Olympics Frenzy

I am so excited - just two more days until the Olympics!!!!!!!

Last weekend at Mom's house, Mom was saying that now that her son-in-law is a non-American, she can suddenly see things through his eyes - because she has been in the US for so long and has gained US citizenship, she's pretty much used to all things American.

One of the big things Mom noticed (through the eyes of the H) is that Americans are crazy about winning. We LOOOOOVVVEEE to win, and we are a crazy competitive people. This winning thing has always baffled the in-laws and my other Frenchie friends - a friendly game of Monopoly or cards becomes a crazy showdown with yours truly, who is guilty of being hyper competitive at times. It reminded me of last year, when they showed the World Swimming Championships on TV in France. A French swimmer was up against Michael Phelps and the poor Frenchie did not finish very well - something close to last place, whereas Phelps (obviously) took 1st place. The French swimmer was then interviewed by good old Nelson Montfort, who was all, "Wow...so you did NOT swim well...what happened?!" and the French swimmer was all sulky and upset (and then, in typical Frenchie style) said, "Well, duh, I was swimming against Michael Phelps! I mean, the guy ALWAYS wins...it's really not fair at all; he doesn't give anyone else their turn to win, he always has to win, and it's really annoying."

Well, when I heard that line, I shrieked at the top of my lungs and the H became very alarmed, thinking that maybe there was an insect in the area. "Oh my god!!!!" I shouted, "what is WRONG with that guy?! Puh-leeze, it's a freaking sport, you're there to WIN, not give other people a chance to win! Suck it up, French Swimmer! You lost because you SUCK!"

Anyway, I read in the New York Times this morning that the French Ministry of Sports or whatever is hoping that France will bring back at least 37 medals. Whatever! Everyone knows that all the medals will go to China and the US...and maybe Russia will get some too. France will probably make their goal of 37 though, if you include silver and bronze medals, which we all know merely means that you lost the gold medal and thus, the competition! Even H agrees with me that the French rarely win gold, but often win bronze, though H likes to think that 3rd place is actually a very good thing.

In other Olympics news, I find it really annoying that people are politicizing the Olympics. I mean, yes, we all know that China has got a bit of a dodgy human rights record, but the Olympics are about the BEST IN THE WORLD coming together to duke it out in their respective sports, so I think everyone should just leave all the politics out of it! As far as I'm concerned, if certain athletes and/or countries feel that strongly about China, then DON'T GO TO BEIJING for the Olympics and just boycott it once and for all, like people did during the Moscow games. I had read last week that German athletes would have a choice of T-shirts with various political slogans printed on them (stuff along the lines of "Free Tibet" which I find very annoying because they are not even asking to be completely separate from China) which I find very insulting to the host country, and it's not like the German athletes are there to join in the demonstrations - they are there to try to win gold medals for Germany! (By the way, good luck with that, Germany). Athletes (at least here in the US) live their life for the Olympics (except in sports like basketball and soccer) so everyone should just concentrate on winning and not on harassing China about its laws and policies (which, I might add, might seem barbaric to some cultures, but hey, maybe it works for China. We wouldn't know, considering the fact that we are not actually Chinese people living in China...)

Anyway, I am all excited for the US to win their medals although I am really just rooting for everyone (except maybe Laure Manaudou; I don't know but there is just something about her that bothers me) and I hope everyone can have a good time. Yay, Olympics!