears game and wait for Titans highlights to come as they may," he said.

He has seen numerous Titans games in his lifetime, including a game at Vanderbilt Stadium, the team's temporary home before their new stadium was being built. His seats were close enough there to see the gigantic size of the players, including Randy Moss.

"That guy is enormous," Josh said, "at least compared to Vanderbilt Stadium."

When it comes to his assessment of the 2012 squad, Josh believes the Titans will be 8-8 and get a wild card berth. A lot of the Titans' fortune this year lies in Kenny Britt, whose injury last year hurt the Titans' chances of making the playoffs in Josh's opinion.

He believes in Jake Locker as the team's quarterback, but just hopes he doesn't turn into another Vince Young, who flamed out quickly as the Titans' signal caller.

"He needs to take his time, learn and get stronger," Josh said. "Everything that Vince Young didn't do."

Josh's favorite Titan - Matt Hasselbeck - will enter the season as Locker's back-up. Josh appreciates Hasselbeck for his similar hairline (read: follically-challenged) and quarterback smarts.

"If Rex Grossman taught me anything," Josh said, "it's that ball control is vital. And you need to be taller than the linemen to play QB."

	Josh Sumner
	(10 years in Chicago)
Favorite team	Titans
A fan since…	1997
# of games attended	numerous
Choice of Team Consumption	Internet, DirecTV NFL Package, bars
Favorite Player All-Time	Steve McNair/Eddie George
Favorite Player Currently	Matt Hasselbeck
2012 Prediction	(8-8. wild card, second-round playoffs)
Vegas Projection for team	7 wins
(as of 8-24-12) 5dimes.eu
Over/under?	Over
Odds to win division - 5dimes.eu	(+495)
Super Bowl odds	100/1
(as of 8-26-12) - 5dimes.eu

Bolek Blog Series - Fans of Out of Market NFL Teams: Dallas Cowboys

As many of you have seen through my whored out Facebook statuses, I am profiling people who live in the Chicago area and are fans of out of town teams.

Thank you to everyone who has filled out a survey so far. If you're a fan of an out-of-town team and I haven't given you a questionnaire to fill out, please let me know ASAP, as I am looking to profile as many people as possible.

My inaugural dive into this blog series will start with some fans from the NFC East, including a confident fan predicting a repeat for his favorite team. I will feature "the other team" from the division first.


It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the early 90s spawned a new era of Dallas Cowboys fans across the country. The trio of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin helped make the Cowboys "America's Team". The duo of Tim Wolf and Steve Kirchman came along to join the ride.

"Naturally and probably deservedly so, I got the fair weather label," Tim said. "I paid my dues and proved my worth through the Dave Campo/Quincy Carter era and through a lot of disappointing underachieving teams."


Neither one of them find it difficult being a fan of the Cowboys in a Bears market, although Tim said he expects some good-nature banter when he is showing off his Cowboys apparel at bars during games.

However, both of them don't really care for the Bears.

"I root against them because their fans are annoying", Steve said. "They think every year they'll win the Super Bowl, which is just plain stupid."

Tim's general rooting interest regarding the Bears is to root against them, which stems from arguments with friends and  annoying local media coverage.

"A friend just recently told me I should just move to Dallas," he said. "To which I responded, I would have to listen to dumb homer Dallas fans."

No agreement existed between their all-time favorite Cowboys (Tim backs Emmitt, Steve is an Aikman guy) and favorite current player, with Tim a fan of Tony Romo and DeMarcus Ware, while Steve is high on Dez Bryant's future.

"I think he has potential to be a top wide receiver in the league for many years to come," he said.

Tim is projecting a 9-7 campaign for the Cowboys, while Steve is one game more optimistic.

Both Tim and Steve agree that there is nothing outside of winning a Super Bowl that could get the media to stop blaming Tony Romo for all of the team's woes.

"He could probably take them to the Super Bowl, throw for 400 yards, not turn the ball over, drive them down the field for a go-ahead score with 45 seconds left," Tim said, "and the defense gives it back and he would still get the blame, probably for leaving too much time on the clock."

Steve concurred.

"There is nothing else Romo can do to stop getting blamed for the team woes," he said. "He has to win a Super Bowl".

