One of the things I love about the Olympics is the way you can suddenly -- even instantly -- get enthralled by a sports event you otherwise wouldn't care about.
Case in point: The men's 10K final, which started slow but ended as dramatically as you could imagine, with Britain's own Mo Farah sprinting to gold in front of a frenzied crowd, and his training partner Galen Rupp finishing 2nd, the first medal for an American runner in the 10K in half a century. It is impossible not to love that, even if shortly afterward, it's on to the next.
BTW: The read of the morning is SI's Tim Layden on that race, one of the best pieces of deadline writing I've read this year.
More:
*Michael Phelps finishes with gold -- that's 22 medals overall in his three-Olympic career, including 18 golds, which is double the nearest Olympian. Hell of a way to wrap a career.
*Meanwhile, US swimming is in great shape -- the Missy Franklin-led women's 4x100 medley relay team won gold and broke the world record while doing it. Franklin probably has two Olympics still to go, and she could easily finish her career with more than a dozen medals, mostly gold.
*The men's 100m semis and final are today. Usain Bolt is a must-see, but so is the rest of the most compelling field in track. Here's a good essay from Joe Posnanski on the 100.
*USA Hoops: Lithuania got as close as anyone will get to knocking this team off, and good for them -- if you can't win a gold, universal respect is a pretty good consolation prize. USA is going to roll on from here. (BTW: Lots of love for Russia's coach David Blatt. Instead of my Wizards hiring the mediocre Jerry Sichting as an assistant coach, I would have loved for them to bring in Blatt. Presume Randy Wittman doesn't want an assistant coach so clearly more talented than he is.)
*Serena: I tweeted this yesterday just after she won -- Jubilant Serena is one of my favorite images in sports.
*McKayla Maroney is my favorite of the gymnastics Fab Five (or "Fierce Five," in Maroney's view). She'll be the heavy favorite in the vault after her stunning leap in the team comp.
Enjoy the day.
-- D.S.
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