London

It must be true: All good things indeed must come to an end - a fireworks-strafing, confetti-showering and rock-god-reviving end if you're talking about the Summer Olympics that concluded Sunday. "We lit the flame, and we lit up the world," said Sebastian Coe, head of the organizing committee and an Olympic medalist himself - he won two golds and two silvers in the 1980s. "On this last day, I can finish with these words," he said. "When our time came, Britain, we did it right.

You know how they say there's no crying in baseball? Apparently they haven't gotten that  message at the London Olympics. Have you ever seen so much blubbering in your life? These athletes cry tears of joy when they win. They cry tears of sorrow when they lose. They cry tears of frustration when they go on morning talk shows to talk about how upset they are about what's being written about them. (Yes, Lolo Jones, we're talking about you. Although if I were you, I'd probably cry, too. More on that in a minute.)

The darkened arena pulsed with anticipation, the thousands of spectators roaring and their cameras flashing like giant fireflies as the boxers swaggered in, punching the air, bouncing on the balls of their feet and glaring like gladiators. And then, the chanting started for the favorite of this particular crowd: "Katie!" "Katie!" "Katie!" Despite the deafening cheers - officials at the ExCel Arena said it was one of loudest crowds of the Games so far at 113.7 decibels - you might also have heard a glass ceiling shattering: Boxing, the last Summer Olympics sport to be limited to men, opened its ranks to women for the first time here.

The Olympic flame may not be extinguished along the Chesapeake Bay. A key organizer of the region's unsuccessful bid for the 2012 Summer Games is gauging interest in making a run at the 2024 Games. Dan Knise, president and CEO of the Washington-Baltimore 2012 Regional Coalition, believes "there's a little bit of a spark" in the region for another try. "There have been some informal discussions with people. The energy the Olympics create, the optimism it creates, I feel that again.

The exploits of swimmers Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt, both who have ties to Baltimore, have been well documented throughout the 2012 London Olympics. Phelps has won two gold and two silver medals so far, and Schmitt has won two golds, a silver, and a bronze. Here's a look at how the other athletes with Baltimore ties have fared so far in London: U.S. Athletes with Maryland Ties: David Banks, men's rowing: Banks and the rest of the U.S. men's eight team failed to medal, getting fourth in the final Wednesday.

No one plays a larger hands-on role than Bucky Gunts in shaping what tens of millions of Americans are seeing each night of the London Summer Olympics. As head of production and director of the opening ceremonies and the nightly prime-time show for NBC, the Baltimore Friends School graduate largely determines the major story lines and images that will form the shared memory of the games - not just in 2012 but possibly for generations to come. A four-time Emmy Award winner for previous Olympics direction, Gunts is at the center of a media strategy that has resulted in record ratings for NBC - as well as some angry criticism primarily in social media.

For some Olympic families, it's enough just to go to London to cheer. But that's not La La Vasquez Anthony. Sure she'll have time to cheer on Carmelo as he plays basketball for Team USA, but she'll also be filming her VH1 reality show "La La's Full Court Life. " The camera-loving Anthony also had time in London for an interview by herself with the "Today Show" Thursday where she said she not only brought her son and mother to the Olympics, but also the entire crew of her show. According to the New York Daily News, as recently as Tuesday Vasquez was in Malibu.

Maybe the best way to cut through all the spin and counterspin on the Olympics is this: Last week, NBC was saying it would lose money on the Olympics. Yesterday, it said it might break even. Today, the network is saying it could turn a profit on the $1.18 billion investment. "Yeah, we think there's a small chance, a chance we could make a little bit of money over the next couple of weeks," Mark Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Sports Group, said in a conference call from London Thursday when asked if the network might turn a profit on the games.

LONDON - In a turnaround that left Michael Phelps and his teammates in stunned silence Sunday night, the 400-meter freestyle relay gold medal that the U.S. had in its grasp slipped away in a late surge by the final French swimmer. Ryan Lochte, swimming the anchor leg for the U.S., touched .45 of a second later than Yannick Agnel. The Russian team won bronze, ahead of the Australians, heavily favored going into the race with their self-described "weapons of mass destruction team.

Michael Phelps barely slipped into Saturday night's final for the 400-meter individual medley, coming in eighth in the morning preliminary heats that launched the first full day of Olympic competition -- and his own fourth and final Games. "The only thing that matters is to get a spot" in the evening finals, Phelps said of the swim that will put him in a far outside lane, rather than the center to which he has become accustomed. Ryan Lochte came in third, with his much vaunted rivalry with Phelps taking a backseat at least in the morning preliminaries, to swimmers of other countries:Japan'sKosuke Hagine andSouth Africa'sChad leClose came in first and second.