CORRECTION: A previous version of this post said that the inflatable Lord Voldemort He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named featured in the Opening Ceremony was 40 feet tall. He actually stood at a whopping 100 feet tall. We blame this first error on an unconscious refusal to believe that Voldemort could be larger than life.

Every four years, the world stops. The entire human race directs its attention toward a city in which athletes from all corners of the Earth (including Brown) battle it out to be considered the best in the world. Some leave with soaring egos; others leave with their hopes shattered and their dreams crushed. For 17 days, every major US television network apart from NBC might as well not exist. Simply put, we love this shit.

Why? For one, Team USA is stacked, runs deep, and boasts hundreds of insanely talented (and beautiful) athletes across dozens of sports. There’s nothing more invigorating than cheering on American athletes who are way more talented than we’ll ever be… or rooting against others who try stand in their way. Here are some more reasons why we just eat this shit up.

Eye Candy: It should come as a surprise to exactly no one that lots of athletes are pretty damn attractive. Sure, it would be fun to watch insane gymnastics stunts and nail-bitingly close swimming races regardless of what the competitors look like, but the fact that many of them are gorgeous is definitely an added benefit. Like Ryan Lochte, for example. He may not be as decorated as Michael Phelps, and he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s basically the personification of the word “hot” (#shamelessobjectification). And then there’s British diver Tom Daley — don’t worry, at 18 years old, he’s legal (but just barely). And we can’t forget about the women, many of them in uniforms that leave little to the imagination. [Read more →]

The London 2012 Olympics kick off tonight with a Shakespeare-inspired, Danny Boyle-directed spectacle. Some of y’all might have already made plans to watch the Opening Ceremony and drool over Ryan Lochte, but here’s another reason to tune in: two Brunonians will be reppin’ our school in London this summer. Craig Kinsley ’11 is a javelin thrower for the U.S. track and field team, and Nikola Stojic ’97 will be making his fourth appearance at the Olympics as a member of Serbia’s men’s rowing team.

We wish them both luck in their respective events! As for the rest of us…

If you think that guy wearing chainmail in your 9 a.m. biology class has an interesting fashion sense, wait until you see the pants on the Norwegian Olympic Curling Team. The brainchild of Scott Woodworth ’82, these Argyle knickers caused a red, white and blue stir the world over as the team vacuumed — er — curled its way to a silver medal on Feb. 27 in Vancouver.

Woodworth designed the outlandish pantaloons for his company, Loudmouth Golf, which he founded in 2000. The Norwegian team apparently saw Woodworth’s Web site and ordered pants in the country’s colors. And though the team didn’t snag gold from the boringly black-pants clad Canadian powerhouse, at least the Norwegians did it with more style.

Take that, chainmail dude.