Hey everyone! Exciting update... yesterday was my daughter Skye's first day of school! Well, pre-school. She's two years old which is just two days a week for three hours at a time. But as you may expect, when I tried to leave her there for the first time, it did not go over too well. The more I stayed there, the worse it got. But the teachers were great and told me this happens with pretty much everyone, so I just walked out after a few minutes. I'm sure it took her a few minutes to calm down and then she was just fine. One day down, 20+ years to go!

So onto other major events... The Olympics! I know that I touched upon this last week, but I still cannot get over the fact that Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in one Olympic Games. Eight was a magical number, and the number eight is also symbolic in Chinese as well... the Games started on 8-8-08 and he finished with eight... kinda weird. What a special moment.

On the Wrong Track

I love track and field, so watching those events last week I was disappointed that the U.S. didn't get out to a better start. We've owned the track for a hundred years, so to see them drop batons, that is totally a fluke occurrence. Like Phelps' goggles filling up with water. I'm sure the last time these guys dropped the baton was a long time ago, maybe when they were in high school or something. That just never happens.

So for the top runners to get off to a rough start hurt us. Teams feed off their stars and with the early track and field struggles, with Tyson Gay's leg injury in the 100m, upsets left and right... that had the opposite effect and just snowballed. It was heartbreaking to watch. Finally on the very last day, you saw what United States track and field could really do with the 4x400 relays.

In swimming and track, relay races are fun because they bring together individuals who are used to racing against each other. They are united for a common purpose. When you're in an individual sport, you long for when you can race as a team. When I think back on why I wanted to make a comeback for the 1996 Olympics, they were to break a world record and to be on the nighttime final relays. It's a big deal to be racing for your country.

Thank You, China

Whether deserved or not, China seems to be an epicenter of controversy when it comes to pretty much everything, inside and outside of sports. But the bottom line is that they did a wonderful job. It was a beautiful Olympics, the air cleared out and everyone is talking about how these past three weeks were so special. Once the events started, everyone focused on the athletes again, and that's the way it should be.

The venues were beautiful and I loved the great names for the buildings... the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube. What happens to these buildings afterwards is always one of the biggest questions after the Olympics - how the city sustains itself afterwards. But China has great athletes and I see them continuing to benefit from having hosted these Olympics in the future.

Wow, I've got so much more to say on all of it I don't know what to do! I'm actually interviewing Michael Phelps next week so maybe I'll save that for then... What did you think - seriously send in some comments or questions... Until then, have a great Labor Day Weekend.