Olympics Day 2

Day two of The Olympics brought my first trip to The Olympic Green. The Green is the area in north Beijing where most of the Olympic venues were located including The Bird's Nest and Water Cube. The Green is a huge space that contains not only the sports venues but a large dancing fountain, a massive park, open squares, and space for all the sponsors to promote their latest products.

The entire Green was surrounded by a huge fence and the only way to get on The Green was to take the subway. Security being what it was they were taking no chances and decided to force everyone onto the subway where they would be contained and easier to monitor. This also gave Beijing a chance to put everyone on their new subway lines which I must say are fantastic. In order to get from my house to The Olympic Green I had to take two subway lines, each more crowded than the last. Each and every station along the new lines is pristine and well decorated with murals and mosaics not to mention the plethora of flat screen TVs all showing live Olympic events. The subway is cheap (two RMB) but with an Olympic ticket it was free. From the first line I had to transfer to another new line, Line 8. Eight, as you must have heard by now, is a lucky number. There are not eight subway lines in Beijing but this one, the line that goes directly to The Green, had to be named Line 8 in order to secure luck and prosperity.

The transfer to the new Line 8, which only has three stops, all on the green, is where the security set up shop. Every subway station has at least three exits. In order to transfer to Line 8 and enter The Green all spectators had to leave the station through one exit. From there spectators were herded to the official security entrance. This place was a well oiled machine. The massive numbers of volunteers allowed the Beijing Organizing Committee to really do the security right. They had tents set up that housed a great many metal detectors and x-ray machines. Before a spectator was allowed to go through the metal detectors we were lined up in lanes and waited patiently until we were allowed to go through the detectors. All the tickets have electronic cards inside them so when you went through security all you needed to do was place your ticket on the reader and it would give you a green light. Also on the ticket reader was a video camera. I made sure to smile my best as I passed by. From there you were technically on The Green but still VERY far away from the venues so everyone was then herded back underground (again through a singular entrance) to get on Line 8. The stops on Line 8 are each decorated in a very Chinese style. One station is decorated to look like it is made of Ming Dynasty porcelain. Very classy.

Sidenote: One thing I am leaving out here is the absolute crush of humanity. When there is only one entrance to an area that contains eight sports venues it is inevitable that you will get a little claustrophobic.

It took about two hours from the time I left my house, but I was finally there. Once on The Green the available subway exits all lead to the mouth of the Olympic sponsors, and they will eat you alive. Coke, GE, Samsung, Lenovo, Omega, all of them were there in specially constructed buildings where they could make unassuming sports fans wait in lines in order to consume advertisements. It was licensing at its finest. I walked around, taking it all in, and then headed to The Water Cube. What a building that is, eh?

It is time to mention that I was drawing a little heat for what I was wearing. It was the good kind of heat. I was wearing my American flag like a cape over my USA shirt. The Chinese fans especially liked this and requested many photos with me. As I entered the area where The Water Cube is located I was approached by a man identifying himself as being affiliated with Japanese MTV. He wanted to ask me about some Japanese guy who was racing against Jason Lezak but that is not how he phrased it. He asked me who I was rooting for. I was wearing an American flag on my back. He asked me if I knew who the Japanese swimmer was. I responded with something along the lines of, "Yeah, uh, he is, uh, Kenji.....Fuji..." The guy then saved me by saying the guy's name which I promptly mispronounced. He was asking me about Kosuke Kitajima. He asked me if I thought Kitajima would beat Lezak and I told him that I couldn't possibly say that with an American flag on my back.

I went into The Water Cube and was immediately floored by the place. There was no lighting on at all inside the concourse. It was all natural light which was cool. Inside the pool area was totally insane. I have never seen that big a place just for swimming and diving. The stands were again, silent. The format at the swimming venue was just great. It was race after race after race. Fantastic action. Then came the meat and potatoes event, the Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay. It was a fantastic race with Phelps tossing down a phenomenal first 100. After the 200m mark the American team was lagging. With Phelps already out of the pool I thought their chances were slim. As the anchor leg began the American team was almost a full body length back from the French swimmer. Then Lezak went extra crazy, throwing down the fastest 100m freestyle in the history. He came back from a half a body length with 50m to go. The place went crazy and I lost it. It was a fantastic moment. That was the final race of the afternoon and everyone was forced out after the medal ceremony. It was a fantastic event. All around people were discussing how amazing that was. People came up and congratulated me. I accepted on behalf of the team. I could not stop smiling. 

