Morning Blogdome: They Are Really Just Performance Artists On A Beach

• Or it's like some sort of Wiccan ceremony: Or something. Just not cheerleader-y. This has to be a Beijing thing. But, supposedly, these are cheerleaders for the women's beach volleyball. We're all learning. [ Busted Coverage]

• Josh Smith talks candidly about age limit to blogger:" Obviously I don’t agree with it because I went out of high school. I feel that school’s always going to be there, but with the NBA it’s just so rare for an athlete to make it. Some people are at their primes and some people peak early. I think that, like they say, once you get hurt you have nothing to fall back on, well, what if you get hurt in college? You really have nothing to fall back on. You know what I mean? You should have a little money to be able to finish school and get your degree. If you’re injured in school, say you have a career-ending injury, you might get your scholarship taken from you, which then doesn’t provide you with financial benefits that should be there for you to finish school." [ HoopsAddict]

• This how you sell a story about a horrific weightlifting accident: From The Sporting Blog's Chris Mottram via e-mail:" I'm not good with this stuff either. It's best to just skip to the middle and get it over with. The anticipation is the worst part, I think. All in all, it's no worse than watching skateboarders break their legs." [ The Sporting Blog]

• I believe it's called "The Octabong": "With a fervor only Milwaukee Brewers fans can truly appreciate, Steelers fans once again show why rooting for the Black and Gold is so much fun. That reason, of course, is the group beer bong." [ PSAMP]