I'm currently watching all the countries walk into the Olympic stadium. The commentators are starting to annoy me a bit, they keep talking about how certain countries haven't won anything, did really badly in a certain sport at some point. This seems contrary to the general spirit of the Olympics - that worldwide event that brings everyone together for peaceful competition...
It certainly is making me realize some things about the things we all have in common - so many of the athletes, from so many of the countries, are holding up their phones and cameras, recording the ceremony as they march in it.
I watched the first part of the ceremony, by surprise, at my local yarn shop. I say by surprise because I expected I'd just watch the end of it - I forgot there was a TV at the store, and it hardly occurred to me that the group would want to watch.
How silly of me.
Everyone was (almost equally stunned) thrilled to watch the opening ceremony... with, maybe, the exception of the person who streamed it live illegally earlier today. He enjoyed goading us about what was to come - like the special guest keyboard artist during Chariots of Fire.
It was a pretty eclectic group of people to watch the Olympics with. I mean, it's a pretty eclectic group at knit night anyways - all ages and backgrounds, brought together by our love of knitting, relationships forged by universal human experiences (like our cell phones' autocorrect...)
This time, that experience was the Olympics. We reminisced a tad, complained about how some sports (rowing) don't seem to get airtime. And then the ceremony started, and, but for a few bits of commentary, we'd stopped talking. It was breathtaking, increasingly so as it continued. At the end of the first part, it took some inane comment by television voices to break the silence.
I remember thinking partway through that I'll probably remember that moment for a long time to come. To so strongly share a moment with people you so barely know... it's not something you forget easily.
Now they're playing "Staying Alive". I watched the athletes from Finland singing along. ... But really... don't we all?
Agreed about the commentators during the Parade of Nations. I think some of what they were saying bordered on offensive.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you had such a fun experience watching the ceremony!