On the way out of the Water Cube a guy approached me to see if I wanted to buy Handball tickets for that evening. I think I responded with, "Hell yeah!" The handball matches were not until later that night so I decided to stick around the green and check things out. I wanted to eat something that was not McDonald's. At the concession stand I found what was termed, 'Box Meal'. It was basically an MRE. The box contained a pouch with rice and a separate pouch for a meat of your choice. You then opened up the rice and poured the meat on top and then you put the concoction into a shallow container and set the container on top of two other pouches, one containing water and the other containing some sort of nasty chemical. You put the whole load into a larger bowl and pulled the string thus opening the water pack. The water mixed with the  chemical pack to create a boiling hot meal. Steam shot out in every direction and ten minutes later it was still too hot to eat. The steam provided for quite the spectacle. All in all it was not that delicious. 

As the afternoon wore on I took to the beer. After waltzing around for a few hours, I came across a gaggle of old ladies surrounding a water fountain. Public water fountains are unheard of in China. I did see that some had been set-up in the Olympic Green but they were quite the curiosity for the locals. These ladies were mystified. I walked over and pushed the button down to show them and they laughed and laughed. They then wanted to take pictures with me. One of them grabbed my butt. 

Later it was time to head to the handball venue. I had no idea what to really expect from a live handball match. I didn't know that the northern and central European countries traditionally dominate the sport. All of this new found knowledge came courtesy of a Spanish guy and two Brits seated behind me. We were the only people in the entire stadium not from China or Sweden, the two teams playing at the time. The Spanish guy was some sort of maniac for the sport. He taught us about the rules and traditions and in all made the game more enjoyable. 

Man do the Swedes love their women's handball. They cheered throughout the match, dancing and singing along the way. It was a great spectacle.

I headed home satisfied with my first round of Olympic events. Serendipitously acquiring tickets would become the theme of these Olympics. Three days later Michael A. Rosen arrived in Beijing and shook up the world. More on that later. 

Olympic Ideas

I realize that, in world of sports media, the Olympics happened eons ago. I don't care. The Olympics happen every day in my head. I keep the memory alive. The Olympics to me were 17 days that will live on in my head and in my heart long after the flame is extinguished. These were THE days.

This ends my brief intro to the emotion I have regarding the Olympics and where they stand in international importance four days after the end of the Closing Ceremonies.

Now, I must apologize for what some have considered my 'laziness' during The Games (notice how all things associated with the Olympics are capitalized, that's right, I don't care). It was not laziness as much as it was an insanely busy time here. Between my years of accumulating enthusiasm and the tickets I was able to get hold of, I was unable to concentrate on much but enjoying the spectacle that was Beijing during the games. People were alternately unaffected and obsessed. WOAH, I need to slow down. I am getting all dramatic and ahead of myself. Let's start on the auspicious date, 8-8-08. No, one week before that. That is when things really started kicking off. All the decorations were in place and the city was perking up. Thousands of volunteers were out in force strolling through the streets eagerly trying to catch the eye of any foreigner who walked by so that they could have a chance to put the thousands of RMB mommy and daddy invested in English lessons to good use.

Sidenote: That is not an entirely fair assessment of the volunteers but ahead of the games it was annoying when they all thought I was just visiting.

When 8-8-08 finally arrived I didn't know what to do. I thought that the city would have imploded at the stroke of midnight but it was still here. People were surprisingly calm. I spent the day inside. I was afraid of somehow jinxing things. I am pretty prone to thinking I have jinxed something, like karma is that interested in what I am thinking or saying. This was a day 100 years in he making according to some. I read as much on the internet as I could about the international media's initial opinions about Beijing and the weather and pollution and all that. It was annoying. I did read Jim Caple on ESPN.com and he made a great point regarding the pollution and its effects on the endurance athletes. He said that we shouldn't be to worried about the athletes, we should be more worried about the people who live in Beijing and have to breathe the pollution 365 days a year. Yeah, worry about me!

In the evening I made my way to my friend Comwell's house to take in The Opening Ceremonies live (1 minute delay) on TV. I was there with Ms. Lili Tan (The Tanimal) and a some dude. It was a bit random but it was fun. We watched in nervous anticipation. We all thought that the collective heads of the Chinese were going to explode once the Ceremonies began. They didn't. The ceremonies were quite impressive. People did not stop talking about them for a few days.

