The Winter Olympics: As Addictive as Crack
Ok, so I'm back in California after two weeks in the big MO, one good and one hideous, and I'm going to leave things at that. Due to the abject hideousness of the latter week I haven't felt like writing anything, much less posting inane quips about nonsensical internet crap.But now that's over with. Back to inanity! Has anyone else been watching the Winter Olympics?
As I do every year these things roll around, I had every intention of ignoring the whole spectacle. But then, as always happens, I get sucked in anyway; I checked out freestyle snowboarding the other day on a friend's TV and I've been hooked ever since. Slalom, Luge, you name it. I sat for two hours the other day watching Ice Dancing. Ice Dancing! Suddenly I'm taken back to the 1996 Summer Olympics, when I spent several days riveted to the phenomenon of Women's Gymnastics. Oh, the drama. Why have you never answered any of my fan mail, Kerri Strug?
The snowboarding events have been especially compelling, for me – that's a sport I would have never considered to be Olympic-caliber, or even really a sport, until I tried doing it myself. Holy cow. Five of the most painful, frustrating days of my life. I mean, does anybody reading this comprehend how difficult it must be to do something as ridiculous and dangerous as Snowboard Cross? And remember that these people don't just tackle their sport with the professionalism and determination of incredibly gifted athletes, they do it stoned. I'm in awe.
The sport I've really gotten into, though, is Curling. Often described as "shuffleboard on ice," Curling seems like exactly the kind of thing that would be anthema to a televised broadcast. But I love it. Seriously. Shuffleboard notwithstanding, the sport also has many parallels with baseball, what with the 10-"end" (inning) structure, the offensive rotation, and the drawn-out pacing. Basically what I'm saying is, if you're like me, and you like watching televised baseball, you'll enjoy curling. If you're thinking about checking it out, though, you'd better hurry up – the women's medal matches end tomorrow, and the final men's game is on Friday.
Actually, all of the Olympic sports are over by Saturday, right? Well great. Now what the hell am I going to do with my free time?
Maybe I'll take up smoking again.
Labels: sports other than baseball
posted by nick @ 12:15 PM
2 Comments:
i feel the need to point out that ski jumping makes snowbaord cross look like tricycling. that is the most motherfucking ridiculous thing i've ever seen...people launch themselves up to 5 stories straight up, flip and twist and then try to land on their feet ... on a hill of ice. what happens when you completely mess up? best case scenario, you aren't impaled with your own ski?
Ski jumping? No way. You launch, you crunch up into an aerodynamic ball, you land. End of story. The landing is the only cool part.
Now snowboard cross, that's something to watch. Four guys, each with their feet strapped to a board – a single goddamn board, I say – beating the crap out of each other while hurtling down the side of a mountain that looks like something out of a sadistic Excitebike player's wet dream...wow. That's a sport I can get into.
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