	Tim Wolf		Steve Kirchman
	(whole life near Chicago)		(whole life near Chicago)
Favorite team	Cowboys		Cowboys
A fan since…	early 90s		early 90s
# of games attended	2 (both in Dallas)		1 (in Chicago)
Choice of Team Consumption	DirecTV		DirecTV
Favorite Player All-Time	Emmitt Smith		Troy Aikman
Favorite Player Currently	Tony Romo (O)		Dez Bryant
	DeMarcus Ware (D)
2012 Prediction	(9-7, out of playoffs)		(10-6, playoffs)
Vegas Projection for team	9 wins		9 wins
(as of 8-24-12) 5dimes.eu
Over/under?	Push		Over
Odds to win division - 5dimes.eu	(+260)		(+260)
Super Bowl odds	20/1 (+2000)		20/1 (+2000)
(as of 8-24-12) - bovada.lv

B List - Fantasy Football Draft Tips (List 14)

Hi, my name is Brian, and I have a fantasy football problem.

No, the problem isn't that I'm currently in six fantasy leagues (four of which are for money). No. The fantasy football problem is that I'm not the defending champion in any of them. Granted, two of the leagues are new. But still - it's my fault for not winning them before being in the leagues or before they were actually created.

Anywho, since I'm in leagues with many of you, I'll give you my thoughts on how I approach these leagues. Perhaps they will help you, or perhaps they will turn you into a (bigger) loser. I can't tell you who to pick, or even any of my sleepers. Perhaps if Yahoo or NFL.com paid me to give a fantasy opinion, I would. But since neither of them do, all I can give you is my approach to each draft.

7. Don't over-study - There's numerous sites that offer their fantasy football opinions. Some opinions cancel each other out. Other opinions are based on group-think ("hey, this publication says this guy is gonna be a rising star, better have him ranked high). The truth is, a lot of it is guess work. You can study stats, fantasy magazines and rankings all day long, but all of the information you consume could overwhelm you - if you're studying up on these players too hard. Just use your best judgment when it comes to players and their situations. It doesn't hurt to do a mock draft or two, but you probably don't need to do 9 or 10 of them.

6. Don't stress about bye weeks - That's not to say it should be completely ignored, but if you're the type to draft a guy based solely on his bye week (say a backup QB for your Brady or Rodgers), you're going about it wrong. Think about how much turnover you have from the time you draft until the very end of the season. Odds are, about half of your team will be different. No use in picking a guy because he's not on Bye Week 8 when your top guy is playing when you're likely to drop the guy anyways for an emerging free agent.

5. Handcuffed RBs: a dying breed - For those of you who have been in leagues for a while, you have probably heard of the idea that you need to make sure you draft the backup running back of your star RB (i.e. a handcuff). If you're still practicing this trend, you should probably stop (unless you have one of the handful of guys who have a well-known talented backup). The investment in these guys isn't worth a high pick, although perhaps one of your last two or three picks could be spent on them. I wouldn't reach for many of the backups though strictly because you own a starter.

4. Look at Team Schedules for Fantasy Playoffs - Are you stuck between two players - and do you believe you have a legitimate shot at making the fantasy playoffs? If you need a tie-breaker between two guys in the mid-to-late rounds, take a look at each team's opponents for when the fantasy playoffs would be. If your assessment of your team being playoff-worthy is correct, then you can capitalize on the matchups that will take place during the playoffs. Granted, you can't always project how certain teams will do (last year, over half of the league had a shift in wins of 3 or more). But if you have a general idea of how a team will do, then you may have a leg up when the fantasy playoffs roll around and you have great matchups ahead of you.

3. Kicker in the Last Rounds - Unless you're in a league that heavily emphasizes kickers (and if you are, you probably shouldn't be in the league), then you should really save your kicker pick for one of the last two rounds. If you're the type to draft a backup kicker, then I don't know what to say for you, other than "Thank you for being in my league, you moron". No one should ever have two kickers on their roster before the first week of the year. I may argue that you should never have two kickers ever, but some kickers on high volume scoring teams may be worth holding onto.

