Well, sadly, the Olympics are over. At least I can return to some normal sleeping habits. I wonder if there is anything I learned from all this that can be applied to the business enterprise or at least personally? Let's see

The world may be flat in terms of a level playing field of global opportunity, but the earth is still a rotating ball in space. That was painfully obvious to me as the events I often wanted to watch were occurring at 2:00 AM my time. China was a gracious host and their collective enthusiasm was invigorating. I can’t find the words to describe the opening and closing ceremonies. In all its splendor, it was also a little bit…well…scary. It sort of shows what can happen when one-fifth of the worlds population gets organized (gulp!). It was interesting to me that someone thought they could pass three different 14-year-old girl gymnasts as being 16. That tells me there isn't much understanding of the power and benefit of the free press. Normally, I complain about the media and think they are too intrusive in the pursuit of controversy (real or made up). But this is a great example of the value of the free press. Sorry, China, cheating can't be swept under the rug in the free world. BTW - it isn't that we're above cheating (just ask our major league baseball commissioner), we just know the probability of being caught.

Speaking of the press, NBC did a pretty good job of coverage considering the time differences. I must admit, they really had great camera angles and the HD was great. I put a couple of their widgets on my iGoggle page. The Latest News & Video was generally useful, but the one promising a schedule of daily events was not. In fact, hunting down exactly when an event was scheduled to air on TV was so difficult, I assume it was an intentional act by NBC to make it hard. The streaming of live events was pretty cool, although you had to put up with a cheesy 15-second commercial at the start of it. That struck me as being pretty stupid since there was plenty of space around the MS Silverlight panel to run ads, if that was really necessary. Since I wanted to watch the event bad enough to stream it live instead of recording it on DVD, I was rather irritated by the commercials. Do advertisers really want potential customers watching their ads when they are irritated by them? It tells me that the networks still have a way to go before they understand the impact the Internet will have on them.

What can I learn from the athletes themselves? Michael Phelps is fantastic, but shows how to leverage your strengths. He would be a horrible baseball player because his strike zone would be so big. But his body structure is a blessing in his sport that he dominates. I fully expect to be telling my Grandkids in 20 years who Phelps was. I hope I remember Jason Lezak in those stories - his never-give-up come from behind win in the 400-meter freestyle relay was one of the top sporting efforts I have ever witnessed and the reason why people will talk about Michael Phelps for a long time.

Speaking of never giving up - way to go USA Womens Soccer! Not many teams have overcome the loss of their most dominate player the very last game before the tournament begins, not to mention giving up two goals in the first few moments of the first game. But you kept the faith and learned to play the hand you were dealt. When Abby Wambaugh comes back, you should be all the better because of it. When I think of overcoming adversity, I’ll think of you gals.

As a former basketball player (in the age of sideburns and afros), I am so pleased that our NBA all-stars finally recognized that the game was meant to be a team sport, not a collection of one-on-one players. Thank you to the rest of the world for kicking our butts for the past 8 years so we could wake up. Thank you Coach K and this year's players for being a team and acting with such class on and off the court. Now go back to your NBA teams and spread the word - this is what we really want to see again in the NBA!

Who can deny that Nastia Liukin was special? Even to a Bubba like me, she was poetry in motion. But Shawn Johnson stole my heart this Olympics. Why? Because even though the judging was questionable at best, she just beamed. Even when the idiotic media asked embarassing questions designed to make her cry, she just beamed and was genuinely happy for her teammate. She refused to be anybody's victim. In the end, she was rewarded with a fantastic Gold medal on the balance beam and I was moved to tears. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, you have raised one special kid there! The next time I feel like whining about my petty problems, I'll think of her and hope I have a tenth of her courage!