The Brewery

A gathering place for sports analysis and opinion with Seattle Times sports columnist Jerry Brewer.

Blog Home | E-mail Jerry | Subscribe | Twitter feed

April 12, 2011 at 2:48 PM

It's always, um, interesting when Carl Lewis runs out of his lane

I couldn't let this news about Carl Lewis vying to be a New Jersey senator pass without a quick comment.

Lewis is one of my all-time favorite athletes and enigmas. As an 18-year-old watching the 1996 Olympics, I nearly cried while watching Lewis, as a way-past-his-prime 35-year-old, win the ninth and final Olympic gold medal of his career in the long jump.

But I also remember the controversy of Lewis, who had finished eighth in the United States Olympic trials in the 100 meters, making an unsuccessful attempt to force his way onto the 4x100 relay that year. It wasn't his classiest move, but Lewis was always a complicated and polarizing champion. (The bickering over whether Lewis should compete in that relay did inspire one of my all-time favorite quotes. It came from sprinter Jon Drummond, who dismissed Lewis' claim that he belonged on that relay team by exclaiming, "He got butt-naked last at the trials!")

Ah, politics could be a lot of fun with Lewis stirring it up.

Then again, do you really want to see Lewis in the Senate?

Off the track, he hasn't had the greatest, well, track record.

Remember his Star-Mangled Banner? It still cracks me up to this day.

But the ultimate Carl Lewis Moment Of Unintentional Comedy came in this video for his song "Break It Up." It's so awful that it's entertaining. I have to post it now.