Summer Olympics kick off

NBC starts its 17 days of coverage with some truly beautiful images of China, the colors pop and the announcer's ponderous voice and slow music lends it a sense of history. It's my favorite sporting event; as a bunch of athletes say it's not the triumph, it's the struggle.

It's a pretty non-jingoistic opening, not all the sound bites are from American athletes. I'm pretty sure with GE as NBC's parent company, we're not going to see the overt and covert racism and China-bashing that's typified a lot of the U.S. media's coverage leading up to the games.

'Previously Recorded' flashes on the screen for a few seconds; and first words go to Jim Lampley, oddly enough, not Bob Costas. After commercials we'll start with Tom Brokaw to tell us how much it all means to the 1.3 billion Chinese.

It's too bad this is all pre-prime time, shortly after 7:30 EST; Brokaw is a pro, and his report really puts things in perspective, saying of the Tibet torch protests: "Their self-image was not shared by many others in the world."

Hmmm, that sounds familiar.

"There are so many Chinas", says Brokaw; "a country racing into the future, confident it can claims its place, on its own terms."

Odd, they've paired Matt Lauer with Bob at the venue--male/female teams almost always work better for these sporting/cultural melds, let's see how it goes.

Bob and Matt's show
His patented voice rings out, emeshing us in a tangle of metaphors as the camera scans the audience behind Costas, busily fanning themselves. Lauer chimes in, calls it a big show--15,000 performers, 11,000 athletes, $300 million production (10 times what Athens spent), all directed by China's famed Zhang Yimou.

Naive Matt wonders how Iran will be greeted as they walk in--well, given that we're in Beijing not Boston and America's foreign policy views are neither universal nor binding nor always right, I think the Chinese will clap for them just as they will for everyone else.

They start talking to athletes, giddy beach volleyball chicks and cool Kobe and LeBron. Wow, the Bird's Nest stadium looks great from above at night.

Hmm, Omega's commercials feature an Asian father and he daughter; that ultimately will be the legacy of these games, a chance for the world to see the Chinese as individuals and hear their stories.

Wow, President Bush is the first U.S. president to ever attend a non-American Olympics. Interesting, Costas says he's here to show respect for China and their accomplishments; maybe, but I think he also just likes to watch sports.

They show Hu Jintao sitting next to Jacque Rogge, and then the Bushes come in; they talk about his dad's close ties to China. Hmm, their seats are just normal ones, not up on the dais like Hu and Rogge. Bush has really lowered America's prestige, in small and large ways.

China awes the world
Ceremonies start as the stadium dims, a dazzling display of light; 2,008 drummers, as lights flash through the drumskin, it's a mesmerizing sight. Absolutely amazing, the crowd roars, everyone's waving lights. Two big blocks of drums, spell out 60 60; then 50 50, etc. then 10 on down; and fireworks go off like crazy for a few seconds, wow. This is a level of spectacle never seen before.

Drummers start chanting and twisting; words of Confucius says Matt. It's really awe-inspiring; like from a movie. A little intimidating says Matt, but the drummers were told to smile more. Yeah, this is old school China; the original shock and awe. Lights go out; it's pretty magnificent as the drumsticks light up.

McDonalds has the first great commercials of the games, The More We Get Together under images of athletes competing and then eating (non-McDonalds food). It's catchy, simple and memorable.

Fireworks from across Beijing lead from Tiananamen to the stadium, making up a footstep a second, 29 in all for each Olympics. Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are all part of tonight, crowd roars as the lit-up Olympic rings rise up from the floor of the stadium, it's magical. I mean, this is a show--technically-inspiring, yet with a cohesive feel to it so it's not just a series of cheap random wows like bad blockbusters.

And now, music; 56 kids, one for each ethnic group in China, a little girl in a red dress singing A Hymn to My Country; man, they are adorable (and all smiling), holding hands. Bush isn't watching, talking to Putin. Stop bombing Georgia, yo, they're our allies.

As Costas says, from the children to the soldiers, they take the flag and goose-step their way forward. Lauer says it's an overt reminder that it's the state that keeps us safe and insures the future.

Now everyone stands for the Chinese national anthem, this is great. Like Obama running for president forces the image of blacks to change, so the world standing for China's anthem and watching its Games marks a turning point in its face to the world.

China, Now and Then
Chinese history, and China today will be the two themes. They should just have a segment on China's inventions. Wow; a giant scroll on the stadium floor, 3 performers dance over it, painting with their feet and bodies as they move. Surrounding it and enhancing it is one of the world's largest LED screens, touch-sensitive.

