I’m thinking it’s going to be another physical one out there with the United States getting an early lead but Ryan Miller can only be super-human for so long.

Canada should eventually breakthrough and the let the scoring commence. A good back and forth game would be nice but I certainly wouldn’t mind a one-sided Canada blowout.

I’m thinking the final score should be 4-3 Canada with Sid the Kid stepping up big time… you guys have predictions?

It has been said time and time again that Michael Phelps is a machine in the pool but this story shows a different side of Phelps. For all the medals he has won, for all the mistakes he might have made (yes he is only 23 years old), here is a great thing this man did for a family going through a real tough time. A great piece here by Alan Abrahamson of NBC Olympics.com:

It was late, after midnight, and a little boy lay asleep in his bed. Just 11 years old, he was a desperately sick boy. He did not, as it turned out, have many more days left to live.

It was late, and Michael Phelps’ plane had been delayed, and so by the time he got to Stevie Hansen’s bedroom, Stevie could not be roused. No matter. Michael sat there on Stevie’s bed, holding Stevie’s hand. Just talking, certain Stevie could hear him. For two hours. Maybe longer. No one remembers exactly.

The next morning, Stevie woke up and said to his mom, Betsy, “I wish I had woken up. But I know he was here.”

Betsy Hansen sighed and said, “He was so thrilled.”

A little more than a year has passed since that night, since Michael quietly paid tribute to the fighting spirit and the soulfulness of a little boy who, before cancer took over his body, had himself been a swimmer, too — a boy who dreamed of one day being like his idol, Michael.

“He was an inspiration to me,” Michael said Monday.

Michael Phelps is one of the greatest American athletes of his generation. At these Beijing Games, he won eight gold medals, the most ever at a single Olympics, topping the seven that Mark Spitz won in Munich in 1972.

His fame is staggering.

But it can be nearly impossible in our sound-bite culture to see Michael as he typically is away from the spotlight — the genuineness about him, the profound and fundamental decency.

To be sure, Michael is not perfect. He is not a saint. He is still but 23 years old. He has made mistakes, and acknowledged them.

But in the relationship he forged with Stevie Hansen, and as time went on with Stevie’s family, his parents Betsy and Steve and younger sister Grace, Michael’s uncommon decency could not have been more evident, more profound.

Here was a life lesson as a life was slipping away — what it means to be a real friend, and what real friends do for each other.

“He’s a very giving person,” Debbie Phelps, Michael’s mother, said. “He has always wanted to give back and make people happy and make them — give them a little piece of him, a piece of his heart. Because he has a great heart.”

Betsy Hansen said Michael “bravely came into our lives” when doing so meant “he was himself going to feel some pain,” adding, “It takes courage to embrace a family in that position. He did it.

“It wasn’t to better his image in the community or in the world. He just reached out to a little boy who thought, ‘You’re a really cool swimmer, I’ve always wanted to meet you.’ ”

Stevie was only 7 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, in October 2002.

Stevie was, even at that young, a promising age-group swimmer in Maryland, where Michael grew up and was training — the Athens Olympics were still almost two years away.

As a 6-year-old, Stevie was already not only swimming but winning awards.

The day before surgery, Michael came over. He brought a flag, some shirts, a poster. They shot hoops in the driveway. They talked — about how each of them loved junk food.

Michael sent balloons to the hospital. When Stevie woke up, his dad, Steve, recalls, he “just clutched the balloons, smiled and went back to sleep. It was like a lifeline: ‘Michael cares.’ ”

Over the next year, Stevie seemed to get better. That next summer, Michael sent Stevie a note saying he wanted to come watch Stevie swim at a local meet. Which he did — showing up unannounced.

“Stevie came over and said, ‘Wow, you came!’ And at a full run he leaped into Michael’s arms,” Steve said.

That afternoon, Michael watched from behind the blocks as Stevie raced in the free, the fly and a relay. Michael was coaxed into swimming a relay leg himself in a parents’ and coaches’ race — even though he had to borrow a suit.

