I just love watching the Olympics!  My husband thinks I’m such a dork because I simply can’t get enough of sports that a). I’ve never played, and, b). some I’ve never even heard of.  Granted until the Olympics I never paid too much attention to any Fencing matches and I’m pretty sure I’d never even dreamed there was a game called ‘handball’&md ash; but if it’s being broadcast to millions and there’s an American competing, count me in!

 

Of course a die-hard Olympic fan, such as myself has some of the same heroes the rest of the world has come to love, i.e. Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin, Misty May-Traynor/Kerri Walsh, etc. during the Beijing games.  One of my favorite events of the Summer games is gymnastics and like Bella, my ass is still a little chapped over this new scoring system and the possibility the women’s gold medal winners just might have violated the age rules.  But the Olympic games are never without controversy, are they?

 

One thing that has me a little miffed and quite possibly a bit disappointed is how few of our American athletes actually sing the National Anthem as they stand atop the podium for the whole world to see.  Has anyone else noticed this?  While we’ve established the fact that I’ve never been much of an athlete, I can say with certainty were I standing on the top podium with a gold medal around my neck I’d be belting out the likes of “…and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there…” with a very swollen heart.  In fact I can seldom watch a medal ceremony honoring an American without singing, feeling my chest inflate with pride, and shedding a tear or two. Yet I watch these athletes that have spent the better part of their life working toward this goal stand there almost zombie like.

 

Sure,  I’ve seen several become emotional but I don’t think I’ve seen one of them sing the glorious Star Spangled Banner from start to finish (I will also concede I can’t stay up 24/7 so maybe I missed a few). Olympic athletes are competing for personal goals but also as a representative of the U.S.A. and I think the very least they could do is mouth the words to our national anthem, I’ve noticed many other athletes from other countries sing with pride their own, so why shouldn’t we?

 

Any thoughts?