I think I've discussed this on this site before, however, I'll mention it again. During my freshman year of college, my intramural football team made it through all the rounds of the playoffs only to lose in the championship game. After it was all over, I think we got a t-shirt. You know what we didn't get? The championship. In second place, we were, as they say, the first place losers.

Which brings me to the Olympics. Doesn't it seem a little odd to see athletes who lost (i.e. got second or third place) celebrate? I understand that the Olympics represent the best in the world. These guys are elite athletes. (I recently set a new personal best while running the 800 meters at the track - 2:54. That's only 1 minute and 13 seconds slower than the world record at that time.) Regardless of that, isn't there something fundamental wrong with an athlete that's driven to win, celebrating the fact that he's the second best?

That point was illustrated best during the Men's 200 meter race. By now, I'm sure you've seen Usain Bolt's world record victory. What hasn't been talked about, (besides the fact that Bolt has all the signs of doping written all over him) was the fact that the 2nd and 3rd place finishers were disqualified for stepping on the inside line of the lane. Thus, Crawford, who finished 4th, and Dix, who finished fifth, received the silver and bronze respectively. When the NBC cameras showed Dix finding out he just received the bronze, one lady asked him why he wasn't more excited. His response? "I still didn't win!"

When the gold medal favorites end up with the silver or bronze, they seem disappointed. Too many times however, you see the silver and bronze medal finishers carrying their flag around the stadium as if they had won. In fact, in the 10,000 meter race, one Ethopian carried the flag with his teammates, even though he didn't even medal in the race.

In boxing, and I believe a couple of other sports, they award two bronze medals. If you lose the semifinal match, you automatically receive a bronze medal. So even fourth place receives a medal.

What if we did this in other sports? I guess in the SEC, LSU would have won the gold, Tennessee the silver and Georgia the bronze. In fact, the probably would have had to award two bronze medals in order to make it fair. It sounds silly doesn't it? Do you think that Georgia would even want a bronze medal?

Or take the NCAA tournament. Would Derrick Rose be OK with a silver medal after missing the free throw? I doubt it.

So what's the point? I say stick with the gold and that's it. After all, I believe Herm Edward's said it best, " You Play to Win the Game!" You don't play for second, or for that matter, third place.