Just Jerome

THE OLYMPICS

This year’s Olympic Games have been dominated by the greatness of U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps. When you turn on the television to watch the games, you rarely go long without hearing about or seeing him.

Phelps has received a lot of recognition for his accomplishments, and he has earned every bit of it. He competed in eight events, won eight gold medals and set seven world records. He broke Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in an Olympic Games. He also set a record with 14 career gold medals. That is impressive, but there was one Olympic athlete who impressed me more.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt introduced himself as the world’s fastest man by winning the 100- and the 200-meter dash. He not only won these races, but he did so in world-record fashion. Bolt broke his own 100-meter record he set a few weeks ago. He broke former USA sprinter Michael Johnson’s 200-meter record which Johnson set in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Bolt also was part of the Jamaican 4×100-meter team that won gold and set a world record in the event. So, for Bolt, that’s three events, three gold medals and three world records-not bad.

Bolt impressed me more because of the sheer dominance he showed in his races. I know people will point to how dominant Phelps was in swimming, but there was just something different with Bolt.

In the 100- and 200-meter finals, Bolt blew away the competition. There was no one close to him. In the 100-meter final, he actually stopped running hard before the race was over. He could have set the record even lower than he did.

As much as I liked watching Phelps swim, it did not compare to watching Bolt run.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

There are two things I hate about college football. First of all, I hate the preseason polls. Why rank teams that haven’t played a game? Why take a team’s previous season and factor it into how you rank them the next? It makes no sense to me.

Why not rank the teams after the season is about five or six weeks old? The preseason polls only make it harder for the teams ranked near the bottom of the Top 25 to compete for the championship. If you don’t believe me, ask Jason Campbell, Ronnie Brown, Carnell “Cadillac” Williams and the rest of the 2004 Auburn Tigers, who went undefeated and were kept out of the title game. The Tigers started the 2004 season ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press Poll. They ran the table and did not make the championship game, because Southern Cal and Oklahoma both went undefeated and started No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. So, three teams go undefeated and one gets locked out, because they started out lower in the rankings.

The other thing I hate about college football is there’s no playoff system. I think that a four-to-eight-team playoff is not too much. I would feel better about the champion, especially when there are seasons where a number of teams have the same number of losses. It would also give teams in a non-BCS conference the chance to get to the title game. Every other sport does a playoff, why does college football have to be different?

A playoff gives teams a better shot at getting to the title game. It seems the only way to get to the title game is to go undefeated in a BCS conference. If that doesn’t happen, getting to the title game is a crapshoot. Last year, for instance, most people agreed Georgia and Southern Cal were playing the best and wanted to see them in the title game. Instead, we ended up watching LSU dismantle Ohio State for the title. Although LSU won, people wondered if Georgia or Southern Cal’s team was better. With a playoff, this debate could have been solved.

As much as I hate the preseason polls and having no playoff, I will still watch, because I love college football. I can’t help it, the games are too addicting. Go ‘Canes.