2008 Olympics

I've got to be honest: I'm a sucker for the opening ceremony of any Olympic games: summer or winter. And I have a feeling tonight that the opening ceremony of these Olympics in Beijing are going to be pretty stellar. I mean just check out the venues that the Chinese have built - amazing! That's all you and I need to know that these opening festivities are going to be over the top awesome. In fact, I think that they are so cool that the kids are staying up a little extra late to take in the sights, sounds, and action of the evening. Should be a blast!

If you are looking to know when your favorite Olympic sport is going to be on t.v., you can check out NBC's site for all the details (and then some I'm sure). Personally, I'll be checking out track and field (the U.S. has fielded some amazing runners, jumpers, and throwers), swimming (41 yr old Torres and Phelps going for 8 golds!), and The Redeem Team (men's basketball). Plus there are a couple of less popular sports that I geek out on, too, like indoor volleyball, table tennis (ping pong to us gringos), kayaking, handball, water polo, and badminton.

It is interesting to note that this Olympics has been permeated with controversy given the awful human rights history of China. But as I have been reading, this is the one time in the global calendar when we put down our political differences to unify under the banner of athletic competition (so why did the IOC ban Iraq?). So does protesting have it's place here? Will it be the unofficial Olympic spectacle of the next two weeks? I doubt it.

And so as we unify under this banner of sports, all I have is one thing to say: USA! USA! USA!