Opening ceremoies mark start of Olympic dreams

Friday, July 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

* LAS VEGAN Lori Harrigan, a two-time All-American softball pitcher at UNLV, is pitching for Team USA at the Summer Games in Atlanta. She is chronicling the Olympic experience for the SUN in a daily column.

ATLANTA -- Finally, it's here.

You spend so much of your life working for this moment. And now, after all the effort to make the Olympic team, you get to participate in one of the great spectacles in sports -- the opening ceremonies.

Growing up, one of the best parts of watching the Olympics was the opening ceremonies. Seeing all the athletes. All the flags. All the colors. And the music. To me, that's what makes the ceremonies so special. But to actually be part of it is something that's hard to put into words.

I've been thinking about it a lot the last couple of days -- marching into the stadium, hearing the crowd, waving to the fans. I went through it during the Pan American Games, but there's no way it can compare to the Olympics. This should be unbelievable.

We're going to practice this morning, and sometime this afternoon, I don't know when, we're going to get on the bus and drive to the stadium. There's a staging area for the athletes and the entire U.S. delegation will assemble there.

As the host country, we're the last team to march into the stadium, and that's going to make it extra-special. I'm sure everyone's going to go crazy.

There aren't a lot of rules that the Olympic Committee gives you for the ceremonies. But you can't be carrying cameras or video recorders when you walk into the stadium. You have to be in your official team uniform and you have to act professionally. I'm sure some people will try to sneak a camera into the stadium and record the ceremonies from their seats. Me, I'm just going to take it all in and enjoy the moment.

You can tell the Olympics are here because everyone was acting silly at practice Thursday. There was a lot of giggling going on, which means everyone's adrenaline is pumping. I think we're all looking forward to the ceremonies tonight and I know we're excited about our first game Sunday against Puerto Rico.

It's starting to hit me how important it is to be part of the first-ever USA Olympic softball team. I've said before that we're not into being called the Dream Team. But the more you think about it, we're the first softball players to represent our country in the Olympics and we're the best players in our sport.

It may be like the '92 Dream Team that had Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan on it. They were the first NBA players to play in the Olympics. For us, I liken Dot Richardson, who's 37, to Bird or Magic. This is probably her only shot at the Olympics and I'm really glad she has it. She's a great player and a great inspiration to all of us.

Michelle Granger is going to be our starting pitcher Sunday. She found out after practice Thursday and she's a good choice. I know she'll do a terrific job and I'll be rooting hard for her from the dugout.

I went for some treatment Thursday on my neck and my back and had my finger on my pitching had checked out. I tend to stiffen up and I see a physical therapist to get my joints loose. My first finger had some inflammation, but not to worry. I'll be fine. They took some precautionary X-rays and there were no broken bones.

I tend to put a lot of pressure on my fingers when I throw, so this is nothing new. Besides, there's no way I'm going to let a little pain stand in my way at this point. I've come too far to miss this.

My biggest concern is looking good for the opening ceremonies tonight. So if they put the camera on a 6-foot-1 blonde who's smiling and waving as we march into the stadium, that's me, and I'm waving to my biggest fans -- everyone in Las Vegas.

I'll tell you how it went Monday. And hopefully, we'll be 1-0 in the tournament, too.