You may have missed out on the Ralph Lauren Polo ski cap and jacket worn by Team USA during the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies, but there’s still time to get the actual official medal stand jacket and ski cap worn by USA Olympics athletes such as Bode Miller, Sean White, and Shani Davis.

The Men’s Medal Stand Jacket Men’s Medal Stand Jacket and Women’s Medal Stand Jacket are both stylish and functional.While the ceremonial garb was designed and made by Ralph Lauren, the practical and athletic gear was designed and made by Nike.

This jacket is made of a comfortable polyester outer lining, filled with duck down and feathers. It has two exterior zip pockets and a headphone-compatible interior zip pocket.Of course, it has the USA flag on the left arm, the Vancouver Olympics logo on the left chest, the Nike swoosh on the right chest, and the letters USA on the back.

You can also get the matching  Medal Stand Knit Cap in Navy blue, exactly the same as the athletes wear on the medal stand. There’s also a red women’s hat available at Foot Locker.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, it seems that this knit hat is almost impossible to find. If you’re desperate, you can try bidding for it on eBay–they are bona-fide collectors items, so the going price is about 2x to 3x their original price of $75.

In a previous post I mentioned the stylish Polo down jacket worn by the USA Olympic Team. Well, after searching far and wide, I found the super-cool knit hat which Team USA was wearing as they entered the arena during the opening ceremonies. It’s also made by Polo Ralph Lauren, and its available from the US Olympic Shop. It makes a fantastic gift, will be the single most stylish fashion statement of the season, and supports the US Olympic Team as well.

The cap is a knit cap with the U.S. Flag sewed between a blue pattern. The main part of the cap is designed with blue knit moose, trees, and other winter scenes. The top is a knit red and blue pattern, and a stylish tassel completes it. It’s one of the nicest stocking caps I’ve seen.

If you’re in the market for a knit cap, this is the one to get. But hurry, after the Olympics are over, this is going to be extremely difficult to find. In fact, it’s already the hottest item of the Vancouver Olympics…it keeps selling out on the US Olympic Shop web site, but keep trying.

If you were watching the 2010 Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies, you’ll have seen the USA Olympics team walking in sporting some very stylish garb. And it’s no accident. Polo Ralph Lauren designed the outfits that the US athletes wear during the opening and closing ceremonies. And you can buy your own Offical Opening Ceremony Olympic Games Down Jacket.

The jacket was inspired by fashion from the 1930s and 1940s, with a modern sensibility. As pricey as these outfits are, you should get them now if you can–as we learned in the Beijing Olympics two years ago, once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The super-cool knit cap they were wearing don’t seem to be available yet, but as soon as I see it I’ll post it here.

Throughout the Olympics, I’ve been highlighting gifts from the US Olympic Shop. A portion of all gifts purchased through that great site goes directly to helping present and future athletes training for the Olympics. If you visit the site now, you’ll notice that they’re slashing the prices on 2008 Beijing Gifts, so hurry and grab what you can before it’s gone! One of the products they offer is the official Polo Shirt as worn by Team USA during the closing ceremonies! And for a limited time, use promo code LKS38LFN to save an additional 15%.

As I write this at 5:30 AM Sunday morning, it’s 5:30 PM Sunday night in Beijing and the last competitions have officially concluded, with France winning the gold medal in Handball, Hungary winning the gold in Water Polo, and the US winning the gold in Basketball and Volleyball in dramatic fashion.

The closing ceremonies came and went, and they were as spectacular as the opening ceremonies. Like many, I felt a twinge of sadness to see the flame go out.

All in all, these were the most memorable games I can remember for a long time. Team USA certainly did itself proud, from the thrilling performances of the first medals in fencing, to women’s gymnastics, to the surprise run by the water polo team, to the way the men’s volleyball team came back from a tragedy to win gold, to the amazing run by Michael Phelps and USA Swimming, to the way USA track and field started with disappointment but ended with some thrilling victories.

You may notice in the medal count that while the US was tops in overall medals, China completely dominated, for the first time in gold medals. And most experts believe that they are just going to grow stronger and stronger.

Why?

As a totalitarian state, China’s government pours tremendous amounts of money into molding elite athletes, often from childhood, through government-run programs. Ultimately, what the government gets out of it is gaining prestige in the world’s eyes, which China certainly has done with these Games.

In the United States, it doesn’t work that way. We don’t have a government controlling our athletics. Rather, our athletes develop passion and a natural talent in their sport, and they pursue their dreams and achieving individual excellence. Our country is great because of our athletes, not vice-versa.

So how do athletes in the United States compete against other countries where a machine is in place to provide them all the resources they need?

Enter the United States Olympic Committee. The USOC is the non-profit organization that provides training centers, funds, and staff to athletes for the Olympics. It’s been in existence since 1894, and while it’s chartered by the US Congress, it receives absolutely no funding from our tax dollars. It’s funded entirely by corporate sponsors and contributions from individuals like you and me.

When you think about it, corporate sponsors are only going to sponsor those sports which they feel have commercial appeal. So far too often, our gifted athletes in lower profile sports are left with nothing. In most cases, they need to pay their own way for equipment, training, and even travel to competitions and the Olympics.

What can you to do help ensure that Team USA athletes of all sports are provided all they need to succeed in 2010, 2012, and on?

You can always purchase gifts from the US Olympic Shop, particularly gifts to help you remember 2008 Beijing. But more importantly, each year, consider making a generous donation to the USOC, which is tax-deductible. And give our future athletes a chance to keep up the great tradition of victory.

