When six does not equal six

As a fan of the Olympics it pains me to have any criticism of the world's greatest sporting event but I just can't help it. The way we keep count of medals is wrong. Dead wrong.

On February 13 Apolo Anton Ohno earned his sixth Olympic medal. He skated to Silver in the Men's 1500m Final. Immediately broadcasts were saying he has tied Bonnie Blair as the the greatest Winter Olympian in American history.

Yes, he does have six medals and the chance to win more at these games.

Yes, Bonnie Blair earned six as well.

Yes, they are "technically" tied in medal count. That's the end of it though.

Bonnie Blair won five gold medals at three separate Olympics and one bronze in Lillehammer in 1994. Ohno could earn a gold medal in his third Olympics this year but he would not have the sheer amount of gold medals to be considered better than Blair.

I'm all for congratulating people on the overall number of medals but there is this strange disparity between number of medals earned and the color. I recall a moment when I checked the medal tracker on Vancouver 2010 website and found it rather odd that the United States and Germany were ahead of Switzerland even though the Swiss had three golds at the time and neither the U.S. nor Germany had more than one.

I would like to see, perhaps, a point system in place to gauge how well a country is doing in the games. Something simple where the different medals are weighted differently in points. Gold would be worth three points; silver, two and bronze, one point.

To see how the system would play out we can look at a few countries as guinea pigs.

The United States is currently in the numerical lead with 14 medals. Under the point system they would have 27 points (15 from five golds, six from three silvers and six from six bronzes) and a rather large command of first place still.

Next, we can look at Korea, Austria and Norway who are currently tied for fifth place with five medals each. In a points-based system Korea would rank higher than Austria and Norway because they have five better medals. Korea's three golds and two silvers would net them 13 points compared to Austria and Norway's nine.

I'm not suggesting this system is perfect but I think it is at least a better evaluation of quality versus quantity.

Ohno will almost assuredly win another medal in this games and NBC will loudly proclaim him as the greatest American Winter Olympian of all time.

That's all well and good for NBC.

I know who the real greatest Winter Olympian is, so does Bonnie.

Super Bowl XLIV Prediction

When it comes to the Super Bowl there are two types of games: the win that everyone sees coming because the two teams are nowhere close to one another in skill level and the tight game that could go either way. This year is definitely the latter.

Usually before the Super Bowl I’ll have a team locked in that I think will win – not necessarily the one I want to win though. In 2008 I was thought the Giants would win, though not in such dramatic fashion. The same was true in 2009 with the Steelers. This year though has been very perplexing.

In my heart I really want to see the Saints win. While I’m not a big fan of New Orleans in any way I just think winning a Super Bowl would mean so much to that city and the Saints fanbase. A Super Bowl ring would also greatly help Drew Brees career. With a ring he would be placed where he rightly belongs – the ranks of the elite players in this league.

The Colts are definitely the more dominant team on paper and on the field most days. While I do not think the loss of DE Dwight Freeney will be as devastating to the Colts as some people say my dad disagrees. He thinks it would be one of the biggest pre-Super Bowl injuries in recent history. We both agreed that he will see some time, albeit limited snaps, during must-pass third down situations.

Offensively these two teams are very similar. Elite QB: check. 2-3 good receivers: check. The biggest offensive difference I see with these teams is with the backs and tight ends. Joseph Addai is a good runner but Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush and Mike Bell are a better overall rushing unit. On the flip side, Indianapolis wins out in the tight end category. Dallas Clark is possibly the best tight end in football right now. While Jeremy Shockey can catch the ball and get some yards I still can’t see him being able to make a bigger impact than Clark.

When it really comes down to it I really like the Saints in this game. If you’re going to cheer for an underdog you might as well cheer for the underdog that’s never been to a Super Bowl and was nearly washed away by Hurricane Katrina.

I’m picking the Who-Dats to win 32-27.

--Photo from nfl.com