Once again, it's the first weekend of August and I find myself in Los Angeles for the X Games. Counting each summer and winter X Games I've attended, and the X Games Global Championship (it was a real event; look it up), this is my 11th X Games. You'd think the event would have gotten a bit stale and unexciting for me by now. Well, I've found a way to keep it new—by experiencing it through fresh eyes.

Last year, my niece and my boss Steve's son (and my folks) were out here for the event. It was like watching the X Games for the first time. Everything was "soooo cool." It was sort of like living in New York, but experiencing it as a tourist when your friends come into town to visit. Suddenly, the foot traffic blocking your way to work becomes less of a nuisance and more of "a visible sign of our healthy commuter culture."

So this year, I spent day one with my friend Dan, who has been an editor at the mag for a while, but just recently moved into the action sports department. This is his first X Games. And as we were watching dirt bikes soar over our heads from our spot down on the floor during moto X best trick, and interviewing Dave and Lauren Mirra for a TV feature, and white-knuckling the guardrails at the top of the roll-in of the mega ramp after skateboard big air, I watched my friend fall in love with a new group of sports.

And I remembered why I love this stuff, too.

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP ...

In less than 24 hours, I am leaving for the Olympics. This is the first summer Olympics I've attended in person and the first Olympics I've attended as a working member of the media. (I went to Torino as a fan.) In Beijing, I will file daily stories for espnthemag.com and espn.com. And, of course, I will link to them here so you can follow along. Please do!

I would have a hard time expressing, in words alone, exactly how excited I am about the next three weeks. Since I was a little kid, I've dreamed of going to the Olympics. Of course, back then, I thought my sports skills would get me there. But I'll settle for a ticket paid for with my pen. So, since I can't quite find the words, I've enlisted the help of a few of my former selves. They are even more excited than I am. If that is possible.

WANNABE-MARY-LOU ALYSSA CAN'T WAIT FOR THE US-CHINA SHOWDOWN IN WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS. SHE SAYS SHE WILL NOT MISS ONE MINUTE, AND SHE'S ALREADY PICKED HER WINNERS IN THE INDIVIDUAL EVENTS. (SHE ALSO CAN'T WAIT FOR THE FARRAH FAWCETT TO COME BACK INTO STYLE) ...

WANNABE-SHOW-JUMPER ALYSSA GREW UP AROUND HORSES (ALBEIT MUCH BIGGER ONES THAN SHE'LL SEE IN BEIJING) AND SAYS SHE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HOW THE PENTATHLETES FARE ON A HORSE THEY'VE KNOWN FOR FIVE MINUTES (AND SHE IS FEELING NOSTALGIC FOR THE BANANA CLIP) ...

WANNABE-FLO-JO ALYSSA SAYS SHE IS MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO A VERY SPECIFIC 10.67 SECONDS OF THE GAMES (AND REALLY WISHES SOMEONE WOULD BRING BACK HIGH BANGS) ...

WANNABE-JESSICA-MENDOZA ALYSSA IS SAD SHE WILL WATCH THE FINAL OLYMPIC WOMEN'S SOFTBALL GAME EVER. BUT SHE IS SO EXCITED SHE WILL BE THERE FOR THE FINAL PITCH (AND SHE THINKS SHE REALLY SHOULD WEAR MORE HATS) ...

Really, we're all just very, very excited. See you in Beijing!

Ni hao!

Welcome to Olympic City, or the city formerly known as Beijing. A magical city where everyone smiles and opens doors and finds chairs for you to sit on while you are waiting for the bus. A kinder, gentler, nicer Beijing.

At the airport, each person I encountered was happy to answer my questions, even those who spoke no English. (Which was most of them.) Those who did were clearly taught the language by Emily Post. Heck, even the police are smiling. Billboards are posted around the city touting their “smiling police.” And their drug-sniffing dogs? Beagles.

Nice.

After a very nice jog through customs, a polite woman with a nice smile stamped my passport and motioned to another young lady who then escorted me all the way to the media bus parked outside. My arrival time of 2 p.m. must have been an unpopular one with the press, because I had the bus to myself. Mid-way through the ride, a young man from the BOCOG who spoke decent English came and sat down next to me.

“Are you having a nice day?” he asked.
“So far, so good.” I said.
“Where are you from?” he asked.
“New York.” I said.
“Such a nice city,” he said.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Are you enjoying your stay here in our city?” he asked.
“Well, I just got here,” I said.
“But, so far, our city is nice?”
“The airport was nice,” I said.
“We have been working very hard on the nice,” he said.
“I can see that,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “Do you think I am nice?”
“Yes, very.”
“Good.”

