The Olympics - First Weekend

I love watching the Olympics. I think that I like the Summer Olympics more than the winter, and I predict that my TV will be tuned into the Olympics a large portion of the time over the next few weeks. Here are some thoughts on this first weekend:

Opening Ceremony

WOW! I think I was mesmerized for the entire time (except the parade of nations). There was just so much to watch and to see. It was incredible. The lighting of the torch was highly entertaining. The people in lighted suits that were making all sorts of designs, including a human replica of the Bird's Nest were phenomenal. The scroll, artists, drummers, ... I could go on and on. This show definitely beat all of the others that I have seen.

Best quote of the night: [the announcer was talking about the United Arab Emerates or some other middle eastern nation at the time] This is the first time this nation has had women on their Olympic team. However, it is of note, that the two women on the team are the daughters of the prime minister.

Worst outfits of the night: Hungary's women. No one looked good in that dress. Whoever thought a white dress from the 1920s with huge red flowers all over it and a huge hat looked good needs to be fired. It was hideous.

Saturday's Events

I love watching Michael Phelps swim. Thankfully I will have plenty of chances to watch him in the coming days. He is amazing. I definitely was excited for his first gold medal swim.

I watched my first badmitton match (do they call them matches?). I am still confused. It was entertaining for about 7 minutes, but I got bored. I did not know that they could hit that birdie so fast though.

Sunday's Events

Men's freestyle relay. Not much more needs to be said. I think I got as excited as I do in football games that come down to the wire. I do not think I have been that excited for a non-contact sport ever. I like swimming.

I pretty much spent the rest of the night complaining about how long I was having to wait to watch Michael Phelps again. Gymnastics was mildly entertaining. Diving was boring (it isn't fun when you know who is going to win and it isn't even close).

Random comments

Although it is kind of cool that we can watch things live such as the swimming races because of the time difference, it is also a bit nerve racking. I usually claim that I do not want to know the results beforehand (and that is generally true for gymnastics), I usually end up cheating and finding out the results to things like swimming. It is driving me crazy that I cannot find out the swimming results until they happen!! However, maybe that accounts for my increased excitement during the races.

It is hard not to think, as I watched the nations march by and see the nations all competing with each other, about how our different races bring glory to God, and how heaven will have all different tribes, tongues, and nations in it. The big plus to heaven - we will all get along.