Seattlest’s Olympic correspondent Mark Siano has been hard at work in Beijing getting the stories that you won’t hear about anywhere else.

Protesting: Having the protest sign on the back of a map was the perfect distraction to get it past the Chinese sensors. I just folded it up with the "USA out of Iraq" part hidden and slid right on in. Layer after layer of security let me and my giant map go through without questioning.

The Ticket Situation: Ticketing in Beijing SUCKS. It's pathetic, embarrassing, elitist, ineffective and ARGHHH!!!! So angry!! The stadiums are empty and it's really frustrating and sad! It's so hard to get tickets for so many, but then for 15 minutes online you can get tickets for the next day!!

The Opening Ceremonies: I'll tell ya what athlete hotties to watch for. The flag bearer from Jordan has a killer smile (Zeina Shaban), and the ladies were quite smitten with the dancing Kenyan men. The Danish top the Swedes this year in best Nordic looks, and I give the sexiest nation prize to Italy barely edging out Brazil, but I'm extremely biased.

More details and stories on his blog. Or you can wait for his eventual one man show, probably coming this fall.

The Michael Phelps show continues tonight at 7:45 live on CBUT (channel 99) or tape delayed at 10:45 on KING 5.

CBUT, we love you.