And with that, he stood up, walked to the front of the bus and resumed his post next to the driver, content he was doing his part.

A bit of the weirdness I've noticed in less than 24 hours on the ground ...

The "grounds" (maze) our hotel is located on are peppered with statues of topless women playing sports.

The grounds are also infested with the loudest cicadas on earth.

The hotel pillows are stuffed with dried rice. (Q: What's louder than one-billion cicadas? A: Rice-stuffed pillows)

The locals, especially those servicing visitors, seemingly were taught only "polite English", which makes me feel like I am in an Emily Post class. (See previous post.) Thus, they are all so eager to please that I feel like I am in a New York clothing boutique. At breakfast, a woman followed me around the buffet asking, "You would like this? This? This?" as we passed each item. How do you say, "Thank you, but I'm just browsing," in Chinese?

At the same breakfast, I was surrounded by international sports writers (grown men) walking around the breakfast hall in their hotel-issued slippers.

Stay tuned ...

This will be updated frequently, so check back often. It's the ESPN Climate Blog, live from Beijing!

Or, click the "continue reading" link for my most recent post.

Last night, I attended the Opening Ceremonies of the XXIX Olympiad. The first hour was the most amazing feat of choreography, precision, artistry and engineering I have ever seen. This wanabe circus girl was impressed. The athlete precession was long. The torch lighting was the coolest thing I have ever seen. It gave me chills, and my heart skipped a couple beats—this time for the right reason. Read my ESPNTHEMAG.com Cliff's Notes version here.

Today, I spent my morning at the men’s gymnastics qualifiers. The U.S. men did exceptionally well, considering they are now competing two alternates and not a single member of the team is a returning Olympian. Check out the piece I wrote for ESPN.com and this lighter take I did for espnthemag.com.

Although everyone was reeling from a fantastic start to the Games, we were all saddened at the news of the murder of the father-in-law of U.S. men’s indoor volleyball coach McCutcheon. His mother-in-law is in critical condition after eight hours of surgery, and he and his wife are with her at the hospital. The team competes tomorrow, and I imagine this game will mean a whole lot more than they ever expected. My colleague Pat Forde wrote about the tragedy for ESPN.com.

Now for some thoughts on public transportation (aka … Cab Blab)
* Tonight, on my way out to meet my friends Lisa and John at the Coke/Nike/Swiss House/Club Bud parties, I called a cab. My driver, like most, spoke no English, so I showed him a piece of paper with the name of the first location written on it in Chinese. He nodded. Then, about two minutes into the ride, he took out a tape (you read me right—a tape) and popped it in the tape deck. Three notes in, I started giggling, as Jack Johnson’s voice filled our cab. I guess some things are universal.

* On the way home from said parties, I started to fall asleep, but was jolted awake by the feel of a sudden stop. I opened my eyes to see that the driver had missed the exit and had come to a complete stop in the center of the highway. He then drove backwards for about 200 meters and corrected his mistake.

Random observations …
- Cicadas go to sleep at 10 p.m.
- Chicago native David Schwimmer was at the Bud party last night, escorted by the head of the Chicago bid committee. Do they think Ross is going to help them pull votes? If that’s the case, let’s all start booking our tickets to Rio.

See you tomorrow. I promise to start uploading some photos soon.

This morning, I experienced my first Beijing rain (it lasted about 15 minutes and no, it did not clear up the air) and spent several hours watching women’s gymnastics. Check out my story. Plus, few observations …

* The Chinese gymnasts are too small. One girl’s bio lists her at 68 pounds; the average weight of the six-"woman" team is 77 pounds. (That's 13 pounds lighter than our teeny tiny, 4'9" Shawn Johnson.)
* The Chinese are equal-opportunity applauders. Sure, the decibels increase when their girls are on the floor, but they are extremely gracious fans. And very knowledgeable of the sport.
* I spoke with Bella Karolyi for a while before the U.S. team took the floor, and again after the event. The man is a quote factory. He was fired up about the age limit, wants it revoked and wanted the world to know. He agrees the Chinese women are too small. Because, he says, they are not 16. Read my interview with him here.
* Shawn Johnson peforms what, in my opinion, is the best beam routine of all time. And she was robbed in team qualification. Still, she qualified for the all-around in first place and teammate Nastia Liukin qualified in second. I can't wait for Wednesday.
* The U.S. team has more heart and personality than any squad here in Beijing. They are such fun to interview, and even more fun to watch compete.
*There is no free wireless internet connection in any of the Olympic venues. I find this absurd.
* Dominique Dawes is working here as a journalist and, watching and listening to her in the Mix Zone (where the athletes and media "mix" for interviews), she is doing a damn fine job.
*George W. and Barbara Bush were seated in the Water Cube for Phelps first gold-medal peformance. During the medal ceremony, the American National Anthem cut out halfway through the song. Mechanical mishap? Anyone who saw Opening Ceremonies Friday night would have a hard time believing the folks putting on this show can't work a CD player.
*Bush spent the past two days bouncing between venues, posing with beach volleyball players and giving interviews to the sports media. He can not go home soon enough. (He leaves Monday). We are judged by that man and his actions, and I've never felt that as much as I do with him trapsing around this international event. It's nauseating to think about.

