Why Stephen Colbert Is My Hero

There are so many reasons to love Stephen Colbert, but he just stole my heart again. Upon learning the US Speed Skating team had lost their sponsor — a banking firm that went belly up in the financial meltdown — Colbert rallied his fans to donate the necessary $300,000 to the team using his TV show, The Colbert Report, as a fundraising platform and to simultaneously cheerlead the less popular Winter Olympic Games.

When interviewing short track skater and medal contender Katherine Reutter, NPR explains how Colbert poetically highlighted the differences between the Summer and Winter games:

"Let's trash talk the Summer Games for just a second." Colbert ripped into Summer Olympics swimming sensation Michael Phelps. "How easy is it to swim through water?" Colbert asked. Turning to Reutter, he added. "You run on top of water with samurai swords strapped to your feet."

The US speed skating team will even wear a badge reading Colbert Nation on their "billboard thighs." Stephen's influence on the sports and fitness world reaches far, wide, and high — last Spring NASA named its treadmill used in space COLBERT, an acronym for Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. And don't be thinking that lotus position in the photo above has been photoshopped; over at Yoga Dork, Colbert tied with Matthew McConaughey for sexiest male celebriyogi of 2009.

Are you pumped for the Olympics? Get to know the Ladies of Vancouver here.

Source: Sports Illustrated