Real-Life Razzle-Dazzle

If you thought Michael Johnson’s gold shoes were a hit at the Atlanta Olympics, what about the shoes he’s wearing in Sydney? They’re not just gold in color; they’re 24-karat gold.

Not a lot of gold - the shoes weigh only 4 ounces each. But there are enough gold droplets, “surrounded by micro-prisms for strength and ultimate reflectivity,” as Nike describes them, to really dazzle you.

And he won’t be throwing these to the crowd after each round, as he did with other shoes in Atlanta and at the 2000 Olympic Trials.

“These are a little more expensive,” said Johnson.

Johnson said the golden shoes he wore in Atlanta created high expectations for his footwear in Sydney. “When they said we’ve got something with 24-karat gold, I was on board right away,” said Johnson.

The gold upper shoe is made from a new material developed by 3M. When camera flashes go off, Nike says, the shoe reflects 600 candle-watts of power back.

The shoe, Nike designer Kevin Hoffer said before the Olympics, has “a lot of retinal impact. It’s gonna scream.”

Apparently, it’s all in the names

Bernie Lincicome, writing in the Rocky Mountain News on Tiger Woods:

“`While Woods may be worth every penny, I have always suspected that much of what has come to him is because of his name.

“Tiger Woods. How fitting. Better than Tiger Irons or Tiger Wedge, if not quite with the scope of Tiger Lakes Golf and Country Club.

“… Moms and dads, some advice. Designate your kids as what you expect them to do, like Crank Homer or Puck Handler. How much more impressive would Mark McGwire be as Advance Runner?”

A gold medal for cynicism

Bob Kravitz in the Indianapolis Star, writing from Sydney: “You know what the `Olympic Experience’ is? It’s overcrowded rooms, questionable security, lousy cafeteria food and hanging out with steroid-addled Bulgarian weightlifters.

“The fact is, there are two Olympics these days. There are the Olympics for the elite pros - the hoopsters, the track athletes and some of the swimmers - and there are the Olympics for the kayakers and triathletes and all those people who engage in those backyard picnic sports.”

This just in!

Paola Boivin in the Arizona Republic: “In keeping with NBC’s approach to covering the Olympics, we’d like to offer this juicy tidbit: Mark Spitz won his seventh gold!”

The last word …

“Why do they still call it the modern pentathlon? Is there someone out there who still gets it confused with the ancient pentathlon?”

- Joe Posnanski in the Kansas City Star