This evening, I experienced my first thunder-and-lightning storm in Beijing. It lasted much longer than 15 minutes and, hey, it did clear up the air a bit.

Despite the rain, we trekked to Beijing's 789 art district to watch the USA-China basketball game at the Nike house. I decided it would be more fun to watch with lots of friends than by myself in media row (okay, surrounded by hundereds of members of the international press) at the venue. I was right. I'll definitely get to some games, though. My goal is to attend each Beijing venue (several are hours away from here) at least once. And right now, I've been inside only the Bird's Nest (opening ceremonies) and the Indoor Stadium (gymnastics). Time to broaden my horizons.

Since I arrived in Beijing four days ago, my friends, family and co-workers have asked me one question repeatedly: Are you having fun?

It has been a difficult question to answer. Yes, I am having an experience. Yes, I am excited and grateful to be here. Yes, I am enjoying the events and the infinity symbol on my credential that allows me inside all the venues. I am experiencing a new country and culture and the people are wonderful. But I wouldn't exactly express this as, "fun."Until today, I hadn't seen much of Beijing, hadn't tried the local cuisine, hadn't learned a single phrase in Mandaran aside from "hello" and "thank you." Those things, to me, are fun.

Well friends, today, I had fun. I didn't attend a single sports event, but I caught up on my Olympic reading, and then, this afternoon, Alison and I went to the Speedo Sports House in Chayong Park to interview the parents of the U.S. swim team. It was interesting to see how many members of the media turned out to interview a bunch of moms and dads. But these moms and dads created special kids, so everyone is looking for their special formula for raising Olympic phenoms. Check out the piece I did on Debbie Phelps.

After a few hours at Speedo, we headed over to the Oakley house at Beijing hotspot Block 8, where Oakley-sponsored athletes can pick up customized shades, play Rock Band on a big-screen, watch DVDs and relax away from all the chaos. Hurldler Lolo Jones came by while we were there, as did sprinter Walter Dix and Yahoo! Sports' newest online on-air personality Gretchen Bleiler, who is learning life isn't so easy on this side of the microphone. She said she has a new perspective on the reporters she used to get so easily annoyed with for not having an intimate knowledge of the sport of snowboarding and asking dumb questions. Now she is that reporter. She realized the dumb questions came less from a lack of interest and research than from the fact that it's plain tough to cram an entire Olympic lineup into a few weeks of preparation. So she said she studies as much as she can, and then remembers that she, too, is an Olympic athlete with a unique perspective and conducts her interviews based on her own experiences. And she's doing really well.

After Oakley, Alison and I headed to a new area of town, Ritan Park, to check out the designer mart (We liked what we saw, and oh, we will be back!) and eat authentic dim sum at La Galerie. (Well, sort of authentic. We're pretty sure we were forced to order from the American menu.) Over the past week, Alison's Mandarin has been slowly coming back to her, and what a help it was at dinner and on the cab ride home. I am not going to allow her to leave.

This morning, I went to my first swimming event. I've been dying to get inside the Cube ever since I saw the first photos of the arena months ago. It looked like such a cool place to watch swimming. Well, it was. Especially the way I experienced it: sitting 14 rows from the pool with Natalie Coughlin's family. The Coughlins were nice enough to offer up their extra tickets (Alison got to come, too) so I could sit with them and feel what it was like to go through the emotional ups and downs of watching a family member compete at the Olymipcs. (And write a story about it for espnthemag.com.) It was exhausting.

A few minutes before I arrived at the Water Cube, the Speedo rep who helped set up the story asked that I be extra sensitive. "Everyone's worried Natalie might not do so well in the 100-meter backstroke," she said. I promised not to heckle or ask Zennie and James Coughlin why they'd raised such a loser, were she to finish out of first place. Then the Golden Girl went out and won.

I watched three back-to-back-to-back U.S. victories by Aaron Piersol, Natalie Coughlin and Michael Phelps. Then I watched Phelps and Coughlin return to the pool an hour after their medal ceremonies and win their semifinal races. I listened the the American National Anthem played three times and stood next to Natalie's parents and grandparents as the music played and they cried along with her. "It's tough to watch your granddaughter cry," Grandma Zennie said. "Even when they are tears of joy." I can only imagine.

