2008 Beijing Olympics

I am an Olympic Junkie.

When they came to Utah, I became the poster child for couch potatoes everywhere. I was up by 7 to watch morning highlights, sat there all afternoon, and only shut the TV off when coverage was over. Winter Olympics in Italy I was no different. I pulled 8am-8pm shifts on the couch, ogling Olympians everywhere and wishing I could be like them.

This year I'll be watching for a different reason. In the past I watched to see the best compete. In a few short days, I'll watch to see how big a disaster it will be. I'd like to be an optimist, but deep down (ok, not all that deep) I'm a pessimist.

Who thought following Utah, Greece, Italy...with Beijing...was somehow a good idea?

For example...

Internet Censorship
Environmental Disasters
Allegations of Cheating
PR Control (what protesters, where?)
Attempts to control foreign media

...are just a few things challenging the Chinese and my hopes for a successful Olympics.

What do you think?

Rare Acts of Unscripted Kindness

(Hat Tip) to my mom for e-mailing me this article.

I used to play softball, and have played several other sports. In my time playing and watching sports, I have never seen such genuine and compassionate displays of sportsmanship as these two girls show.

To me, "sportsmanship" has always been a vague term. Beyond playing fairly, treating each other and the other team with respect, and recognizing the other teams win or your loss with honesty (not, "they only won because our star player was injured"), sportsmanship has never really looked like anything to me. It's not like there are a lot of good examples out there.

Now it does. This is what sportsmanship looks like. It is too bad more of these unscripted acts aren't seen in all sports - from pewee football to professional arenas.