Olympics

I realize I have been seriously slacking on blog updates so here is the condensed Olympic update.

The Olympics were fantastic! Katie, who was here for the summer, and I were lucky enough to attend four events and spend several days in London during the games.  We attended men's indoor volleyball at Earl's Court on the middle Saturday.  We saw two matches during the morning session.  The highlight of which was the Poland v Great Britain match.  Excellent atmosphere with the home crowd and the Polish supporters who travel well.  Poland ended up winning.  

Me outside Earls Court after the morning session

A little bit of the action

Katie and I inside the arena

Our second event was women's beach volleyball at the historic Horse Guards Parade in central London.  Very cool venue but not a great sports atmosphere.  While I admit, women jumping about in bikinis has a certain appeal to it, there was also world class volleyball being played.  As a volleyball fan I was there to see the volleyball.  Unfortunately most of the people in attendance were more interested in drinking and ogling the women.  It crowd was entertain but it would have been good if they were more into the game, especially since the US won!  They beat the Czech Republic team in the quarterfinals on their way to a silver medal after eventually loosing to the other US team.  

USA in White

Katie and I in between matches

Horse Guards in between matches

We had tickets for men's basketball group play at the Basketball arena in the Olympic Park.  We got there a little late in the morning and took our time getting to the venue.  We took our time because it was a few miles walk from the train station!  We planned on a 15 minute walk from the tube station to the park but we didn't realize it was another 25 minute walk to the Basketball Arena once you were inside the park.  It was a nice morning though and because it was the morning there were very few people around.  We saw all the venues, found the  NBC studio, and even had some time for a little shopping before making it into the first of the two games we would see.  The basketball was pretty good, highlighted by Australia winning with a 3-pointer at the buzzer! 

Welcome to the park

The rings

The Olympic Stadium

Velodrome and Basketball Arean inside the park

The Today Show

Inside the Basketball Arena

Boltin' It

A USA gold medal - won for shooting by a cute young lady

Showing our country's color in front of the Olympic Stadium

Our final event was the men's basketball semi-final.  We had tickets for the Spain-Russia game but were able to swap/buy some tickets for the USA game!!! It wasn't quite the Dream Team I grew up watching but it was still amazing.  

My flag sign for ticket swapping! 

Warm ups

Warm ups

National Anthems 

Coach K breaking it down for em'

The commish. 

Opening tip off

We really lucked out with our seats - thank you to the Dutch Olympic Committee - and of course the USA won which made it all the better!!!  Didn't really want that night to end because it meant the end of our Olympic experience.  But as they say, all good things must come to an end.  Anyone up for Rio in 2016?!