After the final semifinal heat, I raced over to the Indoor Stadium to catch the end of the men's gymnastics team final. Halfway through the meet, our overmatched underdogs were in second place, and it looked like they might hold on. In the end, they took bronze, and in the media area after the medal ceremony, they were the giddiest silver medalists I'd ever seen. For good reason.

I spent the rest of the day (aside from writing) walking the Olympic sponsor village with Alison, collecting T-shirts and pins and buying souvenirs. (The Omega pavillion has the best food on the Green, and Coca-Cola gave out the best free T-shirt.) The official Olympic merchandise at the Superstore, and at stores around Beijing, is priced at local prices, which was surprising. And awesome. Usually, Olympic gear costs about as much as lunch at Disneyworld. This year, you can buy a super cool Olympic Adidas T-shirt for about 20 bucks. Unfortunately, the T-shirts are sized locally, as well. Sorry, anyone over 5'8". You're not getting a souvenir shirt.

This morning, I thought I was going to watch the Magnificent Seven go down in history as the second-best U.S. women's gymnastics team of all time. As you all know by now, that didn't happen. Sure, it was disappointing to watch our five women lose control of the meet. But it was even more disappointing to hear Marta Karolyi come out to the press area after the awards ceremony and make excuses for her girls.

She blamed the officials for making Alicia Sacramone wait too long before her beam routine and called the tactic "psychological warfare." She accused one of the Chinese girls who is believed to be underage of having a missing tooth. (Kids lose their teeth at 7, Marta. Not 14.) She waved her arms and raised her voice and thought this would distract the media from the truth: The U.S. did not have the best team today. (Unfortunately, she did a pretty darn good job.)

After the meet, I wrote a piece for espn.com about Alicia Sacramone. The hardest thing about the post-medals-ceremony press conference was seeing the look in Sacramone's eyes. Her mistakes were not the only biffs of the day. But it's hard not to wonder what would have been had she not fallen, twice. Especially if you're Alicia Sacramone.

For the piece, I spoke with Dominique Dawes, who was part of that Magnificent Seven team and is here working as a reporter. She had great perspective, and was a great interview. But let's be honest. She couldn't relate.

While watching gymnastics this week, I've also realized how much I miss the 10-point judging scale. So I gave espnthemag.com readers 10 reasons why FIG should bring it back.

After work, I stopped by the USA House, which is near the soccer stadium and boxing arena and is, by far, the most fancy schmancy of all the national houses. Dinner was great. Then my friends Amy, Luke, Kate and I met a few friends at Club Bud and schmoozed until 2 a.m. I walked in the front gate next to Evander Holyfield, and had my first athlete-at-party spotting. Taekwondo athlete Steven Lopez, one of the three Lopez siblings competing here, was hanging outside near the pool drinking water with some pals. He clearly hasn't finished competing.

Today is my friend (and editor) Alison's birthday. Since today is also our eighth day here, I consider this a sign she is about to have an extremely fabutastic year. Starting with a birthday lunch (I tried peking duck for the first time! It's the most daring thing I've eaten in a long time and one of the yummiest things I've eaten since I've been here.) and a quick stop at the Yashow Market (a less-chaotic version of the Silk Market).

Then we headed back to the media center and I caught the bus to the basketball stadium, which is about 40 minutes away. Fortunately, the media bus system runs like clockwork. You'd think Switzerland was running this show. Unfortunately, Beijing is gigantic. The hop between venues makes the Home Depot Center to Staples Center commute at the X Games seem tame. But the venues themselves are absolutely spectacular. I don't know why we don't design stadiums in the U.S. more like these. They are functional, they are surprisingly practical and they are spectacular feats of design.

The basketball stadium looks like a rectangular building hidden behind giant blades of grass. Or, when it is lit yellow, like a giant box of McDonald's french fries. Which reminds me to inform you that McDonald's is everywhere. (And yes, so is Starbucks, if you're not depressed enough by the McDonald's information.) According to Alison and Jim, the french fries here are better than those in the States, because they still use the transfatty oil. I haven't been that daring yet.

The basketball game was less inspiring than I'd hoped. Four years ago, Greece spoiled the U.S. team's gold-medal plas, so there was a good storyline. But the game wasn't exciting. The U.S. is still not shooting much, but they're just too physical and fast for the rest of the world. The best moment was during a time out, when one of the Olymipc mascots fell while running off the court and struggled to wiggle himself back upright.