Congratulations to all of Team USA during these Olympics for their spectacular performances, and for making us so proud as a nation.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

Today is the second-to-last day of the Olympics, and of course, it’s showtime for our USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams. This morning, the Men’s team advanced to the Gold Medal final with a win over Argentina, and tonight (tomorrow morning in Beijing), the women play for the gold medal against Australia.

For all the ups and downs they face in the press here in the US, LeBron and Kobe and the rest of Team USA really did their country proud. They were not just participants but also fans, going to the different venues and cheering on fellow USA athletes. Kobe in particular had a public relations coup, being shown mobbed by thousands of adoring Chinese fans and taking it all in stride, being seen speaking fluent Italian to Italian athletes and media (he grew up in Italy when his dad played professional ball there), and even being filmed in the Olympic village eating French Fries with the other athletes.

And their play showed the same kind of level-headedness and selflessness. When they were flagrantly fouled, they didn’t lash back at the other players (despite attempts to incite them by some of the players). They didn’t hog the ball. They didn’t showboat. They showed real sportsmanship and teamwork.

Regardless of the medal count, the real victory of the Olympics is when the athletes show class and unselfish teamwork in their accomplishments.

Celebrate Team USA by wearing their official jerseys–it’s your last chance to get these official basketball jerseys. The US Olympic Shop is quickly selling out of them, but you can still get a LeBron James home and away jersey and a Kobe Bryant home and away jersey as they’re wearing in the 2008 Olympics.

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia. Do you notice that the letters of the backs of the jerseys are hard to read? The white jersey has white lettering, and the blue jersey has blue lettering.

This was actually done on purpose. Team USA Basketball designed these jerseys this way to drive home the point to the players that their focus should be on the team, and not on any of their individual fame or accomplishments. This is why the “USA” is in bright, clear lettering, and their names are harder to read. It looks like Team USA got the message.

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

Only 3 more days to the Olympics!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 9 years since Brandi Chastain celebrated the US Women’s soccer team’s victory in the 1999 World Cup in China by ripping off her jersey and throwing it in the air. Chastain was part of an incredible dynasty that won gold in Atlanta in 1996, silver in Sydney in 2000, and GOld in Athens in 2004.

Now, almost a decade later, a new generation of young women have picked up the baton (no pun pertaining to the track and field teams’ unfortunate performance today intended!). In a gritty, hard-fought, and exciting game, the women’s soccer team held off Brazil and won the gold medal in overtime by a score of 1-0.

Celebrate Team USA’s victory with this mini Team USA soccer ball
from the US Olympic Shop!

Or, get a hoody or T-Shirt showing your support of USA Soccer!

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 4 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop. It’s hard to believe the Olympics are almost over.

The Women’s Beach Volleyball competition just ended, and the amazing team of Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh just wrapped up their second consecutive gold medal. They got perhaps their toughest competition of the tournament with the Chinese team of Tian Jia and Wang Jie, but they pulled it out at the end in dramatic fashion.

Celebrate their victory with this Team USA Volleyball T-Shirt for the kids or a Team USA Volleyball Hoody for yourself. Although I know you would have preferred to purchase the beach volleyball outfits they wear in competition!

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 5 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

If you look at pictures of the US athletes in the Olympic Village, you’ll see them wearing these very stylish polo shirts…from Nike, of all companies.

The shirt has the official USA Olympics logo on the right chest, the Nike swoosh on the left, and the words ‘Beijing” on the left sleeve to commemorate the 2008 Games. It’s an extremely comfortable and light shirt, made of 65% cotton and 35% polyester (also known as NikeFIT DRY for its comfort and its ability to let your skin breathe).

At $44.99, it’s certainly more affordable than the polo shirts with the horsies. And of course, a portion of your proceeds goes to help the great USA Athletes who have been doing our country proud throughout these last 12 days.

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 6 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

One of the things that impresses me a lot this year is NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. I remember a few years ago, they attempted to do several pay-per-view channels and it flopped tremendously. They made a wise decision this year of using all the technology they have available to them to openly provide as much coverage as possible, using their Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, and USA stations, as well as the Web. There was a point I was watching basketball on NBC on my HDTV, volleyball on MSNBC in my picture-in-picture, and baseball and ping-pong on my computer, all at once. Kudos to NBC for a great job.

Providing sports online has given me a huge appreciation for so many other sports I otherwise wouldn’t have seen. The other night, I was watching the crew competition. I’ve gotten a new appreciation for badminton. In the wee hours of the morning, I’ve even watched weightlifting, archery, diving, equestrian, fencing, sailing, soccer, softball, tennis, trampoline, weightlifting, and water polo. The one sports I admittedly don’t quite get is judo. To me, it looks a lot like what I see on the subway in New York City every day.

As of this moment, I’m watching the men’s triathalon live…and I am exhausted just watching it!

A great way to remember all the great moments across all the sports is with this neat little set that I highlighted in an earlier post. It’s a set of 38 frosted shot glasses, each highlighting a different sport and with one of the cute little Beijing mascots on them.

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 7 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

Today’s Olympic Souvenir is this pair of very stylish crew socks with the Beijing 2008 logo and the Olympic rings.

We all buy crew socks these days, but do you know what the history of the word is? According to the American Heritage dictionary, a crew sock is “A warm, usually ribbed sock,” named as such “from its use by rowers”.

And speaking of rowing, today marked the conclusion of crew events at the 2008 Olympics. The US brought home one bronze (the Men’s Eight), one silver (Michelle Guerette in the women’s single sculls), and one gold (a dramatic upset win by the Women’s Eight). Here’s a picture of the women’s team accepting their gold medals (and of course, no one wears socks anymore).

I’m surprised the sport isn’t given a little more exposure, given its prominence at our country’s best universities, but with performances like this, hopefully more young people will be inspired for years to come!

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.