February 08, 2002 // 7:06 p.m. // The Olympics
I never thought that I'd be into the Olympics as much as I am. But as soon as the Olympic torch reached downtown Salt Lake and the Olympic rings lit up on the mountains, it suddenly hit me that the Olympics were here. It was no longer a Salt Lake dream and "olympic" was no longer a word. It was an expression and a feeling. The torch was run through my neighborhood this morning, just a half a block from my house. Again, I felt the spirit. It's just weird that I didn't feel any of this until the night before the games. And even after looking downtown at the changed skyline, mass transit, volunteers on every corner, banners hundreds of feet high and Olympic rings and logos everywhere it never hit me that Salt Lake was (for 17 days) the center of attention. Salt Lake. Our little old Salt Lake. The city known more for the Mormon religion than the beautiful mountains and landscapes. The city that once banned an Olivia Newton-John song because it was deemed "too sexual." A place overlooked by every major news network, touring exibit, musical artist and the like is now hosting the Olympics. It still hasn't hit me. The Olympics are supposed to take place in Mexico City or Los Angeles. Munich or Moscow. Even Lake Placid. But not Salt Lake. Not little old overlooked Salt Lake. So with all of this said, I'm setting my VCR to record the Opening Ceremonies, because even with all of the traffic downtown at the hecticness surrounding Rice-Eccles Stadium, The Oddities� are still going out tonight to bowl or shoot pool, but in the spirit of the Olympics, we're still brining a mini TV in place of the MP3 player. Jason Last time on Apexsensatin : Now on Apex : Apex Archives : Next time on Apexsensatin