Monday, March 1, 2010

Good-Bye to Vancouver


And so we say good-bye to the 2010 Winter Olympics. I'm going to miss it. Not that I watched every single event but it was nice to be able to turn on NBC and see our athletes doing us proud whenever I felt like it.

There were so many highlights both good and bad. Starting off the Olympics with the death of a Russian luger was just so sad and then seeing his actual funeral at the closing ceremony last night was just heartbreaking. Watching Joannie Rochette of Canada skate just days after her mother's sudden death was one of the saddest things I've ever watched on TV. Seeing just how classy Apolo Ohno was after being disqualified is also something I'll remember. He was also my favorite athlete during these Olympics. Lindsey Vonn, Shani Davis, Steve Holcomb and his bobsled team, Evan Lysacek, Shaun White and all the others who walked away with medals.....I salute you. And to all those athletes who got to Vancouver and didn't leave with any medals, I salute you as well. It takes a lot of training just to get there and being there alone is testament to how good you are.

I thought the city of Vancouver was highlighted beautifully and it's a place I'd love to visit someday. Having Bob Costas report the results every evening was also a pleasure. The most disappointing, of course, was USA's loss to Canada in ice hockey but they played great and should be proud.

The closing ceremonies were very long as they usually are. I was all ready to leave these Olympics on a high note when they began to display all of their very own Canadian "celebrities" telling the world how proud they were to be Canadians. I looked at all of them....especially Michael J. Fox....and thought how great it is that they're so proud. But then I thought, "Why do they all live here in the states and use our health care?" They forgot to mention that in the closing ceremonies.