2. Promising rookie over aging veteran - As the late rounds of a league approach, you'll see people scrambling through their draft magazines or scanning their computers, looking for all the information they can gather on a couple of guys they are targeting. If you ask me (and of course you're asking me, since you're reading this crappy list), I'll almost always choose a promising rookie (or young guy with upside) over a veteran whose stats are fairly predictable. The thing with a promising rookie that works in your favor is that there really is no known ceiling for them, whereas guys who have been in the league 10 years who maxed out at about 1000 yards many years ago have a very limited ceiling when it comes to point production. Give me the rookie in those late rounds. In fantasy football, the unknown is the way to go.

1. Know your league settings - Does your league give you points for every reception (and how much?) Does your league give bonuses for certain levels of performance, like 300+ yards passing or 150+ yards rushing? Knowing these settings can go a long way in determining your draft strategy. If for some reason you're in a league that de-emphasizes passing touchdowns, you may be less likely to draft Drew Brees or Tom Brady with your first pick and instead go for a wide receiver. Before you draft, make sure you know how the point system works so you don't end up drafting a position that ends up being less valuable based on league settings.

Replacements: Ref, Dumb and Blind

If the replacement refs are as bad as the movie "The Replacements", we're in for a long season. I never saw the movie, but Keanu Reeves being in it told me everything I need to know.

Replacement referees - It's the topic that I haven't heard much buzz about from football fans who can't wait for their team's schedule to start in September. It's starting to get talked about a little bit, but soon enough, I expect to hear many a fan complain about the awful officiating, even more so than normal. Many of the football writers that I follow on Twitter have been talking about this topic for some time, but I feel like the general public has no idea what they are in for.

While I refuse to watch preseason football willingly for fear that I may contract a deadly virus (also might be tempted enough to bet it), I have read plenty of reaction on how bad some of these replacement referees have been so far.

Here are just some of the errors that have happened through one full preseason weekend:

(from SB Nation - a shot of where a ball was downed after a punt)

• This was called a touchback? I know referees can make mistakes from time to time. but this may take the cake: the ball (which came nowhere close to the end zone) is downed at the 4 yard line. Yet the referee in charge of making the call signaled for a touchback. With as blind as my grandma is, my guess is that even on her crappy TV, she would have cursed out the refs (assuming it happened against the Bears) and ironically made fun of his vision

• Holding for yourself. In the Giants' first game last week, their punt returner Jayron Hosley had a good day for himself, broke a few punts for decent yardage. Unfortunately, one of the returns got called back for a holding call. Yeah, it happens all the time. But normally (and by normally, I mean what the hell?) the holding call doesn't go against the returner himself. It'd make it a hell of a lot easier if a returner could hold for himself as he is weaving through special teams gunners. I know that sometimes they get the number wrong on the player who committed the penalty. I'm just not sure how, out of all the numbers, you'd select the returner - one of the penalties that is impossible for him to commit. A great quote from Victor Cruz concerning the refs (from NBCsports.com):

"I'm a little concerned because we want to get the best referees that we can. I actually overheard one of the refs saying he only refereed glorified high school games, which I don't even know what that means" 

• Can somebody spot me? In the Monday Night game featuring the Cowboys and the Raiders, Tony Romo actually helped a referee spot a ball.
  
• Arizona, Atlanta...same thing. Baltimore faced Atlanta in the Georgia Dome last week, or was it Arizona? Apparently, one of the replacement refs (Craig Ochoa) called Atlanta by one of its ornithological counterparts' city. Not sure how you get Arizona and Atlanta mixed up. Doesn't seem like the type of mistake a normal ref would make.
  

Some people think hiring a woman as a replacement ref was a ploy by NFL to distract from the topic at hand. A real statement would be hiring a woman as an actual referee when the ref lockout is over.

These are just some of the mistakes I came across when googling replacement referee mistakes. They may not seem like much, and I imagine some of these refs will get better as the preseason progresses. But does the NFL really want to take a chance with its integrity by letting a bunch of guys who haven't reffed any level of football beyond "glorified high school" games?

How often do you hear a player say about a ref, "I'm going to shake his hand and say, 'Thank you for coming back'"? That's exactly what Victor Cruz said he will say to the real refs when they come back.

