One of my favorite things about the Olympics....

and they don't do it nearly enough... are the parent's reactions in the stands.

I'm Italian.. we tend to get overly emotional... lots of body language, hand waving, contorted facial expressions... and I haven't seen any olympic athlete parent, not ever, come anywhere NEAR what my family would be like were one of our family members competing... but some of them have still been GREAT.

You've seen it, I'm sure.. the 'gymnast parents' mimicking every move of their daughter's routine in gymnastics while in their seats... it's simply TV at it's very best.

Now my family: If one of our family members was to medal I can guarantee you that both my daughters would pass out... no question about it... they would be hysterical for a moment, a hysteria like you've never seen, but then WHOMP... they'd go down. I would be a balling cry baby, as would my wife. We probably wouldn't make good TV because the audience reaction would be, "Oh my, that was over the top".