Charitable Gift Giving

Throughout the Olympics, I’ve been highlighting gifts from the US Olympic Shop. A portion of all gifts purchased through that great site goes directly to helping present and future athletes training for the Olympics. If you visit the site now, you’ll notice that they’re slashing the prices on 2008 Beijing Gifts, so hurry and grab what you can before it’s gone! One of the products they offer is the official Polo Shirt as worn by Team USA during the closing ceremonies! And for a limited time, use promo code LKS38LFN to save an additional 15%.

As I write this at 5:30 AM Sunday morning, it’s 5:30 PM Sunday night in Beijing and the last competitions have officially concluded, with France winning the gold medal in Handball, Hungary winning the gold in Water Polo, and the US winning the gold in Basketball and Volleyball in dramatic fashion.

The closing ceremonies came and went, and they were as spectacular as the opening ceremonies. Like many, I felt a twinge of sadness to see the flame go out.

All in all, these were the most memorable games I can remember for a long time. Team USA certainly did itself proud, from the thrilling performances of the first medals in fencing, to women’s gymnastics, to the surprise run by the water polo team, to the way the men’s volleyball team came back from a tragedy to win gold, to the amazing run by Michael Phelps and USA Swimming, to the way USA track and field started with disappointment but ended with some thrilling victories.

You may notice in the medal count that while the US was tops in overall medals, China completely dominated, for the first time in gold medals. And most experts believe that they are just going to grow stronger and stronger.

Why?

As a totalitarian state, China’s government pours tremendous amounts of money into molding elite athletes, often from childhood, through government-run programs. Ultimately, what the government gets out of it is gaining prestige in the world’s eyes, which China certainly has done with these Games.

In the United States, it doesn’t work that way. We don’t have a government controlling our athletics. Rather, our athletes develop passion and a natural talent in their sport, and they pursue their dreams and achieving individual excellence. Our country is great because of our athletes, not vice-versa.

So how do athletes in the United States compete against other countries where a machine is in place to provide them all the resources they need?

Enter the United States Olympic Committee. The USOC is the non-profit organization that provides training centers, funds, and staff to athletes for the Olympics. It’s been in existence since 1894, and while it’s chartered by the US Congress, it receives absolutely no funding from our tax dollars. It’s funded entirely by corporate sponsors and contributions from individuals like you and me.

When you think about it, corporate sponsors are only going to sponsor those sports which they feel have commercial appeal. So far too often, our gifted athletes in lower profile sports are left with nothing. In most cases, they need to pay their own way for equipment, training, and even travel to competitions and the Olympics.

What can you to do help ensure that Team USA athletes of all sports are provided all they need to succeed in 2010, 2012, and on?

You can always purchase gifts from the US Olympic Shop, particularly gifts to help you remember 2008 Beijing. But more importantly, each year, consider making a generous donation to the USOC, which is tax-deductible. And give our future athletes a chance to keep up the great tradition of victory.

Congratulations to all of Team USA during these Olympics for their spectacular performances, and for making us so proud as a nation.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

Today is the second-to-last day of the Olympics, and of course, it’s showtime for our USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams. This morning, the Men’s team advanced to the Gold Medal final with a win over Argentina, and tonight (tomorrow morning in Beijing), the women play for the gold medal against Australia.

For all the ups and downs they face in the press here in the US, LeBron and Kobe and the rest of Team USA really did their country proud. They were not just participants but also fans, going to the different venues and cheering on fellow USA athletes. Kobe in particular had a public relations coup, being shown mobbed by thousands of adoring Chinese fans and taking it all in stride, being seen speaking fluent Italian to Italian athletes and media (he grew up in Italy when his dad played professional ball there), and even being filmed in the Olympic village eating French Fries with the other athletes.

And their play showed the same kind of level-headedness and selflessness. When they were flagrantly fouled, they didn’t lash back at the other players (despite attempts to incite them by some of the players). They didn’t hog the ball. They didn’t showboat. They showed real sportsmanship and teamwork.

Regardless of the medal count, the real victory of the Olympics is when the athletes show class and unselfish teamwork in their accomplishments.

Celebrate Team USA by wearing their official jerseys–it’s your last chance to get these official basketball jerseys. The US Olympic Shop is quickly selling out of them, but you can still get a LeBron James home and away jersey and a Kobe Bryant home and away jersey as they’re wearing in the 2008 Olympics.

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia. Do you notice that the letters of the backs of the jerseys are hard to read? The white jersey has white lettering, and the blue jersey has blue lettering.

This was actually done on purpose. Team USA Basketball designed these jerseys this way to drive home the point to the players that their focus should be on the team, and not on any of their individual fame or accomplishments. This is why the “USA” is in bright, clear lettering, and their names are harder to read. It looks like Team USA got the message.

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

Only 3 more days to the Olympics!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 9 years since Brandi Chastain celebrated the US Women’s soccer team’s victory in the 1999 World Cup in China by ripping off her jersey and throwing it in the air. Chastain was part of an incredible dynasty that won gold in Atlanta in 1996, silver in Sydney in 2000, and GOld in Athens in 2004.