LIke most of the events I've attended so far, the stands are only about half- to three-fourths full at these "sold out" events. There are huge sections of empty seats and walking the Olympic Green is less like walking around Disneyland (as past Olympics have felt) and more like walking the backlot of MGM Studios. You walk past these monstrous buildings wondering if they are nothing more than a pretty cardboard facade. Rumor has it the IOC is going to begin opening up the Green to spectators without tickets to events so the place feels less like a ghost town. In order to do so, they have to shift the locations of security checks, so, in the end, this may prove too difficult.

After the game, I went down to the mix zone to try and get some time with the guys. Riiiight. When they finally appeared, one by one, I was so busy trying to avoid being trampled by my colleagues that I forgot to wave and yell out to Kobe how awesome I think he is. Fortuntaely, a member of the European press took care of that for me. Signs hang in every media area informing the press they are not allowed to take photos or videos of the athletes while in the mix zone. So, of course, three journalists snapped off shots of Team USA players as they entered the zone.

Hey, you gotta update your Facebook page.

Since I’ve been a slacker up to this point and haven’t posted any photos in my updates, I decided to shorten my daily post in favor of some of my favorite shots. So here’s a recap of my ninth day, in nine sentences.

I woke up to the most beautiful day we’ve had since I arrived in Beijing. (Yesterday was first the smoggiest and then the rainiest day yet.) Three days ago, I saw the sky for the first time. Today, I got reacquainted with my old friend Mr. Sun. This afternoon, I watched the two best female gymnasts in the world perform flawlessly in the all-around competition and I’ll just say I’m glad I wasn’t a judge. But it was a neat feeling to know that when gymnastics fans wake up in the morning, they’ll read my story to find out what happened. (Wannabe Mary Lou Alyssa thinks that is awful nifty.) Tonight, I had yet another yummy dinner and celebrated Alison’s last night in China, then partied it up at Club Bud. I’m beginning to get the hang of this place.

Click the link below for more photos.

HERE I AM AT OPENING CEREMONIES ...

So, my friend Lisa is here in Beijing writing stories for th IOC website. Most of the stuff she is doing is behind-the-scenes reporting. She helped author the athlete handbook and was taken behind the walls of the athlete village. But the only people reading many of the cool stories she's written are folks at the IOC. So when she asked if she could interview me for a little profile on a journalist covering the Games, I agreed. Although I hate being on the receiving end of an interview. I figured a few in-house people would see it, I could send a link to my friends (and post it here) and maybe a few more members of the IOC would know my name the next time I called to ask a question.

So when Brian from SI walked up to me in the media room after gymnastics today asking why I was all over the IOC website, I couldn't help but break out in giggles. Oh, yes. The top story on olympic.org, the site all these fancy members of the international media turn to for up-to-the-second Olympics news, for most of the day today (Friday) was a story called "Nice to Meet You, Alyssa!"

Nice.

I've always wanted to watch the Olympic 100-meter race in person, as close to the track and the athletes as I could manage to position myself. So when I arrived at the Bird's Nest Saturday evening and saw a row of empty seats in the first row of the stadium, a little past the halfway point of where the race would take place, I rushed down and grabbed one. And didn't move for the next four hours. Aside from about 10 meters of space (and the railing), there was going to be nothing between me and the fastest men alive.

The race, as I expected, was incredible. By now, you've seen the footage, so I don't need to rehash it for you. (Although NBC missed the boat by not showing that race live.) But what Bolt did in that race was one of the most incredible feats in sports history. After the race, I went down to the media area and got in a couple questions with Dix, who was surprisingly not all that impressed with his bronze medal. Of course, I was bummed Tyson Gay didn't make the final. But I guess it was to be expected. It's virtually impossible to return to a sport like the 100 meters three weeks after a major injury and try and win an Olympic medal. He was about as gracious an athlete as anyone after his semi-final race, but he was certainly disappointed.

When Bolt finally appeared, nearly an hour after the race was over, the media frenzy was insane. I had three grown men hand me cameras and ask if i could, "Take a photo for me, and please try and get Usain in the frame." Right. Let me just ask the 100 men with TV cameras, who are actually doing their job, to move out of the way so you can have a souvenir from the press center.

Bolt was impossible to get near, especially for this shorty, so I realized I wasn't going to get to ask him my question. I have always wanted to ask the fastest man alive, on the day he becomes said Fastest Man, what his day was like. What did he eat for breakfast? I had planned to ask Gay in the interview I pre-scheduled with him for after the race (it's now happening at 4 p.m. on Sunday, so stay tuned), but that plan changed after semis.

