Michael Phelps To Host Season Premier of Saturday Night Live

14 time gold medal winning United States Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has been tabbed as the host of the season premiere of Saturday Night Live’s 34th season. (link) Phelps, who recently won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, is the latest in a long line of the world’s greatest athletes to host NBC’s legendary sketch comedy show. Previous athletes to have hosted SNL include Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Lance Armstrong and best of all, Peyton Manning.


Joining Phelps on Saturday Night Live’s season premier as the show’s musical guest will be hip-hop superstar Lil’ Wayne. (link) This will be the rapper’s first appearance on Saturday Night Live and it could not have come at a better time. This year has seen Lil’ Wayne finally achieve the type of mainstream success many hip-hop fans knew he was destined for. It is nice to see Weezy finally be recognized as one of, if not the, best hip-hop artists of his generation. His latest album, 2008’s Tha Carter III, “sold over 1 million copies in its first week of release, a feat not achieved since 2005.” (link)

Be sure to tune in to see both Phelps and Lil’ Wayne on the 2008 season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 13, 2008 at 11:30/10:30c, and as always, only on NBC.

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics - Michael Phelps Goes 8 For 8

The Blot has watched so much Olympic coverage over the past 10 days that my head hurts. When NBC announced they would be airing more Olympic coverage of the Beijing Games than of all of the coverage of the previous summer and winter Olympics combined they weren’t kidding! And yet even with all of this coverage the ratings are higher than ever.


One reason for this has to be that all of the United States has been following the amazing feats of American swimmer Michael Phelps. He’s won all 8 races he competed in and broke 7 World Records and 1 Olympic Record in the process becoming the only Olympic athlete ever to win 8 gold medals in a single Olympic Games. This surpasses the record set by American swimmer Mark Spitz at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games where he won 7 gold medals in 7 events and set 7 World Records.

Did anyone catch the joint interview Bob Costas did with Phelps and Spitz after Phelps tied Spitz’s record? I thought Spitz was so gracious and called Phelps’ accomplishments epic. Spitz went so far as to call Phelps the greatest swimmer ever. I was happy to see how well Spitz took the breaking of his record, but I am not sure how I feel about Phelps’ anointment as the best swimmer ever. There have been some amazing swimmers over the past 100 years and to say that Phelps is hands down the greatest seems disrespectful to everything that has come before him.

On the one hand swimmers today are bigger, faster and stronger than ever before. The competition Phelps faces every day seems to be much better than the competition in the 70’s and 80’s ever was, but like with all sports it is very hard to compare athletes from different eras. I also have a problem with the crazy rate World and Olympic Records are being broke at these Beijing Olympics. There is not a doubt in my mind that the pool is “juiced.” I’ve even heard that the pool was built deeper than most pools to allow for faster times.

While Phelps’ 8 gold medals are not tarnished at all because of this, it does put many of the time records he set in question. It is unfortunate, because now we’ll never know how many records Phelps would have set in an un-juiced pool. The fact that Spitz set 7 World Records and Phelps set 7 World Records is a wash, but to me the Spitz records seem like a bigger deal. In the end, we’re really discussing apples and oranges and the fact remains that Phelps is now the most decorated U.S. Olympic athlete of all time and has set a feat not likely to be broken for many, many years.

Oh yeah, can anyone explain to me why Phelps’ sister Hilary was always shown crying after every single gold medal winning race? After Phelps’ first few wins I would have thought the emotional impact of his accomplishments would have lessened. But no, after every single final there she was sobbing next to Phelps’ jubilant mom. I’m a sucker for things like this, but I think crying on eight times in a week might be pushing it. Oh well, I guess she was just stuck in the moment. It did make for some entertaining television and I’m sure NBC praying for Phelps to win and sister Hilary to cry.

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics - Swimmer Amanda Beard Is One And Done

The Blot is sad to report that my favorite United States Olympic swimmer and reigning Olympic champion of the 200-meter breaststroke, Amanda Beard, failed in her bid to defend the gold medal she won at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In a preliminary heat last night the four-time Olympian was unable to advance to semifinals in her signature event, the 200-meter breaststroke.