Joshua Cooper Ramo is the third man in the booth, he's apparently the Chinese expert--former managing editor at Time, now a professor in China. Now the canvas part of the giant scroll floats up, as Costas says, the opening ceremony from Beijing, already seeming unlike any other.

810 'disciples of Confucius' come out, cermony reminds us China invented paper and printing. Wow, the printing block undulate, it's staggering how many cool individual elements there are. 'Massive scope, minute precision' says Bob. The blocks form Chinese words. 'Cinematic blockbuster in real-time' says either Matt or Joshua.

Wow, flowers pop out of the blocks that had been shaped into the Great Wall--and my God, the blocks were controlled by people, they pop out smiling at the end! I had thought it was because it was a tiny bit irregular, but dismissed it as not possible given all the complex shapes, done so quickly. Wow. Yet somehow so appropriate.

Imagine the discipline, to memorize exactly where and when and at what height you had to hold your block for every second of a 10-minute production.

Tang dynasty being celebrated, time when it was all about trade says Joshua as a performer is carried out by hundreds on a silk road. The one and the many, he says; I like him, it's cool to have an expert on hand for an Opening Ceremony that like all things Chinese is all about nuance, symbolism, and message.

My god, thousands come out, with big banners that collectively form boats, Zheng He's journeys. Hard to overstate the magnificence, mix of technology and people. The sea, projected on the membrane that circles the stadium. How is any Olympic opener ever going to top this, for sheer mass spectacle and astonishing visual moments?

Everything bigger here in China, says Joshua. 15,000 performers in all, none of whom repeat.... It's like the first time you visit Tokyo, and feel as if the U.S. is living in a parallel, slightly inferior, time.

Light show is amazing, music is epic, as the performers act out a massive sea voyage. Hmm, wonder if they'll show all the nations they encountered bearing gifts?


Hour Two: Back to the Future
9 of the past 10 centuries China's had the world's largest GDP says Joshua, quoting what Chinese people tell him. Not sure if that's accurate.... Matt says let's take a moment to just appreciate the costumes.

More crazy fireworks as we go to another break, that last segment was short. Hmm, apparently we're skipping some things too for commercials; now up to the 70s. Some Liberace-ish guy at the piano, one of China's biggest stars says Bob. Surrounded by people in green, now undulating like stalks of rice, lit from below by the LED screen.

Wow, just amazing, figures in lit-up suits running across the giant stadium floor, forming spirals, now a giant dove. They make it seem like the wings of the dove are flapping, then take on the shape of the stadium; a giant kite appears (the Chinese invented that too, says Bob), and a little girl flies across, lifted by the kite. The performers are standing on top of each other to make the shape of the stadium.

Somewhere, the North Koreans are bowing their head in defeat, they are no longer the master of mass spectacle. Wonder what Leni Riefenstahl would've made of this?

Another commercial with Chinese people, from GE. Back, tai chi on stage. Performers surrounded by others propping up giant glass screens, onto which images and colors are projected. Waterfalls come down on the giant membrane around the stadium.

Sound of kids, sitting in the middle surrounded by 2008 doing tai chi. Harmony between man and nature is our only hope says Joshua. Stadium rings with their shouts; counterpoised with the voices of the kids as the performers form giant rings around them. Movement in one direction often begins with a very subtle move in the other direction, says Joshua.

Crowd roars, it's pretty amazing as they go through their exercises, forming new and interlacing patterns as they run about at top speed. People working together can do great things; were this an American Olympics, it'd be filled with stars.

Kids are waving, the tai chi performers do too before running off.

Space Age
Three performers, one for each of China's astronauts; Matt talks about their plans to put a man on the moon by 2024. Let Zhang organize it, and they'll make it. Some sortof giant spherical space stationish/beehive thing comes out, wow, it's got people walking along its sides! It turns into a globe; 8 months of training, says Joshua. Now doing cartwheels.

Two singers at the top, Chinese pop star Liu Huan and, oddly, Sarah Brightman, who the Chinese apparently like. The guy's singing in Chinese, You and Me; I assume she'll do English. A blue whale is swimming along in the background along the membrane, as scenes of Olympic competition flow along the globe.

Brightman gets a roar as she starts singing--in Chinese! Wow... how the world has turned, first Hong Kong and now this. Eat your heart out, England.

