I Love the Olympics

The first of probably many posts on the Olympics and my obsession with them.

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!

Friday night were the Opening Ceremonies, which I have to admit had many moments of "WOW, that was AMAZING!" The overwhelming theme I use to describe the ceremony is "Synchronicity." I still can't believe how those synchronized light-up drums were. And the "box" people were equally amazing. Though all of them were probably a bit too long.

Then there was the Parade of Athletes. For goodness sake people, 2 hours?! That was way too long. My only observation here is that I seem to recall in previous opening ceremonies, the athletes dressed much more like, well, ATHLETES. This year our American athletes sported a wardrobe by Ralph Lauren, which made them look like they were getting ready to board a sailboat.

Overall, China definitely set the bar high with their opening ceremonies, though I wouldn't necessarily say they were the best ever.

Now in the dawn of Day 3 of competition, a few interesting observations:

* What's the deal with all these swimming world records being broken IN THE PRELIMINARIES?! Save some for the finals people! Of course, apparently they were, as in the mens 4x100 freestyle relay, the US broke the world record in the semi-finals, then proceeded to OBLITERATE the world record they just set by 3.99 seconds in the finals, along with 4 other teams which were ahead of the semi-final WR time. What a race, what a finish!

* Badminton is interesting to watch.

* Beach Volleyball is not the same in the pouring down rain. Seriously.

* There's been a lot of boxing on. I still don't get it. Just seems an odd sport for the Olympics.

* Michael Phelps is very good at posing for the cameras. I think he likes having his picture taken.

The Beijing medals are definitely unique. Though I think I like the Bronze medal the best, actually. The green jade is hard to beat.

* And finally, thank goodness for CBC's Canadian coverage of the Olympics. At least I don't have to wait 3 hours to watch things "live" on the west coast, even if it's not in HD.

More to come...