Sunday, February 28, 2010

Winter Olympics 2010

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Cropped transparent version of :Image:Olympic ...Image via Wikipedia


I'm just a casual fan of the Olympics so I missed the last opening ceremonies in China which by all accounts were quite spectacular. Thinking Canada would have to outdo them I tuned in to the 6 hour event with some genuine anticipation. The theme of the ceremonies was the four native tribes of Canada which no one cared about except the four native tribes of Canada eh?

I kept waiting for something spectacular to happen but after an hour or so my hopes were waning. Then when one of the commentators said "How do you top the Chinese ceremonies?..........Maybe you don't try" it was pretty much over. When the torch lighting mechanism malfunctioned it was the icing on the cake.

The games were covered on 3 networks, NBC, MSNBC and CNBC. One of them almost exclusively showed the riveting "sport" of curling day and night. For anyone unfamiliar, this is like boccie ball on ice for neat freaks with a housecleaning obsession.

One player throws a rock with a handle on it towards a target on the ice. Oh! The athletic prowess! Then two teammates with space-age looking brooms clean the ice as quickly as possible. Apparently neatness counts in this game. Each game takes 3 or 4 hours to complete so the excitement never ends.

I don't get these combination events like the biathlon where they combine cross-country skiing and target shooting. I guess the excitement of watching the skiers do the left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot thing for hours on end was just too much so they decided to slow it down by having them pull out a gun and shoot something. Now if they really want to make it worth watching they should have them shoot at each other.

I refuse to watch the ice dancing. I have a simple rule. If you need judges to determine the winner then it's not a sport.

I don't like the up close and personal nonsense either. I don't need to know the athlete's life story. If I want drama I'll watch Jersey Shore. If they are going to keep doing it, maybe the drama should be part of the competition. Snookie could be in the summer Olympic games as a boxer. That girl can take a pounding!

Ski jumping should be done 4 or 5 abreast. There's a little more competition when you're going down the ramp together.

The luge track should end with a ski jump ramp. That would be awesome!

Snowball fighting should be an Olympic event.

At the end of the day a large group of Olympic athletes go home with gold medals. They've made unbelievable personal sacrifices and trained for years so that they can be the best in the world.....on that particular day.........by a fraction of a fraction of a second.

Hockey rocks!
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