As important as London's record 2.5m ticket sales and the cheering crowds was Channel 4's coverage, the tone set by those irreverent posters at the end of the Olympics ("Thanks for the warm-up") and a trailer highlighting the sheer thrill of the sport.
Recollections of Clydebank's glory days provide some of the only uplift: "The sheer thrill of a ship on its stocks, grown from just a few small pieces of metal, walking toward it each morning and seeing that it was bigger, looking like it was parked there at the end of the street, looming over the end tenement".
The style and panache of those airtight routines; the sheer thrill of watching a contestant fearlessly catapult herself into space, twisting wildly.
Some of the progressive enthusiasm had to do with the sense of possibility — prosperous Southern suburbs trended toward Hillary Clinton in the Presidential election — but it was also about the sheer thrill of planting a flag in enemy territory.
Burgeoning culture and culinary sophistication has its benefits, but for sheer thrill, nothing beats an adrenaline rush.
Unlike the initial group of proposals released by the agency last July, these plans throb with energy, imagination, intelligence and the sheer thrill of contributing to a battered city's rebirth.
And at the sheer thrill, frankly, of encountering such a steamroller crowd-pleasing talent.
From what the young people say, however, the sheer thrill of trying out such a range of new and exciting things has made it more than worth the effort.
The sheer thrill of sitting within just a few feet of Anna Wintour never gets old.
While the medals are certainly great for bragging rights on the game's leaderboards and time trial mode, the sheer thrill of adeptly rushing through an intricate field of hazards feels like a reward in and of itself.
