A lot of Americans think badminton is a pretty lame Olympic sport. And THIS isn’t going to change their minds.

Badminton has a preliminary round . . . like basketball . . . to decide which teams go to the medal round. It also determines the seedings for the medal round.

But by their last preliminary match on Tuesday, four women’s doubles teams had already clinched a spot in the medal round: Two from South Korea, one from Indonesia, and the defending world champions from China.

And they all figured that they’d face an easier opponent to open the medal round if they LOST their last preliminary match.

So, all four teams went out and tried to LOSE on purpose. They hit serves into the net, and generally made no effort to win. Even worse, two of the teams were playing EACH OTHER . . . which resulted in an incredibly lame match.

And the fans in the arena figured it out. They started booing and demanded a refund.

Yesterday, Olympic officials sent all four teams HOME.

The disqualified teams were Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China . . . the current world champions . . . Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari of Indonesia, Jung Kyung Eun and Kim Ha Na of South Korea, and Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung of South Korea.

The Chinese Olympic delegation said it “fully respects” the decision to punish its two players and said it would carry out its own investigation. The South Koreans and Indonesians are appealing the decision.

(NY Times)

(–Here’s some video of the teams’ performance. They hit serves directly into the net at :45, and the judges give them a warning at 1:09)

Take your pick on who the dumbass is here. ABC for pulling (no pun intended) Fred Willard’s new show, or Fred Willard for getting himself in to a sticky (sorry I can’t stop with the puns) situation. I understand PBS’s reaction, but come on ABC, let the guy do his show that you clearly liked because you green-lit it. No one cares about this, and if anything, people would watch just BECAUSE of Fred Willard.

ABC has decided to pull the two remaining episodes of FRED WILLARD’S improv comedy show, “Trust Us with Your Life”. It’s a response to Fred’s arrest earlier this month, after he was caught pleasuring himself in a porno theater.

Reruns of “Wipeout” will air in place of “Trust Us with Your Life”.

Fred previously lost his gig as the narrator of the PBS show “Market Warriors” . . . even though he has insisted that he didn’t do anything wrong, and that his side of the story is “much more PG” than what we’ve heard.

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LIONEL RICHIE teamed up with JIMMY BUFFETT to perform Lionel’s hit “All Night Long” at a gig in Detroit on Saturday night. (–It was Jimmy’s show, but he invited Lionel to open for him.)

Lionel originally released the song in 1983 . . . and he re-released it earlier this year on his new album “Tuskegee”. That version features Jimmy and his band, and Jimmy has been performing it at his recent shows.

Marty Reid is a NASCAR commentator on ESPN, and when he was introducing his co-commentator’s the other day, he totally BLANKED.

He was introducing former driver, crew chief, and owner Andy Petree during the pre-race coverage of the Nationwide Race at Indianapolis on Saturday.

But all he could come up with was, quote, “I know who you are.” Followed by some awkward laughter.

If you have Dish Network, you can’t get AMC anymore, which airs “Mad Men”, “Breaking Bad”, and the zombie show, “The Walking Dead”.

And to protest being dropped, AMC posted a video on YouTube yesterday called “Zombie Experiment NYC”. They had make-up artists turn people into zombies, then they walked around New York and freaked people out.

Six-year-old Cayden Long of White House, Tennessee has cerebral palsy and can’t walk or talk . . . but he’s still probably more active than you are. (–White House is 25 miles north of Nashville.)

Last weekend, Cayden competed in the New England Kids’ TRIATHLON. His age group had to swim 100 meters, bike three miles, and run a half a mile . . . and he FINISHED the RACE.

Cayden obviously had a little help. He competes with his older brother Connor . . . who’s NINE . . . as ‘Team Long Brothers.’

Team Long Brothers did their first kids’ triathlon last June . . . and finished second to last. Connor pushes Cayden in a stroller for the running leg, pulls him on a raft for the swim, and pulls him in a cart for the biking leg.

Since then, they’ve done several kids’ triathlons around the country.

(Examiner.com)