Olympics...They Got Me Again!

What is it about the Olympics that alters my habitual life patterns? I am the type that is reading more of the back of my eyelids than the Sports Illustrated magazine in front of me at 9:30 PM. I rival "The Count" on Sesame Street with the number of sheep I have counted by 10:00PM, but for some reason the Olympics revives my energy every night. Never in my 26 years did I dream that men in Speedos, Synchronized Diving and the Uneven Bars would stimulate my brain like taking an Excederin Migraine (with caffiene) and a triple shot of espresso at the same time. Over the past four days my daily routines have been dominated by the Olympic schedule. I have consistently woken up at 6:00 AM to workout, so I don't have to do it after work. When I get home from work, I have already scoured the menus on the internet of local restaurants and made my selection for take out. An order is placed right at 6:15 in order to get my dinner by 6:35, so I can make it back to the house with time to spare for the 7:00 PM coverage. Then there is the Olympic theme song on NBC, followed by Bob Costas' voice that gives me a little tingle throughout my body like I am actually swimming for the Gold that night. NBC always catches you in the beginning with this line, "Welcome to the coverage of tonight's Olympic events. You will be seeing May/Treanor in Beach Volleyball, Women's all-around in Gymnastics, but first let's rush you out to Rowdy Gaines and crew who are at the cube where Michael Phelps is lining up to swim the 200 fly to keep his 8 Gold medal hopes alive." Then NBC will send you out to "the Cube", and you quickly find out it is the semifinal of the 200 fly. That's where they get me. They have hooked me b/c how I am I going to watch the semifinals and not the finals that are at 11:30 PM? Then there are these time filler stories in between that are narrated by the likes of Morgan Freeman or Tom Brokaw. These stories are exactly like the VH1 "Behind the Music" series. You have this athlete that broke in on the Olympic scene at the early age of 14 in Sydney and they won a Silver and Bronze, but then they had a battle with performance enhancing drugs, a break up with a lover, and worst of all the contemplation of quitting the sport. The 2004 Athens Olympics were a disaster as they failed to qualify for the finals in any event, and the athlete sinks further into depression. Suddenly, a newly acquired coach from China arrives in 2005 to revive the career of this athlete. Then they go into the revival period and how the new coach changed the workouts and added yoga workouts to get their "Chee" right. Finally, they add the dramatic clips of Sydney then Athens, then the prelims in Beijing. Boom...story done and we are off to the pool. At this point I am so siked about the event, and my wife has tears coming down her face. Again...they Got Me! During 2008 my average bedtime during the Olympics has been 11:30 PM. This is an hour later than my world record average of 10:30 PM. I don't know, I guess I have to attribute it to the same LZR Racer suit that keeps me glued to the tube.

Anyone out there feeling the flame of the Olympics like I am?