Sports blotter: Olympic edition
By MATT TAIBBI | August 8, 2008
Greetings, Olympic sports fans! You are out there, aren’t you? NBC Universal sure hopes you are. Because if you aren’t, and you decide to spend the next three weeks watching anything except the hammer-throw quarterfinals, heat six of the women’s 4-x-400 relay, and profiles of the Hungarian dressage team, there are going to be some TV executives committing suicide. Well, assisted suicide, maybe. If you’re a Nielsen viewer, there might even be a camera in your house — and if it catches you switching to Greatest American Dog during the trampoline semifinal, an animatronic chain will yank a pin from a grenade crammed in the mouth of whichever NBC marketing executive promised a 17 share to the suits upstairs at 30 Rock.
The lover’s lane rapist
This was a recent one, actually. Alvin Henry was a one-time Olympic sprinter, a New Yorker who ran for Trinidad and Tobago. He went to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney on the T&T 4-x-100 team, but never actually ran in the Games. He returned to America, however, and did some running there. This past month, Henry was arrested 16 days after a rape in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, when the victim identified him while riding around the park with police. Henry had allegedly raped the woman at gunpoint and was a suspect in numerous other sexual assaults dating back to 2003. The unknown serial rapist had been called the “Lover’s Lane Rapist” because he frequently targeted women he had seen having sex with their boyfriends in the park — he told one of the victims he had taped her in the act. “I knew something wasn’t right with him,” Henry’s cousin told New York papers.
No kidding.
Related:
Eight is enough, The reign of Spain, Ready or not (mostly not), More 
- Eight is enough
Sometimes we’d rather root for the unknowns, the underdogs, and the uniques than the professional jerks who are only competing to sweeten their endorsement deals.
- The reign of Spain
The winner is (drum roll, please) . . . Spain.
- Ready or not (mostly not)
Oh, Beijing. You’re like the ex-boyfriend that I wanted so badly to love, but just couldn’t bring myself to face in the morning, once the booze wore off.
- Mao's ghost
When the 21st century is old enough to support a sense of historical perspective, the date 8/8/08 may well be more significant than 9/11.
- Jo Jo Taipei
The contemporary cuisine of Taiwan, for its part, is influenced by Chinese, Spanish, Dutch, and Japanese colonists.
- Beijing sting
Greetings, faithful steward of information!
- Sharing the gold
Idiot box
- Chinese democracy
With Beijing 2008 finally at hand, China’s Tibetan occupation remains Hollywood’s cause célèbre .
- China, Tibet, and the Olympics
It is difficult to imagine an American — perhaps any Westerner — with a greater sympathy for, and understanding of, Tibet than scholar-activist Robert Thurman.
- Photos: Beijing Snapshots
I should have known that a country that vehemently denied SARS and tried to poison our pets and children might be a little less than forthcoming about the asinine, algae-scented shitshow that is the 2008 Olympics.
- Far and away
Man, has this been an interesting few weeks in sports crime, featuring some of the weirder cases you'll ever hear about.
- Less
Topics:
Sports
, Sports, Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, More
, Sports, Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, Central Intelligence Agency, Sexual Offenses, Suicide, Olympic Games, Marion Jones, China 2008, Michael Phelps, Less