Performers hold faces of children from all around the world up on cards, they flash on the screen as well. One World, One Dream is the slogan of the games says Bob. Crazy batch of fireworks. Nobody can dispute the quality of this opening ceremony, he says, calling it "stunning, stunning."

Yeah, they were; I think people take away from this that China's world-class, they have a lot of disciplined people, and they know how to put on a show.

Parade of Nations
Out come the Greeks, Athens was a good Olympics but seems a long-lost memory. Left with a lot of debt, says Bob; they're waving Greek and Chinese flags, wearing white suits.

Guinea, it's by the number of strokes in the Chinese character for their name! Interesting. Turkey in white suits; they should get an Olympics at some point. Turkmenistan, who apparently approved the drab olive uniforms--ha, Bush is watching via binoculars.

Yemen, in dark suits. Maldives, in flowing gowns--Bob says a teen boy prevented an assasin from stabbing its president. Malta, in tannish suits. Madagascar, in striped outfits. Malaysia, who called NBC and asked them to explain where it is, in yellow. Mali, in white gowns, their flag bearer has a hug smile, world champ in--taekwondo! Wow.

Malawi, in red tops/black bottoms. Macedonia, in white collarless suits. The athletes walk in along lines of Chinese women in miniskirts who are constantly clapping and jumping up and down. Marshall Islands, with feathery boas; Cayman Islands, who told NBC they didn't want to be cut out.

Bhutan next, they're not skipping any countries during commercials; Ecuador, in yellow tops. Eritrea, in dark black suits. Jamacia, in yellow of course. Hmm, a lot of female flag bearers this time around. Belgium, in military-looking whiteish suits with black accents, red shirts. Vanuatu, in yellow and black. Israel, in bluish striped tops. Costas says Shimon Peres is walking back to his hotel afterwards, so as not to break the Sabbath. Japan... and the crowd's reaction is muted. At least they didn't boo. In dark blue tops/white pants. One of their Olympians also competed in 1964; big delegation.

Next is Chinese Taipei; big, big roar from the crowd--welcome home, comrades! No flag, a special Olympic flag. Central African Republic; then, Hong Kong China, another big welcome, in white tops. Gambia, in awesome blue robes, the smallest country in Africa still has 1.7 million people. Benin, in brown/reddish robes; then Mauritius, all black, polka dot red shirts. Very interesting.

Mauritania, in blue robes, there was a military coup there says earnest Matt. Denmark, in red, and blue shorts. Uganda, in cream robes with black tops. Ukraine, in their blue and yellow outfits, flagbearer is apparently a great swimmer, she looks very happy. Ah, and Sergei Bubka too, an administrator now.

Hour Three
Uruguay, then Ecuador (?), then Brunei was a scratch with no explanation, then Barbados, and Papua New Guinea. Brazil in green, cool uniforms. Hmm, they've never won gold in soccer, as the samba in.

Wow, everyone's walking across the giant painting, stepping on different colors--it's a really nice and thoughful touch. Paraguay, only country with a flag that's different on the front and back, uniforms are the same--light blue tops, tan shorts. Bahrain, with women in full red cover, guys in red vests/white robes. Bahamas, in aquamarinish tops and white shorts, naturally. Panama, white panama shirts. Pakistan, dark sportcoats. Matt chimes in with the serious latest political development report.

Ah, Palestine, a small delegation, in white/black shirts and black pants. 204 nations in all, says bob. Cuba, in uniform tannish/greenish outfits, nice applause from the crowd; a big delegation.

Ah, the first political ad, McCain hitting Obama as the biggest celebrity in the world--odd, the announcer's voice is a scary female. Very jarring, in the midst of all this pagentry, to suddenly have an attack ad--all the commercials are upbeat, the ceremony too; this is a bad move by McCain, the Obama ads are all positive, theirs reads like bad manners at best, scare-mongering at worst. Olympics are all about finding the breakout celebrities, just a weird decision by McCain.

Burkina Faso, Burundi, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Qatar, Rwanda. Luxembourg, Chad. Now Belarus, in red. Joshua explains the order again, says it's a bit nonsensical to some of you at home--well, actually no, it's China's Olympics, they're not going to follow the English alphabet!

India; 286 medals for China to 3 for India, who bring just 55 athletes, in white. Bush looks board, checking out his watch aka his father, all sprawled out in his chair. Indonesia, in black with shiny gold bottoms, largest population of overseas Chinese.

