[TexKat]

British model Naomi Campbell carries the Olympic Flame in central Athens, Friday Aug. 13, 2004. The opening ceremony for the Athens 2004 Olympics Games will be held later Friday. (AP Photo/PA, David Davies)

Fireworks over the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 13, 2004. A spectacular opening ceremony launched the Athens Olympics on Friday, lifting spirits in the Games' ancient birthplace after the host nation was rocked by a drugs drama involving its two top sprinters. REUTERS/Issei Kato

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, center, and German President Horst Koehler attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games Friday, Aug. 13, 2004 in Athens, Greece. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

The Olympic rings are lit up as fireworks explode during the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 13, 2004. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

[StopDemocratsDotCom]

ugh, I hate not being able to see it live

[eastsider]

The ancient god of love, Eros, flies above two lovers dancing and playing in the water.

Let the games begin ...

[TexKat]

An actor representing Greek mythological figure Centaur performs in front of a sculpture during the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 13, 2004. A spectacular opening ceremony launched the Athens Olympics on Friday, lifting spirits in the Games' ancient birthplace after the host nation was rocked by a drugs drama involving its two top sprinters. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iraqi insurgents and not the United States were to blame for the failure of the so-called Olympic truce to take root in Iraq as the 2004 Olympic Games opened in Athens amid continued fighting in Najaf(AFP/File/Brendan Smialowski)

A little boy on a boat waves a Greek flag during the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 13, 2004. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Centaur watches after throwing a lance at a sculpture during the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Friday, Aug. 13, 2004.(AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

A security blimp is seen through Giorgos Gyparakis's work of art named 'Urban Oasis' in central Athens, August 13, 2004. A spectacular opening ceremony launched the Athens Olympics on Friday, lifting spirits in the Games' ancient birthplace after the host nation was rocked by a drugs drama involving its two top sprinters. REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo

A dancer performs`during the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Friday Aug. 13, 2004. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie attend opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games Friday, Aug. 13, 2004 in Athens, Greece. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Performers enter the stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Friday Aug. 13, 2004. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)

Performers enter the stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Friday Aug. 13, 2004. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)

A performer takes part in the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 13, 2004. The games were opened in a spectacular ceremony in their historic birthplace amid controversy over two Greek athletes who missed a scheduled drug test. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Fireworks explode over the Athens Olympic Stadium August 13, 2004, as the Athens 2004 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony begin. A spectacular opening ceremony launched the Athens Olympics on Friday, lifting spirits in the Games' ancient birthplace after the host nation was rocked by a drugs drama involving its two top sprinters. REUTERS/Jason Reed

Drummers are reflected in water during the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 13, 2004. A spectacular opening ceremony launched the Athens Olympics on Friday, lifting spirits in the Games' ancient birthplace after the host nation was rocked by a drugs drama involving its two top sprinters. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

[Republican Red]

The Icelandic singer Bjork was one of the night's headliners

Will she be wearing te swan outfit?



What a lousy pick for entertainment.

[MinuteGal]

What time will this be aired tonight? What network? Please give in Eastern time for the benefit of all. Gracias,

Leni

[eleni121]

Major applause for Spain...of course the queen of Spain is the former princess of Greece.

[eleni121]

Half the Spaniards have highlighted blonde hair...

[eleni121]

Not much applause for Israel.

How ignorant.

[eleni121]

Cuba got some cheering from some idiots in the stands.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Too bad it's on Stargate night. After 11 years overseas, tape delay has never interested me.

[eleni121]

The Russians come in also wearing berets - what's with the berets this year? - and get major applause.

[eleni121]

From the following:

http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Olympics/olympics.html


How they ended

The collapse of the ancient Olympics actually began before the Romans invaded Greece. A wave of interest in books and the arts swept through Greece turning the attention of the youth away from sports and honor. According to Paleologos (1976), the famous philosopher Socrates was charges with corrupting the youth because his teachings made them stray from athletics.

