On Friday, February 10th, 2006, the 2006 XX Winter Olympics began in Torino, Italy. Torino (Turin in English) is approximately 90 miles east of Milan. Fifteen sports -- the biathlon, bobsled, curling, ice hockey, figure skating, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, luge, speed skating, short track, Alpine skiing, Freestyle skiing, ski jumping, skeleton and snowboarding -- will be showcased by athletes from around the world from February 11th to the 26th. On February 10th, a primary star of the show was the group of creators who brought Italy to the United States. The Opening Ceremony was broadcast in America by NBC Universal. The team who produced the four hour production, especially, the first six minute introduction to Italy, deserves an Emmy along with major accolades.

I wish anyone in the world with a television could have watched and heard NBC television introduce America to Torino, Italy.

Brian Brown and Mark Levy deserve much of the credit for setting the stage and the tone for NBC's Olympic coverage. The pair devoted the majority of their time as producers to their six-minute "opening". And you could tell. Absolutely amazing. I had tears streaming down my face from start to finish.

Andre Braugher, the critically-acclaimed, Emmy award-winning actor who plays Det. Francis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton on "Homicide: Life on the Street" and in the upcoming show "Thief" served as their narrator.

Fabulous choice!

We kept asking, "Who is that?"

If you asked the same question, now you know.

NBC's Olympic Team Creative Director Mark Levy and Brian Brown, the poetic genius, did a magnificent job showcasing Torino to all those watching in America.

Torino, a beautiful Italian city is often lost in the shadows of Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan. Torino has a vibrant history, thriving culture and rich scenery.

Brown and Levy magnificently showcased Torino in Friday night's six minute introduction.

Scott Duncan, the cinematographer for "The Apprentice" and "Survivor," (and the brother of NBA star Tim Duncan) shot much of the breathtaking scenery. Stunning!

And the music. Wow. Superb.

If our kids weren't in school, we'd be booking the next flight to Italy. Thank God we get to head there in June.

To follow is how Andre majestically lured us into the images of Torino. You could almost taste the snow.

Hopefully, if you didn't see the Opening Ceremony live, you've at least TiVoed it.

For the fifty million viewers who did tune in, your participation was greater than last week's American Idol (40 million), CSI (34.5 million), The Grammys (44.3 million) and Dancing with The Stars (29.9 million).

The top twenty-five cities to tune in included Salt Lake City, Minneapolis / St. Paul, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Denver, St. Louis, Ft. Myers, Sacramento, West Palm Beach, Las Vegas, Providence, Indianapolis, Hartford, Norfolk, Columbus, Baltimore, Portland (Oregon), San Diego, Atlanta, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Buffalo, New York and Kansas City.

SF Skiers Set Up for ICER AIR 2005 photo copyright: Rugged Elegance, LLC

The sun rose and the snow fell in San Francisco on Thursday, September 29th 2005. It was a day like no other.

On this quintessential Indian Summer day of the year, 1998 Olympic gold moguls medalist Jonny Moseley showed up on Fillmore Street with a band of buddies who love to jump.

Ski jump that is.

But they needed 200 tons of snow to make their dream a reality, as well as support from The City by The Bay, Mayor Gavin Newsom, and San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood of residents, schools and merchants.

While you might say, "Impossible," the organizers of "ICER AIR 2005" led by Glen Griffin, Trevor Hubbard, Arne Morkemo, Erik Gordon, Kristian Akseth and Jonny Moseley, said "Dream."

And dream they did.

They dreamt the impossible until their dream became reality.

ICER AIR 2005 San Francisco photo copyright: Rugged Elegance, LLC

After eight months of undying effort, the ICER AIR production team got their sponsors led by Jeep, PlumpJack and CharitySmith, to name just three. They got their television coverage led by Fox Sports, Spike, MTV2, FusionTV, HD Networks and OLN.

They got their athletes lined up.

They got lots of helicopters overhead.

And they got the community support they needed to do something never done before in the city of San Francisco.

They also got their live audience.

An integral part of an ICER AIR 2005 ski jumping competition were the thousands of snowboard and ski enthusiasts excited to see ten snowboarders and ten skiers fly and flip down Fillmore.

The streets of San Francisco were alive with onlookers on Fillmore Street all the way from Broadway down to Union Street.

From 7am - 5pm they oohed and ahhed.

First, it was the awe of seeing snow on one of the steepest streets in San Francisco.

Then it was the amazement and adrenaline rush of seeing twenty-one athletes in the air.