Patriotism?

Olympic hype is heating up big time.  And I'm not feeling as patriotic as maybe I should be. 

For the last few Olympics, I've rooted for the US and Italy above all others, and I'm sure that will be the case again, but at the same time, my favorite part about the Olympics is not an American winning, or even an American competing.  It's more about just stand-out athletic performances.  And particularly for athletes from other countries, I sometimes think they have more of a struggle to overcome to perform at a world-record level. 

So I want to cheer for Usain Bolt.  And I'm peeved that I can't think of other non-American top athletes off the top of my head!  I definitely want to see Meb do well in the marathon, but like at any other marathon where the best of the best are running, I just want to see the struggle, see the fight to win, and see someone tear up with joy at accomplishing his or her dream. 

This is going to be the first Olympics where we've had our new "double dish" set-up, which lets us get some Italian channels.  I wonder what their coverage will be like (if we can even get it here).  And now we also spend a fair amount of time watching English-language Russian and Chinese programming.  Wonder what their coverage will be like, again, if any.  I'm sure I'll mostly watch it on NBC, but hopefully they'll profile some foreign athletes too.  I wish they'd do more in depth things about what their lives are like, their training, etc.  But of course, I wish they'd show more of the actual events too.  Glad it's not my job to figure out the right programming mix!  Anyway, I just want to see people do well, not just American people. 

I'm kind of wishing I hadn't started this yoga challenge right before the Olympics start.  Last night was night one and it felt great to be back, but it's going to be tough. 

I'm considering having a men's Olympic marathon watching party.  That is the one time I might wish we had a bigger and/or better TV.  Hubby and I have always agreed that it's not worth spending money on things like TVs, since we'd rather spend money on things like travel (or save it so we don't have to work until we're really old, but mostly travel!).  But for the very rare occasion, maybe every 4 years or so, that I want to have people over to watch TV, I might slightly and temporarily regret our prioritization...

Anyway, random Thursday morning thoughts for you.  Just not feeling as patriotic as others seem to be.