Not pretty enough for the Motherland

We love us some Olympics around the Williams household. My wife and I have always been fans, and it appears the fruit is not falling far from the tree: the other day my oldest daughter rebuffed a request to do Something Kids Love To Do by saying, "I'm watching women's beach volleyball and it only comes on in 4 years!" In our family, the Olympics is almost like 14 Super Bowls in a row.

That being said, Olympics spectating is more complex than it used to be (you could say it is "nuanced," kind of like John Kerry's political views). It was much simpler, before the dissolution of the Soviet empire and before the advent of heart-wrenching human interest segments on athletes, to pick a team or competitor to root for. And having little eyes and ears spectating on our spectating makes it more complex, as well.

The Olympics have certainly lost most of their political dimension, but this article provides a glimpse behind the curtain to what makes America different than other countries, like China. The Beijing opening ceremony was literally awe-inspiring for our family, and I couldn't help but wonder whether we could pull off such a spectacle in America. America definitely has her problems, but this story helps to illustrate--for my children and for me, at least one difference between America and China, and at least one reason to be proud of our Republic. ("Official: Child Singer Not Pretty Enough for Olympics Opener; Girl Lip-Syncs Her Song").