Michael and Stevie had lunch together. Michael signed autographs for all the other kids as well; he signed for Grace using a red Sharpie on her forehead. She calls Michael a “special friend.”

That October, doctors found tumors on Stevie’s spinal cord. He underwent another surgery; again, Michael “sent a big basket of stuff to the hospital,” Steve said.

Stevie would, ultimately, undergo two more surgeries.

Michael would go to Athens, win eight Olympic medals, six gold, come home a star. He would move to Michigan, following his longtime mentor and coach, Bob Bowman, to train for the 2008 Games.

Still, Michael stayed in regular touch with Stevie, with Grace, with Steve and Betsy, and when, in April 2007, Betsy called Michael’s mom, Debbie, to say, “We have a disaster here … he wants to see Michael,” Michael made it happen.

His plane was late. Bags were lost.

Still, Michael made it happen. He and Debbie showed up at the Hansen house well after midnight.

And stayed for two hours, maybe longer.

“Michael never dropped his hand,” Betsy said. “It was so touching, so touching — to see this big guy touched by the frailty of life, that Stevie wanted him.”

Stevie had told his parents he wanted Michael to try to win an Olympic medal for him.

Even though Stevie wasn’t awake to hear it, Michael made him that promise.

“I said I’d try to get a medal and hopefully it’d be a gold one,” Michael recalled Monday.

Debbie was there that night, too, and when mother and son left the Hansens, stepping softly across the grass, wet with dew, it was hand in hand. “Death as we know it is not an easy thing to take as an adult, let alone a child,” Debbie said.

The next day, Michael posted a note to Stevie’s personal page on an Internet site for people confronting serious illnesses. It read, “Stevie, it was great to see you last night. I’m really glad I got to visit. You are very brave. You really are an inspiration to us all. Talk to you soon — Michael.”

Betsy responded with this post: “Yours was a gift,” she wrote, “like none other.”

Stevie died on May 29.

The memorial service took place on June 4.

Michael came back to Baltimore for the service. He sent a “spectacular spray of purple flowers,” Betsy said, adding, “Purple was Stevie’s favorite color.”

He stood with the Hansens as they greeted friends and family. “A wonderful, selfless display of caring,” Betsy said.

“It was never about people knowing he did it,” she said. “It never went out in the press that he was here. Never.

“No one ever knew the depth of the relationship between them.”

Michael said Monday, “When he passed away, when we went to the funeral — it was hard. It was an honor for me to have someone like him look up to me.”

He paused and added, “I’m sure he’s looking down on us and I’m sure he’s cheering from above.”

Grace Hansen watched from far away this week, back in Maryland, as Michael won those eight medals.

“I saw him swim every day,” she said by telephone and then added in a remark about Michael the swimmer and Michael her friend, “He’s really good.”

It is an awesome thing to have a President who is an avid sports fan and knows what he is talking when he says something on the subject (unlike when he does on domestic or foreign policy) but come on, at least hold your country’s flag the right way at the Olympics. I think that is his daughter Barbara who looks at the flag in befuddlement… makes for one heck of a photo.

Bob Costas had him on yesterday for an interview and he spoke real well on the Olympic opening cermonies, China hosting the event, baseball and steroids. Turns out he really can speak when he isn’t trying to lie or cover up something. Maybe it’s something he should have tried for the past seven years with the American public.

EDIT: Here is the video… not the greatest quality, but here it is nonetheless. If someone has a better quality, let me know. NBC has the official video up but I can’t currently access it because the computer at work is only a Windows 2000… yes you read that correctly but here is the link for that. (Click the picture on the right for NBC link)

(Watch the video before reading any further). As far as this race goes, I personally thought that Michael Phelps’ quest for the record was over after the 3rd leg and especially after 350m… but boy was I ever wrong. I have no idea where that last 50m came from by Jason Lezak but everyone watching that race in the arena or at home just went crazy. The French were left stunned, I know I was yelling and some of the people I talked to after the final said they were yelling too… just crazy stuff going on at the Olympics and this is why people should watch it!

