Blog Posts by Claudine Zap

The Olympic Games have mythical origins, literally. Legend has it that the events were started by either Hercules, the son of the Greek god Zeus, or Zeus himself. The games were named "Olympic" after the home of the Greek gods, Mount Olympus. The first recorded games were held in 776 BC. A naked runner (mortal, not god) won the only event: a 210-yard dash.

After that, the games hummed along for 1,200 years -- that is, until the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the games in AD 393 due to their pagan roots. Playing sports in the buff may not have helped the argument to keep them going.

Fast-forward 1,500 years later, when French aristocrat, Pierre de Coubertin, who became known as le rénovateur, brought back the ancient tradition.

We also have de Coubertin to thank for coming up with the Olympic flag design of the five rings, back in 1920. He said at the time, "These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing

Mark your calendars: This Sunday, May 13, is Mother's Day. And contrary to popular belief, the holiday did not rise up from the corporate brain trust of Hallmark and FTD florists. The day to celebrate mom has ancient roots.

The day can be traced to ancient Greece, which honored Rhea, mother of the gods, with offerings of honey cake, drinks, and flowers at dawn. The Romans built a temple for the mother of the gods, Magna Mater (Great Mother), and the Festival of Hilaria called for gifts to be brought to the temple to please the goddess.

In 17th-century England, early Christians reserved a day to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. By a later religious order all mothers began to be honored, and the day was christened "Mothering Sunday."

The holiday came to America when, in 1907, grateful daughter Anna Jarvis held a church service on May 12 in West Virginia to honor her late mother's work promoting women's groups for friendship and health. Within five years, almost every

On the phone from Seattle, Sherry Weinberg Cromett ticks off the long list of sports: gymnastics, soccer, swim team, skiing, T-ball. Not to mention tennis, bike riding, and roller-skating. Then the costs: Bike: $200. Gymnastics lessons: $80 a month. Swimming lessons: $75 a month. Soccer season: $75. Ski lessons: $500 for a week at Whistler.

Related: Get stains out of sports uniforms like a pro

Now multiply all that by two and you've got the beginning of the wallet-gouging bill for parents who want their twin girls involved in athletic activities.

For Sherry and her husband Mark, who both have well-paying jobs, cost was not a game-ender. "We want the kids to be exposed to these things." The working mom added, "We find the most economical way to do it. But it was never a question; it's a matter of how and when and where."

The activities are varied, as she and husband want their twin daughters, who are aged six, to explore many different sports "to see what they like." (Full

It's a special event that brings together people from all over the world. And now it has inspired a commercial that praises moms of Olympic athletes -- and it has gone viral on the Web.

The spot from Procter & Gamble has already been viewed on YouTube more than 700,000 times, receiving thousands of comments. (Full disclosure: P&G is a sponsor of Yahoo! Olympics coverage.)

"Best Job," which was created for the London 2012 Olympic Games, honors the mothers of the extraordinary athletes who will compete in this summer's games.

The ad starts with moms around the world waking their young children when it's still dark outside, feeding them breakfast, and seeing them off to sports practice. The moms, tireless supporters, watch their sleepy children grow into talented athletes. The payoff comes as their kids compete in the Olympics.

There is little dialogue; instead, a lush, orchestral score plays in the background. The ad's simple text reads "The hardest job in the world is

 Pizza Hut UK's latest offering.America has been caught napping. While we were resting on the laurels of the KFC Double Down, the Paula Deen doughnut burger, and deep-fried butter, Pizza Hut UK has one-upped us with hot-dog-stuffed pizza crust.

You read that right: Pizza Hut UK. This development happened in Britain, a place that presumably learned about junk food from us. Then made it better. Or at least, more meat-filled. Where's the innovation, people? Who doesn't look at a crust and think, "This would be so much better if it had a hot dog inside of it"? That's a whole meal in the part of the pizza that some people don't even bother to eat!

The latest fast-food combination is described on the company's menu as "succulent hot dog sausage bursting from our famous stuffed crust, with a FREE Mustard Drizzle." A feeding frenzy of searches on Yahoo! were salivating for "hot dog stuffed crust" and "hot dog stuffed crust pizza."

Come on, people. If we put our heads together, we can outdo this. How about a pizza

Cute, cotton-tailed, chocolate filled: The Easter Bunny is coming. But what does the long, floppy-eared critter have to do with the Christian holiday?

Well, officially, not much. The blog on Discovery dates the origin of the Easter Bunny to 13th-century, pre-Christian Germany. As the site notes: "The Teutonic deity Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal's high reproduction rate."

Eggs -- another holiday tradition -- are also a pagan fertility symbol, especially hatched. And the first documented legend of the Easter Bunny laying eggs -- not biologically possible, of course -- happened in the 1500s.

Easter Bunnies first arrived in America with the Germans, then predominantly Catholic, who brought their Christian, pagan, springtime ritual with them when they came to America in the 1700s.

According to the website History.com, the Teutonic settlers to

On St. Patrick's Day, some facts are clear: Celebrate the patron saint of Ireland by wearing green, drinking green liquids, and celebrating the luck 'o the Irish. But what about leprechauns -- do they bring luck or terror to the party? In the movie "Leprechaun," they're seriously scary. But on a box of "magically delicious" Lucky Charms cereal, not so much.

So what's the history of the tiny Irish fairies? The Oxford English Dictionary defines a leprechaun as a "mischievous elf … usually conceived as a shoemaker and believed to reveal the hiding place of treasure if caught." The leprechaun has been described in Irish folklore as "about three feet high, and is dressed in a little red jacket or roundabout, with red breeches buckled at the knee, gray or black stockings, and a hat, cocked in the style of a century ago, over a little, old, withered face."

Sounds harmless enough.

But these pint-size creatures, which originated in Irish pagan mythology are, as D.R. McAnally points

(With apologies to Dr. Seuss.)

Hey, hey, what do you know,
The late Dr. Seuss has a birthday on Friday -- that's so.

But even now at one hundred and eight
the kids this fine man are sure to relate.

He wrote books for young ones, but his message was bigger,
his tales turned into movies, musicals, TV shows, go figure.

There's Yertle the Turtle, the Lorax, the Grinch,
Just read all the stories, it's really a cinch.

There's a very good reason
That reading a Seuss book is now back in season.

On the day of his birth,
Read Across America Day is annually unearthed.

So on Friday March the second,
Stop what you're doing,

And pick up a Seuss book, that literary shoo-in.

That's all that you do.
Spread some laughs and good cheer,

Or hey, watch a movie or two.
So don't put it off, go on and get to it,

You'll be glad you did. It's a snap to get through it.

Watch the Rev. Jesse Jackson read from "Green Eggs and Ham."