So I did the next best thing, something that I've never done before. I asked him in the press conference. At first, I was worried the few hundred media folks in the room would be annoyed with my question, but then I realized I actually didn't care what they thought. And I figured his answer would add a little color to all their stories. Besides, if I had to hear one more person ask Walter Dix what it was like to watch Bolt run by him and set a world record, I was going to pull out all my hair and turn in my membership card to the People Who Write About Sports Society. (Press conferences should come with a Surgeon General's warning. Danger: Extended Periods of Exposure May Make You Dumber.)

So I asked. And he giggled. And then gave the answer I've been waiting for all this time. Nuggets. He ate nuggets. Twice. That's it. The secret to speed. The secret to smashing world records. McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.

My entire belief system has been flipped on its head. And, perhaps, my diet.

As of midnight last night, I was going to have to watch this morning's swimming session on a TV in the media center. Swimming is such a tough ticket that even members of the credentialed media have to have a ticket. And the IOC is only offering so many. (We could only score one.) So, since Luke hadn't seen a swimming event yet, today's ticket was his. BUT, around 1 a.m. last night, after we got back from the 100 meter finals, Luke talked his way to a second ticket. Score!

What a fun couple of hours. First, we watched Dara Torres take silver in the 50 meters by .001, the same margin Phelps won by on Saturday morning. In the medal ceremony, she cried. I think they were tears of joy, and relef. Honestly, she looked pretty content with silver.

Then, we watched the 4x100 medley relay, Phelps and Co.'s final race. His coaches said it was fitting he won his final gold medal on a team event. They were right. Besides, he had three friends to celebrate with after Jason Lezak touched the wall first and the eighth gold was no longer just a story (fairy tale) he talked about. After Lezak's performances in these relays, I'm dying to know what Phelps plans to buy him as a thank-you present. Hey, he's got that $1 million Speedo bonus to burn.

One of the coolest things about the morning was how many athletes turned out to watch Phelps break Spitz's record. The entire U.S. swim team was there, as well as the Australian team and athletes from Brazil, Uganda, Spain, Canada ...

But the loudest cheering section of all was the Speedo section. At the center of the group was a few of the folks who developed "the suit" and Kobe, LeBron and Jason Kidd. The U.S. basketball team cancelled practice so those guys could attend the event. It was cool to see them snapping shots and hooting and hollering for a fellow athelte. Check out my mag.com piece for more details.

This evening, I met up with the U.S. BMX team and watched some gymnastics with them. It's cool to see Kyle, Donny, Mike and Jill finally here in Beijing. They're all super excited, but totally overwhelmed. Right now, few people recognize them. A lot of folks, athletes included, don't even know BMX was added to the Olympics. But I think after they start competing on Wednesday, that all will change.

As for gymnastics, not to harp on the new scoring system, but it is broken, and something must be done to fix it. Tonight, three athletes medaled on vault who fell (bronze), had split legs and sloppy landings (silver) and stepped out of bounds (gold). It was a shame. I spoke with the queen of the Perfect 10, Nadia Comaneci and her husband Bart Connor to find out what they think about this new system. In a word: It blows.

I finally made it out to the softball stadium today. Of course, I didn't get to watch much of a nail-biter (Team USA beat China 9-0 in four innings), but I at least had the chance to see our superstar team in action. The field was beautiful. I wanted to run down on the field, steal a jersey and take an at bat from Cat! Unfortunately, that's not allowed. I checked our Olympic Media Code of Behavior shortly after having the thought. Also not allowed: lining up in start blocks of any sort, doing flips on the gymnastics floor and half-Gainers off the five-meter springboard. These rules are making my Olympics much less exciting than I'd planned out in my mind.

I also talked to our players about life after the Olymipcs, since their sport has been cut from the 2012 lineup. (Let's hope it's reinstated in 2016.) And, like I suspected, they have a plan for being part of the 2012 Games. Team Handball!

This morning, it finally happened. It was fairly quick (lasted about two hours) and not nearly as bad as many of my friends have experienced it. I got a touch of food poisoning. I'm not sure what I ate, because everything at dinner last night was great. My friends Amy and Gretchen and I had dinner at a restaurant on Ho Hai lake and then met a group of friends for drinks at the London 2012 house. All in all, a great evening. Not such a great morning.

THE LADIES AT LONDON HOUSE ...

By the afternoon, I was feeling much better. Just in time for a bike tour. Lisa is writing for the NY Post while she's here, covering parties, sponsor houses and the general scene around the city, and did a travel piece on Beijing that mentioned the Ritz Carlton's stay-and-bike packages. Through her contacts, she arranged for a group of us to test out their one-hour bike tour through a hutong (shanty town), the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Our guides were RC General Manager Derek Flint, Deputy General Manager Ruby Wang and Director of Sales and Marketing Jennifer Yong. Seriously. And they were both fantastic tour guides and gracious hosts. We even had afternoon tea after our ride. What a fun afternoon.

