Sports Columns
SOMEWHERE IN TIME BETWEEN QIN AND MING DYNASTIES — I blogged from the Great Wall on Thursday, sent the text via BlackBerry and stood beside the structure that is more than 2,000 years old in some places while watching people order Starbucks.
Racing critics tend to speak in broad negative strokes. Such as, the handicap division stinks behind Horse of the Year Curlin. Or the 3-year-old division is terrible other than Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown.
There is a certain race for Olympic supremacy here that has become more foregone conclusion than Jamaican sprinters being faster than your next thought. China might not dive away from these Games owning the most medals, but the United States is going to need six or seven extra basketball teams and a few more in softball to be in the same neighborhood when it comes to the shiny gold ones.
The marathon, gymnastics, springboard diving, the 100-meter dash, the discus (one of my personal favorites) and even beach volleyball are easily recognizable as Olympic sports. And my guess is that in the past two weeks, many of you have been burning the midnight oil to catch as much of the Beijing Games as possible.