Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Amidst the relentless barrage of swimming and gymnastics coverage at the Olympics, did you notice the legally-blind archer competing in London?

South Korean Im Dong-hyun, according to some published reports, can see only blurred colors and lines when he sights the target 76 yards away.

Does it seem like a good idea to hand someone with eyesight like that a quiver of 72 very sharp arrows? Me neither.

So, how did he do? How about a score of 699 in the first round? That broke Im’s world record of 696.

The South Koreans won the bronze medal last weekend after the U.S. bumped them in the semifinals. Italy beat the U.S. for the gold medal by one point. NBC will show this on tape delay in November. (Just kidding, sort of.)

As it turns out, Im may not be quite so blind as originally reported.

“Do you really think anyone who can’t see could compete at the Olympics?” he told an inquisitor after his story gained traction.

His sight is 20-200 in one eye, which is legally blind, but apparently he can see the target pretty well.

In fact, Im said he does not require glasses to drive.

OK. Most of us navigating U.S. 192 near the attractions will confirm that 50 percent of the drivers we encounter there are legally blind, too.

While on the subject of archery, what’s with those bows? They look like satellite dishes with drawstrings.

If William Tell had one of those carbon-fiber gizmos, I imagine he would have been splitting atoms, not apples.

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The Orlando Magic introduced their new coach, Jacque Vaughn, to fans Monday.

Vaughn, 37, has a credentials list that reads like this: former NBA player, two years as a San Antonio assistant coach, available, cheap.

Is your head spinning a little, wondering how the Magic went from the NBA finals to the league’s edition of the Houston Astros in three years?

Also, how did the team completely blow the trade value of its one chit, Dwight Howard?

Shouldn’t he be worth a couple of established stars and draft picks?

Youthful GM Rob Hennigan seems intent on doing a salary dump deal.

We saw how well these space-clearing plans work 12 years ago when the Magic cleared the deck for Grant Hill and Tim Duncan. They ended up with Hill and Tracy McGrady, and we don’t need to rehash that episode, except to say, really, do Magic fans want to go there again?

Well, there should be plenty of good seats available at the Amway Center for a couple of years.

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Speaking of the Houston Astros (we did up there, somewhere), this is a Major League baseball team that seems to be participating in the FBI’s Witness Protection Program.

After dumping the few veterans left on the team last week, like pitchers Wandy Rodriguez and Brett Myers, and third baseman Chris Johnson, the Astros now seem equipped to challenge the magical 110-loss mark this season.

It’s hard to say whether the Astros ripped a page from the Magic playbook, or vice-versa.

Just a few years ago, the Astros were paying Roger Clemens $14 million for a half season of work. They were in the World Series in 2005.

For $14 million now, you can buy the whole Astros roster and probably get a couple of good seats for the Texans season-opener to boot.

The highest-paid player on the Astros makes a little over $1 million a year, which in baseball’s fiscal universe, is a little like earning parking valet tip money.

Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio, where are you?

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The NFL teams are already in camp, and the college and high school squads will be there soon.

Be warned, we intend to make weekly football predictions again. But, we’re going to go the NBC route and make our picks the Tuesday following each weekend’s games.