A great story came out of the Olympics yesterday.  Unfortunately it hasn't gotten nearly the amount of play that Michelle Kwan's withdrawl or Bode Miller's failure to medal have.

U.S. speedskater Joey Cheek won gold in the 500m event.  While the win was impressive, it wasn't the biggest story.  At the post-race press conference, Cheek announced he would be donating the entire $25,000 bonus he would receive from the U.S. Olympic Committee to Right to Play, a non-profit organization founded by former speedskating champion Johan Olav Koss that seeks to help children throughout the world through sports.  Cheek specifically requested that the money go to sponsor work in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan and called on corporate sponsors to match the gift. 

Cheek explained, "If I retired yesterday, I'd have gotten everything in the world from speedskating and from competing in the Olympics. So for me, to walk away today with the gold medal is just amazing. And the best way I can say thanks that I can think of is to try and help somebody else."

And with that Cheek personified what the Olympics are supposed to be about.

According to the AP, the new ESPN Monday Night Football crew will be Joe Theismann, Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser.  Yes folks, you heard that correctly, Tony Kornheiser.

Tirico did an excellent job filling in for Mike Patrick early on this season, while he recuperated from ehart surgery, and should be a welcome addition to the booth, but Kornheiser?!?!?!

This is going to be interesting.  Part of me says this could rival the Dennis Miller experiment for biggest booth debacle of all time, and part of me thinks it could be brilliant.  We shall see.

Either way, I will miss hearing Theismann and Paul Maguire kibbitz like old ladies.

Thoughts?  Will this be a bust or a boon for ESPN?

The TV ratings are in for Sunday's Super Bowl.  Interestingly, for a game the vast majority of people on this site said they had no interest in watching because Indy and/or New England was not in it, it scored the biggest ratings in 10 years -- nearly 91 million viewers, that's 5% more than last year's audience.  In fact, it's the second-most watched program of any kind in the last 10 years behind Super Bowl XXX, where the Cowboys beat the Steelers in front of a television audience of 94.1 million.  Seems the Steelers may in fact have a case for being America's team.

Let's take it from the top:

Condi Rice on ESPN pre-game show -- I would just love to see her dress down a bit.  Who wears a suit to a football game?  I saw her at a U2 show this fall, same thing.  Loosen up.  You've got style, use it. 

Opening montage -- Ummm, why is Harrison Ford reciting Dr. Seuess?  And furthermore, why does he look like a pirate?  And WHY, when they started the really cool Road to Forty ads with Don Cheadle this season, did they not finish with an opening montage based on that?

National anthem -- Why is Aaron Neville there?  Just let Aretha in her chinchilla coat belt the hell out of the song.  Neville's talent was completely wasted.

MVP introductions -- Tom Brady, what were you thinking with that jacket?!?!?!  Velvet is for little girls under the age of 10 and drunken secretaries at the office Christmas party. 

Coin toss -- Note the absence of Bettis.  No way Cowher was going to let him mess that up again.

Burger King commerical -- What the ..?

80,000 beer commercials -- Why do they all suck?

Half-time show -- Men should never wear sequins.  Especially 65-year-old men.  Same goes for spandex pants.  Did anyone find this entertaining?  Even Charlie Watts looks embarassed to be there.

MI-3 movie trailer -- Suprisingly, I find myself wanting to see this.  I hate Tom Cruise but I'll watch Phillip Seymour Hoffman in anything.

The game itself -- I was actually finding it hard to concentrate on the game.  Too busy making sure my husband wasn't puking or alternately passing out from the stress of watching the Steelers largely play like crap but maintain a lead.

I have to admit that the NGS judges' first assignment this week rubbed me the wrong way.  And I was surprised after reading the finalists' submissions that no one else seemed to feel the same.  See, the notion of one team "deserving" to win a game in any sport, let alone the Super Bowl, strikes me as ridiculous.

The beauty of sports is that winner is decided on the field.  Two teams or competitors duke it out for an allotted period of time, and, in the end, one emerges victorious.  Each team is provided the same opportunity to prove itself - the same rules apply, hence the term, "level playing field."

Sure some things might not be completely even - a key player may be injured, calls may get blown, etc. - but that's the way life is.  We all have different levels of skill and ability and obstacles that we must overcome to succeed, and so do athletic teams. 

The team that "deserves" to win is the one that puts it together on the field in the course of competition.  Each game is a clean slate.  It doesn't matter what you did last week, or the week before, or 10 games ago.  It doesn't matter whose home town the game is played in or whose fans are rowdier.  What matters is how, at that precise moment, each team plays.  Worthiness is decided on the field. 

To paraphrase Kirsten Dunst in what is possibly my favorite guilty pleasure movie, you've got to bring it.  The person or team that does "deserves" to win, plain and simple.