OUR BIKE GANG ...

Afterwards, Lindsay and I headed back to the Olympic Green. I attended a charity auction for the Right to Play organization and chatted with several athletes who work at ambassadors for the program. I always arrive at auctions thinking there is a chance I will be able to bid on something. But once the bidding opened and the first item, a USA basketball jersey signed by every member of the team, went for $15,000+, I realized I was going to have to sit back and observe.

This morning, I took the bus to the Laoshan BMX track to see the debut of BMX at the Olympics. Instead of rehashing the details, I'll let you read the piece I did for ESPN.com and the one I wrote for ESPNTHEMAG.com and if you still don't have your fill of BMX coverage, check out my BMXers in Beijing piece for EXPN.com.

Overall, the races were great. Today was a scorcher, and the smog unfortunately returned , clouding visibility on the Green once again. But that didn't stop the Games from taking place as planned (only three days to go!). After BMX, I visited the Forbidden City with USA weightlifter Cheryl Hayworth and track cyclist Jennie Reed for a MAG.com piece (check back for this one).

THIS GUY HEARTS BMX. HE MISSED NOTHING ...

This evening, I headed back out to the Bird's Nest to watch the 200-meter finals, the semis of the 110 hurdles and the finals of the women's 400-meter hurdles. Man, what can I say about Usain Bolt that hasn't already been said? I watched again from the front row, and this time stood next to Olivia Grange, Jamaica's minister of sport. She spent nearly an hour waiting around to congratulate Bolt in person after his 100-meter win, and she wasn't about to do that again. So she walked to the first row of the stadium and waited for him to come by on his victory lap. Since I was standing right next to them, I snapped some great shots and interviewed Grange for a MAG.com piece on the Happiest Woman in Beijing.

MY FAVORITE SHOT. SHE DIDN'T WANT TO LET GO ...

Her runners have won seven medals, four of them gold. The Jamaican women swept the 100 meters, Bolt set two world records and captured the sprint double and shortly after the 200, Melanie Walker won the 400 hurdles. Not a bad week.

After a restful three hours of sleep, I dashed through the worst rain storm we've had yet and caught the 7:30 a.m. bus to the media center. Once we arrived, I hopped a second bus to the BMX venue and had just found a seat when a volunteer came onto the bus and informed us the BMX finals had been posponed until tomorrow (Friday) morning. Free day! (Well, until softball finals at 5:30 and women's soccer finals at 9 p.m. That is, if it doesn't stop raining.

So after catching up on some work, Lindsay, Jim and I headed to the Silk Market to do a bit of bargaining and bartering (I have pins, and I will not go one Yuan higher!) and eat lunch. After lunch, we headed to the softball field (after walking 1.5 miles in flipflops—as we do many times each day—and scamming our way into a cab with a Mandarin-speaking Brit who looked a lot like a younger Keifer Sutherland) for the gold-medal game against Japan.

The U.S. had already beaten Japan twice in the tournament, but because of the screwy eight-team bracket system used in the Olympics, they had to beat them a third time for the gold. Japan had played 21 innings the day before, including a 4-1 11-inning loss to the U.S., so most people assumed they'd be exhausted. Not to mention, the U.S. team is just plain better.

But not on August 21. In a shocking upset, the Japanese softball team defeated the U.S. 3-1. This is not how it was supposed to end.

Lindsay and I watched from the stands and took the emotional roller coaster ride right along with the U.S. fans, friends and family who'd traveled to Beijing to see their team win one more gold.

After the game, outfielder Jessica Mendoza led the three teams in a ceremony meant to unite softball players around the world and send a message to the IOC. I spoke with her after the game in an exclusive interview that you can check out here. Hopefully Jessica's efforts will help bring back softball. If nothing else, they showed true sport above self.

This morning, the rain finally stopped. So again, after about three hours of sleep, I headed to the Laoshan BMX track for the finals of the inaugural Olympic BMX race. I think it was a glowing success, and at least for now, it is here to stay.

The U.S. did fantastic, as expected. Mike Day took silver, Donny Robinson took bronze, JIll Kintner took bronze and Kyle Bennett somehow managed to race all three of his semifinal heats with a separated shoulder, and just barely missed qualifying for the main. After the race, however, the sport showed how green it is in the press conference. Not only did a rep from the ABA (American Bicycle Association) stand up, take the mic, and ask a self-serving question in both the men's and women's conferences ("So, how did you all get involved in BMX, how can other kids in America, and is there a website parents can go to?"), Kintner's brother asked the final question in the men's conference. So weird. If anyone in the conference had known who her brother was, I'm pretty sure they would have been offended. But they were too busy trying to figure out how to write stories about a sport they'd never seen before.

