I have a confession to make.
I’m enjoying these Olympics. Before they began, I thought I’d hardly watch them. But I caught the opening ceremonies, grudgingly admitted that it was an impressive spectacle and was intrigued. I was ready to give the games a chance.
Boy howdy was that a good decision. The other-wordly performance of Michael Phelps is something special. I’m not usually one to appreciate dominance—it’s pretty boring when you know the winner before the onset of the competition—but watching Phelps stalk super-extraordinary-once-in-a-lifetime-you have-to-make-up-a-word-just-to-describe-it-greatness is something I’ll remember.
Tonight, I watched the end of the women’s all-around gymnastics competition. In our household, the Olympics used to be little more than a gymnastics meet. We watched ever bit of it, knew every name and lived and died with every stuck landing.This year, the team competitions were over before I could even blink, and I thought the mystique must be gone. Of course it’s been downplayed due to Phelps dominance, but the drama is still as rich as ever as I learned tonight while watching Nastia Liukin beat fellow American Shawn Johnson for the gold medal. I got the added bonus of learning that Liukin is from Plano, where I’ve lived for less than a week.
Congrats neighbor.
Beach volleyball has been great. Baseball has been heartbreaking. Basketball has been interesting. Shoot, even fencing is entertaining.
Now that I realize that I’m not over the Olympics, I’m already looking forward to the next Summer Games. Sure, the Winter games are in just a couple years, but who gets excited about that?
