Olympics Anonymous

Hello, my name is Mandy, and I’m addicted to the Olympics.

I know from various emails and comments I’ve received, most of you are in the same boat. The productivity of the American worker is certainly meeting an all-time low this week. Last night, even though Mindy and Rachel came over for the weekly Project Runway/Ghost Hunters International fix, I stayed up even later watching the Olympics. Sure, it was men’s gymnastics, which sometimes freaks me out a bit, but I watched anyway.

This morning, I took fandom to an all new level: I found Olympics coverage on USA and watched the US baseball team take on the Netherlands. (We were winning.) And for an interesting turn of events, I actually know someone on the US baseball team.

OK, that’s a lie. I don’t know him, per se. But I am related to him.

OK, that’s an even bigger lie. I’m not related to him. Here’s the story: my cousin Chris married a girl named Tara who has a nephew named Jake Arrieta. He’s a pitcher. I don’t know if he’s actually played in any games so far, but he’s there. An Olympian. From Farmington, Mo.

That’s kind of amazing in and of itself.

Last night, though, I talked to my brother on the phone, and like all my conversations this week, this one turned to the Olympics. “Are you watching?” I asked. “No, not much,” he replied. WHAT?! How did we spend 7-8 months in the same womb and who knows how long in the same household and he doesn’t share this obsession? (We were born early if you were trying to do the math. And we’re twins, if you were unaware of that fact.) Seriously, I felt like I was talking to a complete stranger.  He didn’t even know exactly how many medals Michael Phelps had won.

And he calls himself an American.

🙂