Sports & Entertainment

Ever since I can remember, Wheaties was the Breakfast of Champions. And, all during my childhood, American sport legends bounced right from winning Olympic gold medals to smiling on the back of my box of Wheaties.

No longer. Not for Michael Phelps. He’s decided to plant his mug instead — not on Wheaties — but on a box of Kellogg’s FROSTED FLAKES, probably the least healthy breakfast cereal on the market, which has three times the amount of sugar as Wheaties and only one-third the amount of fiber. Read more...

Twenty-five-year-old hurdler Liu Xiang is China's star athlete. His name, fittingly, means "to soar." He won the 110-meter hurdles race in Athens, and was fully expected to defend his title in front of 91,000 adoring Chinese fans. What many people don't know is that he knew beforehand that he wouldn't be able to compete in the race because of an injured Achilles tendon. Even so, he stepped out onto the field out of respect for his supporters and his country. Liu's story is one of perseverance and honor — it is a story that transcends cultural lines.

Why don't we hear more about that incredible story in the Western press? Or about the breathtaking grandeur, elegance and coordination of the opening ceremonies? Instead, we see endless stories about the computer-generated fireworks, the little girl who was lip-syncing the Chinese national anthem, the stabbing of the father-in-law of the U.S. men's volleyball coach, Darfur and so on. Read more...

When my college alma mater, Syracuse University, won college basketball’s Final Four several years ago, I was proud of the team and especially its star, Carmelo Anthony. I discussed a book on Syracuse basketball with Coach Jim Boeheim. Anthony left college after one year and his MVP performance in that Final Four. Since then, he’s had an athletically impressive and lucrative career playing professional basketball in Denver.

I felt less pride reading his quoted remark in The Washington Post Sports section last Sunday. Anthony commented about his slump in the Beijing Olympics, where he and his superstar teammates are blazing the competition. The Post quoted Anthony: “I was asked, where has my offense went? It ain’t go nowhere.” Read more...

Hello sports fans!

What would the Olympics be without some betting among friends? Post a response to this blog by Aug. 15 at 11:59 p.m. (EST) with your predictions for:

* the country that will win the most medals
* the country that will win the fewest medals
* the country that will win the most GOLD medals

and you could win dinner for six at Chef Geoff's. (Chef Geoff has opened three restaurants in the D.C. area in the past eight years and was recently recognized by the International Hotel and Restaurant Awards. For more, click here.) Read more...

I've spent the past few days at the spectacular Congressional Country Club, enjoying Tiger Woods' AT&T National golf tournament and applauding our military. I've been wondering, though -- with this wonderful, patriotic display, where has our nation's political leadership been?

The opening ceremonies this past Wednesday were riveting. Cal Ripken, Jr., one of baseball's legends, was on hand. Members of the 101st Airborne Parachute team, "The Screaming Eagles," fell from the sky, each one landing closer and closer to the tee box. Two of the Eagles had special deliveries: golf balls that were struck by members of our Armed Forces in Iraq, Great Britain, Afghanistan, Japan, and even at sea. Those balls were delivered to Fred Couples and to two kids whose parents are currently serving. The first day of the tournament reminded everyone there that it's the spirit of sacrifice that makes our nation so great. Read more...

The only time that Barack Obama and I were in the same photograph was when the Chicago White Sox went to the White House as a guest of George Bush after they won their first World Series in about a hundred years. The Tribune captured that historic moment (historic for me, not so much for the senator) and my family got a big kick out of it. That was well before he announced he was running for president.

Today, the White Sox are up five and a half games on the Minnesota Twins, despite having their two biggest power hitters batting only slightly north of the Mendoza line. The last time I checked, Paul Konerko was hitting around .200 and Jim Thome was hitting around .220. Not very good for them, but despite their batting woes, the White Sox have been able to climb to a solid lead in the Central Division. Read more...

For 52 years, the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation has been keeping local kids off the streets by providing them a safe haven to do homework, play tennis and set personal goals. WTEF has a 100 percent graduation rate in which kids frequently achieve athletic and academic scholarships.

When tennis legend and world class philanthropist Andre Agassi came to our capital city on April 11 to receive WTEF’s Champion of Tennis Award, it was an event to remember. Agassi hit the courts at the Fitzgerald Tennis Center with Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.), former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and various local media and business big shots thrilled to huff and puff with the famous champ. Read more...

To borrow an Olympic analogy, our approach to influencing China's human rights record should be one of a marathon, not a 100-yard sprint.

We should, as a community of countries, take several steps from many perspectives to apply pressure to the communist Chinese government. Only through international, multilateral pressures, should we seek to change the deep-seated ways of the Chinese.

This will not occur overnight. It certainly won’t happen by way of a man who has a 30 percent approval rating throughout the world. Read more...

China will be our biggest rival and our biggest trading partner for the rest of this century. Some believe that President Bush should use the Beijing Olympics against the Chinese to embarrass them and to score some political points about Tibet and Darfur. I think that is exactly the wrong approach.

I know it is politically correct to want to boycott the Olympics. I see the Hollywood actors and the long-haired activists who have disrupted the Olympic torch relay. I get what they are trying to do. And I think it is stupid.

The Olympics are not about politics. They are about sports. The Olympics is a set of games designed to bring people together, despite our political differences. When Jimmy Carter kept our Olympians home, I thought that was stupid (as did most of our Olympic athletes, who wanted to show the Russians that we could kick their asses). Using the Olympics to make political points offends me to no end. Read more...

Across the nation, the dropout rates for high school students are appallingly high.

Here in the District of Columbia, where schools are being closed throughout the city, more than 40 percent of our students drop out, an inexcusable number in the capital of our nation in 2008.

I've been a baseball fan all my life, was a student athlete in school, and in fact I was once offered a tryout for the Dodgers at third base (though I told the scout he caught me on a good day, and I'd last an hour in spring training!).

As predisposed towards sports as I am, I think it's outrageous and ridiculous that the powers-that-be of our community rally like the 101st Airborne at Normandy to build a high-priced new baseball stadium, while schools are being closed and more than 40 percent of our kids don’t graduate. Read more...