From the Games:

I awoke Tuesday morning with the theme of one of television’s longest-airing programs, ABC’s Wide World of Sports, running through my mind as I reflected back on the first week of the drama of human competition here in Vancouver.

With all due respect to the Greeks and Chinese (my only other two Olympic experiences), I have never seen so much personal and national pride as I have seen here in our geographical neighbors to the north. This town is simply alive with the electricity of raw human emotion. The throngs of people who filled the streets this past weekend were energized, not just by the constant variety of sport, but by simply just wanting to be a part of this Olympic happening.

There were thousands of Canadians and Americans who flew, bused or drove into Vancouver; many didn’t even have tickets to a single event. They seemed to be moving aimlessly through the streets with no other purpose than to just say they had been here to feel, touch and smell the magic that Olympic fever exudes. Of course, most of the fervor surrounded the hockey game between the Americans and Canadians, which didn’t turn out favorably for the home team.

The figure skating has just been breathtaking, marred, however, by the death of 55-year-old Therese Rochette, the mother of Canadian women’s medal hopeful Joannie Rochette, who decided to compete despite her tragic, sudden, loss. Many would wonder how she could continue.

My colleague, PJ Kwong, put it in what, I thought, were very realistic terms.

She said, “The Olympics are such a surreal experience, Joannie probably doesn’t feel the enormity of her grief, as yet.”

I can only speculate, she must go on with the competition in honor of her mother’s (and entire family’s) years of sacrificing to have gotten their daughter to this ultimate pinnacle.

The ice dance discipline, with all three components, were absolutely thrilling to watch, with the only Canadians ever to capture the gold, 19-year-old Tessa Virtue and 21-year-old Scott Moir, who have been skating together since they were youngsters. Their training mates and dear friends, Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, skated brilliantly to silver and the controversial Russian team (because of their unconventional costume selection in the original dance) of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin had to settle for bronze.

In closing, I saw Scott Hamilton, who is commentating for NBC, coming out of the broadcast booth and went over to say hello. Scott and I had done a Target commercial together in the mid-’90s. He was very friendly as I expressed my pleasure to be working with him again.

It’s good to know the nice guys continue to remain that way, as I report from the Games.