The NEXT day I was headed to my first event, Beach Volleyball. I have heard form the NBC broadcasters that the Beach Volleyball venue is generally regarded as the most fun venue of The Games. We arrived extra early, ahead of the 9am start to the matches. Security was a beast. I knew things would be extra 'secure' or at least more secure looking, but this was insane. Lines FOREVER to get into more lines to be patted down and scanned with one of those handy medal detection doohickies. No metal, no liquids. They were not as vigorous that first day as they would be in the later stages of The Games or as thorough as they would be on the Olympic Green. The Beach Volleyball venue was located in Chaoyang Park, the biggest park in Beijing. The stadium was temporary with the sand flown in from the beaches of Sanya on Hainan Island (been there). The venue was cool an unique. They had the concessions set up outside of the stadium proper. The also had beach volleyball pits dotted around the area.

I was very interested in seeing what they had at the concession stands so I went right for them once I got through security. The signs on the outside of the stands read like a dream: hot dogs, pizza, sausages, biscuits, beer, beer, beer. I was excited to eat and drink all those things over the course of the next 17 days but I was denied that dream by ineptitude and, who would have guessed, inflated promises. The concession stands were just that, stands. No more sophisticated than the stand Courtney and I sold Crystal Light from in front of our house one summer (we charged a nickel, our only customer was the mailman, he drove off without paying and I chased to no avail).

They were pvc pipe plastic sheet covered hovels. They sold popcorn but it was microwaved in bags. They sold sausages but they also came in bags. There was never any pizza and hot dogs came on a stick without a bun. Biscuits were the British definition of biscuits, cookies. One more reason to dislike the British. There was literally nothing to eat from the concession stands. It was terrible. In later Olympic related posts I will detail the differences between the venues and their concession options (that should keep you tuned in). The only positive from the entire concession experience was that the prices were dirt cheap. Three RMB (37 cents) for a sausage. Five RMB (60 cents) for a bottle of Coke. They even had three kinds of beer Tsingtao, Budweiser, and Yanjing. The prices were the same for the three, five RMB for a small and eight RMB for a large. All I could do was immediately calculate how many beers could be purchased at The Olympics for the price of one at the Cardinals game. The answer is about 11 and a half. I must point out that a small beer was a CAN of beer and a large beer was a BOTTLE of beer. Tap beer was out of the question. This proved to be a touch annoying when they would have to open a can and pour it into a cup for you while thirty other people waited in line. There was also no limit on beers. More on that later if I can remember.

The Beach Volleyball itself was fun. They had loud American pop music pumping through the place every time there was a stoppage in play, no matter how short. The venue was a bit small and, as with most of the venues I went to, about 1/3 of the seats were reserved for international media. The crowd was pretty good. There were people from Holland, Australia, and Russia. There were a ton of Chinese fans there supporting their women's team in their first match of the tournament. There was even a special cheering section located at the top of the stadium. These people were recruited to fill seats and create a 'fun' atmosphere. They had gone through training well in advance of the games and they all wore matching shirts. They hooted and hollered for both sides while the average Chinese fan just looked at them, almost ashamed for them. There is one cheer and one cheer only that the Chinese do and if you watched ANY of The Games than I am sure you are familiar with it, Beijing, Jia You, Zhong Guo, Jia You. This is it. This is as good at it got for 17 days.

Sidenote: As an American I am concerned with our lack of clever or cool cheers for our country. Everyone has fun things to sing and say except us. The Aussies are particularly adept at being loud and clever. I developed a new and super annoying cheer for the USA, OOOOOOOOOSSAAAH.

As the day wore on it got hotter and hotter and hotter. The thermometer in the sand said it was 120. In the bowl of the stadium air did not circulate and the humidity just took a seat and stayed for a while. Finally, around 11am, the Chinese women came out to rapturous applause. The stadium was about 75% full by the time their match started. I thought it was a decent showing considering the heat. The match went on and eventually the Chinese won. Almost on cue, 80% of the Chinese supporters left. It was terrible. Even the professional cheer squad went home. It was a poor showing of sportsmanship. It was hot and I was not as concerned as I became later when the trend repeated itself over and over again. The attendance issues coupled with the rabid medal tracking made me rethink what sportsmanship is in this country. Initially there was a creepy, China vs. The World vibe happening. Lili and I stayed for another two matches before calling it quits. It was damn hot and I had to get across town to get more Olympic tickets.

