US Olympic team

I don't know how to say this - since this could come out the wrong way - but...

it's awfully hard to root for the Americans in the Olympics.

It's hard to cheer for people that are constantly thrown down your throat; it's also hard to feel sorry for hot dogs and underachieving dolts.

Look at what we have so far in this olympics. We are "forced" to root for:
1) Bode Miller. He is the most overhyped athlete since Dan O'Brien.
2) Apolo Anton Ohno. Another definition of overhyped. As one writer put it, "he has never crossed the line first in an Olympic event".
3) The curl girls - Curling's hope on the women's side (last I looked, they were 1-4).
4) Michael Weir, the figure skater who wore a "CCCP" jacket at practice the other day. Oh yeah, that warmed him up to anyone 30 years old or older who remembers the cold war. Punk.
5) Jeremy Bloom - another overhyped "star" who choked in the clutch.
6) I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the 1998 Hockey fiasco in Nagano.
7) And now this snowboardnig woman (Lindsey Jacobellis) who had the race won, decided to do a move at the end, fell, and lost a sure gold medal.

How am I supposed to be expected to root for these people? Give me the unheralded underdogs like Joey Cheek and Toby Dawson anyday.

I wish NBC would just let the games play out so we can decide who to root for, instead of forcing "stars" down our throat - "stars" that can't perform on the big stage.