Oh my. . .every audience member has one! Lets hear it for SLC!!!
An awsome spectacular. Hats off to SLC!!
I think Brian should start taking and filling orders for us Olympic-city impaired/displaced people!!
Let’s have a review of these little creatures…posthaste!
What a show…loved that Irish team…they must really like the U.S. They were the only team I saw that each were carrying Irish and American flags.
SLC Rules!!!
OK, I missed the opening ceremonies (I don’t have a TV). Fill me in so I can at least enjoy it in my imagination. 
Tom
They turned Rice-Eccles stadium (the Univ. of Utah stadium) into a giant ice arena and had a big ice theme going with a lost child looking for the “fire within.” They also had the five Native American Utah Nations represented with Native American flute playing, and had a lot of audience participation with each section of the audience playing a certain note one at a time and then all together to create a harmony. After that was a re-enactment of pioneer journeys, complete with a hoedown and clogging routines (my husband’s little 12 year old cousin was in that part). Then skaters came in holding on poles giant puppets of north american wildlife–it looked so real! I don’t know how they managed to move those things, let alone hold them up and not trip on each other!
Those were some of the highlights…also Sting, Dixie Chicks, LeeAnn Rimes, and President Bush.
Pretty great show…I was proud to live here!
I sat glued to the TV and while I thought the “Fire Within” thing was a bit hokey and overproduced, in the main it was fantastic.
One thing that really surprised me was the first singer. I no longer follow popular music, but I was really surprised at the quality of his voice. I think he goes by “R. Kelly” or something like that.
I have high hopes for this Olympics. There were so many teams from countries you’ve barely heard of. Perhaps we can meet in peaceful assembly - at least for two weeks.
ah crap.. I missed it 
Actually, I was up at 4 am with a nasty case of insomnia, and caught the Native American drum dance, and the blessing from the Chiefs of the five Nations, though It was awe-inspiring (particularly that Native American flute 
)
G’bless an’ B’safe! 
~Daniel
I was busy working on the household billing and wasn’t paying attention to the ceremony. The fire within thing seemed to be a bit hokey to me too. But somewhere in there they started to play a song that grabbed me. Took a moment to place it. “Hard Times Come Again No More” Written by Stepen Foster. I’m not sure who sang it at the ceremony but if you want to hear an excellent rendition check out the cd “Appalachian Journey” by Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mark O’Connor. James Taylor makes a special appearance lending vocals and guitar.
Mary
For me the most ohmygod was the carrying in of the Olympic flag. OH MY GOD, how did they get so much incredible humanity packed into those people!
The flag is borne in by eight people, 5 of them depicting five geographical areas, and three depicting Sports, Culture and (drat I can’t remember).
For the Americas: John Glenn, for Africa: Desmond Tutu, for Europe: Lech Walesa, for Culture: Steven Spielberg, for Sports: Jean-Claude Keilly. I confess I don’t know the Oceana woman who (I believe) was a native Australian who won a gold in Sydney, or Asia, who was an athlete also, or the eighth person.
As far as the animal puppets, I thought they were spectacular. One of my great memories of the Barcelona Olympic opening ceremony was also of the incredible puppetry there. I noticed, at least with the bison, that there were skaters moving a platform, and other puppeteers on the platform making the animals come alive.
There was a fly-over of a golden eagle (real, not puppet!), some magnificent choreography for the man who skated as The Fire, and great fireworks too!
Personally, I would love to have a record of all the opening/closing ceremonies in my lifetime. I don’t remember much of any actual game or competition, but I LOVE opening ceremonies!