I was furiously trying to acquire more and more tickets for the week preceding The Games. I contacted every poster on Craig's List about tickets and ended up finding this girl who lived way across town, on the west side. I went out there to meet her and pick up tickets to Baseball and the Men's Football (Soccer) quarterfinals. I was nervous she wouldn't show up but she did. Her tickets were real. I rejoiced.

I headed home with a fist full of tickets and a sense of what it is like to be at The Olympics. At the Beach Volleyball venue there was a good international mix. While I was unable to cheer for my team I still learned a lot about how to cheer for your country, something I had never done before. You have to be gracious. When you put on your countries colors or even a t-shirt with your country's name on it you become the face of your country. I would say that 95% of Olympic visitors adhered to that notion. Everyone was very friendly and extremely happy to be here. People cheered for their country without ever taunting anyone or going too crazy. It was very respectful. The next day I was headed to the Water Cube to see Michael Phelps compete with the Men's 4x100m Relay team. It would be my first chance to root for my country and see perhaps its best Olympian compete. On the way out of the Beach Volleyball venue there was a small stand selling various flags. I initially grabbed the hand held model of the Star Spangled Banner. I was then drawn to the larger version. It would be my cape. My Olympic look was complete. It was a purchase that would end up enhancing my Olympic experience.
More on that and swimming later

These Are The Days (The Lost Post)

My apologies. My last post was a bit crap. I began writing it at 1am and I was confused. I could have sworn that I had made at least one post during the Olympics. I was too tired and felt that I owed it to those of you who care about the Olympics to bang out a quick blog. The result was confusing and sloppy. I sat down to write another post today and what do I find? An authentic Olympic era blog. Here it is, enjoy.

This post is from August 9

I was in Shanghai last week where I visited Bryne in his new city. He only arrived there the day before I did but together we navigated the city deftly. The trip began when I woke up at 5:00 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. flight. I took a taxi on the newly opened Airport Expressway 2. Huge and newly created especially to accommodate the theoretical rush of Olympic tourists, it is now the fastest way from my apartment to the new termnial 3 only taking 20 minutes. I arrived at terminal 3 and was in awe. I had been anticipating seeing the inside since I mistakenly arrived there to pick up my father and sister several months ago. It is the largest airport in the world they say and I believe it. It is huge and is very open with very high ceilings. It is a marvelous piece of architecture in a city that is rapidly expanding its list of must see buildings.

I arrived in Shanghai with little idea how to get to Bryne's new apartment. I had seen a National Geographic channel presentation on the Mag Lev train that has been built in Shanghai. Mag Lev stands for magnetic levitation. It is like a supertram(p) that hovers on the track creating very little friction. Less friction means higher speeds with less electricity needed. The Mag Lev goes from Pudong airport to the beginning of the Shanghai subway system. I was unsure whether it was the most direct way to get to Bryne's place and upon calling him confirmed that it was not, but I had to take it. Wow was it worth it. The thing is AMAZING! It has seats in it just like a train and a strange hum that enhances its futuristic credentials. There was a speedometer posted in LED lights inside the train and as we departed the station, slowly but surely, the LED showed why this was no ordinary train. As the speed was listed in kilometers per hour, I could only get a rough estimate of what our speed was in miles per hour. The train got faster and faster and the trees, cars, and buildings were whipping by with greater and greater intensity. Another Mag Lev train passed us on the right side and sent a jolt through the train. I looked up, on the speedometer it read 278 kph. That is fast, but we kept accelerating. 300...340...375...400...432!!!! We peaked out at 427 kph which, for those of you playing at home, is a shade under 270 miles per hour. It was amazing. The entire ride probably only lasted 10 minutes but it was well worth the price of admission.

After that I boarded the subway for a long ride to Bryne's neck of the woods. He met me at the airport and we went to his place. We hung out and had some lunch and did a little exploring. That evening we went out for some drinks and to catch up. Bryne had spent the last month in Kora with his girlfriend Seonju. The big news was that Bryne and Seonju married a couple of weeks ago. This is great because she is a great girl and he is a great guy and their kid will either be the tallest guy on the Korean Men's Basketball team or the shortest guy on the English Men's Basketball team. Either way the kid will be schooled in the salary cap, crossover dribble, and exploits of Isaiah Thomas.

