Closing down

So I got five hours of sleep last night … I had stayed up late and into this morning to do laundry and various things around the house when, at about 1:30 a.m., I realized hey, I’m awake! I can watch the men’s basketball gold medal game! Perfect!

I tuned in and caught most of the first half … Though, for a gold medal game featuring the vaunted U.S. Redeem Team, I was hardly impressed … It was sloppy. The guys were seemingly throwing up shots and passes with no regard. I lost count of the number of times either team would move the ball up the floor, only to have the other team intercept the ball at midcourt and begin moving it the other way -- only to have the original team steal the ball back …

I survived until halftime, around 2:30 a.m., when I decided I couldn’t stay awake any longer and needed to go to sleep … I therefore set the DVR to record the remainder of the game, and watched the outcome this morning …

And the second half was just as sloppy as the first, I thought. Even worse, the Americans allowed Spain to stay in the game by continuing to toss around poor passes and shots. With a few minutes left Spain actually brought the score to within two points before the U.S. finally pulled away …

Then, after all that, I didn’t get to see the medal ceremony. I got to see the bronze and silver medals awarded and then, just after the announcer bellowed, “And now the gold medal team from the United States …” … Zzzzzzzp. The DVR cut out. Doh!

Kates and I did catch portions of tonight’s closing ceremonies, in between putting Phoebe to bed, downing leftovers for a late supper, tending to more household things, and adorable (so lip-synching) children singing whatever songs they were singing during the ceremonies …And I have mentioned how awfully sick I am of Leona Lewis?

We took the most interest as NBC showed the best moments of the Olympics in their entirety, complete with the commentary. No matter how times you see it, some of the Michael Phelps races and gymnast routines -- and hearing the commentators call them -- still give you chills …

And the whole Memory Tower thing … Yeah, that was pretty sweet, too.

An Olympics for the ages.