Late Saturday afternoon, we watched badminton on TV. Badminton! And it was riveting, even though neither player was American. It was the gold medal match between two Chinese women, Xie Xingfang and Zhang Ning, and I ignored my daughter’s pleas to make dinner.

After one long rally — 31 strokes, I think, each one hit with such pace that it was hard to follow — the shuttlecock landed on Xie’s side of the net “like a butterfly with sore feet,” said the announcer.

Hungry as she was, Samantha giggled.

The two women shuttled all over the court for almost four hours, and Zhang won in three games. It was faster net play than we had ever seen in tennis. My husband, with his 6’7” wingspan, wondered aloud what sort of badminton player he would have been.

After dinner, Samantha asked if we could play badminton on the front lawn. I tried hitting the birdie hard, rather than the usual tap with the racquet, but my shots flew like butterflies with broken wings. Was anyone else inspired to get off the couch and dust off the badminton set?

Next door, our neighbors watched field hockey, a sport they had never seen on TV before. Their 16-year-old daughter Kristen plays varsity field hockey for the local high school and TiVo-ed last week’s games to watch before practice. Like the U.S. versus Germany game.

“That team (Germany) was amazingly good,” she said. “They had amazing control of the ball and made crazy shots. We talked about it during practice.”

Her mom was less enthusiastic though. After watching only the primetime coverage, she swore she watched the entire men’s 20-kilometer race walk the other night, and the women’s marathon. Both preceded the usual menu of beach volleyball, swimming, and gymnastics.

“They need to cut away and show judo or something cool,” she said. At least the gymnasts don’t land like butterflies with sore feet.

Peggy Shinn is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This blog was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.