Lithuania in green tops, white shorts. Niger, with 1 athlete, who's carrying the flag. Nigeria, in white, dance into the stadium; hopefully they'll get an Olympics at some point in time. Nicaragua, in black and blue. Nepal, in red and white as Matt and Bob talk about a Nicaraguan boxer. Ghana, in kente cloth robes. Next, the Canadians, Vancouver's got the next games; all in white and red. They're now paying athletes for medals, for the first time; Bob points out the U.S. does that too.

Yeah, the tone's been very good so far; Costas is a pro, and although Matt's a bit unpredictable and sometimes seems to say things that he thinks he's expected to, he's been good too.

Gabon, 41st year for their president-for-life. San Marion, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Soa Tome and Principe, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan. And now, Laos; hmm, pronounced Lao actually, in white; Armenia, and now--Spain! Red and yellow of course, they seem really happy; Eurocup, French and Wimbledon, and Tour de France winners. Hey, Nadal's marching with everyone, that's awesome; they're waving their hats, really seem especially happy.

Bermuda, in shorts; Liechtenstein, which apparently changed their flag after they discovered it looked just like Haiti; then Congo in dark suits, followed by the Democratic Republica of Congo (i.e. Zaire), in light blue suits. Costas is perfect for this, so much interesting trivia in his brain.

And now, Iraq--in green and white, big hand. Bush claps for them too, all sprawled out in his seat. So weird to see him as just another fan, no entourage. Iran, in lighter green; flag-bearer one of their three female athletes.

Guatemala, in white with bluish trim. Hungary, in eye-blinding dalmation red spotted white outfits; they make fun of their outfits, gently. Dominican Republic, in black. Spectacular shot of the stadium with China's flag in the foreground as we go to break.

Dominica, Togo, Iceland, and Guam--with their 6 feet, 399 pounds flagbearer who competes in judo. Angola, Antigua, Barbuda, Andorra, Tonga. Jordan, in cool purple patterned outfits, very pretty. Equatorial Guinea, Finland in dark tops and blue shirts, with woman in dresses with water droplets on them. Croatia, red outfits. For some reason bagpipes have been really loud in the background.

Sudan, they talk about Joey Cheek being banned, outfits in white; Costas calls it outrageous that his visa was pulled, so contrary to the Olympic ideals. Interesting to see what he says when Russia comes up. Suriname, as we go to break, Bush is looking tired.

At last, NBC lays out their main storylines--too bad it's in a commercial. Sheesh. About halfway through; Libya, Liberia, Belize, Cape Verde, Cook Islands, Saudi Arabia--no women as always; Algeria, Albania, United Arab Emireates, with women for the first time--the two daughters of the prime minister. Hey, that's how change happens....

Argentina in white and blue, with Manu carrying the flag; Oman, then Aruba. Next, Afghanistan, with Hamid Karzai in the stands, Matt quick to say his name, stumbling over his country. Azerbaijan, in white; Namibia, in white/black checked tops, women in interesting black dresses. Tanzania, in yellow, Latvia in red/white outfits that match their flag.

Great Britain, a cheer for them; in white and blue shirts, some of their athletes look like kids (and are). Nicholas Sarkozy looking down as they march in, he looks sweaty, shirt is stained. British Virgin Islands, following the mother country in says Bob. Okay....

Kenya, in red with black, a ton of running medals. Romania, in interesting turquoise outfits, Matt points out the cheerleaders have been dancing for more than an hour; Palau, in tropical shirts; Tuvalu, in red and black, Olympic debut. Venezuela, in red/white/blue/yellow. Solomon Islands, in traditional dress.

Now the French, NBC has been saying they might get frosty reception due to Sarkozy's criticisms; in gray/bluish suits; no real reaction one way or the other, Sarkozy is animated again. Another under-performing nation.

Poland, in red--wow, they have some huge woman athlete or maybe delegate. Swimmers aren't here, says Bob, they're in competition right away tomorrow. Puerto Rico, dark blue tops, tan slacks.

Nice commercial from Coke, for the paraolympics. Their commercials tend to be classy. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Norway--hmm, odd one to miss. In gray suits, white. South Africa, in white. Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Cote D'Ivoire, Comoros, Bulgaria, standard dark top/white.

Russia, silly red/white outfits; Putin stands in the stands, Matt fills us in on the war--but oddly makes it seem like the break-away region is from Russia as he starts. Boy, what a whitewash; Russians invade a country and Matt makes it seem like an internal thing; Bob is better, calls them out for doing it in spite of the Olympic truce. Syria, in drab suits, one guy dancing like crazy.

