Every Four Years

The Olympiad, as I suspected, does not mean the games which are now in progress. It’s the four year period between the games. We are in the (whatever number of years) Olympiad, which starts with the games and continues until the next games four years from now. It’s a good excuse to keep celebrating.

Speaking of which, the fireworks you saw at the start, the “footprints” in the sky, were fake. All computer-generated for the tv audience. There were real fireworks for the people in Beijing, but the People In Charge felt it would be too difficult, if not downright dangerous, to televise from a helicopter, so they spent the better part of a year making the computer program which included a bit of Beijing smog. Fooled ya.

Everybody marked into the stadium dressed in rather snappy fashion. Far as I know, there were no uniforms the first time around, many centuries ago. There wasn’t much of anything. In fact, there wasn’t anything; the guys (no gals allowed back then) were as bare as the day they were born. If they had tv, the FCC would have been fining stations for showing stuff we all have seen in the mirror.

We praise and spread palm leaves ahead of those who win gold medals, but those who return with nothing more than memories soon fade from ours. We have no room for those to whom we say, “Nice try.” I hope, at least, they keep all the clippings and photos, to show their children and grandchildren; “I was in the Olympics! I represented our country in this greatest of contests!”