Olympic Spirit

Yes, I'm excited for the Olympics. I always am. I love watching some of the best athletes in the world lay it all on the line. And the fact that it's only once every four years only raises the stakes and intensity. I know it's a place for all the lesser known sports to have their day - but I'm really looking forward to Track and Field and Basketball. Never really got in to people skiing and shooting at the same time and stuff like that (I know that's Winter Olympics - I'm just saying...)

I read a great article in ESPN the Magazine about certain funny lines in different countries' national anthems - I had to share a few excerpts from Rick Reilly's article:

• Andorra - "I was born a princess maiden" -I look forward with great zeal to the day when a 350 lb. Andorran shot putter stands on the podium and sings these words.
• Ukraine - I love it because it asks so little - the first line is, "Ukraine has not perished." I call that managing national expectations: "we're not dead OK? give us that."
• Algeria - "We have taken the noise of gunpowder as our rhythm and the sound of machine guns as our melody." This is why no one invites your band anywhere.

You can read the full article here. I thought these were the best ones! Happy Olympics everyone - the opening ceremony is on Friday. God save the Queen.