I can't believe I stayed up late for that . . .

Yep, I was one of the millions that ended up sitting in front of a TV watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games up in Vancouver last night.

Really, I don't know why I do this to myself, especially since the highlights are generally covered the next day on the regular newscasts.

But, there I was.

I have to admit that I quite literally dozed-off during the artsy little "cultural" portion of the ceremonies.

I did, however, wake up in time to see the Canadians trot out their national icons as they raised the Olympic flag and prepared to ignite the cauldron: Anne Murray, Donald Sutherland, and Wayne Gretzky (among others).

Speaking of the cauldron, there was a technical glitch. It almost made staying up past ye olde bedtime worthwhile to see "The Great One" looking right and left for some direction when one of the 4 legs of the cauldron failed to emerge from the stadium grounds. "What do I do, now?!?"

Bottom line, last night's festivities paled in comparison to Beijing's hoopla. But, what wouldn't, right?!

Anyway, at least around this little corner of heaven, the Olympics aren't about all the theatrics. It's about the games. Let 'em begin, eh?!

O, No!

Whether ye socks choose to believe that O stands for Oprah or ObamaNation doesn't really matter.

The answer to both--at least as far as the International Olympic Committee is concerned--was a resounding NO during their meeting in Copenhagen this afternoon.

The 2016 games will not be in Chicago.

Instead, for the first time in Olympics history, they will be held in South America.

How's that for some change we can believe in?!

Congrats to the team from Rio de Janeiro who bested their rivals from The Windy City and elsewhere.

On this day in 1885 . . .

my great grandfather Thomas Joseph Norton, Sr., was born in Jersey City, New Jersey.

He was the eldest son of Irish immigrant Patrick Norton (recent arrival from Ballyforan in County Roscommon) and the former Margaret Conner.

Tom was a gifted athlete at Fordham University, who often competed at Madison Square Garden in New York City; and qualified for the US Olympic Track and Field Team in 1904.

Unfortunately, his disciplinarian father wouldn't let Tom forego his college studies to attend the 3rd Olympiad out in St. Louis.

Bad news for Tom was good news for his many descendants. By not heading out to Missouri, he struck up a romance with my great-grandmother Lil Irving.

They were secretly wed in Jersey City on 26 February 1905, which caused quite a stir . . . even rated a feature article in the New York Times.

Anyway, I digress.

Happy 124t Birthday, Tom!

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 . . .

Opening Olympic Observations

I know, that's a lot of "O" words, but I imagine there were a lot of folks around the world saying "O!" tonight as they watched the opening ceremonies in Beijing's "bird nest" tonight.

The Chinese are really going the extra mile to put their best foot forward and impress the "community of nations."

I found it all more than a little intimidating.

Spectacular to be sure, but intimidating nonetheless.

Maybe, that's just part and parcel of a nation of 1.3 billion.

They call it "harmony." I call it "mindless collectivism."

The mass scale of it all reinforced that notion.

Now, I will admit there were some shining individual moments that weren't as intimidating as the thousands of drummers, acrobats, dancers, etc.

I mean, who could fail to be inspired by the little earthquake survivor who marched into the stadium beside Yao Ming? (Even if his little Chinese flag was upside down on its little flag pole.)

It was also kinda cool how the final torch bearer was raised to the perimeter of the bird's nest a la Broadway Peter Pan to light a cauldron that appeared out of nowhere at the last minute.

And, who can do fireworks better than the Chinese? I mean, they invented that, didn't they?

But, I was somewhat dismayed by one of the NBC commentators who is already suggesting the opening of the London games in 2012 is going to be a let-down compared to tonight's festivities.

Oh, well. I guess low expectations are easy to beat. And, I for one will be much more interested in the individualism the Brits are certain to display.

Until then: higher, faster, stronger . . . I think those are the official words, right?!