(CNN) -- Midway through this month's Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, there was a bright and glorious full moon that lit the night sky high above the Earth. Down below, men and women from around the world competed for medals on behalf of their countries. As usual, special attention was paid to the contests between American and Russian athletes. On Sunday the closing ceremonies in Sochi will lower the curtain on the Winter Games. The ceremonies, as is tradition, are expected to center on two themes: competition, and the common ground that exists between different nations. The view of that full moon during the Olympics, though -- so far away from the sights and sounds of the athletic contests -- brought to mind an era, not so very long ago, when competition between the United States and what was then called the Soviet Union was a much more serious game than anything played out on ice rinks or ski slopes.
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Bob Greene says Olympics thankfully didn't echo 1960s competition between superpowers
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He says when Soviets, U.S. competed in space race, the goal galvanized Americans
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He says they saw Kennedy's moon goal as repudiation of Khrushchev's "bury you" remark
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Greene: U.S. got there first; today, there's no race, just friendly competition, like in Sochi
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