I am back after a week of driving and lying on my couch watching the Olympics. Here are my scattershot thoughts of the sports world during my vacation

• I always say that the Olympics do nothing for me but I end up watching 87 hours of handball. Aside from handball, I like the stories more than the actual sports. My favorite story from the first week is predictable but being able to watch Michael Phelps has been a true privilege. I’ve always enjoyed watching greatness in sports and Phelps is truly great.
• Congrats to Elizabeth Beisel. She and her two medals will be welcomed home Wednesday night at North Kingstown High School. Elizabeth is one of many that stood out in a stacked field of young American swimmers.
• I can not believe Gabby Douglas once thought about quitting. I knew the outcome of the All-Around hours before it aired but I was still nervous when the entire arena was looking up in anticipation of the final score.
• As great as Gabby is her coach Liang Chow deserves a ton of credit as well. Douglas moved to West Des Moines, Iowa to train with Chow after he turned Shawn Johnson into a gold medalist four years ago. I worked in Des Moines during the Johnson years and got to know Chow a little bit. Great guy and great coach. My guess is that Gabby won’t be the last to uproot her life and train under his watchful eye among the corn fields of the Midwest.
• My non Olympic watching adventures took me on a 12 hour car ride through my old stomping grounds in western Pennsylvania. The wife wanted to check out PennState so we stopped in for a minute. Joe Pa has truly vanished. In fact it took me a minute to figure out where the statue used to be. With all quiet at Beaver Stadium we decided to indulge in the region famous ice cream at the campus creamery. If you’re ever in the neighborhood I recommend peanut butter swirl.
• The Twins are and always will be hands down my favorite professional sports team. That said the Red Sox had no business losing three out of four to the Twinks over the weekend. If Ben Cherington’s goal is to build a really expensive .500 team he will win general manager of the year.
• The Patriots play a game this week. Didn’t we just get back from Indianapolis?