After BMX, I went back to the press center, took a nap, had some nuggets, went back to the press center, had some more nuggets (half-kidding ... for those of you who get this) and wrote a story. Then I did something I haven't had the opportunity to do since arriving: take a shower before dinner. Lindsay, Jim and I showered, put on nice clothes and went to Block 8, a popular club in Beijing owned by the Norwegian mafia, for an Oakley party. The highlights ...
* Watching all the boys bend down to hit on Shawn Johnson. (Jim wasn't leaving until he took a photo with her, which he did.)
* When Lolo Jones got up on the bar and started dancing. Jones showed up with an entourage of about 50 folks, walked up to a friend from Oakley and said, "I'm about to get this party started."
* They had an air-hockey table, which I couldn't resist. Then I accidentally broke one of the paddles. I felt terrible ... until Lindsay broke one of the little men off of the foozball table.
*Although he looks like a very nice boy, we couldn't quite figure out why Amanda Beard dumped Carl Edwards for the new guy. He does backflips.
* Watching Julia Mancuso use Jill Kintner's bronze medal to work the guy and the door and get us all into a CNBC wrap party upstairs.
* I finally got to check out a real Beijing sports bar (All-Star Bar) and club (Bling) and found out they are way too much like a) cheesy American establishments b) Cancun.

In New York, out-of-towners find it funny/annoying/narcissistic that we refer to New York as "The City." As in, "I live in The City," or, "I'm going to The City tonight."

Well, folks, here you can tell your hotel to book you a trip to "The Wall," and a few hours later, you are on your way. Which is what Lindsay, Jim, Luke and I did this morning. The media center has a built-in travel agency, so Jim set up a trip for today. At 9 a.m., Mr. Ge picked us up in a silver van and drove us an hour to the Mutyanu section of the wall. By 3 p.m., we were back in our hotel rooms. In between, we walked roughly 2 miles and the equivalent of walking the stairs of the Washington Monument 10-15 times. They really should call this thing The Steps. The Great Wall of Steps. Large Steps. Tiny steps. Steep Steps. If there is a type of step, they built it into The Wall.

It was fun seeing all the athletes dragging themselves up and down The Great Wall. What a way to spend your off-day from competition. "Hey guys, now that we're done, wanna run stadiums at the Great Wall?" (I did that, actually. I couldn't resist. I also had to take a photo doing a handstand on The Wall, yoga on The Wall and meditating in the lotus position on The Wall.) But that's nothing compared to what Kevin Michael Connolly did Saturday afternoon. Although I am exhausted, it was such an amazing experience. As has this entire trip.

I can't believe we are one day from closing ceremonies and the end of the Olympics. But not my trip. Monday, I'm off to Shanghai!

Last night was the last night of Club Bud, our favorite hangout here in Beijing. Today is the last day of the Olympics. Writing both of these sentences makes me a bit sad. This has been quite an experience, to say the least. And a large part of me is sad it is ending. A small part of me can't wait to get home and have a slice of NYC pizza.

Today, I attended my final event, the men's indoor volleyball gold-medal match. It was perhaps the most emotional sporting event I've watched in person. Two weeks ago, U.S. coach Hugh McCutcheon's father- and mother-in-law were stabbed in a random act of violence here in Beijing. Todd Bachman was killed; his wife, Barbara was seriously injured. Coach McCutcheon left the team to be with his family, but returned after the third game. When he did, his team members told him they would win one for him. Few people believed that was possible. The U.S. hadn't won gold since 1988. The team they faced in the finals, Brazil, has dominated the sport for a decade. But the U.S. team went undefeated and today, finished their improbably gold-medal run.

Afterward, the players wrapped themselves in American flags, hugged, celebrated and cried. It was hard for anyone in that stadium not to get caught up in the emotion. In the mix zone, members of the media wiped away tears as they asked questions and listened to the players' heartfelt responses. It was a perfect end to these Olympic Games. And it reminded everyone, including me, why we all love sports.

COACH MCCUTCHEON AND LLOY BALL EMBRACING AFTER THEIR WIN ...

THE MEDAL CEREMONY ...

Well, folks, it's been fun. Thanks for following along on my Olympic journey. Today, I'm flying to Shanghai for a week of sightseeing and relaxing (and vacationing!) with my friend Lindsay. I am taking off my reporter's hat and replacing it with the flowered-shirt and around-the-neck camera of a visiting tourist. I am also turning off my cell phone, Blackberry and computer for the next seven days, so I will not be updating this site/blog/journal until I return home to the States.

Until then ... nin man zo!