Olympic Fever?

Ryan Lochte, Team USA Swimming

Well, an Olympic cold, maybe. But it's feed a cold right? So I'm going to have figure out a way force feed myself Olympic coverage in spite of the day job schedule I've got in the next two weeks.

I'm as patriotic as the next guy. I love the Olympics. And I love when the US does well.And I for one think we could use it.

Taking it to the next level. It's a prospect that strikes us from multiple angles these days -- personal, spiritual, professional, physical, financial, ...  Are these times to "seize the initiative?" To "take it to the next level?"

If you haven't been cut off at the knees, yet, I suspect you are just trying to hold ground, or at least not lose it rapidly. It feels like there are dark clouds just over the horizon. That heaviness, stillness. Dare I say, "malaise?" Will they blow over? How about bring rain? We could use that, too.

It felt a lot like this in the late 70's. A slow tightening on the money side. And colder, too. I'm not sure whether that last part was true, but it felt like it, and the Cold War didn't help. Nor did the hostage crisis in Iran. And it lasted longer than that (longer than the Iran deal anyway). Into the 80's. People talk about, or, rather, stop themselves from dwelling on, the feeling that America's best days were behind us, just as they did then. I didn't buy it then, but then I was a kid at the time, and watched the hockey team take gold in 1980.




Where's the gold now?

Eric Heiden with his 5 gold medals from 1980 in Lake Placid
(Image: The National Speed Skating Museum and Hall of Fame)

Now, it's hot, and there's no evil empire to take down beyond the specter the squirrely types keep harping about (that would be us -- USA! USA! USA!).

If the hockey team hadn't won, would Eric Heiden have been enough? I'd like to think so. Just as I'd like to think Ryan Lochte, Gabby Douglas, or Lolo Jones will carry the day today.

There won't be any big "national win" this time, so there won't be any lingering lilt in the step for weeks on end to inoculate ourselves from uninspiring unemployment figures, private sector job growth, durable goods orders, manufacturing productivity, or whatever.

So be it. There will be two weeks of great athletes doing great things. That'll do.

USA! USA! USA!