Wall Street Journal, you so funny

The Journal (that's the Wall Street Journal to those of you not intimately familiar with industry jargon) made an unintentional funny yesterday. In a snooty-assed staff editorial applauding Kobe Bryant's pseudo-patriotic gushing in an interview with Chris Collinsworth, the WSJ said the following:

Cynics will claim that this is merely about marketing, with Mr. Bryant hoping to use the Games to burnish his public image. On the other hand, he and his rich teammates on the basketball squad are giving up their offseason to play for nothing save possible medals. Mr. Bryant has also been an enthusiastic spectator for other U.S. Olympians, waving the Stars and Stripes at various events.

To the kind of Americans who consider themselves primarily "citizens of the world," nationalism at the Olympics is déclassé, even embarrassing. We're with Kobe.

Ordinarily, this wouldn't be important...

The thing is, The Journal elected to run this editorial on the same day as a certain A1, above-the-fold feature, complete with 4" x 5" full-color art. What was that feature, you ask? A 1,500-word uber-capitalist ejaculation pondering the number of zeros soon to be on the checks sent to Michael Phelps by the likes of Speedo, Nike, and Hilton Hotels.

BEIJING -- If no one in Beijing was happier -- or busier -- than Michael Phelps this past week, his agent Peter Carlisle had to be a close second.

A new race is now on for Mr. Phelps: the rush to transform the swimmer's Olympic feat into a marketing juggernaut, akin to Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. But the window for marketing Olympians -- even those with the rising stature of Mr. Phelps -- can close fast. Many of the new legions of so-called Phelps Phans likely will not see his muscled torso in a pool again until 2012, an eternity for advertisers.

Come on, that's hilarious. Not deliberately so, but still...