The annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, this year in Baltimore May 30-June 2, was the venue for a total of nearly 2000 presentations of original research, case reports, and review-type lectures in exercise and sports medicine and science. Inevitable clashes in timetabling meant I had to miss many of the talks I was interested in. I even missed key posters, because there were so many and because the poster hall was so far from the talks. By Friday I was suffering from conference shock and nearly took the day off to visit the Smithsonian Institutes in Washington DC. I'm glad I didn't, because Friday turned out to be the best day for me. The other three days were also winners.