{image1} The Olympics aren't the same as they were when I was a kid, when Cold War pride glued me to the TV every night watching sports that I had absolutely no interest in. That withstanding, I still find myself in front of the TV on a nightly basis, without the need to prove the superiority of our way of life.

Don't get me wrong, I am still on the edge of my seat willing Klete Keller to swim faster Tuesday night (and he did, out dueling the unbeatable Ian Thorpe).

This is exactly what the Olympics are all about. At no other time would I be watching a swimming meet. And there isn't another venue where finishing second is appreciated. The Buffalo Bills are not four-time silver medalists - they are looked upon as four-time losers.

I am an Olympics junkie, and even though most of the critics have bashed these Olympics for their lack of flare, meaning and spectators, I still can't pry myself away from a good handball match. Where else to you get to see sports like this?

Part of my love for the Olympics stems from being a complete sucker for competition laced with national pride. As great as the Masters are, it pales in comparison to the passion of the Ryder Cup.

Just ask the millions of loonies that follow World Cup soccer. Their passion stems more from their love for their country than it does for a sport the puts grown men to sleep. This type of enthusiasm even reels me into watching our newly top-10 ranked World Cup soccer team.

As much as I love the Olympics, they confuse me dearly. Some sports are so subjective, they seem predetermined. There seems to be less corruption in judging in professional boxing than in an Olympic event.

And some of the rules of these sports make little to no sense. While I don't have a clue about most of these games, logic should prevail most of the time. Yet all of these nuances have me watching CNBC for the first time ever at 12:30 a.m.

Some of the sports that have captured my attention include:

Gymnastics

Women's gymnastics is the bell cow event of the entire two-week period. Yet the stadium at which they were held was a ghost town. How many people are showing up for the archery events if they can't get people to pay to see what is listed on the marquis? This made the men's and women's team finals seem like they were a dress rehearsal.

Can you imagine Kerry Strug landing her vault in the 1996 Olympics to win the gold for the U.S. and only 15 people clapping? Would Bela Karolyi have carried her triumphantly to the medal stand if nobody were there to see it?

Also, how are some of these scores determined? Does it make any sense that one woman who completely stalls on the parallel bars, and then hits her feet on the other bar, gets a better score than the one that did her whole routine correctly?

I understand the answer to part of this question is degree of difficulty, but then why don't they post that stat before the routine. They could do something very similar to diving where they basically have a max score that they can get even if they do the dive perfectly.

This way we don't have to rely on the opinions of the annoying announcers Tim Dagget and Elfi Schlegel.

Trautwig: "Is a 9.4 fair, Alfee?"

Daggett: "Yes"

Elfi: "Yes, very fair."

That's it? That's all you got? I want to know why, or is nothing is fair in these types of competitions?

Water Polo

This sport absolutely boggles my mind. I have to tell myself that the players are not running on the floor of the pool - they are swimming the whole time. The game would be hard enough if they did just run in the pool. These players swim a marathon every game. Whose idea was this, and can it possibly be any fun to play?

Also there shouldn't be fouls in this game. There should be assaults and attempted murders. The idea around the goal is to basically drown the person that you are defending. This type of defense is considered physical play or the equivalent to a reach-in foul in basketball. You would get arrested for some of the things that happen under-water in a water polo game.

Beach Volleyball

I have been called chauvinistic before, so I am not scared to go down this path: Should these games be on network television or "Skinemax" after 9 p.m.? If you are male and not dead, how can you not tune into this event? If they had any better bodies dressed in any fewer clothes (not even mentioning how athletic these women are) ... well, I digress.

What makes it even better is that the U.S. has not only one of the hottest teams in the tourney, but also the best. What is more important is up to you.

Synchronized Diving

Diving isn't really that exciting in the first place, but does having two divers do the same dive and the same time make it that much better? Also, diving is another one of the sports where the judging is so ambiguous that they have nine judges and only take five scores (dropping the two highest and lowest). At least in diving they post the score so you can see which judge is crazy, unlike in gymnastics where everything is done in secret so as to not hurt any feelings.

Men's Soccer

How great was it to see the Iraqi faithful actually charging the field after their soccer team scored to cement a victory? They have won two out of the three games that they have played, but the most important thing is that they were allowed to participate in the first place. The Iraqi people are so excited that they look like the have been held in a cage for years. Oh, that's right, they have been. I guess that meaningless war that we are in has done some good, like giving freedom to millions of people.

There is one week left to get my fix of Olympic competition. There are so many sports that two weeks is not long enough to get to them all. Sports like fencing, badminton and trampoline are just a few that issue medals, but are unexplainable. How does one tell their parents they are a professional badminton player? Does he thank his Dad for buying the backyard badminton set when he was a child?

Anyway, even though there isn't an evil communist enemy to root against, the Olympics still keep me in my seat. Enjoy the athletic montage while it lasts.