*The Post reports that Bantamweight D.C. boxer Gary Russell Jr. will forgo a shot at the gold.

*Wonkette speculates on a link between the opening ceremonies and Ted Stevens' press conference.

*Slate introduces their cutting-edge Beijing Games Twitterfeed! If only we had thought of that....

*Brightest Young Things on Project Runway's U.S. Olympic Costume Challenge!

*HuffPost gives the opening ceremonies an exhaustive photo & video treatment. Too bad it's banned in Beijing....

*A shocker from The Hill: Bush plans to attend church in Beijing this Sunday! Later that night, he'll check out Lebron James and the rest of the U.S b-ball team. Lebron, meanwhile, sounds pretty confident.

*Inspirational: Mr. T in D.C. comes within two pounds of his target weight!

Photo courtesy of H@r@ld