Day 6, Sheila's a winner and another flag Give-Away!

It seems we Americans have the media confused again. I keep hearing how we are watching the Games in record numbers. How they are finding themselves glued to their screens. How they find themselves talking to strangers about athletes from other countries...They want to know why this is happening?

It always cracks me up when they start this. It's like a Natural Phenomenon they just can't wrap their brains around. "You mean this Peace, Love and Harmony thing I'm feelin' is caused just by watching the Olympics?"

Yep. That's my opinion. Just by watching the Olympics we ~ Let Go.

Let go of political views. Let go of animosity. Let go of the rose colored glasses. Let go of pre-conceived opinions.

For when we do Let Go our emotions, we can...

• Cheer wildly, until our ears ring and our American blood is pumping.
• Feel satisfaction of a medal hard fought for.
• Cry with the athletes as we witnessed their long held dreams slip away.
• See the athletes as fellow humans. Not just Chinese, Russian, Italians...The French (typed with tongue in cheek).
• We can picture a bigger world. One we can celebrate with.
• All that, and it's a great excuse to buy all the red, white and blue I can find on clearance throughout the year...

My point is, every two years it is always amazing to me how surprised we are to find ourselves feeling light, happy, excited, anxious in a good way, smiling at strangers, exchanging pleasantries with others just cause we feel good.

For these couple of weeks we see things in a different light. We seem to let things go that would normally bother us. We smile more. We wave to our neighbors. We proudly put the flag out. We may even let Bad Drivers off the hook with a wave.

Is it an unexplainable Natural Phenomenon? No. It's called the Olympic Spirit. It began to spread the moment the flame was touched to the Torch. In that magical moment Peace, Love and Harmony began to reign. Enjoy it. Revel in it. Heck, we roll around in it. We don't want to miss a second of it! It only seems to last for two weeks, every two years.

Pass it on. Share it. Don't let it be wasted. Please.

Who won GOLD today?

Yes! Finally!!

After 6 relay gold medals...

and being in his teammates' shadows...

Ryan Lochte is a Gold Medal 100m Olympic Champion!

And then back to reality... he won another. Could he look more average American Joe?
What a tremendous example he is.

He has impeccable sportsmanship.

He is humble to a fault.

He is a gentleman.
He is inspiring.

And he's just one of the boys.

Look at these beauties! An Aussie, a German and our own Golden Girl ~ Coughlin.
You know that whole Olympic Spirit thing? These girls are friends. International friends.

Mean while in the National Something Something Gymnasium...
We have another Golden Girl.
She oozed grace under pressure. She had near perfect routines. And despite the biased judging, she achieved her Olympic Dream.

Congratulations Nastia!

WHUH?! Huh?

Holy Cow! How did I leave this little gem out of the pool line-up? Little Rebecca Soni. Came out of nowhere and defeated a Shooter household fave ~ Lethal Liesil!

Just so you know - I Don't have a category for the next group of pix.

~ Just wanted to Share the Love. ~

Coach also known as Daddy

He is an American Silver Medalist.

She is a Czech Gold Medalist.

They are husband and wife.

I know, I know! Again, with the whole Olympic Spirit thing.

...whispered through tears to her husband, "Thank you for believing..."

Even the Big Shooter needed the Kleenex passed.
Individual Success after all these years...
Dad was a lovable teary-eyed mess and mom...(sniff), well just look at the pic, mom was just mom. She reached out and held her little boy's face in her hands and kissed his forehead again...and again. (more sniffing...need Kleenex..again)

Sweet little Shawn Johnson. Fabulous performances. Won our hearts. Just wanted to go to Beijing with her coach who was raised there to "show his country what a success he'd made of himself." Then later, "I hope he can be proud..." Ummm, I think he can Miss Fabulous Example to Millions of Little Girls!

What else happened today?

I didn't pick this pic because I can't get me enough of Hammer Throwin' or because it's just a great shot, but because TAKE A LOOK AT THE CROWD behind him people! There were NO medal events. None. Just trials and times. Holy Molely! I think the Chinese are track fans...this outta be good. It starts tonight.

Remember a coupla days ago I mentioned the Nutzoid Level of Enthusiasm of Ping Pong?
Hee, hee, hee. Don't cha just LOVE it?!

I do. I get it.

Shooter family members look like this several times a day. And we're just doing homeschool. (Yay! We just discovered skate x skate = sticky floor rhymes with 8 x8 = 64! And did you know a lobster usually mates within 30 minutes of molting. Yep. They do. Big Shooter looked like the guy in the picture above when he found out that little tidbit.)

I think ya better get used to seeing his face.

Makes my knees hurt, my lungs burn, my fat jiggle just lookin' at them.

But, get ready, cause their coming all next week!!

I'm not sure what my feelings are on this subject yet. Scalpers. They are apparently making a TON of cash. Which I'm all for the dollar. The problem is, they are foreigners making a TON of cash (and you know my whole mantra - Show by Example) in China. So what? Well, every time the Chinese try to join in the makin' TONS of cash...they get arrested. The foreigners don't. Just the Chinese. Hmmm.

Today's
for the Crumb Snatchers.

The Lesson: Self Control.

Meet the really, really ticked Swedish Wrestler Guy.

He thinks he's been jipped by a bad call. He apparently thinks yelling at the officials will win him points and influence people as well.

He also thinks by stalking away from the Medal Ceremony and tossing his bronze will win him sympathy points and influence people.
He is wrong.

It will win him sympathy, just not the kind he wants.
It will influence spectators around the world. Sadly.

He must be so very sure of himself.
I mean, he threw this humiliating Hissy Fit in front of the world.
He must be pretty darn certain he was going to defeat the guy who WON the gold.

When he is old, will he wish the 2008 Olympic Bronze Medal was filling an empty frame on his wall...instead of on a wrestling mat in Beijing China?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Thank you for always being mindful of the example you set. And thank you for the tactful way you let me know when I am not.

Another Flag Give-Away: Tell us how you are spreading the Olympic Spirit or Passing the Torch in a comment and we'll name a winner tomorrow. The Crumbs are really diggin' this whole Draw a Name Outta the Hat gig.