Let the (winter) games begin. Well, except the curling. I’ll
pass on curling
Is it just me or do you also agree that the Winter Olympic games
are much better than the Summer Games?
This year’s Winter Olympics don’t get underway in Turin, or as
the Italians say, Torino, Italy until Feb. 10 but I’m getting tired
of talking about football so it’s time to put the Olympics on this
column’s center stage.
Let the (winter) games begin. Well, except the curling. I’ll pass on curling
Is it just me or do you also agree that the Winter Olympic games are much better than the Summer Games?
This year’s Winter Olympics don’t get underway in Turin, or as the Italians say, Torino, Italy until Feb. 10 but I’m getting tired of talking about football so it’s time to put the Olympics on this column’s center stage.
I will say this about football and the Super Bowl, however, as mentioned – before last week’s championship games ever took place – that the Super Bowl match up would be Pittsburgh vs. Seattle and that Seattle would win the Bowl by a score of 27-17.
Pittsburgh is the better team on paper, but after knocking off Cincinnati, the Colts and Denver – all on the road – the Steelers are due for a letdown on Feb. 5 in Detroit. Besides, my heart’s kind of with the Seahawks since I’ll be able to say that another Super Bowl win came out of the 49ers’ NFC West Division.
Now back to the Winter Olympics …
I enjoy most all sports. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing this for a living. But clearly the Winter Games are so much more intriguing to me than the Summer Games. Maybe it’s because when the Summer Games take place the golf course, the beach and so many other things are calling. There’s just so much more to do in the summer than sit around and watch somebody in a swimming heat some 7,000 miles away.
Sure, if nothing else is going on I’ll watch the Summer Games. But I’ll plan my evening in front of the boob tube specifically for the Winter Games.
Get a warm fire going, pour a nice hot toddy and kick back and watch, no yard-work distractions as the sun has already set. To all Americans, the Summer Games should be the more special of the two. After all, it’s a pretty sound bet that you’ll be hearing the National Anthem after seeing one of our teams or competitors win the gold every night. We dominate the Summer Games.
But the Winter Games are much more fun. Maybe it’s because some of the events are much more foreign to us, and, therefore, more intriguing.
There’s just something more exciting about watching somebody in a weird looking sled with spandex and an expression of terror on their face whip around an icy track near at a speed nearing the century mark – unprotected – or a bobsled team from Jamaica trying to put up a respectable time.
I love the downhill skiing too. Are these guys nuts or what? It’s just shear madness to watch someone go down the steepest of hills with reckless abandonment and without any brakes. And the ski jumping. I think I’m cool when I jump off two-foot moguls but these guys get so airborne you’d think they’d need a parachute to land. I also enjoy all of the freestyle events and the speed skating. Snowboarding in the half pipe and watching some of the tricks those guys pull off is amazing.
Heck, even the figure skating isn’t that bad, especially now that we’ve had a month to warm up with the TV show Skating With Celebrities. I thought this show would bomb but it really isn’t that bad. Of course I’m just saying this for better transition in this column.
Seriously, though I’ll take the figure skating any day over some of the cycling and rowing events that are on during the Summer Games.
About the only event that doesn’t work for me in the winter games is the curling event. What the heck is this anyway? A couple pf guys moving an oversized hockey puck down a straight path on the ice with a whisk broom. That’s pretty weird. And I’m not real excited by cross country skiing. Then again, even the competitors in that event would probably rather watch some of the more intense winter events.
But one or two weak events doesn’t overshadow the enjoyment of watching the Winter Games.
Maybe I enjoy the Winter Games most because I grew up in New England and can relate to some of the events better. I didn’t know any kids who went sledding down a hill in a luge or a bobsled without a cup, but we all had a sled and we a pair of ice skates and there were frozen ponds everywhere.
I think the real reason that I transitioned from being a fan of the summer games to the Winter Olympics all took place in 1980 at Lake Placid, the year of Team USA’s gold medal miracle in ice hockey.
That was one event I’ll never forget. Do you believe in miracles?
I do. And I’ll be watching next month to see if any new ones take place.
