It's the day that the U.S. Softball Team has waited four years for -- the opportunity to defend its Olympic gold medal and play for a fourth. Not surprisingly, the anticipation has kept Jessica Mendoza awake nights.

For winning a gold medal that everyone except the players on the other side of the net expected them to win, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh unfurled the purest release of unbridled joy upon securing an unprecedented second straight Olympic gold medal. There was absolutely no taunting, preening, or show-boating, and not a single person was surprised.

They say time flies when you're having fun and I guess thats true because I leave to go home tomorrow morning.

"Today was a good day" to quote a famous rapper. Got up early for our match at 9am vs. Georgia. Felt great in warmups and I really think that translated into the game. Phil was awesome at the service line as well as at the net. I would have to say he set the tone for the match when he came out bombing his jump serve and stuffing down the left sider for Georgia. Once he got hesitant it made my job very easy to run down his shots.

We arrived in Beijing yesterday evening and got to the Athlete Village with just enough time to put bikes together and go for a short spin.

Unlike Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, the team they'll face in the men's gold medal match Friday morning, Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes of Brazil haven't had the best of seasons in 2008. That can all change, however, should they win an Olympic gold medal on Friday.

The path to the gold medal match for Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser surprisingly was made relatively easy. By no means are they fluke finalists, and their play in Beijing shows they were worthy of the pre-Games "favorites" label they received, but key upsets -- including the match in which they themselves were shocked -- have helped out.

I have been having trouble finding time to keep everyone up to date. I wanted to blog every day but it just seems like there is too much to do to get it all done.

We have had some incredible games and our biggest ones are yet to come. We just defeated Germany 8 to 7. It was an intense game that went back and forth and was close up to the closing seconds.

I know, it sounds great! We beat the Australians tonight to advance to the gold medal match against the Netherlands.

The most popular athletes here at the Beijing Games: those on the U.S. men's basketball team. The unofficial favorite venue of the U.S. men's basketball team: beach volleyball.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh cruised to the final, where they'll put their 107-match winning streak and unblemished Olympic record on the line against China's best. 

Defending gold medalists Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos of Brazil already have knocked off one U.S. team, and they may have to knock off the better one if they want to become one of the first teams to defend an Olympic gold medal.

I will write and keep everyone updated as much as possible, thanks for all of the support.

Night matches at Chaoyang Park came to an end Monday, leaving just four teams remaining for each gender. Of the eight teams remaining, only four countries are represented: Brazil boasts three teams left, China two, the U.S. two, and Georgia one.

In international beach volleyball, teams are allowed coaches, but similar to tennis, they can't join the athletes on the court during matches. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, however, are an anomaly. Their coach is allowed on the sand -- because it's Rogers, the 34-year-old nicknamed "The Professor."

The young, powerful Chinese team of Xue Chen and Zhang Xi had just rolled over Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh of the U.S. to earn a berth in the semifinals, yet the winners looked devastated. A small sign of how respected U.S. beach volleyball teams are, and how international teams know they must beat the Americans to win titles.

For many Chinese fans, the Olympics begin in earnest Monday when Liu Xiang makes his first appearance, running in the preliminary of the 110m hurdles. But is the Athens gold medalist healthy enough to repeat?

The field is where softball players compete and what is familiar to what they have been doing for almost their entire lives. But Jessica Mendoza blogs on how the athlete village is like walking into a dream world.

On paper, Brazil's best women's team against the United States' best women's team looked like a very enticing match-up.