What they're saying

The Opening Ceremony also featured a huge ice rink on which 800 ice skaters did a synchronized routine that was hindered only slightly by the fact that they had to perform barefoot, because their skates could not go through the metal detector. ... Without question the most spectacular moment was the lighting of the Olympic flame ... when the Olympic torch entered the stadium and, in a dramatic climax that brought a roar of approval from the crowd, ignited a 25-foot-high stack of Enron executives.

Dave Barry, Miami Herald

On a cold winter day, the best way to stay warm is to be friendly

Shirley Haycock, Olympic volunteer, after taking a picture of a group of tourists

When people say judges don't know what they are doing, they have no idea what it is like to hold up a mark in front of 19,000 people. We try to do our best, but sometimes we don't.

Charlie Cyr, U.S. figure skating team leader on the difficulties of judging

If we win bronze, it would be a bigger upset than the United States pulled off in 1980.

Curt Lindstrom, Latvia's hockey coach, referring to the U.S. hockey team's surprising gold medal in 1980

The problem with an Olympic Opening Ceremony is that it drags on so long, even the most polite and eager spectator is left to wonder: What the heck were those Swiss people wearing?

Laura Vecsey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seventy-seven times the flags (from competing nations) came in straight and tall, held high by select athletes from Azerbaijan to San Marino, Fiji to Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil to Uzbekistan. But it was the one flag that came in lying flat on its back that set the stage for these Games. It was the American flag that was lifted from the rubble of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center collapse that lifted spirits and gave these Games an outline from which the remaining Olympic stories will be told.

John P. Lopez, Houston Chronicle

Salt Lake City shed its tainted Olympic past on Friday night and began anew with an Opening Ceremony that struck an almost perfect tone. The symbolism was strong, not heavy-handed. The patriotism was heartfelt, not manipulated. The spectacle was tasteful, not overblown.

Ann Killion, San Jose Mercury News

The Opening Ceremonies, with its stunning images and musicals tributes, set an over-the-top tone for what is to follow. What follows is 16 days of Winter Olympics games, perhaps better described as "Sports That Rich White Guys Are Good At."

Slim Smith, East Valley (Mesa, Ariz.) Tribune

In the Winter Olympics, death and destruction ride shotgun in a majority of the events, from downhill racers speeding 90 mph down the Olympic course at Snowbasin Ski Area to skeleton sliders flying headfirst at similar speeds on the icy Olympic track at Park City. Of the 15 disciplines in the seven Winter Olympic sports, only curling, biathlon and cross-country skiing seem relatively safe.

Paula Parrish, Rocky Mountain News

The winter sports aficionados assure me once the cauldron is lit that I soon will fall in love with the Olympics. It's an acquired taste, they say, just like Guinness Stout, which, after years of sampling, still tastes like a mixture of pureed liver, transmission fluid and dirty water.

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel

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