I had a great time in Torino. Thanks to the folks who put this whole deal together, and especially the volunteers, who came from all over the globe and were always willing to point me in the right direction.

Thanks also to those who've commented here. A big grazie to Stefano and Luca for all their help in pointing me to the best places to eat and play in Torino. I have one more day to stuff myself full of Piemontese cooking.

And if you're still in the Olympic mood, why not head off to the USOC Olympic training center in Colorado, or other Olympics training centers in the US?

And...thanks for reading.

Why hasn't the US lived up to its pre-Olympic hype? Sure, you're gonna answer, "drinking, carousing, Dick Button, arrogance, Dick Button, lack of passion, Dick Button's vest, athletes refusing to mouth the national anthem, and probably Dick Button, if not Costas."

But, let's face it, USians are homebodies.

According to CBS Sportsline's medal tallies, since the Winter Games began in 1924, American athletes have won 14.4 percent of the medals when competing stateside. When the Olympics are in another country, Americans have won a piddling 7.8 percent. ~ Felix Gillette writing in Slate.

Not to mention the fact that our ownage of passports is pretty dismal.

Mr. Gillette outlines other reasons for this disparity in medal counts, all valid, but I'm going to focus on the homebody thing. No, wait, I'm going to go beyond it.

Why is it when I go to a good restaurant, there are few (or no) US journalists or athletes there? Yet, everybody complains of the food they're served in their villages.

We don't even get out of our hotels much, it seems. And we like to complain.

What is behind our driving need to judge the character of athletes armed only with a few paragraphs that a writer or two has written about them? How can folks come to hate people they've never actually met? Why are there so many comments on this blog about how horrible a particular US athlete is for not bucking up and doing his God-given duty of fulfilling the expectations of a nation? Is it that easy to be the best in the world?

We're part of a global village, a microcosm of which exists as the athlete's village. How come half the US "stars" you read about brought their own motorhomes? Bode says he's more comfortable there, and that helps his "performance." Good theory. We know now that the hypothesis is not confirmed by the data.

We need to get out more. The world is a wonderful, crazy, topsy-turvy place full of ideas, hopes, failures, successes, passions and unfulfilled dreams. Explore it, if you dare.

Carnival will come to the Olympic Stadium tomorrow--meaning lots of Fellini (including original costumes from the film "I Clowns"), pyrotechnics by Christophe Berthonneau, who last was seen setting the Eiffel tower on fire in a hot open air theater performance in Paris, and featuring 2000 costumes by Giovanna Buzzi, who has certainly been busy on the sewing machine.

The Carnevale de Viareggio Foundation was called in to lend a hand. Viareggio, on the Tuscan coast, hosts 800,000 for their carnevale, visitors who come to see huge paper mache floats 20 meters high and 14 meters long paraded down the Viali a Mare, the street along the beach.

Should be fun. Tickets start at 200 Euros. Don't be late.

Curling is a mezmerizing game. You think, "This is nuts, how can curling be an Olympic sport?"

A half hour later you haven't answered the question, but your eyes are still glued to the television where grown men or women are discussing where the next big stone should go.

There is no better environment for an overweight bozo with a rubber chicken flopping over his genitals to interrupt the exciting progress of the "end." Yes, a streaker.

I'm sorry I missed it. Well, sorta. I'm thinking that the Italians were worried about the games being disrupted by some huge, international organization with a bone to pick; maybe the bone is globalization, disease, fur coats (lots of 'em in Torino) or some such. But no, it's a nekid guy with a tattoo who's tackled by the ref.

Curling has indeed come of age.

Read more and see a picture: Is it cold in here, or is it just me?

Read more about the match: U.S. men win curling bronze medal

Picture of Skier Mathieu Razanakolona © 2006 by James Martin | Olympics Pictures

I was glad to see Shizuka Arakawa [Skating Summary] win the Figure Skating gold medal last night. Japan needed one.

See, several days ago a Japanese television crew focused their camera on me for some inexplicable reason. The interviewer immediately tried to establish if medals were important to me and my country.

Me? Medals, nah. My countrymen, however, seem inclined to treat the horde of medals the USA was supposed to accumulate as already-won-and-stored-in-the-vault sacred treasures, signs that a power greater than all of us had declared and rewarded our inherent superiority, at least as far as doing loops on a chunk of bent board gliding over the icy surfaces of something called a "half-pipe" is concerned.

"So, how many medals do you think Japan has won?"

Ok, I was stumped. I thought maybe three, but I said "seven" just to make her and her audience feel good.

Giddy laughter ensued, mouths covered discreetly.

"None," the interviewer informed me, "what do you think of that?"

I was speechless. What do you say? Can you make a joke? "Japan should practice more if it wants to be up there with the big boys like the USA and Germany..."

I'm glad Shizuka grabbed the gold. No more embarasing questions. Now Japan is as great a power in Winter Olympics as Britain.

Kidding aside, Sasha Cohen, after missing her first two jumps and putting on a great recovery to finish her program, said of winning the silver, "For me it is just a medal, the experience is the process and I'm enjoying it."

She hit the nail on the head: It's the process, the Olympic spectacle as a whole that is compelling. It's not just an athletic competition or Cohen's four minutes on the ice; it is the story of our potential, our passion, our infinite capacity to amaze and disappoint.

One of the things about festivals in Italy, they seem to never end. When I lived in Sedilo, Sardinia, I was fortunate to be able to attend L'ardia di San Costantino, a sacred horse race with inherent dangers that make the Palio di Siena look like a kid's game. What was really cool, though, was that each weekend after there was a different festival along the same lines; a race held for kids on donkeys, a foot race the whole town could participate in, and a horse olympics, where groups of men road horses at full gallup while doing stunts (think of a human pyramid formed on top of two galloping horses).

In some ways the Olympics are structured the same way. After the closing ceremony on Sunday, the place will get spiffed up for the Paralympic Games in early March.

Then, Stefano reminds us that there is the 37th Chess Olympiad slated for May and June. Maybe that one is more my speed.

But wait, there's even more! Stefano reminds us that "this year will be 300 years from the Siege of Torino...Great celebrations are exected for the anniversary on the 7th of September."

Italy is a great place for festivals. I hope to catch carnevale in Ivrea and avoid getting pelted with oranges by wearing a red hat.

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It does end for some of the journalist and television crews, however. The tide of conversation has turned toward the stuff people will take home. Pretty much half the chatter in the press room concerns shopping in some form or other--chocolate and shoes being the most frequently mentioned.