Now, almost a decade later, a new generation of young women have picked up the baton (no pun pertaining to the track and field teams’ unfortunate performance today intended!). In a gritty, hard-fought, and exciting game, the women’s soccer team held off Brazil and won the gold medal in overtime by a score of 1-0.

Celebrate Team USA’s victory with this mini Team USA soccer ball
from the US Olympic Shop!

Or, get a hoody or T-Shirt showing your support of USA Soccer!

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 4 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop. It’s hard to believe the Olympics are almost over.

The Women’s Beach Volleyball competition just ended, and the amazing team of Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh just wrapped up their second consecutive gold medal. They got perhaps their toughest competition of the tournament with the Chinese team of Tian Jia and Wang Jie, but they pulled it out at the end in dramatic fashion.

Celebrate their victory with this Team USA Volleyball T-Shirt for the kids or a Team USA Volleyball Hoody for yourself. Although I know you would have preferred to purchase the beach volleyball outfits they wear in competition!

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 5 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

If you look at pictures of the US athletes in the Olympic Village, you’ll see them wearing these very stylish polo shirts…from Nike, of all companies.

The shirt has the official USA Olympics logo on the right chest, the Nike swoosh on the left, and the words ‘Beijing” on the left sleeve to commemorate the 2008 Games. It’s an extremely comfortable and light shirt, made of 65% cotton and 35% polyester (also known as NikeFIT DRY for its comfort and its ability to let your skin breathe).

At $44.99, it’s certainly more affordable than the polo shirts with the horsies. And of course, a portion of your proceeds goes to help the great USA Athletes who have been doing our country proud throughout these last 12 days.

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 6 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

One of the things that impresses me a lot this year is NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. I remember a few years ago, they attempted to do several pay-per-view channels and it flopped tremendously. They made a wise decision this year of using all the technology they have available to them to openly provide as much coverage as possible, using their Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, and USA stations, as well as the Web. There was a point I was watching basketball on NBC on my HDTV, volleyball on MSNBC in my picture-in-picture, and baseball and ping-pong on my computer, all at once. Kudos to NBC for a great job.

Providing sports online has given me a huge appreciation for so many other sports I otherwise wouldn’t have seen. The other night, I was watching the crew competition. I’ve gotten a new appreciation for badminton. In the wee hours of the morning, I’ve even watched weightlifting, archery, diving, equestrian, fencing, sailing, soccer, softball, tennis, trampoline, weightlifting, and water polo. The one sports I admittedly don’t quite get is judo. To me, it looks a lot like what I see on the subway in New York City every day.

As of this moment, I’m watching the men’s triathalon live…and I am exhausted just watching it!

A great way to remember all the great moments across all the sports is with this neat little set that I highlighted in an earlier post. It’s a set of 38 frosted shot glasses, each highlighting a different sport and with one of the cute little Beijing mascots on them.

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 7 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

Today’s Olympic Souvenir is this pair of very stylish crew socks with the Beijing 2008 logo and the Olympic rings.

We all buy crew socks these days, but do you know what the history of the word is? According to the American Heritage dictionary, a crew sock is “A warm, usually ribbed sock,” named as such “from its use by rowers”.

And speaking of rowing, today marked the conclusion of crew events at the 2008 Olympics. The US brought home one bronze (the Men’s Eight), one silver (Michelle Guerette in the women’s single sculls), and one gold (a dramatic upset win by the Women’s Eight). Here’s a picture of the women’s team accepting their gold medals (and of course, no one wears socks anymore).

I’m surprised the sport isn’t given a little more exposure, given its prominence at our country’s best universities, but with performances like this, hopefully more young people will be inspired for years to come!

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 9 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

Is there a little 0 to 6 month old in your life who already crawls at world record pace AND who already loves to hit, dive, jump, and dribble with the best of them?

Here’s the cutest little gift from the US Olympic Shop. It’s a little onesie and bib for an infant with the Team USA Olympic Rings and the words “FUTURE OLYMPIAN” across the front in maroon on both pieces. Both are 100% cotton, and the bib has a velcro closure.

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 10 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

I can’t remember the last time I sat on the edge of my seat so much watching the Olympics. A few nights ago it was the men’s swimming team. Tonight, Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson were the ones responsible for me, as well as our whole country, having to catch our collective breath.

Both women did our country proud by winning the gold and silver medal in the Women’s All-Around, the first time ever that American women have placed first and second in this event. It went down to the very last event, the floor exercise. Both executed it flawlessly when they needed to.

Admittedly, after China ran away with the men’s and women’s team competition, I started to wonder if USA Gymnastics was going the way of other once-great programs like the Russian and Romanian programs. But after watching Liukin and Johnson, I’m comforted to know that Team USA is alive and well.

Here’s a picture from tonight of Liukin and Johnson on the medal stand, with Chinese Yang Yilin:

One thing I admire about all the USA Athletes is that, while governments in other countries sometimes heavily subsidize their Olympic programs and start molding athletes from the time they’re babies, largely for the purposes of propoganda, the young men and women in the US work hard solely because they’re pursuing their dream and the passion for their sport. Not to say that other athletes in other countries don’t do that, but without the shadow of a government machine, something about it just seems more authentic.

Celebrate the moment and show your support for the dream with these Team USA Gymnastic duds!

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.