For reasons that I really can’t articulate, the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games almost never have the same appeal as the opening ceremonies. Yes, even with the Chinese and their amazing feats of wonder running the show this time around, and even with the knowledge that London (bah!) won’t be able to hold a candle to what they’ve pulled off.

Could it possibly be because the ethereal experience that was Salt Lake six years ago totally soured me on anything Summer Olympics? Well, the whole Phelps thing was cool, and so was Usain Bolt breaking the 100m without even breaking a sweat, but do they really hold up to Sarah Hughes’s comeback win? Nah. Seems to me that’d be the most likely explanation, especially since it’s a proven fact adding a dropback of light snow to anything automatically makes it more awesome. (Certainly it’s not all the stories of outrage that the Chinese broke all the promises they made – freedom to protest, no censorship of speech/the Internet, etc. – in order to get the Games. Anyone with an average IQ could have seen that one coming.)