Cartoon competition was no joke in the Laff-A-Lympics

The Summer Olympics begin in Beijing this Friday,and while I may tune in a little bit to some of the events,it's not totally Must See TV for me. Don't get me wrong,I wish the athletes the best of luck and respect them for all of their hard work in getting in but as someone who still has flashbacks about gym class,sports and physical feats of strength are not in my Top Ten list of go-to entertainments.

Which is why I have such fond memories of the Laff-A-Lympics;ABC's Saturday morning line-up of Hanna Barbera characters competing for medals in international settings(and even on the moon,when it was known as Scooby's All Stars,for the finale!)was more fun to me than watching Mary Lou Retton flip for the gold,or whoever was big during those years:





Three teams went against one another,two of which were good guys. The Scooby Doobies were sort of the Gryffindor of the bunch,with the Yogi Yahooies being either the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff(my money's on Hufflepuff) but one thing was for certain; The Really Rottens were pure Slytherin types all the way.

While Scooby Doo and Yogi Bear did compete in some events,most of the others were undertaken by the likes of Speed Buggy,Blue Falcon and Dynomutt,Grape Ape,Captain Caveman and other sidekick players. The events weren't your standard Olympic fare,it was more in the Amazing Race line of culturally tied-in activities:

A TIGER HUNTING WE WILL GO



LANCE ARMSTRONG NEVER DID A TOUR DE FRANCE LIKE THIS!



NO BULL ALLOWED



Special guest stars did pop in,for some mentoring moments,such as Fred Flintstone(with Barney Rubble,of course) and expert commentary from Jabberjaw:

BASEBALL TIPS FROM FRED AND BARNEY



FISHY DOINGS





Apparently,I'm not the only one who has a special fondness for the Laff-A-Lympics. The gang over at Robot Chicken did a little shake and bake with it and the movie Munich,which came out in their usual puff pastry parody way:

So,as you watch this year's Olympics and cheer for your favorites,have some laughs by imaging the participants from the Laff-A-Lympics going for the gold instead. Come on,you know that Hong Kong Phooey would be totally aces here. He's not the number one super guy for nothing there,folks! He certainly was one of the smarter team members of the Yogi Yahooies,that's for sure: