no klydon it has nothing to do with violence to the athletes - I know I didn't explain it well in my previous post and the line "the authorities are playing the mob" may have linked it to Colombian drug lords and such. but hey, every now and then there's a newspaper or opponent politician linking the Brazilian government to the FARC. and that's what I'm talking about. I know you have your issues in the US Government but in Brazil the consequences of corruption and deviation of public funds are way bigger. every week there's a new case of a politician who stole 500 million bucks that were destinated to public health or something like that, and NONE of them went to jail. the Supreme Court is a shame. the government is a mob. and that translates to sports. Brazil host the Pan Amaerican Games last year and the expense still haven't been approved by the Court of Audit. even so, the government authorized I-dont-know-how-many billion bucks to be invested in the Rio 2016 Olynpic program.

I don't even know where to begin. if you want to get deep in this subject, let's do it!

I believe brazilian athletes have to deal with a different kind of pressure than americans for instance, because if an american fails in the dinal round, some fellow countrymen will win another gold medal within half an hour. a brazilian who wins a gold medal becomes a celebrity and his sport gains never before seen coverage, because in Brazil we live, eat, drink and breath soccer and only soccer. especially in these 2008 Beijing games I'm sensing desperate brazilians choking against cold americans (beach volleyball, both men and women and women's soccer are a big example). Brazil had 12 world champions in the last 4 years among its atheletes and almost all of them choked badly. the brazilian women's soccer team has got to be better than USA's. but those girls have to work another part time job because there is no female soccer tournament in here. the Brazilian Soccer Confederation, among the Mob that exists here, is the Corleone Family. and those girls are buttonmen in suicide missions.

concerning to volleyball, Brazil male team may be the winningest team of the past 10 years in any sport. and the female team has not lost one single set so far in Beijing. again, it will be NO surprise if we lose both.