Is it for love of country? The inspiring stories? The diversity of the sports? The emotion shown on the medal stand during the national anthem? The NBC Olympics theme music?

 

Truth be told, it's probably a little bit of all of those. Every four years when the Olympic Summer Games roll around, I'm transfixed.

 

I watch as much as I can. I'm disappointed each night when midnight strikes and the coverage ends for the day. This year, I was lucky enough to be at the beach on vacation for the first week of the games. Oh, I still got in plenty of beach and pool time with the kids, but we also had the coverage on in the house from morning until midnight.

 

We saw some rugby, rifle, beach volleyball, badminton, basketball and loads of swimming and gymnastics.

 

My girls would watch Katie Ledecky destroy everyone else in the pool and then dive into our pool and imitate her. My two year old would squeal at the TV and say "her have goggles like me!" I would imitate the "beep" signaling the start of the race day every day in our pool.

 

So that was part of it. This year's Olympics coincided with a fun family vacation, so of course I will remember it fondly.

 

But it's also about the stories.

 

Simone Manuel and Simone Biles were inspiring. Michael Phelps was once again unbelievable. WVU's own, Ginny Thrasher not only gave us a gold medal performance, but gave gold medal interviews as well.

 

I continue to admire how these athletes step up and perform under insane pressure. One chance every four years to show your talents to the world. Not 162 games like Major League Baseball, not 82 like the NBA. Heck, not even 12 (or 13) like college football.

 

A few days. Every four years. You have to be your best in that exact moment in time or the opportunity may be lost forever. For many of these athletes there is no "next year."

 

Hate on them all you want. Complain about delayed coverage. Whine about all of the commercials.

 

I don't care. I'm in. All in, in fact. And I'll be watching right up until the end.