Many of us like to complain about the referees and how bad they are. Sometimes the refs are bad, but overall, I think that very few of them have an agenda, especially against YOUR team (despite your lobbying otherwise). However, for as much as you thought you complained about the referees who have reffed in the NFL for decades, imagine how it will be when a referee group assembled of Division III refs, retired officials brought back to work, and high school refs are officiating the games when they count - these complaints will get louder and they will be more frequent.

This could be an ugly season if the replacement referees are here all year.

B List - A Reflection of "The Road Trip", 10 years later (List 13)

Some of the ticket stubs from "The Road Trip"

Ten years ago.

Three skinny dudes.

12 baseball stadiums.

Two countries.

$1200 hard earned dollars pushing carts and bagging old people's groceries spent.

Enough numbers and sentence fragments for ya? Hopefully it should be. My trip with two gentlemen - we'll call them "Kudla" and "Luzzo" - was no doubt one of those life stories that I'll always be able to tell. From the early moments of walking through Detroit at night back to our car parked miles away (thanks "Kudla") to "Luzzo" doing all he could to chase down the Philly Phanatic and everything else, they are memories that will never sour in my mind.

Sure, there's probably a few stories here and there that I forgot that the other two might remember. I have a tendency to remember the strangest things, like being able to recall what "Kudla"'s idle status used to be on AIM when hearing the Aerosmith lyric, "Get up and go. Must have got up and went.", while forgetting the things I should have always remembered.

I was going to compile a list of my favorite stadiums, but I didn't really take good mental notes on stadium looks, amenities, and all that other jazz that goes into making good judgments on that sort of list.

Instead, I'll compile a list of 7 moments that I can recall (without looking at my journal of the trip) that stick out as the moments of the trip.

Ticket stub that Kenny Lofton signed for me.

7. Kenny Lofton autograph - With each game we went to, our intention was to get there early enough to catch batting practice, take a quick tour of the stadium, and perhaps meet some players. The first day of the trip featured the White Sox in Detroit. I happened to see Kenny Lofton talking to a guy who works at the park - appeared to be a friend of his - as I was walking around. I'm not, nor really haven't been since I was about 7 of 8, a guy who is screaming for an autograph. But I figured, first day of the trip, getting a White Sox player to autograph my ticket would be a cool memento. Lofton agreed to that as long as I would take a picture of him and the guy he was talking to. Sounded like a fair trade to me.

The balls we caught in batting practice in Pittsburgh. Kudla had to buy his baseball.

6. No Shirt, We Got Problems - Before we went to the Pirates games and saw a once-in-a-career performance by journeyman Adam Hyzdu (we saw him get 7 of his 63 career RBI in one game), we walked around the city of Pittsburgh to see what the city had to offer (as we did at all of the other cities). The temperature probably climbed into the 90s, basing off of the evening game time temperature (according to baseball-reference of the July 20, 2002 game) of 87 degrees. This rise in temperature caused some of us (hint: his name rhymes with Muzzo) to take their shirts off, leaving the others not wanting to walk within twenty feet of this said individual. And keep in mind, this is when we were in somewhat normal shape. Now? Yikes, couldn't imagine us doing that. I believe he kept trying to get us to high-five him, but we didn't. Maybe I'm not remembering that last part right, but I'm fairly sure of the avoiding shirtless Muzzo part.

One of many mascots that Luzzo stalked met.

5. The 45-minute tour of Cooperstown - Out of our 12 days on the road, we had only one day off. This day off was no ordinary day off of course. We were on our way from Montreal, and after we crossed the northern border of New York, our plan was to spend many hours at baseball's ultimate museum in Cooperstown, the site of Baseball's Hall of Fame. The only problem was - we couldn't find the damn small state or rural route that took us there. I remember hearing from someone before the trip that the road was hard to find, but I didn't think three morons would have a problem finding it. How wrong I was. After hours of just looking for the road that took us there, we finally found it and got to the museum an hour before it closed. Fast-walking through Cooperstown was not what we had in mind, but it was our only choice. I'm thinking GPS would help if we were to make another trip there, but knowing us, we may be able to find a way to screw it up.

