If you didn’t spend too much time watching the Olympics on television this past two weeks then the only explanation is that you’re not much of a sports fan .

As far as your faithful servant here is concerned, I think I overdid it. But I enjoyed every minute of it although I’m glad it’s over.

I know sitting in that chair that long is not good for your health especially for someone in his mid seventies like me who is supposed to walk and exercise to stay in decent shape. My health would have been in further jeopardy if my wife had been home during the day and seen how much time I spent in front of the tube. She would have surely found something for me to do.

Watching our American athletes compete the way they did made me proud of them and my country. Both the American women and men did about the best that they could and when it was all over, the USA finished at the top of the list in both gold medals and total medals.

One thing this 2012 Olympics proved is that the Americans are not invincible and can be beaten. There was a time when most of the events in track and field – especially the sprints – were dominated by the Americans. Not anymore as sprinters like Usain Bolt and others have come on the scene. In other words the rest of the world is catching up.

Another example of that is in men’s basketball where the USA had to pull out all the stops to beat an inspired Spanish team for the gold medal even though we had a group of stars from the NBA that was as good as it could be. In the end they proved to be the best in the world. I thoroughly enjoyed the American women win their gold medal in basketball because their games were never in doubt. The world still lags a bit as far as women’s basketball is concerned. And wait until Brittany Griner of Baylor shows up to play for the USA. That should make the women’s team even better.

I was never more proud than when both our women’s sprint and mile relay teams won gold in their respective events. The men may have struggled in track and field but the American women proved they are still the best.

Of course there disappointments and that’s the way it should be. One shocker was in women’s volleyball where the Americans were stunned by Brazil in the gold medal match. The Americans, with Destinee Hooker of Southwest High School leading them in scoring, looked like the favorite all the way until they fell apart in the finals. That was disappointing. So was Marquise Goodwin of the University of Texas who went to the Olympics as one of the favorites in the long jump but failed to qualify for the finals. If he had jumped his career-best of 27-4 he would have won the gold medal.

And then there were the Mexican men who won their first gold medal ever in soccer. According to some of my friends who are from there and love the game, winning the gold medal in soccer in Mexico is like winning the Super Bowl here in the states. It’s big and it calls for celebration. One of my best friends, Jose Ramirez of Jourdanton, who was supposed to work on my wife’s car the day after Mexico won the gold, said he was taking the day off to enjoy the victory. “Nobody in Mexico is working today,” he said. “It’s like a national holiday over there,” he added.

I had no problem with that. Seeing that proud look on his face was enough for me.