New A's Shortstop Thinks Billy Beane is Sexy and Cool

Seven-time Nippon Professional Baseball League all-star Hiroyuki Nakajima was just signed by the Oakland A's from Japan for two years and $6.5 million.  Why did he come to Oakland, though?

Well, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, its because Nakajima thinks Oakland GM Billy Beane is "extremely sexy and cool."

These are the sorts of things you can't make up, sports fans.  As to how Nakajima said it -- as a joke, maybe through an interpreter -- we're unsure at the time.  But maybe that's why the A's let Stephen Drew walk after the half-season he spent there... he must not have had the same feelings for Beane.  But someone in Boston's front office must've had the hots for Drew to give him almost $10 million, for cryin' out loud.  Nakajima is one year older than Drew, has never faced these pitchers in the US, and gets signed for not one, but two years and $3 million less altogether. I digress...

Anyway, at the press conference, Beane made sure to make his shortstop feel right at home, telling Nakajima that the sexy and cool feeling was a mutual one.  As to how it will help the defending AL West Champions, no one knows, but team chemistry can go a long way.

Final Medal Count: Team USA is Awesome

Team USA flexed its muscles in the last few days of the 30th Olympic Games, dominating both the total medal count as well as the gold medal count.

Their two biggest events were swimming, where they won 16 golds, nine silvers and six bronzes for a total of 31, and athletics where they racked up 29 -- nine gold, 13 silver and seven bronze.

Forty-six gold medals in total, which ranks as the second highest gold medal total in a non-boycotted year behind the Soviet Union's 55 in 1988.

Highlights of the Games for me were women's beach volleyball going gold and silver, Manteo Mitchell breaking his leg and finishing a race, Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee going gold and silver in the decathlon and of course Michael Phelps becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time.

Go USA.

How Much Faster Can Usain Bolt, Sprinters Get?

This is one of the most interesting videos I have seen in a while.  The 100-meter dash has long been regarded as the most exciting race at the Olympics.  We now know it as the race that has 20 minutes of build up for a mere 10 seconds of race time, but it wasn't always that way.

The video above shows the times of every Olympic medalist in the 100m since 1896.  Its an unbelievable gap between the 9.63 Usain Bolt ran this year and the bronze medalist from the inaugural Games.

The craziest part about the video is when they show the fastest times put up by eight to seventeen year olds.  At my peak in high school, I could run an 12.1, so it kind of sucks to see that a 15-year-old could dust me.  Either way, some pretty cool information on how the race has evolved over the years.

Tuesday Morning Medal Count, And The Day Ahead

Alright, so there were a few unexpected issues for Team USA, the most glaring of which came from Horse Guards' Parade, where both men's teams were eliminated.  And how about Great Britain's medal surge, huh?  Gotta give it up for the home town.

But don't worry, we still have plenty of track and field events left, and Team USA will not disappoint.  I would still put my money on us taking home the most gold medals overall.  Our women's soccer team just won an absolute thriller against Team Canada, and will face Japan in the gold medal match which will be a rematch of the World Cup from last year.

Men's high jump, women's 100-meter hurdles, men's discus and men's 1500-meter will all be handing out medals tomorrow in athletics.  Women's basketball moves to quarterfinal match-ups, where Team USA will look to defeat Canada a second day in a row in two sports.

Back at Horse Guards' Parade, Jen Kessy and April Ross will play a semi-final match against the top ranked Brazilian team.  And finally, the US women's volleyball team will play a quarterfinal match as the women's water polo team takes on Australia in a semi-final contest.

Usain Bolt. That Is All.

Usain Bolt once again proves that he is the fastest man in the world, running the men's 100-meter dash final in 9.63 seconds, and Olympic record, to take the gold medal.

Jamaican teammate Yohan "The Beast" Blake took silver in the event, running his personal best of 9.75 seconds, while American Justin Gatlin also ran a personal best after coming back from a four-year doping ban, clocking in a 9.79 for the bronze.

Apparently two billion people watched the most exciting event at the London Games live, and none of them were in the United States, unless you were live-streaming it.  NBC again refused to show the event live, electing to defer it until their primetime slot, when they didn't show it until nearly 10 o'clock.  I won't get into here, but NBC's coverage is making me more and more angry by the day.

Another bizarre thing about the events happened just seconds before it.  Apparently a fan tossed a green plastic bottle towards the runners, and it landed only feet behind their blocks.  Unfortunately for that idiotic fan, he was next to Dutch Judo champion Edith Bosch who smacked him in the back to knock him down before security arrived.

"I had seen the man walking around earlier and said to people around me that he was a peculiar bloke," Bosch said.  "Then he threw that bottle and in my emotion I hit him on the back with the flat of my hand.  Then he was scooped up by the security. However, he did make me miss the final, and I am very sad about that.  I just cannot understand how someone can do something like that."