Dear Reader,

Well, the Olympics concluded with a fitting ending as the U.S. women’s basketball team pulled off a come-from-behind win in grand fashion.

If you don’t think it was a special moment, look up the photos of veteran center Brittney Griner, with her hand over her heart and tears streaming down her cheeks, as they raised Old Glory and played the “Star Spangled Banner.”

It was a grand two-week spectacle.

We watched the opening boat ride down the Seine. We saw gaggles of sprinters sprinting, hurdlers hurdling, divers diving, fencers fencing, rowers rowing, and even break dancers doing whatever they were trying to do.

What is it we love about sport? Why do we tune in and root for folks performing athletic feats that none of us could hope to match, even on our youngest and best days?

Can you imagine scrambling aboard a balance beam, without tumbling to the floor, much less trying to stand up on it? And forget about prancing and dancing, flipping and twisting while trying not to fall off and break your neck.

All I could imagine was falling to the floor and writhing in pain as laughing EMTs loaded my old tush on a gurney en route to the hospital emergency department and a visit with a smiling surgeon who said something like: I’ll bet that hurts.

It was almost enough to entice me and lots of others to ignore the other contest playing out before our eyes.

Of course, I am referring to the great American spectacle – our quadrennial political Olympics.

We saw the preliminary event as Grandpa Don, 78, seemed an easy winner over Grandpa Joe, 81, following the latter’s dismal performance during the June 27 debate.

Yes, Grandpa Joe looked like a doddering old guy as he froze and fumbled around on the stage.

Then, as old Grandpa Joe tried to get off the floor and come back swinging, he threw in the towel. This was after his faithful and forever supporters quickly turned their backs on him.

Was Harry S Truman or Lyndon B. Johnson the president who supposedly told a new office holder: If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog? It doesn’t matter, but it is true.

Anyway, Grandpa Joe’s Veep jumped to the head of the line, gathering his staffers (and fat war chest) as she performed a quick CPR on the then-dormant Democratic campaign.

Her pick as a Veep candidate turned out to be a smiling Midwestern governor who looked like what he claimed to be – a likable high school teacher and football coach.

This choice then sent the slick professional pundits (who told us she would pick someone else) back to their Ouija boards and computers.

And the pollsters, no matter who they worked for, reported that the Veep’s numbers were starting to move into positive territory.

As the television pitchman says: But wait, there is more.

The Democratic Party convention will be held next week. That could give the Veep a bump in the polls. The two contenders will face off on Sept. 10, and that might turn into a free-for-all slugfest.

The first batch of mail-in voting begins on Sept. 6 in North Carolina, followed in a week or so by Alabama, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Early in-person voting begins in Virginia on Sept. 17. We will be off to the races until the finish on Nov. 5.

But, once again, if you are measuring the pros and cons, there is more to consider. There are events that might throw a wrench into the mix, confusing prognosticators on both sides to see their iron-clad predictions of victory morph into an omelet of doubt.

For instance, there is a great deal of saber-rattling in the Middle East as Iran is threatening to go after Israel, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Who knows what the Houthis in Yemen will do. Will all of them pile on Israel and pull us into the mess?

And, for the first time, the Russians are smarting as the Ukrainian military went on the offensive, capturing some enemy towns on the other side of the border.

Suddenly, some, especially those convinced their side will win in a landslide, find themselves caught in a state of perplexity.

Maybe, just maybe, the election could turn on policy, not personality. Will the voters cast a ballot because they care more about immigration and the border, or will the issue of women’s reproductive rights trump it all?

Once again, boys and girls, let me remind you it is way too early to bet the farm on the final result.

We have a long way to go.