Assorted thoughts on the Olympics

Man, I love the Olympics! In my normal everyday life I could care less about professional sports but whenever the Olympics roll around I'm staying up late every night, tearing up at random athlete profile segments, and finding the most obscure events interesting -- like team handball?? Anyway, of course my number one priority has been gymnastics and I hate that I haven't had the time to pay attention many of the other events, but here are some of my random thoughts on the Games so far:

• I didn't particularly like Team USA's opening ceremony outfits...outside of the whole Made in China controversy I thought they just looked overly preppy and the berets looked stupid. I guess that's Ralph Lauren for you though. The Nike warmup suits also initially struck me as strange - those gray hooded rain jacket things (for London's rainy weather??) and the neon green sneakers - but actually it's kind of grown on me.
• I definitely approve of all the purple! If I were to have an Olympic medal, I'd definitely want one on a purple ribbon!
• I know Ryan Seacrest is supposed to be like the successor to like everyone in media, but I find him interviewing athletes to be really strange. 
• Ok, time to start complaining about NBC's coverage. I know that everyone loves swimming but must they cover every friggin semifinal in the primetime slot? Must we really see every single appearance by Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte?? How about some equestrian or something? Americans like the royal family! Zara Phillips won a medal!
• What was up with the men's gymnastics all-around coverage? Germany's Marcel Nguyen surprisingly takes the silver but the first and only routine they show from him was his last!!
• More gymnastics chatter - the commentators will not shut up about how the Russian girls are all divas and drama and pretty much crying every day in the gym. I mean, there were definitely a whole lot of tears from them during the team and all-around competitions, but I wonder. The Russian head coach, Alexander Alexandrov, actually coached in the US for years, so I'd be curious to hear his thoughts on this.
• Interesting story I heard on NPR this morning about how bronze medalists are often happier than silver, i.e. "I made it on the podium!" vs "I lost the gold."
• I was wondering what was up with the divers and their little towels so I looked it up. 
• The skimpy women's beach volleyball outfits generally make me feel a little uncomfortable, but the bikini-top-over-shirt combos that some of the teams have been wearing due to the weather look pretty strange...