My family has always been an Olympics family. When it's on, everything else on television becomes irrelevant. Every four years, we take the time to enjoy the two-week celebration of international sport (not involving ice or snow) and the human spirit. Swimming, track and field, gymnastics and many other sports that rarely receive mainstream media attention get a brief second in the spotlight and we take notice.

I'm an unabashed idealist when it comes to the Summer Games. I grew up that way. My folks, sister and I would sit down every evening and watch the continuous and commercial-loaded coverage for hours. This weekend, for the first two full days of competition in Athens, we continued the tradition of rooting on the athletes in various sports, from various countries.

There is my family's natural U.S. bias, of course. This is followed closely by its Australian and Canadian bias. They arbitrarily decided years ago that these two countries were cool. That's logically followed by the hey-they-have-a-cool-name bias. So, when Ian Thorpe (an Australian), Pieter van den Hoogenband (a cool-named Dutchman) and Michael Phelps (an American) compete in the 200-meter free tonight, there won't be a problem cheering for any of them.

• Phelps demolishing the field by body lengths in the 400-meter individual medley and Erik Vendt slipping in for the silver.
• Both American relay teams losing in the 4×100-meter free. The women to Australia. The men to South Africa.
• The Dream Team losing to Puerto Rico. I got a good laugh out of that.
• China smacking the U.S. in women's volleyball and thinking Logan Tom looked short when she's actually 6'1".
• The hype over Michael Phelps (who obviously has his own site).
• The Thorpedo swimming to his fourth gold medal in the 400-meter free. Not to be outdone, he has his own site, too.
• Cringing every time Tim Daggett and Elfi Schlegel (NBC commentators) jinxed Team USA during the qualifying rounds of gymnastics.
• The 24-year-old Portuguese cyclist, Sergio Paulinho, who surprised everyone and took silver in the men's road race.
• The over-hype of Phelps.
• The crazy synchrony of Chinese divers in synchronized diving.
• Brendan Hansen losing to Kosuke Kitajima by .16 seconds in the 100-meter breaststroke and Kitajima's alleged and illegal dolphin kick.

If I can think of anything else, I'll add it later. The day has begun and tonight will bring a whole new set of heroes, underdogs and memorable moments.