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Olympic Crush is exactly what it sounds like: A series about men and women we're falling for during the London Games. (Example: The Dutch field hockey team.)

There are very few things that make me question my national pride. The popularity of "Toddlers and Tiaras" is pretty much it. But I had an existential patriotic crisis while watching the U.S. women's volleyball team. Indoor volleyball is the most underrated sport on the Olympic programme (when the Games are in London, you get the Queen's English) and, for my money, watching our team fight for the gold medal is more exciting than anything you'll see on a basketball court during the next two weeks.

[ Related: Dutch field hockey team getting worldwide attention ]

But then I looked across the net and my favorite colors faded from red, white and blue to yellow and green. For it was then that I caught my first glimpse of the women on the Brazilian volleyball team.

Their beach counterparts may get more attention. Nonsense, we say. The

(AP)

Fourteen minutes: That's how long American teen swimming sensation Missy Franklin had in between two swims on Monday night at the Aquatic Center in London. Fourteen minutes: barely enough time to cool down or slow your pulse or put on a sweatshirt or, if she had to, take off those painted-on swimsuits to use the restroom. And the 17-year-old swimming the most ambitious program in women's Olympic history showed nary a sign of fatigue. Ahh, the exuberance of youth.

Franklin won a gold medal in her first individual final in London, coming behind from an early deficit to win the 100 backstroke in 59.12. That race started 14 minutes after she finished her semifinal in the 200 freestyle, touching in fourth in her heat and qualifying eighth for Tuesday's final.

When she got out of the pool after the 200, the clock had just hit 7:38 p.m. in London. Fourteen minutes later, she was jumping back in.

The Colorado native appeared to conserve her energy in the semifinal of the four-lap freestyle

(AP)United States swimmers Matt Grevers and Nick Thoman went 1-2 in the 100 backstroke on Monday night at the London Olympics, accomplishing a feat that their more heralded teammates, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, were unable to earlier in the competition.

Grevers, a 2008 silver medalist in the event, was heavily favored to win the 100 back. He took command from the outset and wasn't challenged in winning the first individual gold medal of his career, touching in an Olympic record 52.16.

The silver medal from Thoman was more of a surprise. He had never medaled in an individual event at a major international event and entered the final seeded fifth. Utilizing powerful, arching strokes, Thoman stayed near the tightly bunched pack at the turn and broke away early in the lap to touch .05 ahead of bronze medalist Ryosuke Irie of Japan.

[ Photos: France edges past U.S. in 4x100m men's free relay ]

For Grevers, it's a return to the podium after he followed up his Beijing silver with a

Now would usually be the time on Fourth-Place Medal where we'd run a small Carl Lewis item (in this case, him wearing a plaid chapeau while commentating with Ian Thorpe on the BBC) in order to use it as a thinly veiled excuse to link to his unintentionally hilarious personal website. Then we went to carllewis.com, saw that the old site was taken down and a new one is under construction and subsequently wept like we'd just missed the women's all-around final.

[ Related: Carl Lewis continues his unique Olympic quest ]

Thankfully, the magic of YouTube allows us to still revel in the majesty that is Carl Lewis' music video for "Break It Up."

An Arabic reporter for Sky News fell victim to a walk-by smooching while delivering a live report from the London Olympics.

The woman approached the man from behind, whispered "thank you" as she put her arm around him and then planted a kiss on his cheek.

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The International Olympic Committee will award a new bronze medal to Brazil's Felipe Kitadai after he damaged his during an accident in a shower.

[ Related: Why do athletes bite their medals? ]

Kitadai won a bronze medal in the 60-kilogram judo competition on Saturday in London and celebrated by taking it everywhere. The included the shower. He didn't want to get the medal wet because, duh, only an idiot would bring his medal into the shower and let water get on it, so he bit it between his teeth. That's when the purple strap snapped and caused the bronze disc to crash to the ground. It was left with a small dent.

The Brazilian Olympic Committee formally requested a new medal after the incident. Despite the fact that it had no obligation to do so, the IOC will give him one, according to a report in Globo Esporte. It's no sweat of their backs: The medal only contains $4.71 worth of metal.

[ Related: Heymans embraces change yet again ]

Still, Kitadai is a lucky man. Unless the medal

(@hfwardhouse)

Check out this BBC screenshot taken during Andy Murray's Olympic tennis match at Wimbledon and see if you can find the major error. (Hint: It has nothing to do with the purple backdrops or colorfully dressed ball girls/tennis players.)

[ Related: Samuel L. Jackson, Olympic superfan? ]

Someone mixed up the date of the London Olympics while stenciling it onto the umpire's chair at Wimbledon. 2102 is not the date of the London Olympics. Heck, it's not even an Olympic year. Maybe they were confused and were writing down the next time a British man would win Wimbledon.

(Daily Mail)

God save the queen. And get her a razor for her five o'clock shadow.

The stuntperson who was featured during that showstopping moment in Friday night's Opening Ceremony when Queen Elizabeth jumped out of a helicopter with James Bond was a better actor than you ever knew. A closer look reveals it was a man dressed as the queen and pulling the cord on the parachute.

Gary Connery, above right, is a 42-year-old stuntperson who has appeared in British television shows and popular movies including the "Indiana Jones" series. He's a jumping daredevil, having set the record for highest free jump and making close to 1,000 skydives in his career.