According to reports from Beijing, “Amanda swam the 200 in 2 minutes, 27.70 seconds, more than 2.5 seconds slower than her entry time and nearly 4.5 seconds slower than her Olympic record time in Athens four years ago.” (link) While Beard still currently holds the Olympic Record in the 200-meter breaststroke, I would imagine that mark will be eclipsed later in the week like almost all of the other swimming records have been over the course of these Olympic Games.


This was Amanda’s only event of the 2008 Beijing Summer Games and will more than likely be the highly decorated swimmer’s last race ever at a summer Olympics. I am sure the U.S. swim team and fans around the country will miss seeing the PETA supporting model at future competitions.

Amanda Beard Bares All For PETA - Full Anti-Fur Advertisement

After receiving a few e-mails asking for more Olympic coverage on The Blot Says… and even more e-mails commenting on Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard’s new ad campaign for PETA, I thought I’d try to make everyone happy by posting the full Amanda Beard anti-fur Olympic PETA poster since there’s really not much going on over in Beijing yet (except for the U.S. Men’s Soccer team beating Japan 1-0 in their first game a day after the U.S. Women’s Soccer team was shut out in a loss in their opening game to Norway).


Stay tuned for more coverage of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics coming soon on The Blot Says...

The Games of the XXIX Olympiad

The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games are finally here! The Blot’s been anxiously awaiting the 2008 Opening Ceremony and the official start of the XXIX Olympiad. What can I say, I’m an Olympics junkie. Every two years I plant myself in front of the television for two weeks straight and get wrapped up in the greatness that is World competition.

While I don’t always love the way NBC dramatizes every single athlete and Olympic sport, they at least make it interesting and highlight the amazing stories that encompass the Olympic Games. Take for instance this compelling story about Lopez Lomong, a former Lost Boy of Sudan who yesterday was chosen to carry the flag for the U.S. in the Opening Ceremonies on Friday. If something like that doesn’t blow you away then I don’t know what will.

Over the next two weeks legends will be made and interesting stories told, but to The Blot these are the 5 questions I can’t wait to have answered:

1. Can “The Redeem Team,” the nickname given to the 2008 U.S. Men’s Basketball Team, regain the dominant form of the original 1992 “Dream Team,” or will this team under whelm like the U.S. basketball squad has over the past 8 years?

2. Can Michael Phelps achieve his goal of winning eight gold medals in a single Olympics and break the record held by swimming legend Mark Spitz for the past 36 years? Oh yeah, and will Phelps shave that ridiculous goatee he's recently grown?


3. After all this talk of China’s pollution, will we notice any significant effect from it on the Olympic athletes?


I’m guessing the answer to this one will be a resounding yes and that very few World Records will be broken (especially in outdoor events) over the course of this year’s Olympics.

4. With Paul Hamm, the reigning gold medalist in the Individual All-Around Men’s Gymnastic event and the only American to ever win gold in that event, out of this year’s Olympics due to injury, will another male gymnast step up to the plate and bring gymnastic gold back to the good old U.S. of A?


I have no idea the answer to this one, but now that Hamm’s twin brother Morgan is also out of the Olympics due to a nagging ankle injury, the Men's Gymnastics team is going into the team competition severely weakened and our medal chances have now been reduced significantly. (link)

5. And last but definitely not least, what will the reaction be to four-time Olympian Amanda Beard’s new anti-fur ad for PETA where she posed nude in front of an American flag?


Beard has chosen to bare her skin to help save animals’ skins. To find out more about Amanda’s feelings on fur and China’s role in the fur industry click here (and here).

Obviously there are tons of additional questions that could have been asked, but I’ll defer those to NBC’s Olympic coverage. For those of you interested, there were two questions that almost made the top 5: 1. Will 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres medal in these Olympic Games (and is she really not doping)? and 2. How many current and former Texas Longhorns will medal over the next two weeks (Hook 'em Horns!)?