Auvoir, Paris

I don't think you could have asked for a better, more compelling Olympics. By my math - and please correct me if I'm wrong - we tied with China for most Golds and easily cruised to the highest medal count.

I was on pins and needles about whether Beijing would outduel us but a tie seems fitting. They dominated in sports that matter to them (shooting; diving) and we ruled the roost in sports that matter to us (basketball, sprinting, golf, volleyball, soccer and swimming). They swim fast, too, admittedly. Japan took third and Australia 4th. I like the look and feel of all that.

There is no "I" in "Team".

The American women's hoops team was vital at the end. Without their late-game heroics, we would have come up just short. The great names and talents of Plum, Stewart, Wilson, Griner and the rest of the squad came up big. On the pitch: Swanson and Rodman and Naeher, too.

I don't believe I have the superlatives to describe what Steph Curry did yesterday on the basketball court. I'm not sure anyone does. It literally might have been his gutsiest, most clutch moment of his entire storybook career - four stupendous threes with everything on the line; on the road.

Social media gadfly and tycoon Dave Portnoy can go jump in a lake. If you can't get behind America with a world championship on the line, we don't need a tasteless you or your bland pizza reviews. I'll root against the Celtics now from here until eternity.

Sports brings out the best in us. And the petty squabbles. I like USA and China waging competitiveness at the table tennis courts and the wrestling mats more so than in AI cybersecurity and the Straits of Taiwan but, hey, for at least today we stand in equal parts on the top step of global sports. But we all know who walked away with the riches on the judges' discretion and total overall points (silvers and bronzes) in the very end. USA! USA!! USA!!!

Merci, Paris and France. You've set an extremely high bar for Los Angeles in 2028.

Look at that ball go. Wemby - Curry in a game, memory and shot for the ages.