Those Mancusos sure are screamers
I've been hitting the Olympics pretty hard the last couple of nights. I have to try to slurp down a few more Olympic moments to hold me over for another couple of years. I dig the Olympics. I admire the athletes and their sacrifice. I love the competition and the joy that comes from incredible performances, but I've had just about enough of the media. Have we really gained anything from sticking a microphone in someone's face immediately after victory or loss? I got it. When Julie Mancuso was screaming and her family was screaming, I understood that she was overjoyed. When Jeret "Speedy" Petersen didn't quite nail his "hurricane" I understood that he was disappointed, but not beaten. I don't need a reporter to shove a microphone in the competitor's face to get an inane quote like, "it hasn't sunk in yet." Just let the cameraman capture it and then give the athlete a chance for it to sink in. That way later in the studio we can hear insightful comments from the likes of "The Flying Tomato" about how Burton lets him choose the buttons on his clothing line.

All right. Fine. The Olympics reminds me that I'm glad that I'm not famous because then I might have to try to answer ridiculous questions while I'm still out of breath from another stirring curling performance. (I don't get curling and I'm ok with that. I hope curlers don't begrudge me for that.)

My favorite Olympic moment this time around was from Nordic combined. I didn't even see the ski jump portion. I just saw the lead pack of three get eaten up by the favorite who was coming out of seventh when the cross-country skiing portion began. Only the leader refused to get passed, so the favorite and this young kid pulled away and the young kid stayed tough and won the gold. Then in the race for the bronze, they had to go to the photo finish and even then it was hard to determine whose boot crossed the line first. It was awesome. I don't know the people's names involved. I don't even know the countries. I just know that it was special.