Farewell to the Olympic Games

For the last two weeks, I was glued to the Olympics.  I couldn't get enough of them, which is wholly uncharacteristic for me, as I generally loathe sports of all kinds.  No matter the sport, though, I just couldn't turn it off.  I saw every upset; I experienced every victory, every defeat, and, now, I miss them like crazy.

The following are thoughts, musings, questions, observations, etc. I jotted down during the games or have marinated over in the hours since they ended.

--Sarah MacLachlan's necklace at the opening ceremony was to-die-for.

--Snowboarding is so cool.  Who knew?

--If I had to ski for six miles, you could just leave me on a mountainside to die.  Seriously, my frozen remains would undoubtedly be found long after the closing ceremony had drawn to a close.  How people ski thirty-one miles I cannot even fathom.

--I find it disgusting how hockey players just spit right on the ice.

--I adore Apolo Ohno.  I could be persuaded to wear a Rambo-style bandana in support of him anyday.

--I love that Polo is one of the American sponsors.  Seriously, wearing Polo at the Olympics makes the US of A look oh-so-classy.

--Who knew Bob Costas was funny?

--I hate when American athletes don't sing the national anthem.  Thank you Seth Wescott and Johnny Spillane for belting it out.

--I was sad to see the absence of the Jamaican bobsled team.

--I used my Visa during the Olympics just to have the opportunity to win the "Trip to Every Winter Olympics Until You Die" prize.  I'm waiting for my winning notification to arrive any day now...

--Why is it always the girl that falls when figure skating pairs do side-by-side jumps?

--I love that the American snowboarders pants looked like jeans.

--How funny is that McDonald's commercial where the bobsled pulls up to the drive-thru window?

--I screamed with laughter at Jimmy Fallon's Olympic thank you notes.

   

--What exactly is the difference between a triple salchow, triple axle, triple flip, triple toe loop, triple loop, and triple lutz?  They all look the same to me...
--Poor Lindsay Jacobellis:  no longer the showboatin' high schooler, out to prove she deserves her gold medal this time--only to be disqualified in the snowcross semifinal.
--I have a mini-crush on Jeremy Abbott, and I wanted to give him a hug after everyone called his Olympic debut "disastrous."
--I would love to hang out with Shaun White, whose hair, according to my mother, is beautiful but "would look so much prettier on a girl."
--How do speed skaters keep from just falling over to one side while they're going round and round at about a zillion miles an hour?
--Apolo and his dad are about the cutest father/son duo I've ever seen.
--I wish I could have a team of people following me around all the time with a cool name like the Vonntourage.  I wonder what they could be called?
--Evan Lysacek is so pretty.  He has the most gorgeous teeth I've ever seen, and yes, I will, indeed, be watching him on Dancing with the Stars.  Don't you worry about that.

--Speed skating relays are the most confusing things I've ever seen.

--Why does Shaun White wear his bandana like a bandit preparing to rob a bank?  It doesn't really matter because, dude, Shaun White is awesome.

--I love all the Visa/Olympics commercials narrated by Morgan Freeman.

--Would the Olympics be the Olympics without commenators like Scott Hamilton and anchormen like Bob Costas?

--Why are figure skating audiences so eager to clap that they often end up keeping a beat that doesn't actually go with the music being skated to?

--I am all about universality, but something is just off to me when men from the Czech Republic and Japan skate routines based on American icons like Gene Kelley and Charlie Chaplin.

--When I was little, I aspired to being a figure skating judge.  Sometimes I still find myself making comments as if I were a judge or disputing the commentators and judges' opinions--alone in my apartment, mind you.

--Johnny Weir is so weird, but so cool and a really great skater.

--Check out this video:

Nancy Kerrigan Reports on the Hot Olympic Bachelors at The Insider
If this is where all the eligible bachelors can be found, then I will, in fact, be single for life, or I will break my neck attempting to chase some foxy young thang all over the slopes.  Neither look particularly promising...
--It is my personal opinion that people who are five-and-a-half months pregnant have no business competing in the Olympics.  Along the same line, if people five-and-a-half months pregnant can compete in an event, perhaps said event should not really be an Olympic sport??
--Lindsey Vonn has pretty hair.  If I had to run around with a helmet on all the time, my hair would be a flattened-out-greased-up disaster.
--It baffles me that people don't die every day playing hockey.  Brutal doesn't even begin to describe this game.
--I think it's difficult for me to watch Olympic hockey because I find myself constantly scanning the crowd for Emilio Estevez and fighting the urge to chant "Quack... quack... quack..."
--Ice dancing with your brother?  Call me old-fashioned, but I just think that's strange.
--How funny was Apolo's face at the end of his last individual race (500m)?  His mischevious look seemed to say, "I'm not sure why everyone else fell down, but I had nothing to do with it..."
--How does an Olympic sport become an Olympic sport?  It is my feeling that a few of them should be re-examined.
--I sat on my couch and sobbed when Canadian Joannie Rouchette [whose mother died unexpectedly 2 days earlier] skated.  She was crying, her father was crying, I'm pretty sure Scott Hamilton was crying; why try to fight tears when everyone else is sobbing already??  I secretly cheered more for her than the Americans.
--Olympic commentators crack me up.  They say the silliest, dumbest, most obvious things sometimes, and never have I ever heard people get so excited about things like cross-country skiing and the luge.
--There is a part of me that secretly adores a scandalous, heartbreaking disqualification or a dramatic upset.
--Aerial ski jump is a cool sport.  It's kind of the winter Olympic version of gymnastics combined with diving.
--How many times have you heard commentators herald the skate/run/ski/jump/heat/game of an athlete's life over the past few weeks?  Millions, it seems like.
--That P&G commercial where you can read the Olympic mom's lips saying "That's my baby!!" gets me every time.
--Just watching hockey absolutely wears me out.  Remind me to never attempt participating in it.
--Without Cool Runnings and The Mighty Ducks, I would know nothing about winter Olympic sports.
--Although the gold medal hockey game was outstanding on both sides, knowing that almost every Canadian player plays for an American NHL team--and will probably return to that team tomorrow--is the teeniest bit hard to swallow.
--Apolo Ohno is the very definition of a class act, if you ask me.  He's like the wise upperclassman of the Olympics, calling the younger athletes "boys" and remaining a great example at every turn.
--I think I have probably cried more in the last two weeks watching the Olympics than I have in the last two years...
--I'm obsessed with the United States' uniforms for the closing ceremony, and I would secretly like to have one for myself.

--Michael Buble is the most dapper Canadian ever.  Period.

--Nickelback at the closing ceremony?  Come on, Canada, I feel like you could go out on a better note than that...

--Hats off to Canada for what appears to have been an amazing Olympic event all around.  I already wanted to visit Canada, but now it's been boosted to a bit higher spot on my list.

--I feel like I know so many of these athletes now, and it makes me sad to know that I might not see them again.

--Watching events like the Olympics, featuring hundreds of thousands of athletes from all over the globe, is a perfect argument for the importance of athletes as public figures.  They have the ability to change lives and influence people.  Unlike actors, they're playing themselves, and their actions matter to the people watching them.  They hold immense power, and we all know what comes along with that.

--Olympic montage set to music of Remember the Titans?  Give me the Kleenex now; I know the waterworks are coming.

--The class of 2003, featuring yours truly, had a very strong appearance at this game, which is notable because we're a little old to be topping the podium.  Way to go, Evan Lysacek, Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, and Tanith Belbin.

--As if I didn't already have a plate full of musician, actor, book and television character boyfriends, I've now taken on the realm of athletes, as well.  My loves of the Olympics include:  Evan Lysacek, Shaun White, Seth Wescott, Graham Watanabe, Apolo Ohno, J.R. Celski, Alex Bilodeau, various members of men's hockey teams, and, finally, Bill Demong, who proposed to his girlfriend after winning a gold and silver medal--what a doll.

--I'll go ahead and tell y'all a little secret.  I want to be there in 2012 for the summer Olympics in London.  I want to be there bad.  I actually cried Sunday night when they were talking about it.  I'm already making the initial thoughts and plans toward being there, and I will be devastated if I can't make it happen.  I'm still looking for a travel partner if anybody wants to make the journey with me...

--Finally, I'm going to go out on a limb and make a really big statement.  I think the Olympics might be the greatest international event in the world today.  In a world where, most days, people couldn't care less about anyone but themselves, things are different during the Olympics.  People reach out to other people, and the spirit of competition unifies the world.  Heros rise from nowhere; unlikely victors overcome insurmountable obstacles; winners make mistakes and, for once, lose graciously; the impossible happens; dreams come true.  For two weeks every two years, the world is united:  laughing, crying, gaping, cheering--we're all doing it together.

Ah, I miss the Games already.