4. First Legal Beer - The third game of our trip brought us to my first out-of-country experience, unless you'd like to refer to Canada as America, Jr. or America's Hat. And as any 19-year old who just started drinking a few beers at college would know, Canada allows kids that age to enjoy a cold alcoholic beverage. I can always say that my first ever "legal" beer was a Molson at the Skydome in Toronto. I don't remember what it tasted like, but I'm pretty sure it tasted like crap. Showing my "Under 21" American ID to get a beer empowered me for once. We saw Chris Carpenter as a Blue Jay throw a gem against the Red Sox, but that's not what I remember the game for - it was my first beers. Our ride across the country to Montreal, I believe I was passed out in the back seat of the van (or as drunk people call it, time travelling), all screwed up from the 5 (yes, only 5) beers that I had that day. Which brings me to my next story....

The road trippers at what used to be a MLB stadium in Montreal

3. Hotel Le Rivage & Porn in the Morn - One of the things we did when booking our road trip was say that we were booking a room for two to save a couple bucks at each stay. When we arrived at the Montreal hotel we booked months earlier, I was the one who stayed in the car while Luzzo and Kudla checked us into our hotel. In this moment, I think I missed the moment of the trip. You see, this was before the days of using the Internet to Google hotels and see reviews of a hotel and everything about it. Turns out, we had booked a room at a sex hotel. When the boys came back to the car to get our belongings to bring back to the room, I saw a look on their faces that told me that I had missed something hilarious beyond belief. I'm thinking the person who confirmed our reservation looked at them two laughed and said, "You're kidding, right? You're the ugliest gay couple we've ever seen", except in French.

Sure enough, the room had mirrors through the room (on basically every wall, including the ceiling), although based on a quick Google search of ratings for the hotel, we apparently missed the chance to have a room with a stripper pole. Damn you, Hotel Le Rivage. Anywho, aside from all the mirrors that none of us (that I know of) took full advantage of, one of the best part of the room was the sticker on the TV that told us what channel the porn was on. And since it was in the morning that I noticed this, it inspired me to come up with the term "Porn in the Morn". It got a good laugh then, and I thought it may have to do with us being so young. Nope - it had to do with us being guys, because I still find it to be a great term.

Luckily, this was as close as we were to being mauled in Detroit.

2. Walking in Detroit - The first day of the trip had neared its end. We had seen the White Sox beat down the Tigers and were thinking about our next stop in Cleveland, hoping the trip would continue down this path of awesomeness. Instead of taking the path back to our car the same way we did before (on the safe and reliable Monorail), we decided to walk back to our car, which I believe was over a mile away. Aside from being known as a safe city to walk in at night (my fingers love typing that sarcastic garbage), Detroit offers no reason for three skinny white boys to make an unnecessary adventure back to their car. I rank this number 2, because besides surviving a shitty situation, we didn't have a worry-free walk back. Almost a few blocks away from the park, we have somebody start following us and talking to us, asking us for money. He kept following us despite our insistence that we had no money on us. A police siren in the distance had our follower state, "Oh shit, was that the po-lice?" That comforted us the way a diet brownie comforts Roseanne. As we kept walking, the guy darted off to the other side of the street to say what's up to someone we knew, and we breathed a sigh of relief. We forgot we had a rest of the trip to worry about during this moment. Cleveland was next - another busy day awaited. Once we lived that day out, we had my #1 experience of the trip. The type of moment that you'd see in just about any cliched Hollywood movie about road trips.

