Obligatory Olympics Post

I remember watching the Olympics when I was young: ooo-ing and ahh-ing over the gymnastics and figure skating, tracking the medal counts. Aside from that? Eh. I got nothin’. Yes, for a week or so (remember, in childhood time is relative), twice in one year and then a four year gap, that was what we watched, what consumed our at-home time. But seriously? I’m not an athlete, not that into athletics, so it didn’t really leave that great an impression.

Yes, I also remember the 1972 Munich Olympics and the massacre, but truthfully? I had survived a summer where I lost my job (good old Hurricane Agnes — more on that some other time), found another (two, in fact), and then left them to return for my sophomore year in college (good old Grove City!). It was significant but I was trying to get past the bad and the bothersome. I had other things on my mind (and that doesn’t mean studying).

Yes, I also remember the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing. I’m not sure what was on my mind at that time, but I remember very little about that either. I vaguely remember watching it in the living room of our house on 2nd Street in Highspire — except that we moved from there in 1978. So much for that memory.

Over the years I drifted away, not watching the games or anything to do with them. The 2009 Beijing Olympics? I didn’t even watch the opening ceremonies, making myself one of the lame few that didn’t see them. Of course, that didn’t bother me enough to go online and view them. I guess my sole connection to that year’s games is that I have several magnets on my refrigerator commemorating the event: Anjee was in Beijing earlier that year and brought them as souvenirs.

Want a close-up?

And at this point I’ll admit that I had to take the photos, load them to my laptop, view them, go back, reposition the magnets, and try again. The first try pointed out to me that I really should be cleaning the kitchen instead of blogging. Oh well — that will wait.

Ahem.

As I said, not so strong on Olympics memories.

However, this year it was decided that we — Anjee and I — would watch the opening ceremonies.

Neither of us were really that much into it going in. We figured that we’d sit at our laptops with it on in the background for a while and then switch to reruns of Law & Order or NCIS (by the end of the summer we should have seen all of these). Committing to watch? That was more an excuse for snacks.

Anjee mentioned that she wanted some Sam Adams Cherry Wheat Beer before leaving the country since it’s not available in South Korea. While at the beer store — a place that we seldom, or never, go — we also saw the Blackberry Witbier and decided to grab a sixpack of that as well. The cookie butter? Courtney and Lindsay were taunting us with tales of this on Wednesday night via Facebook, so we decided to grab a jar of that and some pretzel slims to go with it and in return taunt them with our beer purchase. I will say that it truly is an amazing treat, with a sort of peanut butter made from gingerbread cookie dough. In fact, if I weren’t intent on finishing this entry, I’d head to the kitchen to eat a spoonful of it now. (I wonder if I can actually hold out?)

Ok, so we settled in with three laptops and our snacks (Anjee was doing the dueling laptops while that night I was only working on one. I still don’t know whether the fact that I sometimes have two going at once makes me a geek, dork, dweeb, or nerd).

Ahem.

(What were those results of the Adult ADHD quiz again?)

As I said. . . Ahem.

So there we were with our laptops and snacks. And beer.

Meredith Vieira? Seriously, wast that the best they could do? I won’t go into my reasons, but apparently I’m not the only one who felt that way. If you want to know more about it, you can check out this link that explains why this was an Epic Fail: http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/10493/20120728/reasons-vieira-lauer-olympics-coverage-epic-fail-twitter.htm

Danny Boyle’s vision? I thought it started out slow, but enjoyed it as it went along. And of course, gotta love Lizzy’s spot with Bond.

And Mr. Bean.

The hospital dream sequence was really good as well, but I don’t feel like looking for a photo (yeah, I know — less than two minutes time, but it’s Saturday morning, 9:32 a.m., and I’ve been awake for four and half hours already. It’s almost naptime).

As they moved on to the Parade of Nations, the commentators changes — thankfully! Though Anjee spent most of the time correcting Bob Costas’ pronunciations of country names. Great prep, Bob!

Of course, everyone watching wanted to be part of the Independent Olympic Athletes.

They may never win a medal, but they’re still winners!

And finally it was time for David Beckham to arrive in a speedboat, fulfilling the world’s craving for eye candy.

Ok, the big moment: the torch meets the cauldron. I think the most memorable past final torch moment for me — and possibly for others — was in 1996 when Muhammad Ali, visibly shaking from Parkinson’s disease, lit the flame.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I was extremely nervous for this, worrying that he’d burn down the set.

Hmmm. . . I guess I actually did watch some of the 1996 Olympics. Who knew?

Back to the lighting of this year’s torch. Very touching, having not one person, but seven, set the flames to light the cauldron, all of them young athletes who might be in future games.

Another nice touch? Using the petals that arrived with each delegation to form the cauldron.

So that’s it, my obligatory Olympics post. I guess I had more to say than what I expected.

And we each only drank one beer, so maybe we’ll decide to uncap a few more and watch some of the events!