Recently in Five Rings Musing Category

This originally appeared in the print versions of The Sun and the Daily Bulletin. For those of you who don't read those newspapers, I'm pulling it over here.
I finally asked one of the locals, Enrico Lessona, to explain the varieties of cops on patrol here at the Turin Games.[EP
They seem to be everywhere, often handsome young guys, usually talking to each other, and always wearing elaborate, dashing, almost silly uniforms topped by a snappy hat. (Traffic cops in Rome have plumes.).[EP
The police lineup:

It's the athletes' mantra of the Turin Games.

"It's the journey, not the destination."

Or its philosophical cousin:

"It's the process."

Are all these kids going to the same sports psychologist? If so, maybe they oughta stop.

Bryant Gumbel, Mr. Crabby, went off on the Winter Olympics the other day. Said they were a fraud because they have no black athletes.

Said he never watches them. etc.

Is he right? Does no African Americans mean no legitimacy?

Contrary to what I wrote earlier this week, Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis WERE scheduled to compete again. In the 10,000-meter race Friday, the final on the men's schedule.

Thursday, however, Davis withdrew from the race, and will be replaced by teammate Charles Leveille.

What's the deal?

That's what Yogi Berra used to say, right? No, it doesn't make much literal sense, but we know exactly what he meant.

It seems to have gotten late, early, here at the Turin Olympics. It feels like it's all but over, and we've got all weekend ahead of us.

Why should that be so?

Those of you older than 30 probably remember when the Soviet Union was the Evil Empire, the perennial rival to the freedom-loving West --and our bitter Olympics rival.

Finishing ahead of The Reds at the Olympics was a high priority for the U.S. team, and lots of us kept a close watch on the medals standings.

Much has changed since 1991, when the Soviet regime collapsed, and now the Russians seem like almost regular guys.

I carry around a 1971 silver dollar. The giant coin with Eisenhower on it. Always. Right-front pocket. For luck, I guess. As a talisman.

Anyway, you might be surprised at how often it elicits comments from foreigners, and this Olympics has been no exception.

Many of you have been to Europe. You know they do things differently here.

The U.S. is, still, mostly a Eurocentric culture, but some of the basic activities of life are markedly different, here in the Old World.

Hence, here is a list of 10 things Euros do better than we do. And 10 things we do better than Euros.

Kinda hard to get your mind around this concept: A real, thriving, interesting (even) SPEEDSKATE rivalry.

Talking about Shani Davis vs. Chad Hedrick, of course. The cobra and mongoose of the U.S. team. I wrote about this for the Wednesday morning papers, but I've been mulling it some more.

This is NBC's e-mail to journalists about what to look for in their Sunday coverage package.

And this is gonna beat Desperate Housewives?

The elder daughter posed an interesting question, via e-mail.

"If the American team had a Prom King and a Prom Queen, who would they be?"

I took that to mean someone both attractive AND popular. And I began to think about it ... and as of the middle Saturday of the Turin Games, this is how I would rank the top 10 Prom Kings and Queens.

This "revelation" came to me on the bus ride back to the media village at 3 a.m. last night/this morning ... and I wish I'd written it in the column I did out of the men's free skate.

I didn't make this up. This is the exact wording of a sign on the door to the media sub-center at the figure skating venue, Thursday, at the sequin-bespattered men's free skate competition.

Landon Donovan, pride of Redlands and the U.S. national soccer team, was fired up to be on the 2000 Olympics team in Sydney.

We asked him if he's following the Winter version of the Games, back in his "MTV Cribs" home in Manhattan Beach.

A woman across the way from me, here in the Main Media Center, is eating a salad. Which remains me, my diet here probably doesn't rank as something the surgeon general would consider healthy.

We don't listen to NBC commentators, over here, and it's probably a good thing. But NBC flacks flood our "in" baskets with self-congratulatory e-mails every morning.

At least one of them contains what the PR department considers "bons mot" from their talking heads. These two, below, made me laugh.

Admittedly, he was a little drunk.
``I love to surf,’’ he said.
This is great and not unusual, except this was an Italian and he works in the Alps.
I would give you his name, but it has more letters in it than some Italians menus. Safe to say, he works behind the desk and bar of my hotel. Think he’d like it if I called him ``dude.’’
He has blond thin hair, kind of a scraggily beard. Grins a lot. Very thin. Looks sorta like a 22-year-old surfer.
Turns out he’s 27. That he’s college educated. Said he graduated from the university in Milan. Actually has a masters degree in

This is the 12th edition of the Olympics I've covered. The reporters who come to these events tend to be a clubby little crew (sports writers call them Ring Heads, and not in a loving way). Many of them returning time and again. (Just like me, but I'm not really one of Them.)

Anyway, I might not see the Ring Heads between Olympic cycles. Two years, maybe four. The really sad thing is how rapidly these people are aging! I wonder if they even notice!

Something about Michelle Kwan appealed to fans on a very visceral level. Anything remotely resembling an attack on her has been sure to generate angry e-mail from her more, uh, emotional fans. One journalist I know said "they'll come after you if they don't like an adjective you used." Said another: "These people will drink the Kool-aid."

Anyway, I suggested Kwan pull out of the Olympics the day before she did, and the hardcore responded. See a selection, below. (The items are uncut and unedited.)

With figure skating, it's always something. This sport seems to have drama by the bucketfuls. Maybe because it's so personality-driven.

I don't speak much Italian, but I love listening to it.

Props to Turin volunteer Maura Bovina, who pretty much singlehandedly kept Steve Dilbeck and me from sleeping on the floor here in the Main Media Center on Tuesday night.

The journey over was so hideous, so tedious, I almost forgot the only part that is worthy of repeating. The lightning-strike on the 757 I was on going to Atlanta, leg one of the three-plane journey to Turin.

Traveling to the Winter Olympics often is a serious trek. We're talking small towns, with limited plane service, and then you've got a drive, usually, to get to the city. Nagano (1998) was nightmarish, the plane ride and then the four-hour bus ride. Ditto for Lillehammer (1994). Sarajevo (1984) was a disaster, but that was more of a travel agent trainwreck (getting us only as far as Zagreb, then having us take a train the rest of the way ... a train that was about five hours late).