Am I the only one out there who couldn’t care less how many gold medals Michael Phelps wins?

Don’t get me wrong, I find it to be an amazing accomplishment, I really do.  He has now won more gold medals than ANYONE in Olympic history—congratulations, that’s just sick! The 4x100 relay was amazing, and I jumped out of my seat and cheered when they won that race. Bravo!

Then again…

I still think 600 home runs is a much bigger deal.  Or even Kobe’s 81 points in one game. That’s not even a record!

Is it because I’m a typical American who likes my baseball and football and can’t appreciate other sports such as cycling (yawn) and (gasp) swimming?

I think my problem with sports such as swimming is that I feel you need to have an opponent.  Yes Michael is racing against other top notch athletes, but there’s no one in that pool attempting to drown him. 

There’s no one sixty feet six inches away throwing him a straight change. 

There’s no one trying to get in his face to block his three pointers. 

There’s no one blitzing him from the corner position.

Am I just simply not appreciating this for what it is?  Is it like most American’s not appreciating Lance Armstrong’s amazing run of Tour de France wins?

Or is it exactly what I think it is; a guy who can swim really fast. 

And when you put it that way, there’s no wonder I’m more excited by preseason football.