Nearly a week into the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I can safely say, "I'm into it."
The Games officially got under way last Saturday, but with people riding bicycles around Tiananmen Square and others rowing boats, the excitement eluded me on that first day.But then it happened.
Awakening from my slumber early Sunday morning, I looked at the DirectTV guide and noticed the USA basketball team had a 10 a.m. game against China.
Excitement rising.
After a quarter-and-a-half, the Americans began putting the needed beating on Yao Ming and Co., filling me with patriotism.
With the basketball team getting me chanting, "USA! USA! USA!," I was getting into the full Olympic spirit.
After getting my Olympic engine revved up, its only been picking up RPMs as the week has gone on.
Thanks to the 12-hour time difference between Warsaw and Beijing, China, all the events I want to see have been broadcasted live in the prime time hours. Among these sports, are swimming and gymnastics.
Coming up through high school, I always had a good time letting my swimming buddy know how little people carried about his sport. A few years after graduation and picking up a job as a sports writer, I had the luxury of covering a state swim meet. That's where my opinion changed.
The excitement inside a natatorium during a big swim meet is pretty intense. And when I share the same nationality as the top swimmer in the world, it makes watching the Olympic swimming events even better.
As of this morning, Michael Phelps already has five gold medals, with a shot at the 200 IM gold coming tonight. He enters tonight's 200 IM final with the second-fastest seed time, one-hundredth of a second behind teammate Ryan Lochte.
On top of winning a gold medal in each event he's competed in, he's also set a new world record in each.
Very Mark Spitz-esque.
In the 1972 Munich Games, Spitz swept through each event he swam in, which included the 100 free, 200 free, 100 fly, 200 fly, 4x100 free relay, 4x200 free relay and 4x100 medley relay, all the while setting world records along the way.
At these Games, Phelps has achieved the same feat through five events, but has also done it without a mustache. If there's ever going to be an argument between who's the best swimmer of all-time, Phelps may have the gold medals, 11 as of Thursday morning, compared to Spitz's nine, but Spitz takes the gold for swimming with a 'stache.
Swimming and gymnastics have been intertwined this week, and I must admit I took a liking to the tumbling squad back in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, with the likes of Kim Zmeskal and Shannon Miller. Maybe it was the girls, maybe it was the competition, but whatever it was, I was in.
Because the Americans are one of the top teams in the world, it's always fun to watch them compete with the Russians, Chinese and Romanian squads.
The broadcasts always make the American team look like sweethearts, while other nations are portrayed as doped up machines. And since its on TV, it's gots to be true.
Following a bronze in 1992, little Kerri Strug took her injured ankle to the vault at the 1996 Atlanta Games, scoring a 9.712 on her second attempt, therefore giving the Americans the gold over the Russians.
With the heavily taped ankle, Strug's performance was even more signficiant, catapaulting the young lady on to the cover of Wheaties boxes, skits on Saturday Night Live and into the hearts of Americans nationwide.
And at the exact moment Strug stuck that landing, a faint "USA! USA! USA!" could be heard around the globe. It was a faint chant, but it's been said it was there.
Since '96, the American girls placed fourth in 2000 and second in 2004.
The silver medal was achieved again this year, which seemed to disappoint the girls, but competing against the Chinese, a silver appeared to be about right.
Underage or not, the Chinese were phenomenal.
And considering the Chinese girls are taken from their homes at the age of three in order to train exclusively as gymnasts, I'd rather take a silver medal and be able to live a semi-normal existence.
As for the guys side, sorry, I didn't really pay attention. My bad.
This morning, the USA basketball team dispatched Greece 92-69. By the end of the day, Phelps should have another gold and hopefully Miss Shawn Johnson has a strong showing in the individual women's gymnastics competition. With all that talent on display, it makes this guy pretty pleased to be an American.
On top of the aforementioned athletes, the States also sport the most dominate softball team, and beach volleyball tandem with Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor. With gold medals almost guaranteed to those two, not to mention what's about to happen on the track, it's gonna be a pretty good time to be an American.
My goodness, all the wins are gonna leave me breathless. But no matter how befuddled I become, I'll still manage to mutter the buffoon's anthem, "USA! USA! USA!."
