Olympic Proportions, Part 1

Is that title an oxymoron? Just thought about that. Huh. Oh well.

It’s that time again folks. The Olympics are back. It used to seem like forever between the Olympic Games, but since somebody got a brain in their head and they began staggering the summer/winter games, they come on what seems like a pretty frequent basis. I guess it’s probably more money somehow, or else they wouldn’t have done it.

I can remember watching the Olympics as a kid – sitting in Mimi’s living room floor, watching Scott Hamilton do a back flip during his “free skate.” Remember, we didn’t have cable, so my network access was limited. And it was only on one channel anyway since there were no powerhouse networks that owned four channels. You got to actually see only the things deemed important, and were just told about everything else.

I think every little girl was completely fascinated by two particular Olympic sports: Ice Skating and Gymnastics. We all wanted to imagine ourselves capable of such things. You knew those girls had to be strong and yet they were so classy, graceful, and pretty (most of them- you have to forgive the Tonya Hardings of the bunch…they always slip thru the cracks). Now it has sort of lost that fantasy. I am fully aware that while it would be cool, I cannot glide across the ice like that, nor can I do a double back handspring somersault off of a four inch beam that is five feet above the ground. Reality has set in, and while I can appreciate all the hard work most of those athletes have put in and can be excited for them, I don’t want to be reminded that I am getting old and have no hope of ever doing anything quite like that.

Husband is less than interested in the winter Olympic games. He despises figure skating, and of course, that’s what everyone thinks of first. He’s been scoffing at the whole Michelle Kwan “incident” and has wondered aloud who really cares besides her and her immediate family. (Yeah, we’re full up on mercy around here. I do admire her speedy withdrawal and the maturity with which she is handling the situation.) In reality, he’s probably right. We actually watched part of the men’s cross country “pursuit” the other day. Man, guys skiing laps around a stadium – now that’s interesting. It was cool that the guy who fell flat on his face at the start of the race ended up winning a silver medal. However it was this comment that made us laugh: (From the announcer immediately following the race) “Well, if you’re a NASCAR fan and were wondering what the excitement over skiing was all about, that is the reason.” Or something like that. Um…there were guys going in circles a bunch of times, and crossed a finish line 1-2-3 – no “photo finish” or anything like that. Yep, exactly like NASCAR. I don’t care how you try to equate it to NASCAR, you’ll never get a bunch of rednecks/hicks to like cross country skiing. A show about the worst skiing crashes ever, maybe. But not cross country skiing.

Ok, more to come later. I’ve about used up all of my attention span.