U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm strikes us as a decent and devoted young man. And a terrific lab rat. We owe him our gratitude for serving as these Olympics’ go-to, case-study guy, the fellow who reminds us that the human condition needs work.

After winning gold for the all-around – a win followed by the revelation that a scoring error should have placed him second and the bronze medalist, South Korean Yang Tae-young, first – Hamm and his coaches said, in essence, “Tough. Too late. Too bad.”

And there were too many in the U.S. media who responded with equal defiance. You da man, Paulie! Wednesday on David Letterman, Hamm again declared himself the winner. The audience applauded and chanted, “U.S.A.!” Hmmm.

But let’s say that the beneficiary of that scoring mistake had been, oh, a Cuban. And the fellow who finished third but should’ve won the gold was an American.

You think we’d have stood up for that Cuban the way we’ve stood up for Hamm? Would we have cheered that Cuban if he adopted a “Too bad, I won” position? Or would we have screamed bloody murder because a Cuban owned a tainted prize that was technically won by an American?

Shortly after that scoring error was revealed, U.S. gymnastic coaches and many in the media lapsed into the rationalization stage. It’s no different, they reasoned, than a bad call in football; you can’t go back and change the game.

Baloney. (Or is it Hamm?) This was nothing like football. Hamm didn’t interact with his opponents. His is a stand-alone event predicated upon pre-determined routines.

The analogy that should be drawn is that he received the highest score in the state on his SAT, only to later find out that a mathematical error had been made. He really finished second, to a student from another county. Would Hamm, his teachers, the school’s principal and his local newspaper have responded with, “Too bad, Hamm still finished first”?

Gosh, I hope not.

What remains too bad is that Hamm and his coaches, by clinging to that gold medal, passed on a golden opportunity to establish Hamm as the greatest sportsman of these Games. Had he relinquished claim to that medal and instead accepted the silver – the medal he earned – he’d have ignited a different kind of debate:

Is Paul Hamm, we’d have asked aloud – and for decades to come – the finest person to have ever represented the U.S. in any athletic endeavor?

Too bad.

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We were trying to figure out why Bernie Mac has been given so much face-time on ESPN. It’s not just that Mac isn’t a sports figure – ESPN isn’t into sports that much anymore, anyway. It’s that he’s a Fox guy. Why would ESPN promote a non-athlete who’s attached to Fox?

And then came the answer in a commercial for a soon-to-be-released movie starring Bernie Mac. It’s a Touchstone movie. Touchstone, as is ESPN, is owned by Disney. We should’ve known.

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Likely because he was working without Chris Russo, Mike Francesa, on WFAN/YES Tuesday, was able to conduct a superbly focused interview/give-and-take session with Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff about NYC’s push – with Doctoroff serving as the point man – for the 2012 Olympics. Good, respectful, intelligent debate. Is that still allowed?

Lookalikes (and we apologize to the reader who sent us this for losing his name): WFAN’s Ed Coleman and the fellow starring in the new series of Wendy’s commercials.