Reality...Euphoria...Reality...Euphoria

It is good to see that Bob could use his GPS and find his way back to the site to provide us with some updates on the outside. Thanks for the update on all of the Budweiser available at the VIP hotel. Here in the Village we are living in the Sahara. Rumor has it the Canadians just brought in two pallets of Bud. We will see.

One of our NOC Assistants brought in some wine for us to drink on the evening of Opening Ceremonies. Of course being the well behaved group that we are, we didn't. Or....

There has been a great deal that has happened in the Torino Village since the last time I was able to write. There have also been a lot of pictures taken. The Snapfish album is being updated as often as possible. I can't promise everyday, but we will do our best.

As I mentioned, a lot has happened since I last wrote. Our team has participated in the official team wlecome ceremony for the Village. The pomp and circumstance was at a high enough level that we even had Bobby G grace us with his presence. It was good to see him. The only "interesting" thing that happened with the ceremony was that we were with Iran. There is more to that story, but that will have to be for another day.

One of the greatest things about the Village is getting to know the athletes. Long Track speedskater Catherine Raney has been a frequent visitor to the offices and always has something funny to talk about. Chad Hedrick is one of the most low key people you will meet (more about him later), Apolo is a fierce competitor, but very laid back. Actually all of the athletes in the village have been fantastic. Those of us who get to work in here are very, very fortunate.

As you have all seen, or read, we have had a couple of harsh realities in the last few days. Two of our high profile athletes are no longer here. Getting a phone call informing of us that one of the athletes will be leaving the village because of an adverse situation is never easy. To have it happen twice in a three day period is downright brutal. The pagentry and news that is associated with these athletes making the team is so huge. Then you watch them leave, silently, out a side gate, so they can avoid the media. On the way out they get hugs from fellow athletes and hearty goodbye's. To watch someone's Olympic journey end so silently can't be adequately described. It is surreal.

So those are the two doses of reality, thankfully, for all of us who are so vested in these athletes, we get some euphoria.

On Feb. 11, Michelle and I went over to long track event and watched Chad Hedrick win America's first medal - gold - in the men's 5000m. We have credential access to the event, but we took a couple of tickets so that we would have a seat. Little did we know what an interesting decision that would turn out to be.

We get into the venue and go find our seats. Our tickets have us sitting right in the middle of the Netherlands. Yes, I mean the country. Holy sea of orange. It was incredible. They are some serious speedskating fans. They stand almost the whole competition and cheer, they are awesome. So anyway, we sit down and the first two athletes up are from the Netherlands and they skate very well and are 1st and 2nd. The next pair is Chad vs. another athlete from the Netherlands. On the third lap, when Chad took the overall lead, you could hear this crowd groan. It was a great win for Chad and the USA. We needed that.

Then last night I was one of a group of staff that had the opportunity to go to Medals Plaza and help the athletes behind the scenes with the process. What an incredible setting it was. I did not have my camera, but there are some pictures others will be giving me that will end up on Snapfish in a couple of days. It was incredible. I can say that watching the flag raise and hearing the national anthem was incredible. The post medals entertainment was Kelly Clarkston. Needless to say, I was gone. Tuesday is Duran Duran. That could be fun.

Okay, I received a few questions in email and wanted to provide some answers:

Where did we watch Opening Ceremonies? Those of us in the Village watched ceremonies from our offices. We assisted with the process of getting the athletes out of the village. It is great to be involved behind the scenes and see them as they get ready. The Village was showing the event on a big screen TV, but we had a few people stay behind so we watched it in our offices. Have to admit, we were cracking up at the dancing cows, the dude with spiked hair and Yoko. What was that all about?

Are TV's on all day? Do we get live coverage? Yes, we have TV's on all day and we get live, no commentary coverage. We have access to the international live feed, so everything that is happening we can watch live - and we do. If we want commentary we switchto the BBC. It is great to have this setup.

What is the mood in the village? Right now the mode is interesting. We - staff - are a bit tense as our current medal total is behind our projections...wait, did I say that...we don't have a medal goal for these games! Seriously, the athletes seem laid back, but the mood has changed. Focus is high. We need to win some more medals because it energizes everyone. When an athlete comes back with a medal on their neck - like Chad did last night - it adds to the excitement. They all want them. People are excited.

Do the athletes follow each other? Yes, they care about how the other athletes are doing. Athletes come into the offices to watch the other sports compete. Lat night at Medals Plaza one of Chad's first questions to me was "How did Bode do today?" They are interested and they follow each other. There is definitely a team atmosphere. Athletes love to get out and watch other athletes compete as well. Each day athletes can sign up for free tickets to go see other events.

What is your actual job in the Village? I am not sure. What I am sure about is that there is an incredible team of people who work here in this village. Keith, Chris, Tammie, Michelle, Eric and Robert are amazing at what they do and they make it easy for me to do my job.

In the Village we are thankful to our friends in the media. Today was the beginning of the newspaper deliveries. We received the USA Today, Boston Globe and New York Times. It is great that these groups send these paper in for our delegation. It is nice to be able to pick up a newspaper and understand more than just the pictures.

The good news is that with 14 days of the Olympics to go, I still have 12 Mountain Dews left. Thank goodness. Until next time...