I’ve been to 13 Olympics. Have I mentioned that? Oh, I have. And one of the human-behavioral realities you can count on … almost set your watch by … is the breakdown of discipline by just about everyone involved with the Games in the final hours, before and after Closing Ceremonies.

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I actually did something in Beijing that had nothing to do with sports. Which is the upside to staying here one full day after the torch was doused.

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Nothing taxes sports journalists the way an Olympics does. Nothing. The Super Bowl, Final Four, World Series, World Cup … none of them compare. The Olympics lasts seemingly forever — three weeks, counting the run-up to Opening. It’s results, results, results everydamnday — no days off for travel, or rest, whatever. It’s enormous — 302 […]

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The guys at madmariner.com, which bills itself as the internet’s “daily sailing newspaper” … commissioned a wrapup story on the U.S. Sailing effort here at the Beijing Olympics. The sailors were down at Qingdao, 300 miles away, and the Yanks managed only a gold and a silver, which apparently has agitated some folks in the […]

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I predicted on this blog 17 days ago that these would be the biggest, most lavish, most over-the-top Olympics in history. I believe that prediction came to fruition. China had great new facilities. Just some wonderful, awe-inspiring venues, from the National Stadium (for track) to the Water Cube (for swimming). Other brand new venues included […]

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China won 51 gold medals here, to 36 for the U.S. That isn’t close, friends, and represents the first time China has finished atop the golds standings. The silver lining for the U.S. … is a silver and bronze lining. Thanks to being second- and third-best quite often, the Americans actually won more medals than […]

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After having kids telling you “hello, goodbye, good morning and can I assist you?” for a couple of weeks, you tend to go soft. Especially when you’re spending the rest of your time chasing sports events all over town. But let’s not forget what sort of government they have here. One that quashes dissent, denies […]

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I liked it. A lot. And it makes me want to see the 2012 London Games … when until about 10 minutes ago I thought I would be bored by the idea. These “preview” things, at Closing, can be tricky, and not always work out well. They are dwarfed by the scale by the current […]

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I never got around to ranking them, again. My list genereally is the same, but I tweak it a bit from time to time. I got to hear two of these live, and more than once. The others … I still just like. The top five. 1. Great Britain. 2. France 3. Russia 4. Germany […]

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It’s a wreck as a piece of music, but that’s not the point. Here are the lyrics, in case you want to get all fired up about quasi-socialist governments out to make a buck but not really let their people govern themselves. The punctuation and capitalization is straight out of the Closing Ceremonies media guide. […]

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