FanHouse CarlLewis

Carl Lewis won nine gold medals in four Olympic Games and is considered by many to be the greatest track and field athlete of all time.And while Lewis is impressed with Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who won three gold medals and set three world records in Beijing, he's also skeptical that Bolt is doing it without the benefit of performance-enhancing drugs.

Steroid Nation passes along this quote from the London Times, which apparently began with a Sports Illustrated interview Lewis conducted:

"When people ask me about Bolt I say he could be the greatest athlete of all time. But for someone to run 10.03 one year and 9.69 the next, if you don't question that in a sport that has the reputation it has right now, you're a fool. Period."

It's a shame that athletes like Ben Johnson, Marion Jones and the entire East German athletic program of the 1970s and 1980s make us feel this way, but Lewis is right: There's no proof that Bolt used steroids, but you're a fool if you don't at least acknowledge that it's possible.

We all are in awe of Michael Phelps and ... as we tend to do ... are now trying to place him among the greatest Olympians of all time. Right now, there is a very good debate that he may be the greatest.

Former Olympic gold medal winning sprinter Linford Christie doesn't think so:

"I don't think Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian because fewer athletes take part in swimming as compared to athletics. I feel [Carl] Lewis was the greatest Olympian the world ever saw," said Christie, who will be the guest anchor for a special Olympic programme on news channel NewsX.

"More people run than swim," he added.

I've heard this being a major part of the "no he's not" debate and it does have some merit. ESPN's First Take had the same sort of debate a few days ago and hinted at such earlier this week. Still, it isn't that Phelps is just winning his events ... he's dominating them.

My vote goes for Carl Lewis just because Phelps has never made a video like the one above.

The video below contains mature language and is definitely not safe for work.



Throughout my blogging career, I've been enamored ... no, in awe ... of Carl Lewis' "Break It Up" video. To me, there is nothing funnier that when someone tries to be serious and go outside his/her boundaries and completely make an ass of themselves. Please, go here to see the real version of the video.

Above is why YouTube is so great. Someone took the already hilarious video and mixed in Ice Cube's opening verse on NWA's "Straight Outta Compton".

This video has been in my cap for quite a while ... but far be it from me to not share.

Topps, the sports card manufacturer, wanted to try something a little different with their latest product, the 2007 Allen & Ginter Baseball set. Named after the former tobacco company that introduced the concept of baseball cards to the world in 1887, this year's Allen & Ginter set features unique artwork of today's baseball stars instead of the standard posed photographs.

In addition to featuring baseball players, the set also includes sporting legends from other sports, such as Mike Tyson, Carl Lewis, John Wooden -- even the famed hot dog eater Takeru Kobayashi. But what really sets this set apart is that it also includes some non-sports items, as this story from Beckett.com explains:

Chad Smith, of Wolverine Sportscards in Westchester, Ohio, bought a case of Allen & Ginter from Dave & Adam's Card World on the [National Sports Collectors Convention] show floor. Like many dealers, Smith lugged the case back to his hotel room to bust, with the intent of selling its key singles the next day.

Halfway through the case, she appeared. The 1/1 Mother Teresa cut autograph.

"We had been busting for a few hours, and about to quit at 3:00 a.m. (EST) when I saw it," Smith said. "I started shaking. I didn't say anything, but my buddy knew I hit something big.

How big? He's already turned down an offer of $20,000 in hopes of making more money on eBay -- the auction goes for another week and is already up to $6,000 after 20 bids. I'm sure somewhere up there Mother Teresa is smiling down at him: if there's one thing she stood for, it's unbridled capitalism.

(via Can't Stop the Bleeding, BBTF)