I've got to give the Chinese people a lot of credit. They knew the Olympics were coming and a lot of them have been trying hard to pick up the English language.

What you've just watched is a trailer for an upcoming movie called "Mad About English" in which a film crew documents how the county has tried to pick up the foreign language.

If the movie is anything like the trailer, I'm sure there will be some lighter moments. I especially liked the Chinese Tony Roberts trying to motivate a huge crowd of people by saying, "I can't stand ... my poor English!"

My hope is that the movie focuses on more than just the "lost in translation" moments. I have always been impresses by people who try to learn something new every day.

In this case, I hope all the people the production team ends up featuring were able to pick up the language in the end.

h/t: Herald Sun

Yes you read that right ... Bob Costas and company are going to be very busy.

NBC, along with several of its cable properties (MSNBC, USA, Oxygen, CNBC, Bravo, Universal HD and separate basketball and soccer channels) and website NBCOlympics.com, will be serving up more action than you could dream of.

As Roger Catlin pointed out in today's Hartford Courant, the 3,600 hours of coverage will be more than all the other Summer Olympics combined.

To put it in perspective, it's the equivalent of having 150 full days of coverage. Or as Pat Imig pointed out on Wednesday it's 212 hours of coverage a day.

"We're blown away," Dick Ebersol, the Litchfield resident who is chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics told reporters at the TV critics press tour last month in a satellite hookup from Beijing. "We're awed by the enormity of what's going to be done here."

The number which stuck out to me most though in Catlin's story was that NBC and its cable partners plan to air 2,900 of those hours

Meet Kevin Van Valkenburg. If you read his story about Michael Phelps in today's Medal Stand, you already know that he is a very talented writer at The Baltimore Sun.

For the last few years, one of his main beats at the paper has been covering Olympic swimming, specifically Phelps and Katie Hoff. He'll be in Beijing to monitor their every move.

Van Valkenburg has always tried his best to convey to readers just how good they are, but earlier this summer he took his quest to another level. He agreed to let a swim instructor attempt to teach him more about the butterfly stroke, the one that Phelps swims better than anybody.

As Van Valkenburg explained in his blog:

As a sportswriter, I've always been a big believer that we should, whenever possible, attempt to do as well as observe.

This meant of course that Kevin would have to jam his body into a speedo to make himself more aero-dynamically sound.

Talk about putting all you have into a story.

He also allowed the whole thing to be filmed,

Top officials from Beijing's Meteorological Bureau are "certain" that the weather in Beijing on August 8, the day of the Olympic's Opening Ceremony, will be rainy and overcast with the possibility of storms. Three typhoons are also expected to form in the Pacific during the two weeks of the Games, but meteorologists can't be sure exactly where or when they will hit.

Deputy director of the bureau, Wang Jianjie said, "forecasting technology was not accurate enough to predict exactly when rain would actually fall on any particular day or whether it would disrupt the evening opening ceremony." Oh really, Wang? But your technology is accurate enough to call the weather five days out? Because here in D.C. the meteorologists don't have the forecasting technology to tell me what's going to happen at 6 tonight, let alone at the end of the coming week.

Plus, I don't know why the Chinese are so worried. If bad weather hits Beijing, can't they just ban it like they do everything else they don't

A few links for Sunday ...

If you want to know more about Michael Phelps, read this story from The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Van Valkenburg. [Baltimore Sun]

A silver medalist at the Athens Games in '04, Rebecca Romero of England now looks to become a gold medal winning cyclist in Beijing. She's also made headlines by posing nude for an advertising campaign. [Telegraph]

The U.S. men's basketball team had no problems defeating Russia earlier this morning. [AP]

If you want to protest about something in Beijing you better get ready to fill out some paperwork. [AP]

U.S. men's gymnast Jonathan Horton has been busy this summer. He made the Olympic team and proposed to his girlfriend. [The Oklahoman]

Inspired by my FPM colleague Chris Chase, and MJD at Shutdown Corner, I began to wonder about some of my favorite athletes and how they would fare as Olympians. Immediately, I thought of my favorite athlete of all time - Walter Payton.

Mike Ditka once called Payton the greatest all-around football player of all time. His athleticism and work ethic are legendary. He didn't really consider his workout a success until he was puking. To me, the question isn't whether he could win Olympic gold, it's in what sport.

Payton once competed in a Soul Train dance competition, and he flipped into the end zone on more than one occasion, so he had the grace and strength to be a gymnast. I often saw his relatively tiny 5'10" frame hop over linebackers, and his speed was incredible, so he could have been a hurdler. He clearly had the power, flexibility and body control to be a wrestler.

But no, if Sweetness wanted to be an Olympian, he would have won gold as a decathlete. The football player who could

The United States will send 596 athletes hailing from 47 different states to the upcoming Beijing Games. This immediately brings to mind one question: Which are the three loser states without an Olympian?

Not surprisingly, two of the three Olympian-less states are also among the least populous in the nation -- North Dakota (#48 in population) and Montana (#44). On the other hand, West Virginia can't make that, or any, excuse. The state is 37th in population which, while not huge, is still bigger than 11 other states that managed to produce an Olympian. Plus, there's also, like, 15 Olympic events that feature prominent usage of guns. The table was set, West Virginia. You just didn't sit down for the meal.

But, we're not here to make fun. Instead, here's a list of things residents of each non-Olympic state can be proud of during the two weeks of the Beijing Games:

North Dakota:

• Is not South Dakota.
• Northern-most of the Dakotas.

Montana:

• Boasts 60%% of entrances to Yellowstone National

It seems that the people in Denver are really trying to get everyone involved in the Olympic spirit. Tomorrow they will be hosting the city's first-ever Doggy Olympics.

While many of the "events" are as simple as tail wagging or catching a tennis ball, there are a few creative challenges in the bunch:

Dunking for Dogs: The first dog to eat all 5 pieces of hot dog wins.

T.P. Dog Walk: Owners have to walk dogs with T.P. as a leash without ripping it.

Michael Jordan High Jump: Clearance over the highest point wins.

Babe Ruth Obedience Baseball: Owners run base to base with their dogs while tagging each base. Fastest time to tag home wins.

Jackie Joyner Kersee Fastest Quick Draw "Tongue": Who can empty the spoon of peanut butter the quickest?

Denver is not the first city to host such an event for our four legged friends, just the latest.

In fact, the Purina Dog Challenge occurs once a year and brings "dog athletes" together from all over the country.

After the jump, check out a cliip