Let the Games begin!

8.08.08

That date means it is time for the Olympics to begin again! Hooray! I love the Olympics (especially the Summer Olympics!) At my house growing up, they were kind of a big deal. We didn't really do anything special in regards to them, but you could bet that each day & night we'd be watching them for the 2 weeks they were on TV. If we were home, we'd always watch the first night of the opening ceremonies followed by the first week of gymnastics & swimming. Then came the second week, which of course kept us tuning in because they switched it up by starting the track & field events! It was great getting to cheer on the U.S. & hearing the National Anthem when we won the gold. As a little kid, I was always enrolled in gymnastics & swimming lessons over the summer months too, so my sisters & I would often pretend to be doing the events as well. (*Note-having parents who are 5'10" & 6'3" means that you're probably not going to be an Olympic gymnast hopeful someday-but we didn't really give that much thought!) I even remember being on vacation a couple of times when the Olympics were going on & watching it on the TV in the hotel room & then "racing" in the hotel pool later that day or the next. Another aspect I always liked too was all of the history the commentators give you about the Olympics & the country that is hosting. They can definitely make any place sound appealing. I also love the "stories" they tell about the competitors & things people want to be an Olympic event (like Bridge-the card game). Of course, they always talk about the big stars of that particular games, but they will also tell you about the "random" competitors from these little countries who probably don't have much of a chance to win their event, but who cares-you find yourself cheering for them anyway!

I thought all of this was pretty normal behavior until I was going on about it to Scott this week & he's like "Well it wasn't really that big of a deal-we'd watch it some." What? You mean to tell me that all families weren't scanning the paper each day to see which country had the most medals & gold medals (hopefully the U.S.!) Then as I was having dinner with some friends-someone asked what the date was & I responded "Oh, tomorrow is 8-08-08, that means the Olympics are starting!" This resulted in a discussion about how they didn't really watch them that much maybe a little bit of the ice skating during the winter Olympics. This resulted in me listing a few of the events I like from the winter games & when I mentioned the luge & curling-they burst out laughing at the fact that I knew my "Olympic terminology". What?! I thought these were common terms in everyone's household! :) What can I say? I'm an Olympic nerd & proud to be one, so if you don't mind I think I'll go watch some swimming or gymnastics or rifle shooting or softball or beach volleyball or equestrian or weightlifting or......... (well, you get the picture!) ;)