Yes, I was just noticing how the only red-starred letters are the two or three out of the dozens here that agree with the article. Christ, Salon, get your act together. This Jennifer Sey person can call herself a "writer" with the same seriousness she calls amateur athletes "swimmers" or "gymnasts."

You would have to perform some serious logical contortionism in order to agree with what she's written here. Her argument basically amounts to "I AM UNDER THE IMPRESSION that fans think they COULD BE BETTER THAN ME IF THEY TRIED even though I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANYONE SAY THAT AND CANNOT EVEN PROVIDE ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE TO THAT EFFECT but you should still FEEL SORRY FOR ME AND ALL THE PAIN I WENT THROUGH EVEN THOUGH I NEVER ACTUALLY MEDALED IN THE OLYMPICS OR EVEN CAME CLOSE."

I'm a musician at an elite school and principal of our orchestra. I'm a much better hornist than the overwhelming majority of hornists will ever hope to be (though I have no interest in pursuing horn professionally).

Yet when someone tells me they played the horn in high school, I certainly don't say (either to them or to myself) that they never really played horn. These are the people who buy seats in orchestra halls. Their enthusiasm for the craft of playing horn is what keeps funding for classical music alive.

I'm sorry, Salon, but who the fuck hired this chick to write? First she says that drugging up our athletes with dangerous chemicals should be a-okay because she's already butchered her own liver with Advil and she turned out all right. Now she says she hates fans, apparently especially the fans who in their youth and stupidity aspired to do what she did.

The more I learn about the Olympics, the more I dislike them. It's basically one big ego-trip for everyone involved. Elite athletics at the highest level does not actually accomplish anything for anyone. The small-town, little-league sports that this author so derides do a lot of good: They can build up a kids' self esteem and sense of worth at the same time they build him or her physically. Participating in competitions and learning both how to win gracefully and to accept loss is an important part of anyone's development. But at the level of the Olympics, these people are training hours a day, putting themselves through pain no sane person would bear, participating in an event that costs millions of dollars and has displaced millions of people, in order to do... what? To WIN. To beat the other country. To be better than everyone else. To get more medals than Michael Phelps. Who knows. Nothing meaningful is actually accomplished, except perhaps the inspiration of the millions of youngsters who watch and are inspired to get active (people this author thinks are worthless losers).

Good God. The entire endeavor is positively disgusting. You may have been an 'elite' level athlete, Jennifer Sey, (and who knows what the fuck that's supposed to mean for the rest of us) but this particular armchair fan doesn't give a crap about your "accomplishments" or your attitude.

Without the fans you find so annoying, who are not just asked but commanded by media coverage to sympathize with the struggles of Olympic athletes, there would be no flashy Olympics games, there would be no one to care about and fund your precious sport, there would be no international competition for young people in your sport to win. Maybe you're right. Maybe it would be better if people like you would say "I'm a former elite gymnast!" and everyone else just shrugged and wondered what the hell you were talking about. Keep on biting the hand that feeds you, jerk...

I hope you at least impress yourself, because you're not impressing anyone else. Your unbridled worship for Obama has apparently translated into adopting his campaign's schtick: All style, no substance worth noting. Unfortunately, Obama's no MLK, and you, sir, are no e. e. cummings.

If you think I'm a McCain supporter, you are even dumber than you look (if that's possible).

So to the person who wrote this:

ALL ELSE BEING THE SAME, IF OBAMA WAS WHITE HE WOULD BE CRUSHING MCCAIN BY AT LEAST 20 POINTS. AMERICA IS STILL A VERY RACIST NATION AND MCCAIN IS RUNING A RACIST CAMPAIGN PLAYING TO THAT FACT. WHY WON'T SOMEONE HAVE THE BALLS TO JUST SAY SO?

A white man in Obama's shoes would never have become a presidential candidate in the first place. No white presidential candidate has ever had so scant a resume. Half the reason Obamabots think Obama is so remarkable is because of his race. Frankly I don't know what else they find so interesting about him.

Damn snappy, dawg.

P.S. I am not saying Obama is stupid. Obviously "Change in which we can believe" would just add to his uppity-elitist-arugula-eating image in a way that would not benefit his campaign.

I'm just saying that his platform is not exceptionally complex and his campaign style has not been particularly intellectual.

Give me an example of Obama's complex and nuanced thinking. PLEASE. I'm dying here.

Obama isn't even intellectual enough to fix his dangling prepositions. Change in which we can believe, homeskillet.

And saying Obama is jus' mo' smarta than anyone who decides not to vote for him is one of the biggest intellectual cop-outs I've heard (at least as far as this campaign is concerned).

So, all ye subtle and nuanced Obamaniacs, better put on your thinking caps and stop congratulating yourselves for being SO SMURT that you would vote for Obama. Your false belief in your intellectual superiority and that of your candidate is not going to help you help him win.