"Eat, sleep, and swim!"

Given my interest in all things sport, my viewing of the 2008 Summer Olympics thus far has been sporadic and lazy, mostly because I just wasn't that excited about the Summer Games. The reasons for my lack of enthusiasm are multifaceted and range from the impact that globalism has had on my view of nationalism/patriotism to the fact that I tend to be a bit of a contrarian in the face of something carrying mass appeal and thus can often be a sourpuss and overall lame-o. That said, however, I now find myself totally into the Beijing Olympics.

And why? One guy: Michael Phelps. But not because I was rooting for him. I was actually rooting against Phelps as he swam in the 400 IM finals tonight. "Ah ha," I thought, "prime time...NBC...first night of the Olympics...now is the perfect time for Phelps' demise!" It's not that I had anything against him per se; I was just getting tired of the bombardment of hype and media coverage and endorsement spots surrounding his seemingly inevitable quest to break Mark Spitz' record for gold medals won in a single Olympic Games (seven). Plus, it was almost a more interesting story to me if Phelps were to somehow not break the record, given that his doing so was a foregone conclusion.

Well, my cantankerousness has been shed like water off a breaststrokers back and now I'm rooting for Phelps all the way. And how could I not? It's impossible to root against a guy so genuinely human and unpretentious. Granted, not that you can really know someone all that well from a brief pre-race story and post-race interview, but I was shocked to see and hear that Phelps was most unlike who I thought he'd be, namely some combination of the following:

1) Arrogant (in the stereotypical obnoxious American kind of way)
2) Corporate/scripted/personality-less (think: A-Rod)
3) Annoying with a kind of cool "I'm better than you and, yeah, I know it" air about him (like the person who acts as if they have something they don't actually possess and/or have yet to in fact earn)

...but he wasn't any of the three, which was as refreshing as it was surprising.

Reluctant as I was to really get into these Olympic games, I'm hooked. I'll admit it. The Olympic spirit has got a hold of me, and thanks to an athlete I least thought I'd root for.

Much more to come after Team USA faces off against China on the hardwood!