One of the last times we smiled together between Cleveland & Buffalo

1. ...in a Van down by the Wal-Mart (or was it a K-Mart?) - The second night drive of our trip was from Cleveland to Buffalo, NY. We had to leave the extra-inning Indians/Yankees game early in order to make sure our car did not get locked in the garage we parked it in. This was one of my longest drives of the trip (I left the driving mostly to Kudla and Luzzo since I preferred to be a spectator). As we approach Buffalo in the wee hours of the morning, we get to our hotel, only to find out that we were too late to check into the hotel (despite having a room booked). On edge at this point, we have no idea where we're going to sleep. It's about 3 or 4am local time, and Luzzo is annoying the living piss out of me. He's telling me how to drive, where to turn - to be honest, I forgot everything that annoyed me about what he said or what he actually said. I just remember being pissed off beyond belief. We decide that we're gonna sleep in the van for the night. We found the Wal-Mart parking lot and called it our hotel for the night (pretty sure his directions to this Wal-Mart are what got me pissed off). I don't recall how many hours (if any) I slept that night. All I know is, we spent a night of our wonderful road trip in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Unfortunately, the picture that was taken of me giving the portable camera the finger went missing somewhere along the trip. We did our cleaning for the next day's travels in the Wal-Mart bathroom. To be honest, as I write this, I forgot if it was a Wal-Mart or a K-Mart. I guess it doesn't matter. I remember this part of the trip not for the name of the store whose parking lot we bunked at, but for the great moment that it produced.

As with almost any and all road trips, it's the unscripted, unplanned moments that always end up topping our memory banks once the trip is done. And this trip was no exception.

I'm glad we did this road trip, because not only was it a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we all knew at the time was once-in-a-lifetime (whether we admitted it or not was another story). The best part of the trip was that it created a lifetime bond for three guys, who at the time had barely known each other for more than a year or two.

Olympic Gold Standard: If You're Not First, You Might As Well Be Last

Is it possible to say an athlete in the Olympics did well without winning the gold? Is it possible for an Olympian to feel accomplished if he finished behind three other sprinters?

I know he's a douche - look at that grill, but I still think Lochte (and others) get too harsh of treatment when they don't win gold medals. Part of it is their fault, but part of it is our unreasonable expectations as fans.

So much is made (by media and athletes alike) about winning the gold that we start to think that anyone who fails in this pursuit is a failure.

The group of American athletes that comes to mind includes Ryan Lochte (swimmer), Lolo Jones (sprinter) and Tyson Gay (sprinter), although the latter probably had a rough idea that he, along with the rest of the competitors, were competing for second before the race began. That's what the presence of Usain Bolt will do.

What could prompt people, especially those of us who can't walk to the fridge 10 meters away without being out of breath, to say that folks who finish out of the gold position are somehow disappointments? Here's a few reasons I could come up with:

Pre-Olympics Marketing

Critique him for his douche look, not his 2nd/3rd place finishes.

Before the Olympics began, who were some of the most talked-about athletes on the American side? Who was featured on magazine covers, advertisements and appeared on talk-shows in hopes of giving themselves more visibility to the public and future potential sponsors?

Before the 2012 Olympics, I bet most of us had failed to hear who Lochte and Jones were. There's a chance you may have heard of Lochte, who set a world record in the backstroke in Beijing 2008 and also participated in three medal-winning relay teams at that Games. There's a good chance the only guy you remember from the 2008 team is Phelps, and understandably so. That's what being the best at your sport will do.

She's compared to Kournikova, but Lolo has shown her talents more.

Lolo also competed in 2008, finishing 7th in the 100m hurdles. Her name has risen quite a bit since then, posing semi-nude on an ESPN magazine cover, and on the heels of Tebowmania, recently stated in an interview that she is the 30 year old virgin.

Both Lolo and Lochte marketed themselves well before the Olympics. This made them more recognizable and fresh in mind to American viewers, which at the same time raised their expectations. It also made them more vulnerable to criticism should they not live up to the high expectations that media (and even the athletes themselves) have put on them. Out of the reasons for the backlash when there's no gold, I find this marketing to be the biggest problem. When the athletes talk the talk before they walk the walk (bad cliche alert) and then their walk doesn't match the talk, then the bloodhounds among us come out and say these athletes choked.

I can't blame these athletes for marketing themselves as much as they do, especially in sports that are only mainstream for 2 out of every 208 weeks. It's their time to maximize their wealth, and success in the events they are competing in are not guaranteed by any means (See: Dan vs. Dave commercials in 1992). It's amazing that Michael Phelps was able to stay in the marketing spotlight long after Athens, thanks to his endorsement with Subway. Although it did help that he won all those gold medals in 2008 - I doubt Subway commits to a long-term campaign to a guy who doesn't win any golds, especially with swimming out of season anytime outside of the Olympics. If you don't win at the Olympics, your overall marketing wealth goes down, so the pre-Olympic marketing makes perfect sense.

