They came, They swam, They cried!

Every four years, one of the most exciting events comes to your local television... the Summer Olympics! This is a time when I would just as soon put the rest of my life on hold and saddle up on a nice comfortable couch and watch every event. Although there are many exciting sports, my money this year is on the swimming. Famed swimmer Michael Phelps is here to smash records and collect multiple golds.
The Olympics are exciting for many reasons, but the drama heightens even more when the French Men's team appeared in Beijing after promising to "smash the Americans"... and all bookmakers' money is on the French.
First swimmers in the water... USA is holding its ground, but the French have three sprinters in a row. Commentators are already declaring the doom of the Americans. As the fourth swimmers entered the water, it looked as if France was going to make good on their promise. It was exciting, nonetheless, because this was an extremely fast match... previous world records are already out the window.
And then, just as the commentators were putting the nails in the Americans' coffins, with only seconds remaining, USA's fourth swimmer TURNED IT ON!!!!
Touching the wall a mere eight one-hundredths of a second before the Frenchman did, America stole the gold. Ecstatic. Elated. Jubilant. Exultant. Pick your adjective. That's how America's relay team looked.
On the other hand, France cried.
This is the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat... This is the Olympics!

The Last Bastion of Free Speech

On the fourth floor of the Marriott Library on the University of Utah's main campus in Salt Lake City is a men's restroom that had tile walls. Those tiles were the small, old-fashioned style, probably an inch long and about three quarters of an inch high.
Between each of these tiles, in the grout, many people put their poetry prowess to work - all with the word "grout", which made the medium all that much more interesting.
The phrases were as varied as the authors, but mostly familiar - the only difference being the integration of the word "grout".
They were such as "The Grout Wall of China", "The Grout Gatsby", "Oscar the Groutch", "Down and Grout on his luck"... you get the picture.
The walls were effectively covered with these phrases. Some infinitely more clever than others. The walls remained like that for many years. And, while I normally frown on bathroom wall-writing, this particular variety was less than typical... and I liked it for its originality, as opposed to banality typical of wall-writings.
The last time I visited that men's room, however, the forces that be had washed it all away. Only the deepest embedded remnants were visible as phantom writings.
It was sad, really. As campus speech codes have become more ubiquitous, this seemed like the last bastion of truly free speech.
Now the library is undergoing a major renovation, including the fourth floor, where this bathroom resided. I shudder to think of how sterile the new bathroom walls will look.