TO WATCH OR WORK

There is a strange catch-22 to working in the Research Room. With televisions surrounding us, all showing live feed from every venue, as well as monitors giving us the feed from the shows in production, we are inundated with the Olympics. Indeed, it is almost better to stay in the room and watch all the events going on, rather than go to a venue and see one in person. A problem arises, however, when something is going on that we all start to watch. When something as exciting happens, we tend to stop what we're doing and watch, cheer, and celebrate. However, these moments are when the phones start ringing off the hook with questions that need answers. The good news? Most everyone, from producer to writer to talent, pauses to enjoy these moments. So there we were, huddled around the screen together Tuesday night, cheering on Michael Phelps as he won the 200m butterfly, and screaming as America's Klete Keller held off Australia's Ian Thorpe in the final lap of the men's 4x200m freestyle relay. You could hear people rooting up and down the halls of the NBC space, torn between the Australians that we got to know so well four years ago, and as proud of the Americans as could be. It was an amazing moment: Keller, Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and Peter Vanderkaay swam the third fastest time ever in this event, just edging the Australians out. And then, one night later, came men's gymnastics. With men and women taking silver over the course of the past few days in the team competition, our focus turned to Wisconsin's Paul Hamm. Yet our hopes were dashed when he took a nasty stumble on the vault, seemingly throwing himself out of competition. But fate - and his strength and ability - prevailed: with a stunning final routine on the high bar, Hamm secured his place in history. A huge achievement: the first American to win an all-around Olympic title in gymnastics. Let's bring on the women.