So I’m pretty sure any video recap for this is not up yet but I will find one in the morning but the 4×100 Freestyle Relay was by far the best swimming race, or definitely one of the best competitive races I have ever seen.

Everyone sorta knew it would be between the French and the Americans and the last leg and more specifically the last 50m really brought the entire arena to its feet as they saw the race finish. I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet but I guess that can change when there is a video available.

Edit: As my friend Joe pointed out in the comments, NBC is showing a ton of coverage online which is unprecedented but there is some trouble on the horizon for those of us who subscribe to Cablevision.  Cablevision has decided not to air all 3,600 hours of Olympics-related programming, but it appears viewers who get their broadband Internet service will be limited to 1,400 of those hours.

That is because NBC is charging carriers a premium for its 2,200 hours of live video from the Olympics – as well as for two special channels dedicated exclusively to soccer and basketball – but Cablevision has declined to sign up.

NBC said most TV and Internet carriers have agreed to its terms. It said in a statement:

“A substantial majority of the industry, about 90 percent of multiplatform subscribers, will have access to NBCOlympics.com broadband content. Nearly every distributor, including all majors [Comcast, DIRECTV, Time Warner, DISH, Cox, Mediacom, Verizon, AT&T] are making Olympic broadband content available to their customers. To date, Cablevision has not elected to offer its customers the enhanced Olympics package.”

Just fantastic news for us Cablevision customers. [Source: Neil Best, News Day]

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Well the Summer Olympics are finally here amid all the protest over human rights, Tibet’s freedom and internet censorship. I know a couple of people who are in Beijing either watching the games or helping out volunteer so good luck to them and hope you have a great time.

So is anyone else actually going to watch the Olympics? There has been talk recently that it does not generate much interest anymore but I find that hard to believe but then again, maybe it is not that hard to believe. I barely hear anyone talk that they are looking forward to watching the games and it is mostly about how they are overrated and not very exciting. I call all of that nonsense and completely garbage as the Olympic Games can be a place to bring issues to light, to bring athletes and people from all over the world together to watch an event that has entire communities and countries biting their nails awaiting the result. It used to be a stage where people spoke out on issues that were being suppressed in everyday lives.

Two people who come to mind for that are Tommie Smith and John Carlos who gave everything for their country (United States) and were humiliated when they returned home. Smith and Carlos were largely ostracized by the predominantly white U.S. sporting establishment in the following years and in addition were subject to criticism of their actions. Time Magazine showed the five-ring Olympic logo with the words, “Angrier, Nastier, Uglier”, instead of “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. Back home they were subject to abuse and they and their families received death threats. At least they made a positive difference in the world we live in today and it was nice to see them being honored by ESPN for their 40th year anniversary of the event at the ESPY’s this year (that I blogged about here).

I don’t know about all those doubters but I have always been a fan of the Olympics (Winter and Summer both) because once every other year, atheletes from all over the world can sort of come together and compete against each other while proudly wearing their country’s colors. For all the other times (at least in the US anyways) you just see the title of “World Champion” or “World Series” get tossed around like it means something when the teams only consist of the United States and only a handful of teams from north of the border.

I have tried to stay away from much of the details regarding the opening cermony as I want to watch it live tonight (7:30 PM on NBC) will be shown in taped-delay fashion. There has been much anticipation regarding what the Chinese have in store for the opening ceremony as it certainly will be lavish and I am particularily curious to see be the last to light the Olympic Torch. Who can ever forget Muhammed Ali lighting the Torch in the Summer Olympics of 1996 in Atlanta, Ga.

For anyone interested in the history of the Olympic Medals for a summer Olympics by country, year, or ranking, New York Times once again put out a brilliant interactive Graphic on the matter that can be found right here. The graphic is pretty clear as it changes the size of a particular country based on the number of medals they have won in a given year and they also detail each medal won if you just click on a specific country. For example who knew that the only medal Dominican Republic won in the 2004 games was a Gold Medal by Felix Sanchez in 400m hurdles.