So your family works in textiles...and ham.

My experience here in China has been amazing. But that is simple and ambiguous. And obviously fitting with the USOC's ad campaign "Amazing Awaits."

At times it has been amazingly beautiful, other times is has been amazingly maddening, and from to time it is amazingly depressing. I imagine that with all the good must come some bad - or at least tough moments...

So here are some of my top "amazing moments" in no particular order (and I pretty much pulled them out of my arse).

Amazingly Heartbroken

On the first day of competition, I went to see my good friend Emily Caruso compete in women's 10m air rifle. Her event was the first medal opportunity of the Games and she hooked me up with a personal ticket. Before I continue, some back history...Emily and I dated on and off for nearly 2 years (2003-05). I was young, stupid and wanted to be an international player and wound up treating her terribly in the process. This is something I will always regret and never forgive myself for because she is a great person and will make some guy very happy for the rest of his life. But despite acting like an evolving bipedal troglodyte, she gave me the chance to remain great friends with her and for this I am very grateful. And I was very happy to be in China to watch her compete. Or so I thought...

Who really wants to watch anyone shoot at a target 10 meters away for 75 minutes? Apparently a lot of Chinese. I got to the event an hour early and didn't even get into the venue. Despite having a ticket into the shooting complex, I couldn't get into the event and see her shoot because it filled to capacity quickly. Instead, I had to go into the venue where the final would be held and wait for 2 hours, hoping that Emily would push past the prelim shoot. And when she didn't make it, I was crushed. For a million reasons, but most importantly because she didn't fulfill her goal and dream of winning an Olympic medal. She missed making the final by one shot. (Women shoot 40 shots on a 10 point target the size of a dime. 400 is a perfect score. The top 8 shooters advance. #8 to advanced with a score of 396, Emily shot a 395. She missed it by an eye lash quite literally. This was pretty much the same result she had in 2004).

After the final, I snuck my way into the athlete area and found her. People were asking her for interviews, but when she saw me, she came over and we walked to a quiet space to get away. There I hugged her and she cried. And I cried. Ask anyone who knows me...I am not one who cries. I am surprised to know I have tear ducts. But I wanted to see my friend succeed so badly that it hurt to see her come up short. And it hurt even more to see that realization on her face. I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it now.

I told her I was proud of how she competed and that she should be as well. I told her she was amazing just to be here when so many people gave up on her. I told her she was great...and it is all true. I don't know if it helped...but I think me just being there lifted her spirits a bit.

In the following days, we hung out a bit and talked about her future and and her emotions. And in the end I was very happy to be there for my friend...even if it made me cry.

Amazingly Bad Draw

Another good friend of mine is epee fencer Seth Kelsey. He and I have trained and competed against one another in fencing as well as Rock Band. He is unique in every way imaginable. He is also a great fencer, arguably one of the best ever for the US. He has been on fire the last 6 months, winning medals at international tournaments no American ever has. This elevated his world ranking to 5th in the world coming into the Games, giving him a great seeding.

Yet somehow, he drew the absolute worst person he could get...Fabrice Jeannetof France (who is the fencer I dream of being). And we were all worried. Seth is one of the more confident people I know, but he was not happy with his draw. His opponent should be ranked in the top 3 on the world, not top 30. Yet as we say, in order win, you have to beat everyone at some point.

Sadly, Seth couldn't pull it off. He started out cautious, going down 5-1 early. But he came back strong to take the lead at 8-9. But the Frenchman was too good and experienced in the end and Seth lost a heart breaker 15-12. Jeannet went on to win the silver medal. Go figure.

Amazingly Random

A few nights after both Seth and Emily competed, we were all hanging out on the roof deck of the USA House. The USA House is where our marketing department rubs elbows with sponsors to make money for our athletes. It is very different from the performance side of the USOC, but just as essential for gaining revenue that allows us to best care for our athletes.

Anyway, we were hanging out and talking about random things. Our conversations are usually always random, but they were enhanced with the help of some Dionysian libations. In any case, the subject of Emily's Italian ancestry came up. And Seth, being the most well traveled out of all of us mentioned that Emily's family originates from northern Italy where her peoples would have specialized in textiles....and ham. How he knows this, I have no clue freaking clue, but it was hilarious and is a prime example of Seth's amazing uniqueness. Never a dull moment around him.

Amazing Grace

One of the several jobsI have here in China is serving as a training partner for one of my old teammates Eli Bremer. Although it isn't an official responsibility, it helps to have a rabbit for some of his runs as well as someone who he can talk to during workouts. And I am more than happy to oblige him.

One day when we were working out the BNU High Performance Training Center track, we shared the running lanes with none other than 400 meter runner Jeremy Wariner. Wariner and his partners were doing 150 meter sprint repeats while we were doing some 200's and 1k's. Now we were by no means going slow. We were cruising through 400 splits at mid 60's and hitting 200's at 29's. But we can't come close to comparing ourselves to Wariner. So we stopped just to watch him run through a few intervals. And talk about a beautiful stride. Wow. Long and graceful, smooth and effortless. It was crazy to watch him glide across the track. He didn't look as if he was putting any effort in, but he absolutely gobbled up the track. Eli and I could only giggle giddily.

Amazingly Small

The television really does add weight to people. You have no clue about anybody's size until you see them up close.

Jeremy Wariner might be really fast, but he is a twig. I have more muscle mass then he does, and I am lucky to weigh 145 pounds and stand 5 feet 8 inches at the moment. And that is the same for most of the track guys. Tyson Gay has the smallest feet ever and a jarringly thin upper body. Shalane Flannigan, bronze medalist in the women's 10k towers over her African counterparts, but she is lucky if she hits 5 feet even and 100 pounds.

I could go on, but the bottom line is that Olympians aren't as big or statuesque as we imagine. I have a much better physique. But this shouldn't surprise anyone ;-)

Amazingly Amazing

Just being able to experience all that I have so far and continue to cheer on our Olympians still competing.