The next day we were off to fulfill our destiny and attend the USA vs. Australia in men's basketball. We arrived at the stadium about two and a half hours early. We were hoping that we could just get in the stadium and possibly get some autographs or take some good pictures of the players. Our fatal mistake was not realizing that we were in China. Security was tight as a drum with armed police (a rare sight in a country where 95% of the police don't have guns) and dogs patrolling the area. Bryne and I debated whether they were attack dogs or sniffer dogs. Our final decision was that they probably did a bit of both. They decided to let us in at 6pm. Upon entering we saw that many concession stands and activity booths had been set up. It was not unlike the concourse at a sports event in the US. We got food, a chicken salad sandwich and a salad (a combination never seen in the US), some beers, and took our seats. With about 45 minutes to go before the match the stadium was EMPTY. The Chinese spectator is a new class. Public gatherings have never been really encouraged and attending sporting events is a relatively new concept in China, thus patrons are still getting a hang of it. More on this later in the blog. The stadium remained mostly empty through shootarounds. We arrived plenty early and were treated to seeing both teams warm up separately with the highlight coming when the American team got on the floor. The Chinese fans cheered each individual player as they entered the court but the two who received the most attention were Kobe, Dwight Howard, and LeBron James. We all know how special these athletes are and we all know they are big people but seeing them in person only enhances and affirms those notions. LeBron James is a massive individual. Muscular and athletic he has the body of a power forward and the athleticism of a guard. He is very impressive even when shooting jumpers. Dwight Howard is even more the physical specimen. Tall and lean with massive shoulders, he dwarfs everyone on the court with the exception of LeBron.

It was just cool to see all of those great players together, joking around, talking with each other, all while wearing the same jersey. As the minutes before game time ticked away, I was shocked to see that the stands were still mostly empty. The stadium WAS in the middle of no where, in am industrial park far on the south side of the city, but you'd think people would at least be as excited as I was to see this team. Bryne and I slipped into seats at the bottom of our section. While I did get us tickets, I didn't get us great tickets. Our new home provided a better vantage point. I took this picture at the tip-off:As the game went on the stands filled up but they did not get totally full until the end of the first quarter. One other thing that must be commented upon were the foreign fans in the stands. The only reason that they were noticeable is because the Chinese fans were virtually silent through most of the game. It was a very strange crowd. They were not vocal at all but did applaud good shots or drives by both teams. While they did clap for the Australians, they were clearly rooting for the Americans with countless young people wearing Kobe and LeBron jerseys. The foreign fans, mostly American, could be heard chanting 'De-Fense' and shouting encouragement. The Chinese thought this odd and laughed a bit. When some American jackass stood up a few rows in front of me, he chided the American team in a loud, bellowing voice which could be heard all around the stadium. One man could be heard among a crowd of 14 thousand, that is how quiet it was. Here are some more pictures:































The next day I had to leave early in the morning as I had to be at work early. My flight ended up being canceled and I had to wait for the next one. Luckily I made it on that plane and I was only one hour late for work. Well worth it to see USA Basketball. It was great to see Bryne and I think I might make another trip to Shanghai again soon.

Also this week, a little event you might have heard of called The Olympics kicked off here in Beijing. This is it. This is what I have heard about for over two years. What this city, what this country has been waiting for. The city was whipped into a frenzy in the days leading up to the Opening Ceremony. Athletes could be seen all around the city wearing their team's official merchandise. On my way to work my taxi almost ran over a couple of Cubans, this is the type of encounter that can only happen at in an Olympic host city, or Miami. On Wangfujing, a street near my office, I ran into member from Team Swaziland.
"Swazi!!", I yelled. They responded with a 3 second dance and waved at me. Awesome. Team Nigeria came walking down the busy and increasingly international street. It is so fun to see all of these people from all over the world in one place.

On the night of the Opening Ceremonies things reached a crescendo. My school had to shut down and the day was declared a national holiday by the government, something that NEVER happens. I went to a friends house to watch. The entire ceremony was spectacular. I could have never guessed that it would have been that fantastic. What it did do was put on display the sheer number of Chinese citizens there are. Something like 15,000 people worked on the ceremonies. The beginning, where the drummers banged on drums of light, that part had 2,008 people. It was crazy. I must say that I was a little disappointed in the way the guy lit the cauldron. That fake running shtick was a little silly. The actual lighting of the cauldron was stunning. Is it me or is that flame bigger than normal? I wouldn't be surprised.