We Expect To Be The Best

Whether it comes to a 100m backstroke in the pool or a competitive hot-dog eating contest, We America expect and demand victory. I'm sure other countries (such as China) have similar expectations with just about every event that they enter, but for the purposes of this blog, I'll stick with the Amurrrrican view point.

Ok, we get it. You're a giant douche.

When we see one of our own fail to win gold, we look at it as a failure. Ryan Lochte may have won five medals in the six events he participated in, but only won two golds, neither of which occurred in an individual event. Perhaps he set the bar high for himself with previous performance, perhaps it had something to do with the way he was marketed beforehand, thus raising his expectations. Most folks would be thrilled to have won 5 medals of any color, but I've read a lot of stories saying his Olympics was a disappointment.

On the other end, Lolo Jones improved on her showing in the last Games but still finished one out of the medal, losing to teammates Dawn Harper (silver) and Kellie Wells (bronze) in the process. Harper and Wells seemed to take an unusual pride in besting Jones despite neither of them winning gold in the event.. They have basically admitted that they were jealous of all the attention that Jones has received. I've even heard of a Lolo comparison to Anna Kournikova - all looks, no talent.

She finished fourth IN THE WORLD in the 100m women's hurdles. That's not a lack of talent. It's actually immense talent that happened to be facing a few others whose talents shined a little more on this particular day at this particular race. Since she didn't win gold, people actually thinks she was a over-hyped marketing campaign. After all, they don't put fourth place people on Wheaties boxes.

Disappointed, but being the 4th best in the world at something ain't that bad.

It's this expectation to win that prevents both the athlete and the fan from getting to enjoy an excellent athlete at his or her craft against the world's best. Have you seen some of these athletes after they actually do accomplish their goal of winning gold? Sure, there's the occasional Gabby Douglas, who hasn't been able to stop smiling since winning the gold in the individual gymnastics competition. Overall though, not enough people seem to enjoy winning the gold - like it's an expected, God-given occurrence.

Underrate Others' Athletes, Overrate Our Own

Going along with expecting our athletes to be the best, in many cases, many America supporters actually do believe that our athletes are the best. While the number of medals we win at each Olympics lends some support to this belief, there are many times where we underestimate our opponent, or at the very least, we (the fan) ignore him or her.

In these sports where our top-ranked athletes like Lochte are expected to win, there's almost always one or two athletes from other counties that have a chance at the gold. When Lochte didn't win the gold in any of his individual events, we were quick to say he choked (or pulled a LeBron circa 2011). I say, we just under-estimate our opponents too often. I'd say some of this under-estimation is the slant of news that we get - heavy dose of American athletes, with very few non-Americans getting the spotlight on the Olympic coverage on NBC and its affiliates.

It's understandable that NBC would do this - as with everything in life, we like to root for our own: our own country, our own team, our own family, etc. Coverage that balanced American athletes with international athletes would not be as well-received and would lose NBC some ratings. We'd rather see an average (by Olympic standards) American athlete compete than the international equivalent or even just slightly better.

How often do you watch the Olympics where they will show the anthem of America when they win the gold? Now how often do you see them play the Canadian or Chinese national anthem? Would we even recognize their national anthems?

Maybe you like holding USA to a higher standard when it comes to the Olympics, and I'm fine with that. Just don't think it's gonna be easy, and don't think we're going to win every event we compete in. And when we lose, we should try showing a little class to these athletes and respect their skill and effort as well as the skill and effort of our opponents.

B List: We Need Fat Guys in the Olympics (List 12)

We're a week into the 2012 Summer Olympics, and I've enjoyed some of the action that's gone on so far. One of my favorite parts of the Games is watching how certain athletes react to getting silver and bronze medals - the less excited they are, the more likely they had astronomical expectations placed on them to win gold. I honestly think you should be able to appreciate any medal that you get, but then again, I'm not the one dedicating my life to these sports in hopes of winning a gold medal.

On a lighter, more comical note, I wonder if I'm the only one watching the Olympics and wondering what it would be like to watch fat guys do some of these events. Could you imagine a guy like Chris Farley doing parallel bars or trying to run the 100 meter dash?