When the Romans conquered Greece, they turned stadiums into amphitheaters (Paleologos, 1976) and replaced athletes with slaves who were forced to fight against wild beasts. While this new form of "sport" was enjoyed by the commoners and Roman soldiers, it took away from the ceremonial honor that the Olympics represented.

Early Christians were against the Olympics because they were a celebration for the Roman gods. One of the first Christian emperors of Rome, Theodosius the Great, discontinued the Games indefinitely in 394 A.D., after 320 Olympiads and after about 1200 years (Henry and Yeomans, 1984) of competition to honor the gods.

[eleni121]

One thing I gotta say...we complain about the talking heads in the US but the CBC announcers are absolutely amateurish...mispronouncing words and names and passing off info as true when it is clearly wrong.

[eleni121]

And here comes Greece..the ones who started it all.

They look wonderful! Now if they can only stop taking drugs.

The new PM Karamanlis (conservative finally) is marching with the team.

[P.O.E.]

NBC Networks' coverage grid.

NBC

The NBC network schedule is divided into three dayparts: afternoon, primetime and late night -- for a total of 226 hours of coverage over 17 days beginning with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, Aug. 13, at 8 p.m. ET. NBC's primetime coverage will include gymnastics, swimming, diving, and track and field.

HDTV... NBC will provide high definition coverage... on delay of six sports from the only main Olympic venues provided in high definition by the Olympic host broadcaster. Those sports include swimming, diving, gymnastics, track and field, medal rounds of basketball and the men's soccer gold medal final. The HDTV coverage will total 399 hours and is a completely different production from the standard definition broadcast on the network. NBC has 124 HDTV affiliates with the potential to cover 86 percent of the country.

MSNBC 2 a.m.-7 a.m., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

MSNBC will carry a total of 133.5 hours over 18 days. MSNBC will be the main provider of live, weekday, long-form coverage of a full range of Olympic sports, including softball, soccer, beach volleyball, wrestling, canoeing, basketball, rowing, and weightlifting. On weekends, MSNBC will cover boxing, while CNBC carries live coverage of a wide range of Olympic sports. On each of the two days prior to the Opening Ceremony, Wednesday, Aug. 11 and Thursday, Aug. 12, MSNBC also will provide coverage of the opening soccer matches, including the USA women vs. Greece.

CNBC 5-8 p.m.

CNBC, will carry 111 hours of Olympic programming over 16 days, beginning Saturday, Aug. 14. On weekdays following "Closing Bell," CNBC will feature long-form coverage of Olympic boxing from 5-8 p.m. ET. On weekends, CNBC will have expanded, live, long-form coverage of a wide variety of Olympic sports including beach volleyball, soccer and taekwondo while MSNBC covers boxing.

BRAVO 5 a.m.-Noon, 5-8 p.m., Midnight-1 a.m.

Bravo will carry a total of 122 hours of Olympic coverage over 14 days, also beginning Saturday, Aug. 14. Bravo will feature a wide range of sports including tennis, equestrian, sailing, track cycling, archery, badminton, judo, synchronized swimming, handball and table tennis.

USA7-10 a.m.

USA Network will continue with that theme during the Games with live coverage of many of the USA women's and men's basketball games. USA's 49 hours of Olympic coverage from Athens covers 14 days beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 15 with live start-to-finish coverage of the women's cycling road race through the streets of Athens -- an event that has traditionally aired on NBC in primetime. In addition, USA will provide live, all day, Grand Slam-style coverage of all the tennis gold medal finals (men's and women's singles and doubles) on the middle weekend of the Games, Aug. 21-22.

TELEMUNDO 1-8 p.m.

[Recovering_Democrat]

GREEKS CHEER AMERICAN ATHLETES!!
Even Bobby Costas's snide remarks about how "Greeks distinguish between American foreign policy and the athletes" didn't diminish my relief when I saw the cheer the people of Athens gave our team.