If you’re to believe the media un-hype, I am in the minority when I say I prefer the Winter games, hands-down.
The Summer Olympics are exciting, yes. But there are too many events about which I could care less. The Winter Olympics, however, are non-stop excitement.
For me, at least.
I mean, come on! Speed skating? Figure skating? Snowboarding? Ski jumping? Luge? Skeleton? These are extreme, death-defying, breathtaking events!
…And the fact that the Games are being hosted by Vancouver, the most beautiful of cities in the most wondrous of provinces in a country with which I’ve always been enamo(u)red is just one thick, decadent layer of sweet buttercream icing on the proverbial cake.
As a kid, I would put on my inline skates and go up and down my street, pretending I was Bonnie Blair (or maybe racing against Bonnie Blair). Even though I am no athlete myself, I idolized the likes of Cammi Granato and Hayley Wickenheiser. In my dreams I, too, was a medal-winning ice hockey player.
Though I have only been on skis for one afternoon in my entire life (never once leaving the bunny slope, mind you), watching the likes of Peter Frenette makes me want to immediately go skiing again. They – meaning EVERY SINGLE PERSON REPRESENTING THE UNITED STATES IN THE WINTER GAMES – makes it look so easy! And effortless! And just…fun!
Say what you will about events like curling, or the biathlon, but even these weird little events are interesting to me. Honestly, I’m not sure there is any one event that I am unwilling to watch. Which is a good thing, considering that’s all that’s going to be on NBC for the next 15 days and that channel happens to come in crystal-clear on my shitty little TV antennae.
In short, this is the most magical time of the year.
At least until baseball Spring Training starts.
the sloppy copy 