The next day, yesterday, I went to Beach Volleyball. My first event of the XXIX Olympiad. The venue was a nice one, located in the middle of Beijing's biggest park. The atmosphere was fun and laid back once you got through security.














The venue has concessions and play areas outside of the actual stadium because the stadium itself is very minimalist and temporary. They had beach volleyball pits outside where many kids
played and made sand castles. It was extremely hot. At 9:00 a.m. when the competitions began is was quite muggy and the pollution, I'm sorry, haze, protected us from the brunt of the heat. But as it got closer to noon the sun came out to play and made things miserable. As for the volleyball itself, the matches alternated between men's and women's. The venue was pretty full but definitely not 100%. The way that the ticketing works for venues that are hosting events all day, is that each ticket is for a time slot. My time was from 9am to 2pm. Around 11am we had a chance to see the Chinese women's pairing take on ?. Did it really matter? The Chinese women are favored to win the whole thing and the crowd likes a winner. This was the first time I was able to see Chinese fans root for a Chinese team. It was fun. The incessant chant, the only one they got is '____ Jia You' which means 'Let's Go___'. It literally translates to Add Oil but the real meaning is something closer to 'Step On The Gas'. This is a phrase I am sure the NBC commentators will pick up on if they haven't already. The crowd cheered every time the Chinese ladies touched the ball. In the end the Chinese team won and then there was a mass exodus. The vast majority, probably between 75 abd 80 percent of the Chinese fans left. This left a mostly international crowd with fans from Australia, Brazil, and the Netherlands representing the strongest contingents. It was a bit of bad sportsmanship I think. You gotta stay. As I have been typing this, I have been watching the games on Chinese TV. Almost without fail they will show an event until the Chinese competitor finishes and then they will switch their coverage. I don't want to make assumptions or stereotypes but it is representative of a sentiment that has been expressed here before that these games are about China vs The World. All of this is to gauge how good China is. I hope as the games go on the Chinese spectators become more interested in the sport rather than the color of the jersey.

There was a thermometer at sand level in the volleyball venue. I knew it was hot but I had to see what it was registering because I had to know. It said that the temperature was 120 degrees on the sand. It was definitely over 100 in the stands. It was a good day at the Beach Volleyball venue but too damn hot in the end. I left with one match left to go and headed to the north west part of the city to meet a girl who had tickets for sale. I bought two more sets of tickets, one to the Baseball gold medal match and the other to the Men's Soccer semi-finals. Wowy, I am jazzed.

Just a few rapidfire thoughts:
-There are no more taxis in this city. They have disappeared. I think they must either be at all the hotels or all the venues. They have essentially evaporated from the roads.

-The heat has been quite bad recently but rain is predicted for the next two days. Today it rained and cooled things of considerably. Today the high is 83 degrees.

-Tonight is the USA vs. China basketball match. To call it eagerly anticipated would be a huge understatement. Every bar in the city is running specials and pulling out projection tv's to satisfy their customers.

-Last night I went out with my friend Meskes and we noticed the insane amount of foreigners that are in the city. They are numerous and kind of annoying. What is more annoying is when people mistake me for a tourist. I hate that.

-The Chinese are pulling out all the stops to make people feel comfortable. All the staff, from security, to the concession stands, to the ushers, all of them speak English. It is amazing considering that, as a percentage, not that many people speak English. It is also a little gratifying for me.

- Beers at the Olympic venues are 5 RMB (60 cents) making the Olympic venues the cheapest places to drink in town. They also have pizza, sausage, and sandwiches available although, at the volleyball venue, none of that was available for some reason. It was advertised so I hope that whatever the problem was, it will be sorted out before I go to the Water Cube tomorrow.

- Michael Phelps is changing the world if only their sleeping habits. Because of AMERICA most of Phelps' races will be held in the morning so you all can get a live look at him in his quest for gold. Thanks. All I can say is that you better be watching and appreciative of the fact that the entire Olympic schedule has been changed for your benefit. This also applies to the 10pm local time start to the USA v. China basketball match.

-Reliable sources say that costumed performers at the Opening Ceremonies wore diapers during their dress rehearsals.

And now I give you this:

Happy Olympics Everyone!