Thoughts on the Olympics

Random thoughts about the Olympics:

- The guy who announces the beach volleyball just slays me. I can't always understand everything he says, but he says it with such enthusiasm that it cracks me up. He's got that crowd hooting and hollering for their favorite team, probably in at least two languages, and he's so enthusiastic it's hilarious - he never wanes. Even in the pouring rain.

- Whenever somebody starts to cry, I get all sniffly. Whether it's gymnast Jonathan Horton's parents clutching at each other and sobbing happily at his medal or platform diver Haley Ishimatsu choking up when she didn't make it to the finals but still saying she'd had a lot of fun, I reach for tissue. I want to hug a lot of people. Even the sometimes bitter-faced Nastia Lukin. When she smiles and tears up, she's adorable. When she's got her game face on, you kind of expect her to sprinkle itching powder in your shorts.

- The parents are, in fact, some of the most fun. You can't tell me Michael Phelps' mom wasn't kind of hilarious in her own endearing way. Chris Collingsworth told Bob Costas about how during one of the races, she dug her hand into his leg so hard it hurt. She had a variety of facial expressions. I'm almost glad for her heart that his races are over; now she can relax.

- I've found it really hard to watch equestrian. Only a few events are on a TV station I get. Many are on Oxygen, which is not found on my cable network, and most of the rest are online only. Without verbal commentary. Sometimes there's a typed in commentary - complete with misspellings - and so that means you have to watch everything, lest you miss a rider you wanted to see. (Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can hear the on-course commentator, which makes things a little easier.) And you do get to hear the sounds of the game, including the riders making kissing noises to the horses over a fence. But you can't do a bunch of other things while it's on - if you want to follow it, you have to watch it. And sometimes the files are several hours long, so it's hard to keep up.

- Swimmers have no body fat and no body hair. I want one. Can I have one? Is there a spare male swimmer needing a home? I'd adopt one. I KNOW they're still in college and feeding one requires a semi truck making deliveries twice a week. I still want one.

- Nothing's creepier than realizing that had I become a teenage mother, I could have a child old enough to compete in Olympic gymnastics.