Phelps

Is quietly hoping Phelps doesn't go eight-for-eight the same thing as hoping the Patriots don't complete "the perfect season"? Yes and no.

It's not so much that I don't want Michael Phelps (or any American athlete) to succeed. It's that the din of sucking-up is deafening. And as stated before, I have a real problem with definitively assessing historical context before the latest event in the series is even completed. Slow down people!

The same was true with the Pats. The Worldwide Leader and their ilk were so eager to anoint the Patriots 'the best ever' that they couldn't even wait until they won the Superbowl to do so. Fortunately, David Tyree's helmet made sure they didn't.

The main difference is that why there was much build-up to Phelps' run, the truth is we've really only been hearing about the guy for a week. And boy have we heard about him! And yes, it's really only been a week.

The Pats on the other hand have already won three Superbowl's as of late and every time they beat a great team (like the 1-15 Dolphins, twice) there was talk of "the perfect season".

You would have thought that ESPN would have learned their lesson after a similar fiasco involving USC football. They famously named the Trojans "greatest all time" before they went out and got ran over by Vince Young. Oops.