VANCOUVER, British Columbia — With a three-hour time difference, I wasn't too keen on getting up early to take a bus to a train which becomes a subway to get connected and then appear to be wide awake for my morning class, but my day was about to get off to a fun start.

A friend of mine asked me to speak with his daughter's third-grade class at Hans Herr Elementary School in Lampeter, Pa., via Skype. The students have been closely following the Winter Games and an Olympic theme had been woven into their curriculum for the month of February.

I had hoped to Skype from an Olympic venue or have an iconic Vancouver landmark be the background for the call, but the wireless connection was too unpredictable and choppy, so we settled on the Media Press Center for our best connection.

The call began with homeroom teacher, Mrs. Baker, talking about what the kids have been studying and informing me this specific class had won two gold medals in reading this week, soundly thrashing “rival” third-grade classes in their quest for gold. Mrs. Grenier's class also joined the “Skypecast” and we had 43 curious thirdgraders in the room.

She asked me to tell the students what my role has been at the Olympics, and I explained I had not really been a reporter until now, spoke about my regular job at the newspaper and told them my focus was about all the stuff going on at the Olympics except the actual sports competitions.

Unbeknownst to me, during the 20- minute conversation, my image was being projected on a large screen in the classroom. I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight, but the kids didn't let it bother them.

Students were called on one at a time to approach a laptop set up in the middle of the room with a professional-style microphone (courtesy of IT magicman Darrin Wagner) to ask me whatever was on their mind. I responded to queries posed by the likes of these steely eyed reporters-in-the-making with names such as Annie, Tyler, Morgan, Jarred and Kelsey, among others.

I was asked an array of wide-ranging questions about my take on favorite events (skicross), favorite athletes (Sarah Schelper and Lindsey Vonn), favorite thing to do at the Winter Games (street parties until the wee hours), have I met snowboardcross gold-medalist Seth Westcott (I was about 15 feet from him at the skicross finals), have I been to a medal ceremony (at the time, no, but I've since gone), which athletes did I enjoy meeting the most (Bryon Wilson and Hannah Teter), what was the most fun thing I've done at the Olympics (press conferences)and, as a follow up, hey mister, how long have you been a reporter? “Uh, two weeks.”

The truth is, I'm not a trained reporter, and nowhere near a journalist. There's nothing unbiased about my stories. I'm in every single one of them, and I have an opinion. I couldn't care less about the technical aspects of the sports.

That said, I'm having an amazing time in Vancouver. I love the energy. I love how excited everybody is. I love the crowds in the street. I love being a couple feet away from athletes after they've smoked the competition and won. I love watching the crowd watch the events. And more than being from the U.S., I love representing Colorado.

Listening to the questions of a handful of 9- and 10-year-olds in a Pennsylvania schoolroom, I'm not so different than they are. We ask the same questions. But, thanks to my brand of reporting, I'm allowed to live the answers. And buy mittens.



The Vail Daily's marketing guy, Mark Bricklin will be covering elements of the 2010 Winter Games from Vancouver & Whistler - a very non-sports perspective focusing on buzz, sponsors, swag, the crowds, the zany and the marketing. Want him to check something out while he's there? Let him know at mbricklin@vaildaily.com.