Lucky number eight!

I don't know about the rest of ye socks, but yours truly has really gotten in to the Olympics this go around.

Maybe, it's the cost of gas keeping us all near the home fires this year, but I don't remember being anywhere near this in to the '04 games.

I also don't know when 8 became "the" lucky number.

I always thought that honor fell to 7.

But folks like Michael Phelps and the 1.3 billion residents of the People's Republic of China have gone a long way to change my mind.

Does luck really have a lot to do with Phelps' success, or indeed the performance of any of these world class athletes?

Doubt it.

Seems to me, it's all the result of a lot of determination and hard work . . .