Well, Sochi has kicked things off and the Olympic traditions continue with opening, creative ceremonies.

With wealth, with power, with reputation, and with tradition comes the drive to artistically express the next generation of athletic excellence. I'm having flashbacks to Shane Koyczan in the Canadian 2010 Olympics, so Russia didn't quite hit the mark, but still, the artistic attempt was amusing.

Alice, of Kentucky fame, always remarked on how humored she was by international artistry to open up worldwide games and she laughed herself into a tizzy with trying to figure out the meaning of left brained creators looking for ways to symbolically tell a story in Broadway blitz. The pomp and circumstance, she felt, could be a poor drag show of impish ridiculousness.

Still, I like to watch opening ceremonies for the ways they work to dazzle. This year, the women walking out teams cracked me up most. In their white dresses and boots, the hats are what cracked me up. Were they trying to be Ms. Universe? Prostitutes rejected from the set of the first Star Wars? NYC Rockettes? Funny, the way they were dressed, but this is the beauty of the ceremony. It needn't make sense (even when the fifth ring failed to appear in the first glitter to impress...4 out of 5 is sort of close, no?).

It's about the athletes anyway, and the histories of world relations that are told as countries come together to compete. This is why I love it. The debut of fireworks, lights, and techno-tronics are part of it, but in the end what captures my attention is the excellence of sportsmanship that builds the story of competition and human relations. With or without the hype grandiosity, the sport is what appeals to me most.

And the US opening ceremony outfits? Okay...we now have a tacky Christmas sweater tradition...how American can we make our winter attire? Hilarious.