Winter Olympics - The Good

I've never been a big fan of reality television, so I don't understand how a televised karaoke contest beats anything in the ratings, but I'm still shocked how "American Idol" can beat the Winter Olympics so badly. I realize that outside of ice skating, hockey and snowboarding, none of the sports in Winter Olympics get airtime when the Games aren't on. However, that's what I like about it. I could never watch ski jumping or bobsled as if they were football or basketball or even volleyball, but I do like to see it occasionally which is why I really like the Olympics. It's the same way with the summer Olympics. I'm pretty indifferent to Olympic basketball because I watch NBA and college all year. I do watch the summer Games for things like wrestling and swimming which I can't see year round, nor would I follow that closely if they did.

However, there are other sports that I always like to watch and wish they would show more often. One that I really like is speedskating. I prefer short track because of the wipeouts, but I would even watch long-track if ESPN showed it year round. Short track is exciting because the close proximity of the racers and the fact that every race is close at the end. Long track doesn't have the proximity, but it's interesting to see the skaters looking like they are about to die while trying to gut out the end of an endurance race. Considering how little interest there is in this country for speedskating outside of the Olympics, I think the U.S. skaters are phenomenal. Chad Hedrick, Joey Cheek and Shani Davis all came away with a gold and silver medal (Hedrick also had a bronze). Apolo Anton Ohno is really the only big name short track speedskater on the U.S. team, but he came away with a gold and bronze individually while anchoring the bronze medal relay team. For the record, the short track relay is the wildest event in the Olympics. It' s no wonder short track is now hugely popular in Asia. That race looks like the proverbial Chinese fire drill.

Another sport I really like to watch is, believe or not, curling. When it first came out in the Olympics, I thought it was silly. Shuffleboard on ice. However, when I really began to look at the rules and understand it better, it really became interesting. Yes, there is some aspect of shuffleboard to it, but there is also shades of bowling (think of the big hook shots some bowlers make) and pool (good angles can take out multiple opposing rocks). Plus, strategy is huge. The only problem I have is one game takes about three hours. Cut down on the time it takes, and I would watch curling all the time (not that it will ever be on all the time). The U.S. men's team had a great Olympics taking home the bronze when no one expected them to even make the medal round.

Actually, one of the things I like most about the Winter Olympics is that I don't have to worry about my innate jingoism. That means I can watch most events without really worrying too much about where the U.S. athletes are, because they are probably way behind. Outside of snowboarding and women's figure skating (most of which I don't watch), the U.S. isn't considered a power in most winter events. Sure, the alpine skiing teams (think downhill and slalom, not ski jumping or cross country) were expected to do much better than they did, but they had two gold medals which is two more than the last Olympics where they only had two silver. Besides, few people in this country pay that much attention to skiing events outside the Olympics. However, in Europe, it's huge. They actually said during ski jumping that in Austria, you can make a living as a professional ski jumper. How can the U.S. compete with that? I can't imagine too many athletes growing up in the U.S. wanting to be ski jumpers. So, with most events, I don't feel too bad when the U.S. isn't competitive. The other advantage is that when the U.S. does win in one of their non-competitive sports, it's a bonus. I doubt you can ever have a "Miracle On Ice" moment for the U.S. again, because they'll probably never be underdogs like that again. Still, it's nice to have some Cinderellas.