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I know I've been a little... ok QUITE critical of "sports" in the past... and the present, and probably in the future.
But like most of the rest of the world, every night for the past week and a half we've been glued to the TV set, watching the broadcasts from Turino.
So a couple thoughts...
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The first is a cute anecdote. We were watching the other night, and the commentators were going on about how so-and-so was at the 1994 games, and then so-and-so was in Nagano, and that someone was JUST old enough to compete this time, hit the cutoff by about a week, and that someone ELSE was going to have to wait until 2010 in Vancouver.
So Logan turns to us and says "which Olympics will _I_ be able to be in?" and I did some quick math and told him that he'd be 16 for the 2018 games, and that's old enough for some events... and then Julie asked him what he intended to do at the Olympics, and he said "Probably snowboarding, but maybe skiing - we'll have to see!".
And if, by some miracle, it turns out he isn't completely klutzy like the rest of the family... I'm all for that!
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The second is something one of the commentators briefly mentioned...
Much is made of so-called "X-Games" and "Xtreme Sports", with young so-called athletes poo-pooing traditional athletics because it's not exciting enough or daring enough or dangerous enough. But let's reflect for a moment on those boring old traditional endeavors, shall we?
We have Olympic Bobsledding, where discovering that you're doing "only 80mph" as you come into the final stretch is a serious let-down. ONLY 80mph. Through tunnels that are about 6 inches wider than your vehicle, and DON'T TOUCH THE SIDES! Around turns that put you literally perpendicular to the ground.
We have Skeleton - 'nuff said.
We have Short Track Speed Skating, which has to be the most wipeout-prone, "look-out-for-the-razor-sharp-skates-in-your-face" event ever. Yikes!
Then we have the Ski Jump. Let's contemplate that, shall we? I mean, it's boring right? Last night we watched our taped K125. The LOSERS, the guys coming in 20th place, were all consistently jumping 125M horizontally. That's over FOUR HUNDRED FEET. In the air. And they're traveling a vertical distance of over 200 feet. In other words, they're FREE FALLING over 20 stories and in the process covering substantially more than the length of a football field horizontally.
Suddenly, jumping 20 feet from a helicopter to the ski slope... seems pretty anticlimactic.
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Now this isn't to say that I am a HUGE fan of ALL of the Olympics. Ice dancing's compulsory short program makes me want to SCREAM, I don't much care for hockey, and I just... don't... GET... curling. I mean, it's shuffleboard, right? On ice?
But I have to say, the way-cool new ski-body-armor is amazing, and the skintight suits on the female speed skaters... mmm...
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Last but not least, I feel obliged to point out one egregious oversight on the part of the IOC. The Gold medalist in women's downhill... THAT'S NO WOMAN - THAT'S A MAN, MAN!
But like most of the rest of the world, every night for the past week and a half we've been glued to the TV set, watching the broadcasts from Turino.
So a couple thoughts...
-----------------
The first is a cute anecdote. We were watching the other night, and the commentators were going on about how so-and-so was at the 1994 games, and then so-and-so was in Nagano, and that someone was JUST old enough to compete this time, hit the cutoff by about a week, and that someone ELSE was going to have to wait until 2010 in Vancouver.
So Logan turns to us and says "which Olympics will _I_ be able to be in?" and I did some quick math and told him that he'd be 16 for the 2018 games, and that's old enough for some events... and then Julie asked him what he intended to do at the Olympics, and he said "Probably snowboarding, but maybe skiing - we'll have to see!".
And if, by some miracle, it turns out he isn't completely klutzy like the rest of the family... I'm all for that!
-------------------
The second is something one of the commentators briefly mentioned...
Much is made of so-called "X-Games" and "Xtreme Sports", with young so-called athletes poo-pooing traditional athletics because it's not exciting enough or daring enough or dangerous enough. But let's reflect for a moment on those boring old traditional endeavors, shall we?
We have Olympic Bobsledding, where discovering that you're doing "only 80mph" as you come into the final stretch is a serious let-down. ONLY 80mph. Through tunnels that are about 6 inches wider than your vehicle, and DON'T TOUCH THE SIDES! Around turns that put you literally perpendicular to the ground.
We have Skeleton - 'nuff said.
We have Short Track Speed Skating, which has to be the most wipeout-prone, "look-out-for-the-razor-sharp-skates-in-your-face" event ever. Yikes!
Then we have the Ski Jump. Let's contemplate that, shall we? I mean, it's boring right? Last night we watched our taped K125. The LOSERS, the guys coming in 20th place, were all consistently jumping 125M horizontally. That's over FOUR HUNDRED FEET. In the air. And they're traveling a vertical distance of over 200 feet. In other words, they're FREE FALLING over 20 stories and in the process covering substantially more than the length of a football field horizontally.
Suddenly, jumping 20 feet from a helicopter to the ski slope... seems pretty anticlimactic.
---------------------
Now this isn't to say that I am a HUGE fan of ALL of the Olympics. Ice dancing's compulsory short program makes me want to SCREAM, I don't much care for hockey, and I just... don't... GET... curling. I mean, it's shuffleboard, right? On ice?
But I have to say, the way-cool new ski-body-armor is amazing, and the skintight suits on the female speed skaters... mmm...
---------------------
Last but not least, I feel obliged to point out one egregious oversight on the part of the IOC. The Gold medalist in women's downhill... THAT'S NO WOMAN - THAT'S A MAN, MAN!
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