Early Olympics Notes

A few rambling thoughts on the first full day of Olympic competition:

• Someone please explain to me the purpose of all of the performance art crap that makes up the Opening Ceremony. Call me a simpleton, but I fail to see the deep philosophical meaning in guys rollerblading around in circles with sparks shooting out of their helmets. Just march in the athletes, take the oath, raise the flag, and light the torch. It should be noted that the torch lighting was the only part of the opening ceremony where I uttered, "whoa", and hit the rewind button on the Tivo for a replay. Very impressive.

• I have no problem admitting that, as I type this, I'm watching ski jumping with the thought that I might see a repeat of the Wide World of Sports intro from the '80's.

• Twenty four hours into this Olympics and I believe we have our American superstar. Chad Hedrick has that "Aw, shucks", good ol' boy, Wheaties box look that's going to land him appearances on Leno and Letterman in a couple of weeks. Since he's from Texas, I suppose I don't have much of a problem with his celebrity status.

• It's time for Michelle Kwan to step aside and give a younger skater the chance to compete. If I had been showered with every accolade in my sport except an Olympic gold medal, you would have to drag me away kicking and screaming. However, anything less than that gold medal is pointless for Kwan this time around. The skater I saw stumbling around in practice earlier today probably won't even compete for a medal, much less the gold. If she can't be competitive, it's time to let Emily Hughes catch a plane to Torino.

• The Russians let everyone know tonight that they won't need a French judge in their pocket to plow over the pairs figure skating field.

• Tomorrow night's prime time coverage already looks like a winner to me: Bode Miller trying to put his money where his mouth is in downhill skiing, the ski jump finals, men's luge finals, men's snowboarding halfpipe (X Games lite), and the first appearance of Apolo Ohno in short track.

• Just a little over 26 hours until the first live curling match of the games for the American men and women. The excitement in the Burgess household is palpable.