has seen it all with the US Ski Team (all disciplines) and, more impressively, still recalls it all. A walking ski encyclopedia and a good travel buddy despite having his lighter confiscated by TSA screening in MHT (security risk). Flew backwards to Atlanta, then again over MHT to Milan 8 hours later, this time in business class with free movies and a bunch of other people who will be working for NBC at these Olympics. Understand that flying to Europe is an overnight proposition. You leave the US in the evening, fly through the night and meet the sun in Europe in the morning. We landed in Milan @ 8 am local time (2 am @ home), found another bus and had 2 hours of gray travel on a flat valley floor; no snow here but stories of abundance and avalanches (and sunshine above the clouds) in the mountains. Mountains will have to wait for a day while we hang in Torino for a production meeting on Monday. 
Torino, I had heard, is a big soccer town (thanks Jeff Cook, Rob Grabill)... I wanted to check this out. Good luck found the home team of Juventus--the Red Sox (Yankees?) of Italy-- playing this afternoon. Great soccer, fascinating security. Given a mediocre/uninteresting opponent in Udinese I could get in for 30 Euros. Even with the stadium half full the energy was electric with fans literally beating drums and singing at the top of their lungs for the full 90 minutes. As this energy can turn 
negative quickly there are certain precautions taken. You must show passport/id to purchase a ticket that then has your name printed on it. You must show id again to get into the stadium. No scalping business here. You are restricted (penned) by 9' fences to
the area immediately around your seat. If you're in section 8 and there's a riot in section 9, you're safe. And no scoreboard or running clock in the stadium. You need to remember the score and keep time yourself. Juventus pleased the fans with a 1-0 victory. Third bus ride home gave me a pretty good look at most of the city as it took a while to figure out the system. Was I supposed to pay? Probably, but the Italians are very generous hosts and no one asked. Less English here than I expected, frankly.
Back at the hotel there's an Italian reality show on the tube... giorno (day) 17 of an MTV Real World meets Survivor (someone had to leave, not sure why, many tears) meets American Idol (looks like you call in to vote someone off).
Mountains tomorrow.
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