And now, the U.S.--in Ralph Lauren-designed dark sportcoats, tan pants. Big hand for the U.S. as Bob talks about the flagbearer, once a Lost Boy from Sudan. Bush stands, sportcoat on and buttoned. Spiffy white caps. They should've had an Asian American design the outfits, as it is we just look like preppy kids. Kobe marching, looking happy; all the basketball players are together. Funny height disparities; hmm, U.S. vs. China Sunday night, Bush says he'll be there. U.S. high-fiving the cheerleaders, other nations may have too but NBC didn't show; very American.

Hour Four: Here comes China
Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Honduras, Zimbabwe. It'd be cool if they aired some of the Chinese broadcast, and that of other nations. Matt says Mugabe tried to come, made it to Hong Kong, told to go home. Tunisia, in standard attire; Thailand, in silver outfits; Egypt, in seersucker suits says Bob; Ethiopia, in traditional garb; Lesotho, in total tribal garb, with conical hats; Mozambique, in checked outfits.

Netherlands, in gray; Matt's wife is apparently Dutch, towering nation. Netherland Antilles, Georgia, Somalia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru in white. Ireland, in tan--fastest growing population in Europe says Matt. Hmm, what about Turkey?

Estonia, in multicolors, yellow for some, orange or blue for others. Haiti, in white and tan. Czech Republic, looking like soldiers in blue and red with white straps. Kiribati, in red/white/blue. Philippines, in aquamarine; flagbearer isn't part of their team, just a famed boxer. Odd. El Salvador, flagbearer chosen by text messaging poll, 73% of the vote. Samoa--hmm, we've barely heard any female voices tonight, just one reporter. Micronesia, Tajikistan; China has 14 neighbors, only Russia has as many says Bob.

Ha, other athletes coming up to U.S. basketball players to get photos with them. Kobe seems really happy. Vietnam, in blue. Botswana, in light blue, another African nation with a white flagbearer. Sri Lanka, home of people with the longest names (along with the Thai). Swaziland, then Slovenia, with shiny grayish outfits. About 175 countries in says Bob, cheerleaders still going says Matt.

Slovakia, in red and then guys in drab. Portugal, as Matt and Bob talk about the Olympic ideal, and how it does matter that so many people from all around the world are mixing here. Ah, South Korea in white; stir in the crowd; not marking with North Korea this time around. Hu Jintao looking chipper. Fiji, followed by Cameroon. Montenegro, first time here, important moment for them. North Korea, in dark suits, gets a big hand from the crowd. Chile, in red and blue. Austria, dancing in, gray outfits. Hmm, they have several Asians on the team.

Myanmar, in odd sportcoat/t-shirt/skirt or pants combination. Switzerland, with Roger Federer bearing the flag. Sweden, in aquamarine outfits--women are wearing chinese-style versions, it's cool. Naru, one athlete. Mongolia, in yellow with cowboy hats. Singapore, red coats. 3/4ths ethnically Chinese Bob says. New Zealand, Kiwis in black, with Chinese accents. That's cool.

Italy as we come back from break, in gray, looking very happy, mugging for the cameras. Senegal, in white. Serbia, in dark blue with red accents, women in very stylish red. Seychelles, then Sierra Leone, bright light blue and green, very stylish. Cyprus, with blue and white faded. Mexico as Bob talks about this being the single most important moment in the history of modern China. Lebanon, as we get closer to China.

Germany, with Dirk Nowitzki carrying the flag; great-grandparents good enough to get Chris Kaman on the team too. Some of their women, in pink, being carried.

Moldova back from break, as the stupid bagpipes start up again. Monaco, all smiles; Costas is still talking about Grace Kelly--back to enjoy, back to party, back to not necessarily win a medal, says Bob. Yeah, he's getting more punchy; Morocco in their fez red; Australia comes in, all in blue--threat to the U.S. in swimming. Hmm, cool, their PM is fluent in Mandarin. Times must be changing, their last PM, Howard, was fluent in bigotry.

Zambia, next to last; so a big hand. Now, silence from the announcers for the Chinese....

Music changes to Chinese music, and there's a dramatic pause, nobody's coming out, and now.... Yao Ming! China! Crowd goes nuts, it's a sea of red in the stands, yellow and red on the athletes. Zhong-guo says the announcer, Yao waves the flag, with some little boy walking next to him. Everyone's on their feet; the boy is an earthquake survivor, many of his classmates died, freed himself, returned to help save two classmates, as a hall monitor says it was his responsibility, says Costas.

