STRIKE ZONE: ONE STRONG EVENT HELPED MAKE UP FOR LOST GROUND

It must be the "in" thing over a 17-day stretch of summer.

Walk the streets of Atlanta, read the papers, watch the news reports and everybody, it seems, has an Olympic-sized complaint.

And there have been plenty bouncing around, especially from the media actually covering the events.

Take your pick of a gripe.

The likely choices:

You probably don't like the commercialism.

Maybe you had a bad experience in that Olympic bus driving competition.

Or is it the 90-something degree heat that troubles you?

Maybe NBC's delayed, helter-skelter programming?

All legitimate complaints. There's no wrong in wishing for better situations.

But enough already.

Fix a pitcher of iced tea, park in front of the TV and prop up your feet.

Relax.

Enjoy the moment.

Maybe it was Janet Evans' loss to Michelle Smith in the 400 meter freestyle that pulled the reality back into the whole Coca-Cola cluttered Olympic spectrum.

It provided some of the first real emotion that these Olympics were waiting for.

The competition is real. The emotion is real. The tears are real.

Kerri Strug's ankle-wrenching effort Tuesday in women's gymnastics may have been the personal icing that the Olympic Games were waiting for.

Janet surely wasn't thinking about the Coca-Cola Torch Run on Thursday as she swam her last race, the same one that would send her into retirement.

Kerri probably wasn't thinking about how much the Dream Teamers make as she fought off the pain of a twisted ankle and continued to compete. Her finish assured the U.S. of a gold medal in gymnastics.

Hal Bock, among the throng of worldwide media folks on hand for the 17-day Atlanta festival, called these games the "Tacky Olympics."

"This might as well be some NASCAR race with the good ol' boys chewing tobacco and guzzling beer," Bock wrote in a personalized weekend report.

"The corporate sponsors ... have made this affair into a giant trade show and convention."

They sure have.

But so what.

The Olympic Games represent a progression in sports that, for better or worse, isn't likely to change soon. Commercialism rules. Corporate sponsors are the kings.

It's gonna be that way for a while.

Brace yourself.

But to completely write off the Olympic Games as one long TV commercial is unfortunate, not for NBC, not for the sponsors, and really not for the athletes. It's unfortunate for those who choose to skip them.

Despite the bus hassles, the heat, the peddlers selling $3 bottles of water.

Despite NBC's less-than-perfect scheduling and programming.

They're still pretty good games.

Jamie Hall is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian