Sunday August 17

My post Olympic POO-ness has started to set in. That statement has nothing to do with returning to a diet more normal to me. It has to do with a variety of things that have happened in the very few waking hours since I returned home.
We returned to great friends who insisted that they spend some time with us before we crashed; in fact before we even went home. We were then escorted to our house to find a welcome home banner that covers half the front of the house. It is outrageously large but so well done and so cool that even if the neighbors don't like it we have to leave it till Benn comes home. Along with the banner they hung an American flag on the top porch. Also adorning the front lawn are five rings that we probably won't have to worry about leaving. They are painted and will likely fade slowly.
We've been hearing that lots of people we know were into the event. Lots of people stayed up or woke up early or tried to. McIntosh High School hung a banner on the front of the school that is even larger than the one on our house. It seems like lots of our friends and family had a lot of fun with this Olympic thing that Benn just did for us all. That I think is how Benn will like thinking of it. I've already admitted to not understanding all of his thoughts and actions, but this one I think I can call. When he comes out of the security of the village and the outrageousness of the Olympics in general; when he gets home, and he sees that it wasn't all about Michael Phelps; when he sees that Benn's friends and family enjoyed Benn and the excitement of his performance, that will undoubtedly make him smile.
A little while earlier I watched the video of the C1 semifinal and final runs recorded on nbcolympics.com. I loved watching it all again, in fact I saw some things I couldn't see from where I sat among the fruit salad of nations. I saw for the first time that Benn dropped his upstream edge in the semifinal run in the hole near the top of the course. That was why he struggled in that section. I also didn't know till today that he lost his T-grip briefly during one run. It was cool to be able to finally see those details.
There was something else cool about that video. You know how they always have a color commentator who has been a high level competitor in the sport? Well that guy was Joe Jacobi. Joe is not just a Gold Medalist. He is a very good friend. I think just about everybody in the sport would in fact count Joe as a friend. He's a great guy and that made the video even better. Joe if you read this, you did a great job; technical comments and personal comments both.
Back to work in the morning. Somebody wake me up now and then.
Tom