Yes, I’m back (*cough*, *cough*)

So, what did I miss? Quite a bit evidently.

When I left for China, the Quakes were in last place. Now that I’m back, they’re still in last, although they haven’t lost since my departure for the Olympics. And they’re only four points out of a playoff spot. If they lose on Saturday, we’ll all know whose fault it is. No, not me, but Atiba Harris, who seems to have it in for Ramiro Corrales.

As for China, it was a fantastic, albeit tiring experience. True, being a journalist at the Olympics will never make it on an episode of “World’s Toughest Jobs,” but it’s not a vacation either. There were plenty of late nights , and I was only covering one sport. The journalists there covering every sport in sight, I don’t know how they did it.

The Chinese people were magnificent from beginning to end. Whether it was volunteers or just folks on the street, they tried so hard to make you feel welcome that I felt bad when they weren’t able to help me sort out whatever problem I was having. It started with the woman who was so worried that I wouldn’t find my hotel in Tianjin, that she rode in the cab with me and then paid for it when I got to the hotel. (Yes, I was suspicious at first, but she was in fact just being nice.) Apparently the words “expense account” don’t translate very well, although I got her back by going to the Korean BBQ place her family owns and spending much more than my cab fare.

The bravest people in Beijing? The pedestrians. There is a level of trust between drivers and pedestrians that I could not quite fathom. People are constantly walking out into the middle of traffic, and how they don’t get run over is a mystery. Drivers who cut off the shuttle buses I was riding, I had less sympathy for, although they too managed to avoid collisions.

The smog wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Then again, I wasn’t competing. That said, it was plenty bad in Tianjin, where the U.S. men played their first two games. It made going to Beijing seem like a picnic.

As for the food, well, it’s probably telling that the two best meals I had in China were at 1) the aforementioned Korean BBQ place, and 2) a Brazilian steakhouse. The biggest culinary adventure of the trip was when  I ate donkey for the first and probably last time in my life. “You are what you eat” jokes aside, I’ll say this: I’ll never look at corned beef the same way again.

As for the highlights, the Forbidden City was tough to top. Yes, it was even more impressive than the Great Wall. You could spend a whole day in the FC and still not see it all.

From a sporting perspective, kudos to the U.S. women. They looked second-best for much of their gold-medal game against Brazil, but still found a way. That’s what championship teams do. As for Brazil, they are Spain pre-Euro 2008. Lots of pretty soccer, but bupkis to show for it. Still, I’d watch them play any time.

The U.S. men? Their lack of discipline has been beaten to death, by me and others. We’ll see if the lesson is learned, although based on the first World Cup qualifier against Guatemala, it may take a while.

Another highlight was my flight from Beijing to Shanghai. There I am thinking “Man, this flight is empty” and “I’m going to sleep hard on this flight” when who walks by but Argentine midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme, followed by his eminence himself, Lionel Messi, and then the rest  of the team. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep at all on that flight.

Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled Quakes programming.