As Kobe walked by, he made eye contact with me.  I gave him a smile and a nod, and he returned the gestures.  He was completely swarmed by the village volunteers and a few athletes trying to get photos with him.  The other players were mixed in with the mess of people.  I did not have my camera, but Pat McD, who was sitting on the bench, did.  He offered to take a picture, and so I decided I would at least ask.  I tapped Kobe and asked him if he would take a photo with a fellow Orange County Olympian.  He said of course and put his arm around me.  We posed and chatted briefly while Pat tried to get his camera to work, but…DOH…he was out of space… no photo.  I said thanks anyway, and moved aside.  I watched these players deal with the mob and wondered how they, as athletes, ever get rest or just some simple peace and quiet.  

Since there actually was no meeting (sorry Christine,) I went up into the USA athlete’s lounge to use the internet.  I needed to email my SRM files to Coach Dave.  Guess what?  The entire team was in there.  All of the athletes were jammed into one room, and there was no chance I was even going to try and get into it.  Instead, I sat down alone in the room next door, so that I could at least email my files.  While I waited for my laptop to turn on, Jason Kidd walked in.  Remember that I was the only one in the room.  I had a brief conversation with him.  Then Chris Paul came in and walked up to me.  He introduced himself as Chris and sat down on the table next to me. We talked for a few minutes about how important the Olympics were to these guys.  Meanwhile, I was still trying to email files.  I looked down at my computer for a moment and the next thing I knew, Kobe had come up to me and asked me where in OC I was from.  We talked a little before the rest of the basketball team came in.  For a moment, they were all in the room.  Then they regrouped and headed out.  That was pretty cool for me and every other non basketball athlete in the room.  For a moment, we were all just Olympians.