LIFE'S A BEACH

Michael Christopher Brown

Why can't we all just get along?

We cannot add much to the story of the day (no, Michael Phelps, you are routine by now)—the Georgia-Russia beach volleyball match—that our ESPN colleague Jim Caple did not mention. Because really, after you describe all the bikini tops and bikini bottoms, and the pop muzik backdrop, what else is left?

But we do think this piece of, uh, analysis, is important.

The Georgian volleyball team story has legs. And get your mind out of the gutter. Even though they're Brazilian, the Saka-Rtvelo squad built a perfect Georgian political narrative—plucky little gals beating back the big, bad Russian bear.

That storyline was so obvious that the Russians quickly realized they weren't just scantily clothed fit chicks, but symbols of international oppression, and decided to make peace by apologizing and having the Geor-zilians sign a media guide—showing the kind of diplomacy unseen in the U.S. for eight years.

Of course, that didn't stop the Georgia team's surrogates, who were there in force (okay, it was about six guys wearing Georgia shirts), from bearing witness. Or praising the media for bearing witness, as well. "We would like to thank you," said Georgia press attaché Georgi Tchanishvili to the assembled scribes, "for being fantastic."

We, at The Magazine, would like to thank the athletes for doing the same.

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