It's Almost Time for the Olympics, Y'all!

 "The object of the game is to eliminate the opposing players. Once all the players on a team are eliminated, the opposing team wins!"

John Cheng/USA Gymnastics

You may not know this about me, but I am a HUGE gymnastics fan. And by that, I don't mean that every four years I get excited because one time Mary Lou Retton got a gold medal and Nadia got a perfect ten. I mean, I am a FAN. Gymnastics is to me what football or basketball are to many people. I follow it very closely, year-round. I know who the players are and what they bring to the (vault) table. I know that Kerri Strug did not, in fact, win the gold medal for the Americans in Atlanta with her stOOpid ankle.

I'm a fan. Not an expert, to be sure. But a real, diehard fan.

And this means that tonight, I'll be cuddled up with at least one of my children and either a glass of wine or a cup of tea to watch night one of the women's National Championships. Not live, because I am singing the National Anthem at the Relay for Life during that time, but on replay as soon as I get home. And on the last full night of our vacation and the first evening home, I'll be doing the same for Olympic Trials, except that will be live or there will be ho-smacking.

I can't express to you the excitement of an Olympic year to a gymnastics fan. Our lives play out in quadrenniums. We watch our World Championships and our National Championships and the few other competitions that receive media coverage during that time. We take guesses and analyze odds to figure out who has the best shot at making any given team. We lament the poor decisions of the governing bodies and celebrate when the right people actually win.

But the Olympics, every leap year, are always looming. The Olympics are the Big Show, the Graduation, the Broadway stage. They're what we wait for.

And they're almost here!

Do you watch the Olympics or keep up with any Olympic sports?