Sabbatical | Favrefan's Graveyard Blog

It seems as though one month out of three or so I take off. This one strongly correlates with my vacation-laden summer, but I just go through swoons on this site where I don't see any TD's of interest and have little to discuss in blogs. However, i have a handful of thoughts from the past month or so that I would just like to bullet:

- Michael Phelps is simply amazing. However, i don't know about greatest Olympian of all time. He is without question the greatest swimmer of all time, but it isn't fair to athletes like Carl Lewis or any variety of single-medal competitor (fencing, rowing, etc., etc., etc.) to call Phelps the best overall. He is in a sport that makes multiple medals possible. Tell me, what eight events could Carl Lewis have competed in?

- It's official, my beloved Yankees are toast. In fact, it's been official for a while. The finally couldn't rebound froma slow start. Bedeviled by age, injury, and apathy they will miss the playoffs for the first time since I was nine. I am optimistic about the future, but there finally need to be some major changes in the pinstripes if they hope to be a contender again.

- I cannot say how excited I am to be a Blazers fan. Literally everything has gone right this offseason. Jerryd Bayless proved he can score, Rudy Fernandez lit up team USA in a losing effort, Oden is in 5 on 5 contact drills and looking great. I am not stupid enough to predict a title or anything like that, but this is the brightest team I've seen in my time watching the NBA.

- Packers, Packers, Packers. I believe they made the right choice in sticking with Rogers, and he's looked capable in preseason. Still, if he posts 3100-20-15 and Favre goes 4000-30-15, you would have to wonder what if. Yes, the Packers should still be a playoff contender and yes, Rogers probably won't disappoint. But the Packers without Favre is just weird.

- I won't pretend to be an expert on gymnastic scoring, but I really don't think it was the judging that screwed team USA time and time again in Beijing. It was the system. The judges scored largely correctly according to the current system, but it places to much emphasis on start value and not enough on execution. How else can you explain a girl landing on her knees getting a medal over two well executed vaults? Furthermore, what's wrong with duplicate golds? They give them out in every other sport. Nastia Luikin should have had two golds.

- Though the absence of Tiger has left very few viewers, what Vijay Singh is doing to the FedEx Cup is nothing short of remarkable. He has all but locked it up already, as a 45 year old. I've never been a big fan of his, but i have to admire what he is able to accomplish.

- Shawn Johnson, for all of her talent, looks a lot like a character off of a "Wallace and Gromit" show.