Post-Olympic Thoughts

• The Canadians are such wonderful, humble and proud people and it must have brought them incredible pride to have their athletes perform so well during these Olympic Games. It was also fitting that they won more gold medals than any other nation because "O Canada" is the best national anthem. Even though I'm an American, I used to sing my kids to sleep with "O Canada". Love it.
• I think it was far more important for Canada to win the men's hockey game. Hockey is part of Canada's identify while the sport is just one of many to Americans. While I was personally rooting hard for the U.S. Team, I appreciate that the Canadians really needed this win much more than we do.
• I have always wanted to do a ski trip to Whistler, but after witnessing the dearth of snow, the warm winter temperatures and relatively poor ski conditions during these games, I'm not so sure now.
• Really liked most of Mary Carillo's and Tom Brokaw's features during NBC's two weeks of coverage. They did a great job spotlighting the best of Canada--or was it just paid advertising by the Canadian Tourist Bureau? Learned alot and especially enjoyed Brokaw's piece on Gander.
• During the Closing Ceremonies, Al Michael's one sentence mention on the great Russian goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak was one of the biggest slights by the TV commentators. Michaels referred to one of hockey's best goaltenders merely as a player "on the 1980 hockey team that was pulled after the first period". Okay, as an American, he's just a Russian goaltender we beat in the "Miracle on Ice", but Michaels could've given the guy a little more credit.