Olympic Opening - The Parade of Nations always makes me tear up.

[3catwoman3]

Especially watching the smaller delegations with only 2-3 participants. It must be overwhelming.

I especially love seeing the exotic and exquisite native garb that so many countries have. I wish the US had something equally impressive.

The opening ceremony choreography was complex and beautiful. I didn't know there was a tradition of tap dancing in Japan.

It was also fun for me to see the placards leading each delegation with the country names spelled out in the katakana symbols. I lived in Japan for 2 years back in the late 70s, when I was in the Air Force, and used to know most of 51 (IIRC) symbols used to spell foreign words phonetically. I can still recognize a few.

[underpants]

1. Love the Olympics

A pro tennis player said he wasn’t going. No crowds so it wasn’t worth it. I’d have LOVED to gone even if I had no chance at some obscure sport. .

[hlthe2b]

2. The US outfits are not going to change from the dorky 'PREPPIE" look until someone other than

Ralph Lauren designs them. He's had his time with them. I hope next time we see someone with a bit more imagination.

Link to tweet

[3catwoman3]

3. The US uniforms seldom fail...

...to disappoint, unfortunately. Generally quite non-descript and same-old same-old - hence my above expressed wish that we had some sort of spectacular native costume.

[Retrograde]

6. Do this year's costumes still have a Ralph Lauren logo

that's bigger than any reference to the US? And how much does he "contribute" to the USOC to keep that gig?

A simple khakis + polo shirt + blazer in red, white, and blue should be suffiicient - it's not like Ralph Lauren invented any of these.

[Takket]

4. omg the drones and now imagine... this is breathtaking

[Takket]

5. um... did they forget South America???

[Brother Buzz]

7. Brendan Irvine and Kellie Harrington carried the Irish flag at opening ceremony

I'm guessing they could not trust returning silver medalist rower, Paul 'Podium Pants' O'Donovan to have the honors for fear he would go off script in a hilarious fashion.

On edit, Paul didn't make the cut, but Gary's totally there.

[Greybnk48]

8. We loved it too! It was beautiful.

I really look forward to the events starting tomorrow!

[Retrograde]

9. I watch with the sound off

mainly to award the coveted Retrograde Worst Team Uniform award - right now it's a toss-up between Luxembourg and Latvia, with Belgium coming in a distant 3rd. The African nations can usually be counted on to wear something spectacular, especially when it comes to headresses, but for the most part the uniforms were meh, as if the teams didn't know whether the Olympics would go on so they didn't want to invest too much in clothing.

BTW, Jordan's high on the list for best. It would probably help if I actually kept track of them, but hey, it's my contest, my rules.