The Final Preparations

Today was the last day before the big departure to Hong Kong, and boy was it a busy one. Today's morning training session was a departure from the late afternoon norm, then it was lunch and off to Team Processing.

Team processing is well, a process, that every member of Team USA goes through right before their departure to China. It's where final preparations are made - headshots, team photo, any medical issues, etc. But the biggest and best part of Team Processing is: the stuff.

The players and staff each receive an Olympic ring, so they were properly sized for the right fit. Then they could decide to upgrade to a higher karat, add diamonds or even change it to white gold. Not surprisingly, a lot of the players - figuring that it's pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity - decided to upgrade.

Then, everyone grabbed a shopping cart - literally a big orange cart from The Home Depot - and went into this giant room where all the clothes and shoes were. It was like a big glorious warehouse filled with clothes made specifically for the Olympic Games by Nike and Polo Ralph Lauren.

The players were fitted for sneakers, dress shoes, tshirts, polos, hats ... a parade outfit from Polo Ralph Lauren that looks pretty sharp. Then they dropped off the parade outfits to get tailored, packed up their brand new luggage and went through one final meeting to overview a few last minute things before departure. Then they picked up their clothes from the tailor and it was back to the hotel for dinner, a quick photo shoot and then to crash early.

There is definitely an energy about the team tonight as everyone is anxious to get over to China.