Thank God For The Internet

I have a confession to make. I never saw the 4x100 Freestyle Relay in Beijing. That is to say I didn't see the live broadcast. I was stuck on a runway in Massachusetts and didn't find out what happened until the next morning.

So I was disappointed when I found out that I would be missing another. Scheduled to work today during the first finals session in Rome, I spent the first half of my shift more-or-less glued to the Windows 98 PC that doubles as our register. Thanks to the tweets of swimnetwork.com and the lovely ladies of reezy_daily, I had up-to-the-minute news of what was going on. As more time went by and more records fell (some of them in semifinals!), I started getting more and more anxious. Could we do it? Could we hold off the French again against staggering odds? I knew it would take a miracle, but I had faith in our team.

And then, the weirdest thing happened. Just before the race was about to start and I was beginning to completely freak out with excitement/nervousness, something caught my eye. A hat, of all things. Someone had just sat down at a table in front of my window wearing the exact same Baltimore Orioles cap that I had seen Phelps wear on deck in Indy. Call me crazy, but I think it might have been a sign, the universe telling me that everything was going to be just fine.

As I refreshed the page every 5 seconds, praying that no one would come in for the next few minutes, it felt like I was really watching the race. (At this point, I need to say that it's really surreal "watching" a swimming race when you're supposed to be working. I was cheering, but it was this kind of bizarre squeak.) When I saw that we had won, I thought I was dreaming. I had a feeling deep down in my gut that this might happen (perhaps as a result of the aforementioned cap), but the fact that the USA came out on top the second time when all the data was stacked against us was absolutely unbelievable. 

If you're an American in my fandom, you probably know how it felt. If not, well, I'm not the best at accurately describing my emotions, but I'll try to explain. It felt amazing, that perfect mixture of astonishment, pride, and pure joy. 

Some people criticize this age of instant information and gratification, but I'm warming up to some aspects of it. Yes, twittering during work might have temporarily destroyed my productivity (and my sanity), but the result was worth it. I may have not seen Team USA defend their title as it was happening, but I definitely experienced it.

Congratulations, boys!

Michael Phelps, Nathan "Little Lezak" Adrian, Ryan Lochte, and Matt Grevers: 

4x100 Freestyle World Champions!