Even with his flair, don't expect Bolt to ignite track

The difference: Why is it that the showboating and mugging for the TV cameras by Jamaica's Usain Bolt make for relatively amusing theater but the same antics by the NFL's Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens are annoying? Simple: Track is an individual sport; football isn't.

Perspective It would be nice to think Lightning Bolt can put a charge into track, especially in the U.S., but it's not going to happen. Two months ago, Bolt broke the 100-meter world record at Randalls Island in New York, and the feat went virtually unnoticed. That's the reality track returns to after Beijing folds up its tent.

But wait Jamaica dominated men's and women's sprints, but some are already casting doubt on the integrity of the country's out-of-competition drug testing. It wouldn't be track without deep suspicions and dark intrigue.

Sandy The past two weeks, beach volleyball has been more overexposed than the bikini-clad women's players. I wasn't sure if Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh were going for gold or previewing a new NBC primetime series.

Count 'em Katie Hoff, with her three swimming medals, and Michael Phelps, with his eight golds, call the same Baltimore suburb home. If Towson, Md., were a country, it would rank among the top 20 medal winners.

KO'd In case you wondered, U.S. boxers were shut out of gold medals. No surprise, really. U.S. Olympic boxing has been mostly irrelevant since 1988 - sort of like pro boxing.

Wondering For North Carolina Tar Heels and other hardcore fans with an allergic reaction to Duke, does the fact that Mike Krzyzewski is coaching Team USA (he even brought along his assistants) make it more difficult - or impossible - to root for America against Spain? School over country? Let's hope not.

TV timeout Bela Karolyi has been on NBC's Olympic set for comic relief, right? His warped American bias was embarrassing, and his rants only made sense as outtakes from a Borat movie.

Disorienting What kind of college football season can we expect when Wake Forest is ranked in the Associated Press preseason poll and Michigan and Notre Dame aren't?

Groundhog day Clemson is supposed to be the class of the ACC this season. So when do we start wondering, "What went wrong for Tommy Bowden's team?" Because something usually does.

Edgy That preseason No. 1 Georgia has had eight players arrested in 2008 isn't surprising to anyone who realizes that there's a direct correlation at the top of college food chain between on-field success and off-field ugliness. Following the college scene is like turning on ESPN and getting an episode of "Cops."

D.C. confidential I can't understand why it's taking so long for one of the presidential candidates to ask Michael Phelps to be his running mate.

Be like Gump Run, B.J., run!