In the run-up to the summer Olympics, I found myself thinking that the Olympics were silly. They are so Reagan-era. Dated and boring.

But did you see the opening ceremonies in high-definition TV? Wow. OMG WOW.

The drummers. The dancing. That LED screen creating moving artwork. The machine animation thing that was really people. We had rented a movie but our house was riveted to the show. One of the coolest things I have ever seen.

China really invested in this thing and it showed. The opening ceremonies were incredible. Their facilities all look fantastic. (Although I kept expecting the stadium to collapse from shoddy, last-minute work. Added an element of suspense.) I came away from 8-8-08 with a real sense that China is a super-power. They have arrived.

I even got sucked into the events themselves. I found myself watching sports I didnt know existed and a few sports I thought (and still think) were incredibly boring. But I still watched them.

Sadly, not everything in the Olympics glitters like gold.

What exactly are the events and why are they events? Synchronized diving? Ping pong? Beach volleyball? Really? It seems that the actual events in the Olympic games continues to change and evolve. While the event has been going on for a century, the actual games are not all so historic. That changing nature kind of diminishes it a bit for me, not sure why.

Im a fan of team sports like soccer and basketball - neither of which are that important at the olympics. I was particularly disappointed by the basketball. The LAST thing I want to see is an NBA All-Star team playing in the Olympics.

The Olympics are about innocence and youth and the purity of sport. You know, 12-year old girls who have slaved since they were 3 in training camps. That sort of thing.

Its cool when a foreign team has a single NBA player but I dont want to see a team of millionaire prima donas on the court. I dont want to see Kobe "Im an adulterer not a rapist" Bryant drive his ferrari to the game. Play college players. Play high school players. Play the kids that are still dreaming not the ones that already made their dream. Olympic basketball should be Hoosiers not ESPN.

Disappointed with the basketball. But most of all, Im disappointed with the Phelps guy.

Well not actually with him but with our media and perhaps ourselves.

Isnt winning a gold medal a big deal? Like a CRAZY big deal? Like OH MY GOD I WON A GOLD MEDAL PINCH ME I MUST BE DREAMING!!!! Isnt it a dream-come-true to stand on the podium and win ANY medal?

Well you wouldn't know that by watching TV. I've seen some American athletes on the podium, the ones who got second or third, looking absolutely miserable. They arent thrilled that they placed; they are miserable that they did not get first.

And then you have Phelps. Winning EIGHT medals? "Oh sure, 3 or 4 is easy but eight is a real honor." Call me crazy but how greedy are we? When winning 7 medals is defeat, you have to wonder what they whole thing means anymore. We take individual performances and winning too far sometimes. Respect the game. Love the sport.

We happened to watch some of the swimming events on the Canadian CBC channel. Their team got 7th place and their announcers were excited and thrilled to death. They know how to enjoy the olympics.