Considering that official competition in the Athens Olympics began on Wednesday the 11th, the logical time to have held the opening ceremony was on the Tuesday, and not leave it till the Friday night.

If Jesus could be born in 4BC then I guess the Olympics can start two days before the uttering of the phrase "Let the games begin".

Let's get something clear from the outset - opening ceremonies are a wank. And the Athens opening ceremony was a classic (no pun intended) case. It was an incredible achievement and logistic tour de force... but what does this have to do with sport?

I'll leave my comments, having viewed the replay on channel 7 during the day today, to just a few:

Thursday, September 28, 2000, Dianne and I were sitting in the stands at Stadium Australia watching the second morning of the decathlon. Come the discus throw, and there was one guy who slammed both of his first two throws straight into the cage. His third throw was judged to be legal only after a protest. He went on to win the gold medal. My hero of Sydney 2000 is back for Athens 2004. Estonia's first-ever male gold medallist, he is the one and only Erki Nool.

It's Athens 2004 time. I've found it really hard to get enthusiastic about these Olympics. I think that four years is too frequent a cycle, and the experience locally of Sydney 2000 is personally a bit hard to top. But it's hard to take the Olympic Spirit seriously any more.