Olympic Countdown . . . 08.08.08

One World . . . One Dream . . .

I played golf today in great weather with clear skies and mid sixties temperatures so once I arrived home this afternoon I have to be completely honest with you as I had absolutely NO interest or intention of watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony tonight. With the time zone difference from Alaska and the fact that they were probably on television on the east coast while I was still at work. I just wasn't thinking I would see it today but then turned on the news to see the start of the telecast was just minutes away for the Opening Ceremonies. I’ve been watching for several hours now as the parade of Nations is continuing.

WOW! ! ! I’m blown away by the beauty and imagination of it all.

I will say that China knows how to put on a show! Matt Lauer and Bob Costas were talking about the man who was a film maker charged with putting on this exhibition. He did a masterful job blending many senses to emotions and the overall wonder of how amazing things were mixed with technology and shear manpower of the human condition. I had almost forgotten how much I loved the Olympics as a little boy growing up in the south.

Did anyone see the opening ceremony for the Olympics in Beijing? It was truly amazing! I don't think I've seen anything quite like it. It reminded me of one of the Harry Potter movies, The Goblet of Fire, and to think I thought that only witches and wizards could pull off stunts like that. The fireworks ‘foot prints’ walking across the Beijing sky toward the stadium was truly imaginative and brought everything together for the event to begin.

There may be hope for us as a world yet as it's absolutely amazing to me how countries who cannot agree on anything politically can ALL come together for these games! You could see it in the smiles . . . of everyone . . . the children . . . the participants, the many thousand (20,000) performers who hosted tonight’s extravaganza. I get almost emotional as I watch the athletes march in during the introduction of their countries. The colors . . . the smiles . . . the pride of so many people . . . I want them ALL to do well!

I can't get over how beautiful they were and how they executed everything so perfectly. The drummers at the beginning made me get up and cheer in my living room. The ‘light’ drummers at the beginning with the countdown was so cool looking as they started the shot from a distance and slowly zoomed in to see that it was actually drummers making the light and not some computer somewhere. Timing was everything and not a beat was missed with two thousand people hitting all of those drums. These oarsmen were fantastic.

Another highlight for me was the ‘wave’ boxes going up and down and changing the shapes and pictures every few seconds. The water droplet effect was like looking at a lake or pond and how they slowly move out away from the center. It was way cool and it turned out at the end it was revealed the ‘hydraulics’ making it work to perfection was people under the boxes working them. Holy crap, that’s hardcore work and again all to perfection. These human-powered printing blocks were unbelievable!

That giant globe with the beautiful singers on top and the people on wires orbiting was phenomenal! The two thousand and eight tai chi masters surrounding the kids (who were adding touches to the floor art earlier started by dancing calligraphers) blew me away, and the tai chi performance previous to theirs with the whales and the water theme were just totally awesome. I feel like a kid again sensing the excitement for these athletes.

I watched every single country walk by and would love to have sold the cameras to everyone as there were flashes going off everywhere including the athletes. Watching China come out at the end with Yao Ming bearing the flag was a strange and exciting sight, I mean, here’s a guy who is 7′5″ on your team, hand him your flag to wave around, without the flag belt like most bearers wore to help support the weight of the flag. It was so funny how a bunch of the Thai athletes broke rank and ran out to have their pics taken as Ming walked by. That little boy from Sichuan, Lin Hao, who saved his friends in the earthquake and walked next to Yao Ming in the parade was great. I’m glad he was included as he is a little hero.

After the parade, the official opening of the games and the final legs of the torch relay through the stadium, ending with a runner (a Chinese gymnastics medalist, I believe) who was raised all the way to the top of the stadium on wires and raced 360 degrees high in the air around the stadium with a projected images of the world wide torch relay with a symbolic scroll opening all the way to the giant torch.

Amazing . . . Graceful . . . Amazing . . . Magical.

The torch lighting was . . . awesome. Did I say the opening ceremonies were amazing?

The final scene with the fireworks . . . the review of moments of the night . . . and the closing song . . . “This is the time of my life” was a fitting end.

I guess there will be a flood on ebay now for those green lighted suits worn by over two thousand performers tonight . . . heading off now to check on one for my upcoming vacation . . . it should make the long plane ride south a little interesting . . .

Ice