As you're all discovering, one can only make so many excuses about the many obligations imposed by Camp Harvard, the existential crises induced by shopping week, and the importance of being "caught up on reading" for that first precious section meeting before the really and truly important things come barging back to the top of your priority list. For me, that intruder is Sunday Nights on the Lam, and I am pleased to announce its return.

Of course, the hiatus does induce a certain laziness - which, for me, is reflected in the sad, sad state of my "Sunday night thoughts" file, which reads: "Random sporting moments?" So hell - let's roll with that.

I'm pretty sure that thought was jotted down during the Olympics in a rather distorted state of mind - distorted not only because I watched unhealthy amounts of TV, but also because I took to waking up at odd hours of the early morning to watch the obscure sports (badminton, table tennis) with my father, who tends to be enthusiastic about any sport in which the players for the American, Swedish, and Singaporean teams are all disproportionately likely to be Chinese. I am a big fan of the obscure sports, not only because I have a limited tolerance for Bob Costas telling me what Michael Phelps' mom ate for breakfast but also because it's pretty fun to watch them. I mean, badminton is pretty sweet. Look at this:

Don't tell me you could do that.

Nor should ping-pong be dismissed out of hand as a sport merely for the basement athlete:

Actually, I think that the real lesson of this video is that there are a lot of odd-sport fans who also have weird taste in music. While searching for videos of Lin Dan (the "bad boy of badminton," according to my dad, who should know), I found one fan who really likes the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for instance.

Sadly, I could find no clips of the hammer throw set to inspiring music, which is probably okay. I was turned on to the hammer throw by one very enthusiastic New York Times blogger, who I can only assume was posted to the Bird's Nest all day and decided that watching people run in circles was not his cup of tea. So instead this guy decided he'd watch the hammer throw, and I guess he fell in love:

Two days ago, when I went to watch the riveting Croatia-China handball match, I thought I had discovered my new favorite Olympic sport. I was wrong. It’s hammer throw. Seriously. I used to think hammer throw was what the koopa troopas in the Super Mario Bros. video games did (Kidding, kidding). I have found the error in my ways.

I think I can see his point. I mean, look at this:

They just pick up this thing that has no resemblance whatsoever to a hammer, and then they whirl around, and around, and around, and around, and then they scream like hell, and I guess the dudes in the suits probably try not to get hit, and somehow it's the Olympics. Isn't that amazing? But I guess if you're not that impressed, you could watch the Mario version. I guess that Times dude wasn't so far off.

There are so many obscure sports I'd love to talk about - team handball, synchronized swimming, trampoline - but it's about bedtime, so I'm going to leave you with my all-time favorite of ridiculous sports, especially when it's 3 AM and you totally weren't expecting it to come on the TV: the racewalk. Now, I don't mean to deny that racewalking is a legitimate sport that requires a tremendous degree of talent - I mean, these people walk faster than I run. But now that I've acknowledged that, I hope they'll acknowledge this: DAMN, racewalkers look silly. There are scientific reasons for this, I suppose, but that doesn't make the arm-pumping and hip-swiveling any less hilarious. Just look:

Damn.

That's all for tonight, folks - send over your obscure sports obsessions; I'll give them their proper due.