I started out watching the 2014 Commonwealth Games as a cynic.
Don't ask me why - some kind of mystifying, deep-rooted prejudice. At any rate, as the various sports and huge crowds sprang up before me, that cynicism soon evaporated.
Glasgow 2014 has grown into a showcase event where sport and audience became the perfect scenario. I've watched sports I wouldn't otherwise go near - netball, rhythmic gymnastics, para-cycling, weightlifting - and really enjoyed the skill on show. In some of those cases it was as exciting as sport can get. My Glasgow 2014 journey has been enhanced by the following…
The public reaction . . .
Last year it was reported that 2.3m applications were made for around one million Games tickets. At the time I thought this was impossible: that there couldn't possibly have been such demand for an event so easily watched on TV, in cyberspace and elsewhere.
Now I know what 2.3m others thought at the time - that these Games would be great fun. The various venues - the SECC, the Hydro, the Velodrome, Tollcross and others - have been packed out.
My first inkling that the Games would be a hit came when I aimlessly blundered in to some early netball fixtures. Thinking it a minor hoot, I went to watch Malawi versus Northern Ireland, ready to leave after a token 10 minutes.
But I walked into a dynamic setting. The SECC was packed, the match was terrific, and in my pig-ignorance I never knew netball was so skilful. That moment was the start of my road to Damascus.
There is no need for me to labour the quality of the arenas. Suffice to say that, in various outposts of Glasgow, the venues have attracted booming crowds, with a quality of atmosphere to match any such event. Scotland, it is now more obvious than ever, loves its sport.
The para-sports . . .
Previously, this was eggshell territory for me. It still is, to a degree. For instance, are you allowed to say that you find para-sports dull? In this age of acute language-sensitivity, are you even allowed to refer to "disabled sports"?
At any rate, Glasgow 2014 has swept aside any jaundice I felt towards para-sports. At Hampden earlier this week, amid a host of track and field going on, easily as exciting as anything else I watched was the para 1500m heats. And the crowd around me was going wild as these chariots jostled for supremacy around the track.
David Weir, everyone now knows, is a phenomenon. Scotland's Aileen McGlynn, partially sighted and with two Commonwealth silvers to add to her Paralympic gold and previous world records, can be ranked as one of Scotland's greatest sportswomen.
Part of the genius of these Games was the decision to integrate able-bodied and para-sports in the same arena. Spectators witnessed thrills they might otherwise have missed. Those athletes - like Weir and McGlynn - experienced the crowd's hot breath on their necks as they strove for victory.
The city of Glasgow . . .
A former industrial heartland, Glasgow has had a makeover like any other British city, and so there is little point in droning on about derelict shipyards and the rest.
None the less, did this city know it was as good as this? These Games have held up a mirror to the face of Glasgow and, startling as it is, the image to be seen is both pleasant and appealing. Glasgow still has its nutters, its drunks and its unequal society. But it also has a social and civic beauty which the has been unveiled to the watching world.
Football will remain Glasgow's passion. But the modern Glasgow has a variety of tastes and manners which have become much more apparent thanks to the Games.
It could all have flopped at the box-office. Instead, Glasgow, basking in the limelight, has been an impeccable host.
Eilidh Child, poster-girl . . .
Naughty, naughty Eilidh! She surges across the line for silver in Thursday's 400m hurdles final - destined never to catch Jamaica's imperious Kaliese Spencer - and then, the mad Jambo that she is, starts all this '5-1' business with her friends and family. Hibs fans might not have been amused, but it felt immense just being a part of a nation rooting for its girl to go like the wind. It only lasted for about 54 seconds but it was quite something.
The Scots cheering on England . . .
Not to overstate this…but it has been seen, and it has been apparent. These Games have been recurringly distinguished by Scottish audiences clapping and hailing English winners, even as the opening strains of 'Jerusalem' have piped up. It's been good to see. For instance, that Hampden ovation for David Weir on Thursday night was pretty special. Weir himself was moved by it.
So . . . what next?
Right, here we go…legacy, legacy. We're all about to start talking about it, asking questions about it, navel-gaze on the subject. Perhaps we should just let the dust settle on a fantastic 12 days before getting in to all this. The truth is that little is more significant than good guidance and encouragement on this subject. So it's not just our kids that need to react to Glasgow's Commonwealth Games. As much as - arguably, more so - it is our adults.
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