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Salt Lake City, Utah
When Brian Boitano traveled in time to the year 3010, he fought the evil robot king and saved the human race again
Far and away the best picture I've ever taken of fireworks, this is the newly lit torch at Rice-Eccles Stadium close enough to downtown Salt Lake City to get a good view of all the F-16s. My seat was a good one (an insanely expensive cheap seat) yet it had the same flaw as all the other seats in the stadium- it was outside. Despite multiple layers, various polar fleece products and Canadian Sorel boots tested to 40 degrees below zero I was cold- very, very cold. I started to feel it about halfway through the parade of athletes. Cold by France, really cold by the US, even colder two hours later when they actually lit the torch. Still my rapid loss of body heat did not take (too much) away from the spectacle, it was better than I thought it could possibly be.
The Opening Ceremonies were littered with a wide range of odd celebrities, from warm-up NBC anchors to notorious short guy Sting and Yo-Yo Ma (who yet again failed to perform any yo-yo tricks, when will I ever learn?) Sure there were painfully quiet moments involving solemn flags and presidents, but then there were also performances by marginal entertainers like the Dixie Chicks, LeAnn Rimes and R. Kelly as well as an amiable cast of thousands, most wearing elaborate costumes that, in all honesty, probably have little or no resale value.
The ceremonies themselves were amazing in person. I know I can be easily impressed at times, but I really felt it worth any potential hypothermia risk.
Unless you believe in certain hardcore conspiracy theories, this is the first time Steven Spielberg, John Glenn, Lech Walesa and Desmond Tutu have been together at the same time wearing the same color jacket.
I arrived at the stadium as early as recommended, and watched the sun (and temperature) disappear behind the ceremony's intended mix of gravity and glamour. I watched the athletes enter the stadium for about an hour, but watching their enthusiasm made the hour not nearly as slow as expected. Certain teams (France, Italy, Germany) were just goofy, stopping to wave madly or dance. \After they were seated, the French team in particular remained fun, they enthusiastically started a stadium wave that was probably the first stadium wave I enjoyed since the 1980s.
A who's who of American Olympians showed up in unlikely pairs, circling the stadium, torch in hand until finally Mike Eruzione and members of the 1980 US Gold Medal Hockey Team appeared and sent the flame slowly up the torch until it lit up the night sky, possibly making the athletes right underneath it just a little warmer than the rest of us.
The single coolest part of the ceremony, the flaming olympic rings, as set by a skater who was somewhat on fire himself.
A giant white buffalo, once a proud performer at the opening ceremony, was relegated to making daily parade appearances at Salt Lake Olympic Square. The square itself was either commercial or transcendent, although occasionally somehow it managed to be both.
