Jia You! (that's Chinese- look up the meaning)

Due to overwhelming feedback from my first post (read: none), I'll post my action well in advance so you at home can play along as well. Today's featured pick is on the Summer Olympics.

Future Wager bet 200.00 to win 142.86
Result: Pending
2008 Olympics - Most Overall Medals - Odds to Win
China 5 - 7

Why bet China when they've never won the most overall medals? Well, for starters, there is overwhelming pressure being placed on the athletes. Having athletes risk permanent blindness, not letting burned out athletes quit, and forcing women that just gave birth to resume training immediately is the least of it. Would you believe stem cell injections?

You may have heard about the measures China is taking to fulfill its hosting duties to the fullest. In order to stem pollution, they are shutting down factories, forcing half the cars in Beijing to alternative days on which they can be driven, and citizens are volunteering to dredge lakes (in which sailing events will be held) of algal blooms by hand. Well, you'd better believe they are similarly taking drastic steps to make sure their athletes have a great showing.

Is there a moral dilemma being on the same side as a government that will win at all costs? Yup. There's also a moral dilemma with potentially having to root against the my home country, the U.S., China's main rival. Not to mention, I'm from Taiwan. Golly, I'm such a heel. To quote Daniel Day Lewis from There Will Be Blood, "I've abandoned my child! I've abandoned my boy!".

This will be a great sweat when China is tied with the United States in the last few days with like 77 medals apiece, and I'm watching the mixed badminton finals on CNBC at 3am.