Here's my list (a day late) of the Olympic sports I'd like to see fat guys compete in, a Fat Olympics if you will:

Disclaimer: I consider myself a fat guy, so it's okay for me to make fun of my own. In many of these sports below, I picture myself in these sports and just laugh.

7. Table Tennis - With the small size of the table, ball and paddle, you can't tell me that wouldn't be fun to watch. I keep thinking of the scene in Forrest Gump when he goes to China to play and how fast the game played. A game that plays fast with small equipment, how could you not be entertained by this? I am all for watching chubby folks battle it out on the table.



6. Canoe/Kayak Slalom - I'd like this event if only to say the line "Fat Guy, Little Boat". I hope Tommy Boy fans can appreciate that one. If you've never seen canoe/kayak slalom, it's basically trying to canoe through rapids, except it's a controlled environment. They have so many designated stations to maneuver in and out of, with penalties assessed if you don't go through the stations the right way. The skinny folks who compete in the events look like they could have a tough time squeezing into the kayak. I may be just as amused trying to watch someone like myself getting into the kayak as I would be watching myself desperately trying not to tip over into the rapids throughout the course, which takes Olympic folks about 100 seconds to complete but could take us big boned people a little longer.

5. Synchronized Diving - Imagine the years and years of training that two people have to do together to coordinate their Olympic-style dives. Same body type, using the same form as they jump at the same time from dozens of feet above the water. Now imagine that these two people are heavier - fat people that have to coordinate their body types and make the same exact dives in hopes of winning the Olympic gold. As you can see based on the picture on the right, it's hard enough trying to coordinate the same look as you ride motorcycles together (although it does help to be twins).  Imagine the diving version of this - two fat guys in swimming suits, doing the same twists, turns and flips as they descend in the Olympic-size pool that has no idea the hurting it is in for.

Imagine an Olympic sport with THIS GUY as an "athlete"

4. Beach Volleyball - Many of us have been to the beach where we see people who are just a little too proud of their body types. I am all for self-confidence in your body no matter its appearance, but beaches were not made for equal clothing rights. That's why beach volleyball would be a great sport to watch fat guys compete in. Think of the fattest guy you've ever seen without his shirt on. Now imagine him competing in the Olympics, attempting to use their two-inch vertical jump to spike a ball through the hands of an opponent who is hypnotized by the lava lamp movement of the spiker's "6 pack". That would be pure gold, and yes, that was a terrible Olympic pun.

3. Pole Vault - A pole that is meant to bend: meet a fat guy who bends just about every piece of silverware he uses. In the Olympics, the world record for the pole vault is over 6 meters (which is roughly 18 feet). Imagine a fat guy taking a running approach with this fiberglass pole and trying to launch himself over a pole that high. It's hard enough just imagining a fat guy running. More so than an actual track and field race, I'd prefer to see fat guys do the pole vault out of all track and field events. To see the stress that the pole would be under during this process would be worth the price of admission. To see the pole break would be even more amazing.


2. Trampoline - I wonder how many of you even knew that trampoline was a sport in the Olympics. If I need to go in depth on why this is funny, then I don't have the friends that I thought I had. Much like the pole in the pole vault, I would be intrigued at how well the Olympic-sized trampoline would hold fat guys trying to do acrobatics. If it's anything resembling this guy trying to dunk a basketball on a trampoline, then I may have to launch this to the top of the list of potential Fat Guy Olympic events.

1. Gymnastics - This sport would have all of the elements that we'd love to see together when it comes to fat guys and Olympic events - Tight clothes, balance beams and uneven bars, all trying to survive the stress of the fat guys who will be wearing them, trying to stand on without breaking, and attempting to swing back and forth between.


I apologize to anyone who can't find the humor in this list. But it's a proven fact - fat equals funny. And I believe the Fat Olympics would be a great concept that would warm the hearts of Americans, whose clogged arteries from the decades of Big Mac and Whopper consumption could one day dream of competing in the many events that the Fat Olympics would have to offer. Plus, you know the medal winners would smell the medals in the slightest hope that they were made out of chocolate.