Askren's Olympic run ends

To my knowledge, Linas Kleiza--who has been starring on the Lithuanian basketball team, is the only olympian left with any Mizzou connections. Lithuania will play China at 3:45 am (central standard time) this morning in an elimination game. With a win Lithuania will guarantee themselves the opportunity to play for a medal.

Now that Askren's run is over I have to get a few things off my chest abo

ut him. First off, I really admire his athletic abilities and everything he's done for the school and program. I really don't care all that much about Mizzou wrestling but I realize Ben's a once in a lifetime kind of athlete. 

And enough already with the whole, "I'm cocky and don't care if you like it or not" schtick. I hardly ever have problems with athletes being cocky if they can back it up. I'd have to say that Chase Daniel comes off as a little cocky to me. Michigan's Fab Five is probably my favorite non-Mizzou college team of all-time. But with Askren, it all just seems so rehearsed. We get it, man. You think you're better at wrestling than anybody and you don't care if that rubs people the wrong way. Not that many people really care that much about college wrestling to get rubbed the wrong way in the first place. It was this quote from the Tribune that really set me off:

"It’s more important to be me than to be loved by everyone," Askren said. "Of course I could say the politically correct things everybody wants to hear, but, A, that would not be true to myself, and, B, that would be boring. I don’t want to be either of those things."

"People are too scared to break the mold of society. I’m not worried about pissing people off."

Too scared to break the mold of society? That sounds like a classic quote from a guy trying to sound smarter than he actually is. I get the feeling that if I would've gone to high school with Ben he would have had a small group of friends (also tools) who were always around him to laugh at his lame jokes while the rest of the school--jocks, preps, goths, geeks, etc., would be united in their loathing of him. I could see him and his friends being just like Roger Klotz's gang from the classic Nickelodeon cartoon show "Doug."

I don't mean to kick Ben while he's down after falling short of his goal of winning a gold medal. His performance in Beijing has nothing to do with it. I've been feeling this way for quite some time. I've got mad respect for the guy as a wrestler. I just don't think I'd want to sit and watch a game with him at a sports bar.

But if he ever decides to join the WWE like I've suggested in the past, I will promise to never refer to him as a tool again. He has my word.