BEIJING — Only a couple weeks removed from toiling this summer for the Salt Lake Bees, Matt Brown went from minor-league baseball player to U.S. Olympian, getting relocated from the shadows of the Wasatch Front to the shadows of the Great Wall.

Brown is staying in touch with Bees team officials, sending e-mail reports on game results and his Olympic experiences.

One highlight for him has been the Athletes Village.

"It's like a little world inside of a world," he said. "It's pretty cool."

And while he'd love to be swapping text-messages with his Bees teammates, "I turned off my cell phone it's too expensive over here," he admitted.