The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat...

I love even-numbered years. Why? Because I am an Olympic Games junkie. That's right, I love pretty much everything about it. From the overly-schmaltzy opening ceremonies to the medal counts in the paper every morning to the Lifetime television-esque segments describing how this athlete made it to the games despite being born to a crack-dealing prostitute with one leg and a lazy eye in the back seat of a Geo Prism in the middle of war-torn South Central Domini-Serbi-Babwe. I eat that junk up for breakfast. That's why it is so fantastic that I have a cousin who works at the Olympic Training Center and can get us tickets to the exhibition games. So on Friday night Nathan and I headed over to the Center to watch #4 USA take on #1 Brazil in Women's Volleyball. We had been to college games before, but this took it to a whole new level. These athletes were literally the best of the best -finely tuned machines who are at the peak of their physical condition or, as I like to call them, my peers. These girls were flipping amazing. Power, speed, agility. It was absolutely incredible and the US came out on top at the end of the evening. I was watching these girls and wondered what it must be like to know with absolute certainty that you are among the best in the world at something. That must be incredible. I was also so grateful to be living in a time when women are allowed these opportunities. I know we still have some bounds to leap, but I have to admit to feeling pretty lucky to be around when I am. The other thing I took away from the evening was a great quote on the wall. There are a bunch of plaques on the wall with inspirational thoughts, one of which came from the great female athlete Louisa May Alcott. "Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow them." That's why she kicked butt on the shot put in the 1864 games.