olympic pins

i was living in salt lake city in 2002 when the winter olympics were there, and boy was it amazing! one of the most unusual and unexpected parts of the olympic craziness was the olympic pins. i had no idea that there were so many people obsessed with collecting pins from the olympics! all around the city there were thousands of little shops and flea market type areas where people would trade and sell little pins that in some way were olympic related. i actually came across many people who said that they traveled from all over the world to be there. not for the games, but for the pins! they had pins for everything- from actual stuff related to the olympics, to stuff that had nothing to do with the olympics. i remember seeing a pin that was just an image of green jello with the olympic logo on it- and everyone wanted one! even my school produced a couple of them. what did our school have to do with the olympics? nothing! but we got pins anyway!
it was truly strange to be among so many people with such a strange obsession.