Cupertino (Olympic Day 0)

In a possibly futile attempt to avoid jet-lag, we woke up at 4:30am yesterday, 3:30am today and will wake up at 2:30am tomorrow. The goal is that we will be tired enough when we get on our airplane tomorrow at 4:30pm that we will be able to sleep. We arrive in Dublin, Ireland around 2pm local time (assuming that we do not get stuck in London's Heathrow airport) on Sunday and it will be a really long day if we don't get some sleep on the plane.

A few random thoughts while going through the gazillion things that I still have to do before we get on the plane:

I don't remember there being so many events taking place before the Opening Ceremonies at previous Olympics, but I am enjoying watching all of the football (soccer for my American readers) matches. I know that most Americans have no interest or knowledge of football, but I have always enjoyed watching it. It is interesting to see how one set of rules have generated so many different styles of play. I have to admit that I prefer Women's football because most of the best players in the world are there. On the other hand, FIFA, the football federation, has decided that the quality of Olympic football should not compete with the quality of World Cup football. To achieve this, teams attending the Olympics can only use three players over the age of 25. To me, this is like watching a minor league ice hockey all-star game - the talent is good, but not world class.

I am very much looking forward to seeing the Opening Ceremonies later today at whatever time NBC chooses to pretend it is actually occurring. We have attended four Opening Ceremonies (Lillehammer, Atlanta, Nagano and Vancouver) and have had a great time each time. While I like the ceremony (parade of nations, Amsterdam flag, athletes and coaches oaths, etc), what I really enjoy is the first, or artistic part of the program. It is fascinating to see what the organizing committee and its artistic director want the rest of the world to learn about their city and country. Anyone who remembers the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing know what I'm talking about. The message was very clear - China was doing great things before most current countries even existed and guess what, we're back. Vancouver's message was very different - we are a melting pot of people who love sport and don't take ourselves very seriously.

So what will London's Opening Ceremony tell us about London and the rest of the country? What in its long history is important enough to spend precious time on? Will there be mention of The Beatles, Monty Python, Dr. Who, Harry Potter? I can't wait to find out.

Of course, the other big secret in the Opening Ceremonies is who is going to light the Olympic Flame. The internet is ablaze with guesses. Today I heard Phil Collins was going to light the flame. Personally, I think that there is a bigger chance of Lord Voldemort doing it, but you never know. My personal preference is Roger Bannister, the first man to break 4 minutes in the mile. We'll find out soon.