LI NING'S TOWER OF PIZZA

Compounding Li's triumph, he then returned to China and became quite the successful athletic footwear entrepeneur (in fact, our talented and comical prime-time writer Aaron Cohen purchased a pair of Li Ning running shoes the other evening, and returned to the IBC with news that, in what could be copyright infringement, Li's company has an ad that reads, "Anything is Possible". You know, as opposed to Adidas' "Impossible is Nothing."

So Li made sense to me as a choice. Gold medalist. Successful businessman. What more could China want to promote this month? And, really, with a name such as his, shouldn't he open a chain of pizzerias with that headline?

Richard Engel Doesn't Own A Copy of "What Color Is My Parachute"... Though He Probably Does Own a Parachute...or at Least a Flak Jacket 

Last night many of us were remanded to spotting detail, which meant that we were bussed over to NBC's Bird's Nest production compound just outside the stadium four hours before the O.C. began. One of the pleasant consequences of that, for me, was finding myself seated across from NBC Iraqi correspondent Richard Engel at dinner. What a fascinating life he leads. He's like Christiane Amanpour without the accent ("Rich Man, Amanpuour Man"?), flitting from Baghdad to Tikrit to Sadr City to Kabul.

Lopez Lomong

I was fortunate enough to spend an hour in person with the U.S. flagbearer back in May, before he had qualified for the Olympics. I came away not only impressed but somewhat infatuated. What a terrific, joyful person. Anyone who has spent much time in his presence can easily understand why the various U.S. team captains selected him to be the flagbearer (and, yes, there was some symbolism that accompanied his selection...not a little, in fact; but Lopez is such an effusive person as well).
Anyway, I was also impressed, and amused when talking to his legal guardians, Robert and Barbara Rogers. What a cool couple. Lopez was the first of what I believe is now four Lost Boys whom they have taken into their home in upstate New York. Robert told me, "We keep saying 'No" when they ask us, and they keep not listening to us."

Anyway, the Rogers' originally learned about Lopez through their local church, St. Leo's Catholic Church in Tully, New York. So how fitting is it that last week the parishioners at the church raised more than $17,000 to send Robert and Barbara (along with Lopez's high school coach, Jim Paccia, and his wife, Cheryl) over here to Beijing? Cool beans, that. 

First Gold

The first gold medal at the Beijing Games went to Katerina Emmons in the 10 Meter Air Rifle (that's quite a long air rifle to tote around, no?). Very cool. Emmons, of the Czech Republic, is the same woman who approached American shooter Matthew Emmons to console him in Athens after he squandered a gold medal by firing at the wrong target on his final shot. And, as you may know, the pair hit it off and are now married. 

The O.C., continued...

--If I sound as if I'm drinking the Kool-Aid, I apologize, but the first hour of that ceremony last night was dropjaw. Simply incredible. Between the drum spectacle and the human block-pistons and the tai chi dudes, I was in awe. I loved what Matt Lauer had to say about it during the broadcast: "The organizers of the Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Games in London probably have a massive migraine right about now." (paraphrased, but I know he used the word "migraine").

--My gig last night was to sit in a production truck with our robotic camera operator (he's not robotic; in fact, his nickname is "Too Tall" and he's hilarious; you know, the camera's robotic). Our assignment: Find dignitaries and keep an eye on them. It sounded like a relatively dull job until Russia invaded Georgia and suddenly every one of Bush's and Putin's interactions gained meaning. And yet, watching those two leaders sit just three seats from one another (and who, by the way, was the dude with Putin who wore the Tommy Bamaha shirt to this affair?), they could as easily have been two dudes seated at a Round Rock Express minor league game. I mean, these two seem to genuinely like each other.

--That little boy who marched in with Yao Ming definitely gets my "Hall Monitor of the Year" vote.

--Ireland, what was up with the khaki suits? You're Ireland! Go green, or at least colorful.

--I'm all for liberty and stuff, but that Parade of Nations deal was a lot more viewer-friendly before everyone in Eastern Europe started declaring independence and seceding from one another. You can thank Abe Lincoln for keeping the Parade of Nations just a little briefer than it might have been (and, let's face it, without the changes Abe had enacted the USA would be somewhere between Germany and Australia in all-time medals won).

--A lot of folks here were left in awe by the fireworks finale (preceded, over the course of the evening, by five other fireworks displays of varying length), a photo of which I captured with my Crackberry. But this morning I wondered if the fireworks were just a clever guise for a massive cloud-seeding operation that was taking place.

--Associate producer Amy Stetson noted that the Olympic flame was actually lit after midnight locally, on 8-9-08, and wonders if that was bad luck.

Medal Update

With nine of fifteen possible first-day medals already awarded, the U.S. has yet to win a medal yet...but has a strong chance of leading the medal count by day's end. So far China leads overall with two medals (seven other nations have won one) in weightlifting and shooting. However, three of the four semi-finalists in the first fencing event, women's individual sabre, are American. A U.S. sweep in that event practically guarantees the U.S.A. a lead at the end of the first day...not that we're the type of country that is hyper-competitive and worries about that sort of thing.
The only other medal event remaining as I write this is the mens'c cycling road race. With just a few kilometers remaining, the three top cyclists are from Italy, Spain and Luxembourg, none of which have won a medal thus far. At the very least, then, the U.S.A. will be tied with China in the medal count (2) after the first day.

They Probably Did Not Have That Ginormous LED Screen, Though

Not wanting to be left out, the equestrian athletes who are stationed in Hong Kong staged their own opening ceremony last night. Due to quarantine issues, the equestrian events are being staged there, some 1,200 miles south. Part of the festivities included a parade of nations for the 42 countries represented in those events, but if there was no horsey parade, I'm going to be disappointed.

Sailing, Takes Me Away to Where I'm Always Dreaming...

Also taking place far, far away (like, 375 miles southeast) of Beijing are the sailing events. Our helpful in-house newsletter, The Daily Olympian, reports that the events take place in the coastal city of Qingdao, which is hoe to China's most famous beer, Tsingtao. Strangely enough, the first event was women's yngling, which has no association with the beer Yuengling, which has been brewed in Pottsville, Pa., since 1829. 

Finally...

I love this photo. It's from our production logistics office and it shows the "Lost in Translation" aspect of these Games. There must be a few times when the people who run that office (basically, their job is to fulfill our requests no matter how outrageous) must be tempted to cover up the second line of this message.