Trindon Holliday Becomes The 2nd "Fastest Player In College Football"

Well, Trindon Holliday has had a great run(it's puntastic!) as the "Fastest Player in College Football". However, that title now belongs to University of Florida incoming freshman Jeff Demps who ran a national high school record time of 10.01 in the 100m dash quarterfinal on Saturday night.

Holliday ran a 10.09 in his round of the quarterfinals, and eventhough Demps' time wasn't as fast as Holliday's personal best, he did beat him while competing sort of head-to-head. So, right now it seems that Demps has a legit reason for being called the "Fastest Player in Colllege Football". He's slated to suit up as an all-purpose back for the Gators in the fall.

Please Don't Stare At The Disabled Olympians

As if Olympics organizers didn't have enough problems with the Tibetan protests and air pollution and such. It appears that someone didn't thoroughly proofread the volunteer guide to make sure that it didn't contain anything offensive. Instead, it left the printer with some colorful remarks regarding disabled athletes and spectators. Things like:

A section dedicated to the disabled said that "paralympic athletes and disabled spectators are a special group. They have unique personalities and ways of thinking."

And:

To handle the "Optically Disabled," the guide said: "Often the optically disabled are introverted. They have deep and implicit feelings and seldom show strong emotions. ... Remember, when you communicate with optically disabled people, try not to use the world 'blind' when you meet for the first time."

And:

On the "Physically Disabled," the guide said: "Physically disabled people are often mentally healthy. They show no differences in sensation, reaction, memorization and thinking mechanisms from other people, but they might have unusual personalities because of disfigurement and disability.

"For example, some physically disabled are isolated, unsocial and introspective; they usually do not volunteer to contact people. They can be stubborn and controlling; they may be sensitive and struggle with trust issues. Sometimes they are overly protective of themselves, especially when they are called 'crippled' or 'paralyzed.'"

And of course, wonderful advice about how not to joke with the disabled athletes:

The guide said volunteers should "not fuss or show unusual curiosity, and never stare at their disfigurement." It also advised volunteer to steer away from words like "cripple or lame, even if you are just joking."

Ah, the Olympics in Beijing. Who knew they would be so screwed up, yet entertaining.

Marion Jones Might Have To Sell Some Of Her Gold Medals

Back in 2000, female track star Marion Jones seemed to have it all. She won five(3 gold and 2 bronze) medals at the summer Olympics in Sydney, and had won numerous events and set a variety of records. She had reached a point where she was earning "between $70,000 and $80,000 a race, plus at least another $1 million from race bonuses and endorsement deals".

All that is gone now, as the Los Angeles Times discovered during a recent review of court documents. According to them, Jones is "down to a bank balance of about $2,000". That's a long way away from the Marion Jones who used to live near Michael Jordan in a $2.5 million home. That house was foreclosed on by Jones' bank, and she's also been forced to sell her mother's home in order to raise money for court judgments.

Having BALCO founder Victor Conte state that he personally gave her illegal performance enhancing drugs hasn't helped Jones. Neither did the counterfeit check scheme that she was allegedly involved in with her track coach Steven Riddick.

While it is sad to see someone who at one point had it all, fall so far. You can't help but feel that Jones brought it on herself because of her involvement with BALCO, Charlie Francis, and many signs that point to alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. Hopefully she can get everything in order before she's forced to sell one of her gold medals. Possibly one of the last things she has to remind her of what it was like to be on top.

No, Those Aren't Gymnasts Making Your 2008 Olympics Gear They're Child Laborers

The Olympics sure have been taking some hits over the past few months. The 2012 Olympics have been blasted over their seizure inducing logo, and now the 2008 Olympics are receiving heat because some of the licensed products being made for the event are coming from child laborers in south China.

Investigators said that they found four factories in south China, who have been contracted to produce Olympic merchandise, using child laborers as young as 12 years old, and forcing other workers to work long hours for less than minimum wage. The organizing committee in charge of the Olympics has threatened to cancel the contract of any factory found practicing unsafe labor conditions.

Surprisingly, I haven't heard too much of an uproar over this discovery. Personally, I think that's an indication of how much people don't really care that much about the Olympics anymore. Though, maybe it's because the Beijing games are still a year away.

If they really want to make sure nothing happens they should put Kathy Lee Gifford on the case. Though, Dave Chappelle would be a far better choice if they wanted to run those factories efficiently.

Isn't This That Olympic Logo That Causes Seizures?

Will at Deadspin covered the unveiling of the 2012 Summer Olympics logo, but I wanted to post a follow-up.

Apparently, some people have experienced epileptic seizures after viewing the logo.

"Epilepsy Action, a British health charity, said 10 people had complained about the animation and some had suffered seizures from watching images depicting a diver plunging into a pool.

The Olympic group said it has taken steps to remove the animation from the Web site and will now re-edit the film."

Ten people in three days(the report was released on the 7th)? That's a little more than three people per day, and seeing how we're still five years away from the start of these Olympics that could result in over 5,000 epileptic episodes before the Opening Ceremonies. Yeah, great job on choosing that logo Olympic organizers. Though, with the TV ratings trending downward maybe this is a ploy to boost ratings. You know, induce seizures so that you can't change the channel and keep the ratings up.

Somewhere, Homer Simpson is thrilled with this logo choice.