The Olympics are over. I’m going to miss them.
It was something to look forward to every night. Especially the weekends when television programs are notoriously bad.
Television producers should take note of the Olympic events: they had drama, tension, suspense, tears, and happiness, all under fifteen minutes. The gamut of human emotions was on display for the world to see and react to. There were successes and failures. Highs and lows. Every event had its moment. And as a spectator, you lived through them with the athletes.
London did a smashing job as host. Granted it cost them $14.5 billion to pull it off.
I always ask where does a host country get that kind of money when they can’t seem to do a very good job of taking care of their domestic affairs?
And here I thought Europe was in a financial crisis with the euro. Apparently not in London.
Did Queen Elizabeth use some of her stashed cash under her mattress at Balmoral Castle?
Did Prince Phillip sell a few gold bricks?
Maybe the newlyweds the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sold some of their wedding loot.
The question of where the money came from eludes me completely.
But the bigger question that stumps me is this: what is London going to do now with the new stadiums, race courses, and buildings that were build specifically for the Olympics? Who pays for their upkeep?
Calvin says, “I spotted the Queen in her bloomers warming up for a game of beach volleyball at the Horse Guards Parade.” 
Calvin & Bloggie 
I miss the Olympics, too, but I don’t miss some of the absolutely stupid and insensitive commentary by some of the broadcasters. The poor thing just got tripped up, for the second time–how on earth do you think she must feel?
There was a lot of simply dumb things that were said–now granted, I might not have done a lot better with commenting on the fly, but I hope that I would have been a tad more sensitive to folks in their disappointment/grief over the unexpected. At least, that’s my hope.
Calvin’s commentary made me laugh–I’d pay a lot to see Her Majesty in a beach volleyball game for sure!
I wasn’t impressed with NBC’s coverage either. In many ways it was driven by advertising, they got to pick and choose what event we would see, in some cases for hours on end like the cycling, and the talking heads didn’t add anything new or insightful to the sport. Have you noticed how winning athletes are treated like celebrities? Five minutes of glory on the podium and then poof! it’s over. Nothing lasts. I wonder how they’re doing back home in normal life?