Maese et al.,

It might be unfair to judge a city of 18 million people based on one random, horrific incident, but I think everyone is a little freaked out right now after learning that Todd Bachman, the father-in-law of men's indoor volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon, was stabbed to death in what appears to be a random attack while visiting the Drum Tower. I don't feel any safer knowing that the assailant jumped to his death either. I just feel angry. Supposedly, the Bachman's weren't wearing any apparel that would have identified them as members of the United States delegation, but that's going to be of little comfort to the families of American athletes.

"We're worried more about the families than the athletes," said Eddie Reese, the men's head coach for USA Swimming. "The athletes are not going out of the village anyway. I've talked to three or four families already. They did not voice any concerns to me, but that doesn't mean they don't have them."

I suppose it's naive to feel this way, but it's easy to feel safe in Beijing. Maybe it's because there is some kind of military presence everywhere you look, and maybe it helps that gun ownership is illegal for Chinese citizens, but you definitely feel safe walking around the streets. I wonder if the families of U.S. athletes are going to feel afraid when they're out in the city, and unable to enjoy these Olympics.

Can you even imagine going to the Olympics as a tourist and getting stabbed in some random act by a crazy person? It's just insane. You just hope they weren't targeted by someone hoping to make a political statement.

It sort of makes everything that happened at the pool tonight seem irrelevant. Michael Phelps broke an Olympic record in the preliminary heat of the 400-meter individual medley, and Katie Hoff swam well, hopefully putting to rest the ghosts of 2004 in that event. But my mind just kept drifting back to the volleyball team. How do they compete knowing their coach and his wife are going through hell?

You know the Chinese government has to be extremely embarrassed after this. Are we going to see a major security crackdown over the next few weeks? Is there a chance this incident could affect the rest of the Games?