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COMMENTARY These Olympic games have rekindled my flame
By Bill Knust
It has been awhile since I have enjoyed an Olympic games this much — summer or winter.
I don’t know whether it was age, immaturity or what, but I have found it hard to pull myself away from the television during these first few days of coverage. It has been a little tougher to pull myself out of bed in the morning when I am up until 11 or midnight watching different events the night before.
These opening few days have been packed with heart-stopping moments that have you cheering madly as soon as the event is over. From the underdog men’s gymnastics team who no one gave a shot to medal to the 400-meter freestyle relay team who overcame the odds to keep Michael Phelps’ hopes for eight gold medals alive. It has been a joy to take in.
If anyone missed that race on Sunday, Aug. 10, I feel sorry for you, because it was what the Olympics are all about. Hopefully you saw the replay on NBCOlympics.com or YouTube.
The top five teams in the race all broke the previous world record, and the United States reset the world record by four seconds — four full seconds. That would be the equivalent to Mark McGwire breaking Roger Maris’ record of 61 home runs by hitting 70.
It was all made better by the fact that the Americans beat the heavily favored team of France, and before the race France’s anchor in the race, Alain Bernard, was boasting about how they were going to “smash” the US.
It looked like Bernard’s prediction was going to hold true with 50 meters to go, but American anchor Jason Lezak swam the race of his life tracking down Bernard and out-touching him at the wall for the win.
The victory set off a crazy celebration between the American team of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Lezak. Phelps and Weber-Gale stood over Lezak and screamed with all their might in victory, Jones was jumping up and down over by Lane 1, and Lezak pumped his fist furiously in the water.
The funny thing is that my wife, mother-in-law and I were pretty much all doing the same thing in our living room. Granted, not to the extent that Phelps and Co. were — after all my son was asleep — but we were swept up in the moment just as much as the swimmers.
There was nothing sweeter than the patriotism I felt. Our team upsetting a smack-talking team of “Frenchies,” as Weber-Gale called them, showing them who was truly the best.
It has set the tone for what I expect to be an incredible two weeks. Besides Phelps there are plenty of other storylines to follow, the men’s basketball team is out to prove that the United States is the dominant country in the sport it invented, with baseball and softball set to expire as Olympic sports after these games the Americans want one last shot at proving their dominance and the local story lines are ripe as well with Kansas City’s Muna Lee going for gold in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Find some time in the next week and sit down and watch these games if you haven’t already. Get swept up in the moment and shout your lungs out for the USA — I know I have and will continue to do so.
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I don’t know whether it was age, immaturity or what, but I have found it hard to pull myself away from the television during these first few days of coverage. It has been a little tougher to pull myself out of bed in the morning when I am up until 11 or midnight watching different events the night before.
These opening few days have been packed with heart-stopping moments that have you cheering madly as soon as the event is over. From the underdog men’s gymnastics team who no one gave a shot to medal to the 400-meter freestyle relay team who overcame the odds to keep Michael Phelps’ hopes for eight gold medals alive. It has been a joy to take in.
If anyone missed that race on Sunday, Aug. 10, I feel sorry for you, because it was what the Olympics are all about. Hopefully you saw the replay on NBCOlympics.com or YouTube.
The top five teams in the race all broke the previous world record, and the United States reset the world record by four seconds — four full seconds. That would be the equivalent to Mark McGwire breaking Roger Maris’ record of 61 home runs by hitting 70.
It was all made better by the fact that the Americans beat the heavily favored team of France, and before the race France’s anchor in the race, Alain Bernard, was boasting about how they were going to “smash” the US.
It looked like Bernard’s prediction was going to hold true with 50 meters to go, but American anchor Jason Lezak swam the race of his life tracking down Bernard and out-touching him at the wall for the win.
The victory set off a crazy celebration between the American team of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Lezak. Phelps and Weber-Gale stood over Lezak and screamed with all their might in victory, Jones was jumping up and down over by Lane 1, and Lezak pumped his fist furiously in the water.
The funny thing is that my wife, mother-in-law and I were pretty much all doing the same thing in our living room. Granted, not to the extent that Phelps and Co. were — after all my son was asleep — but we were swept up in the moment just as much as the swimmers.
There was nothing sweeter than the patriotism I felt. Our team upsetting a smack-talking team of “Frenchies,” as Weber-Gale called them, showing them who was truly the best.
It has set the tone for what I expect to be an incredible two weeks. Besides Phelps there are plenty of other storylines to follow, the men’s basketball team is out to prove that the United States is the dominant country in the sport it invented, with baseball and softball set to expire as Olympic sports after these games the Americans want one last shot at proving their dominance and the local story lines are ripe as well with Kansas City’s Muna Lee going for gold in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Find some time in the next week and sit down and watch these games if you haven’t already. Get swept up in the moment and shout your lungs out for the USA — I know I have and will continue to do so.