I’m so glad the Olympics are this summer. We sure need something to bring this country together and there’s nothing like beating someone or some nation, to unite these 50 states of ours.

I’ve been busy watching the Olympics trials. First was the diving. Cynthia Potter, a member of 3 Olympic teams, is one of the commentators. She patiently explains why each dive is great or not so great. Outside of the obvious belly flops or huge splashes into the pool, I’ve really no eye for what’s a good dive. I’m more fascinated with the rituals they all seem to have – throwing the towel down from the platform at baseball pitcher-like speed, getting into the hot tub immediately following the dive etc. Let’s talk about that, Cynthia.

As a kid, our family did not belong to the neighborhood pool like normal families. My dad wanted to belong to a pool where he could swim laps outside of the 15-minute adult time most summer pools offer so he found Starlit, a pool 25 minutes away, which was basically all adult swim time. Don’t get me wrong, my sister and I had fun there and because it was an indoor pool, we could go year around. Olympic hopefuls trained there. It was that kind of pool.

There was a high dive. And one Saturday I convinced my dad to let me dive off of it. I should have just jumped off but no, I decided to dive and came home with two black eyes. As Cynthia Potter would say, it was not executed well. And there was no hot tub to recover in.

After the diving trial was gymnastics. Let’s face it, anyone who attempts that stuff should get a 10 but that’s not the way the scoring works. The judges take off for little “bobbles” and extra steps. I’ve no great eye for this sport either and my comments, like my diving interests, wander off the main event. I’m wondering when the leotards became thongs. I’m wondering why the women wear so much makeup. I’m feeling bad for the men with the terrible bruises on their arms to find out they are getting some strange suction cup therapy that causes the marks. These are the things that catch my attention.

One woman had an unfortunate fall on the balance beam, more or less the female equivalent of racking herself and all the commentator could say was “oh, golly.” I had a bit more colorful commentary going at home. Racking yourself is a point deduction, in case you wondered.

Now track and field and swimming are on. These are sports I get. You run or swim the fastest, you win. My dad went to Notre Dame on a partial track scholarship and enjoyed the sport well after his collegiate years. Growing up, we went to many track meets and saw so many of the great runners of the 70’s and 80’s. At one meet, I stood in the bathroom line with Jackie Joyner-Kersee, one of the greatest track and field athletes of all time. Quite a thrill. Seriously.

Nowadays, everyone is a professional athlete. You have to be to afford the training. During the diving trials, a 20-year-old made the team and both he and his family sobbed. It was a reminder of what these games are about, at least in some sports. LeBron James came out and said he wasn’t going to compete because he was too tired from playing basketball professionally. Nothing against him but if you are too tired from your professional playing, maybe you shouldn’t be going to the Olympics in the first place. I miss amateur athletes.  I wish for the days when people competed and moved on and had a life. They didn’t make the Olympics their life.

I’ll be rooting for the home team come August. With the medals our country’s finest athletes are sure to earn, I know we will have a great sense of pride and unity. If only that feeling could last.