Wow. Crowd's going nuts, the kid is waving China's flag and the Olympics flag--whoops, just dropped it, picked it up again. Unlike in Italy when all the countries marched to American pop, here it's been non-commercial music for the most part. Great panning shot of the crowd.

Hmm, interesting, seems like the team is segregated, with all the women marching first, then the men. Some white faces in there, must be coaches. Yao looks very serious. 91,000 people on their feet, as China makes a complete loop; 639 members of the team, up from 400 in Athens.

Joshua is back, says it's totally electric in here. Little kid is super cute, and looks like he's having a grand time. Part of his head is still shaved. Someone takes the flag from Yao, he gets a hand from a volunteer as he leads the team into their area.

Hour Five: China Opens
Hmm, the giant painting everyone's walked on is now the stage for the festivities. Casual translation from Joshua trails far behind the actual speech from a Chinese official; odd that most of this is just being ignored by NBC, they're now talking about other things.

Joshua jumps back in; the visuals are great, podium seems to be slightly tilted, or else NBC's camera platform is. Jacque Rogge, speaks in English (stilted) of course. Big applause as he says congratulations, Beijing, repeats it in Chinese, an even bigger roar. He's getting applauded quite often; now, turns it over to Hu Jintao.

Huge roar as he declares the games open in Chinese; wow. Fireworks like crazy, Yao and the kid are celebrating. They must light the flame using fireworks in some way, I'm guessing.

Not sure who'll carry the torch the last leg; Yao would be the obvious choice, or else that hurdles guy since Yao was the flagbearer. My guess is it'll be someone with a nod toward the future, rather than an older athlete famous in China but maybe not overseas. But we'll see.

The Olympics flag is going up, next to the Chinese flag, as the Olympic anthem starts. Wow, what military precision surrounding the flag; anthem performed in Greek, by the kids who started all this off. Yao looks flushed.

It's really been an impressive opening; that of a proud nation doing things their way, with a nod to the rest of the world along for the ride. Really odd to me that NBC hasn't previewed all their coverage more, even via graphics or something.

The flame comes into the darkened stadium, Xu Haifung, China's first gold medalist in a pistol event in '84 when China returned to the Olympics. To Gao Min, who I remember, a Chinese divers in the 80s/90s. Lee Xiaoshuang, multiple-medal-winning gymnast. Third of eight. Zhan Xugang, who won in weightlifting. Only winners on this route. Stadium awash in swaying light, music is Chinese and pleasant.

Zhang Jun, badminton winner. Costas is talking about how the cauldron will surely be lit in a spectacular fashion based on everything else tonight. Chen Zhong, taekwondo winner. She's running up to stage, to person number seven, another woman--Sun Jinfang, member of a legendary volleyball team. Nicely balanced between men and women so far, and it goes to an older guy--Li Ning, ah, of course; 3 gold in 1984, 6 overall in gymnastics.

Wow, he's raised up by ropes, as the flame is guttering, flies through the air. Man, totally vertical like hundreds of feet--a slight slip it looks like, but then he 'races' through the air, fake running--what a TV image. Runs along the membrane as images from the torch relay trail behind him. He's been well-trained, it looks like he's actually running. Going completely around the stadium.

The concept must've come first, then they chose an athlete; Costas says when it comes to Olympic ceremonies, retire the trophy. The cauldron is unrolled from the membrane, he lights a long pipe, the flame runs up the sides of the cauldron, and it's lit.

Wow, says Costas. Stadium's awash in light; nicely designed cauldron, paper/scroll linkage to China's history. And now, the mother of all fireworks shows. The entire city seems to be lighting up, it's totally insane. Yao is holding the little boy so he can see.

Breathtaking says Bob, as we go to break. NBC previews tomorrow, via a commercial. They come back with Yao, they interview him, in English; he says he and everyone else has waited for this their entire life, it means a lot for their future.

Asks him about Lin Hao, and what he means. Hope for China's future, says Yao; even a kid knows how to help each other, a good example for what a citizen looks like, my feeling is I want to cry, this is the biggest, at the end the kid says thank you, shakes the reporter's hand. Wow.

Joshua says absolutely phenomenal, Matt says amazing, Bob says the ceremony exceeded all superlatives, now let the games begin.

They close with a musical montage of the ceremony. At the end, a card says dedicated to Jim McKay.

Totally looking forward to watching the games; hope the rest of it is as spectacular as tonight.