You know what I love? Everyone talking about swimming! It's really great to see how much excitement and focus swimming is getting in the Olympics.

For example, I was at event for EA Sport for the launch of Madden 09 the other night, surrounded by so many football players and football fans. They were all so excited about the Olympics, especially swimming! I had people coming up to me thanking me for what I did in the Olympics at a football event!! It makes me feel so gracious and so blessed to be an Olympian because I was representing my country. It's so great that every four years, without fail, people always get super patriotic.

I think of my old teammate Dara Torres rising to the occasion in the 4x100 free and it's great. I don't know for a fact, but I have a feeling that she had a positive effect on the team. And they look up to her. And I think she's got a lot of people rallying behind her and I think that's great for the sport, and great for the Olympic Team in general.

And what's also so fun about the Olympics is the emergence of young swimmers, the names to watch in four years. Look at Elizabeth Beisel and how we didn't really know of her before the Olympic trials. She'll be around four years from now and she'll be hungry because she got 4^th. So she's not done and will be psyched four years from now in London and win her gold.

As for the rest of the events, I wish I could watch all day and night. Unfortunately, with kids running around everywhere, it has been difficult to watch and follow many events. I can't focus at Olympic primetime because it's also bedtime or dinner time. I did catch some basketball and synchronized diving, though. Usually, it's been just recapping in the newspaper the next morning and watching it on Tivo, unfortunately.

As a parent, staying up late into all hours of the night is just not feasible any more. It reminds me of when the Sacramento Kings and L.A. Lakers were in that epic Western Conference Finals a few years ago and I was like "this is really interrupting my life" because I was up till about 2a.m. every single morning. It's got to be even rough being an east coaster these days. Lots of tired people the next morning.

Only a few more days in the pool and all eyes will be on Michael Phelps to see if he can complete the sweep. My vote is yes, but we'll see... Have a great weekend, everyone,

~Summer