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I’m late with this post, I know. I have meant to write about the Olympics for a few days now. I absolutely love the Olympics and everything they stand for. However I’ve been too busy watching the Olympics to write about them. Now that I’ve had the opportunity to watch a few days, allow me to write my thoughts on various aspects of the games thus far.

- The Chinese put on a grand show during the Opening Ceremonies. I loved watching the choreographed show followed by the athlete’s march into the stadium. The 2008 lit drums were great. The young girl singing and the fireworks show were equally as captivating. Seeing the athletes marching in from different countries and their different wardrobes was also a phenomenal sight. For many, that walk WAS their Olympic glory. Too bad after the ceremony we found out that Chinese officials pulled out all the smoke and mirrors with the fireworks and the young girl singing.

- Michael Phelps. Watching him attempt to surpass Mark Spitz’s record of 7 gold medals has been unreal. His Olympic schedule is unreal, with seventeen races. Eric Adelson of ESPN writes that Phelps will burn a marathon’s worth of calories for 9 consecutive days during these Olympics. As of this blog entry, Michael Phelps has won 5 gold medals, all in world record time. Wow. I can’t wait for his last three races.

- This could have been included in the last paragraph, but it deserves it’s own bullet point. The men’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay. Michael Phelps, (Milwaukee’s very own) Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezek put on one of the greatest races I’ve ever watched. There was so much excitement, the whole time the announcers were saying, “Silver medal.” The French were trash talking, boasting that they were going to, “Smash the Americans.” All of which set the stage for the greatest Olympic relay race ever (yes I have the audacity to proclaim this).

- Does the new gymnastic scoring system confuse anyone else? Where did the perfect 10 go? I have no idea what a good score is anymore. Plus I’m not as well versed in gymnastics like Tim Daggert, so I can’t watch the performances live and spot all the flaws and deductions.

- Unfortunately, the Olympic Games haven’t all been all about the competition. There was a tragic incident on the first day. Sadly, the father in law of US men’s volleyball coach, Hugh McCutcheon, was stabbed to death. His mother in law was also seriously stabbed. This is not what the Olympics are about and it’s more than disappointing that the Chinese security officials allowed such an incident to happen.

Let’s hope that there are no more sad situations like that one so we can concentrate on the magnificence of the Olympic games.

*RIP Bernie Mac. We will forever be connected by the first scene in the movie Mr. 3000.

Tags: Michael Phelps, Olympics