Olympics: Why I Love Them

I love the Winter Olympics -- but not for the amusing, yet fanciful reasons my good friend Dave loves them. I love the Winter Olympics taking place right now -- not the ones in Dave's current interpretation of his childhood memories.

First, I love that seemingly a third of the U.S. athletes list my home state (Utah) as their own.  That's a consequence of hosting the Winter Olympics (and building all the facilities) eight years ago I didn't anticipate.  At least there’s a chance now when someone thinks of Salt Lake City, they'll think of Olympic athletes like Apolo Ohno in addition to the polygamist family portrayed on HBO's Big Love.  I'd love to see a Utah tourist ad that combines the two -- a polygamist family in full Amish-style dress doing synchronized freestyle mogul skiing.  Who wouldn't want to come to our state and see that?

Second, speaking of Apolo Ohno, I loved the extended feel good story about Ohno's first two Olympic efforts, his alter ego as king of Dancing With The Stars, and his re-dedication to training and competing at the Olympic level.  It was a nice piece by NBC -- simple, interesting, not over the top like every American Idol back-story these days. When interviewed, Ohno's described his training (a staggering 4 two hour workouts per day!) not as an attempt to better his competition, but as part of an ongoing effort to conquer himself.   After two previous Olympics, with results that spanned from winning gold medals to failing even to qualify for the finals in an event in which he was favored, Ohno defined his battle as not with others, but with himself.  It was a refreshingly mature approach.  

Third, some sports are more dramatic and intense because you only watch them once every four years.  My whole family gathered to watch short track speech skating, for example, watching Ohno in the finals make a move for the lead, apparently getting shut out by the Koreans, only to have the third place Korean take himself and the second place Korean out on the final turn to allow Ohno and Celski (who almost cut his leg off with his own skate at the U.S. qualifiers in September) claim silver and bronze medals for the U.S.  It was dramatic on so many levels.  I felt great for the Americans, but terrible for the Koreans. Now, I appreciate an obscure kid from Iowa teaching himself curling by rolling cow pies from fence post to fence post (and finishing 157th) as much as the next guy, but the real drama is watching the athletes who are expected to win gold in a particular country's national sport -- the ones who have devoted their lives to the Olympic cause, with all the advantages of modern training, with no excuses or feel good stories to fall back on.  That's pressure; and pressure equals drama.  I couldn't help but feel at the end of that race that we just witnessed the Korean Bill Buckner.

Fourth, I love U.S. snowboard racer Nate Holland's complaint that other racers’ pants are . . . wait for it . . . not baggy enough.  Apparently, the complaint is not so much that tight pants give racers an aerodynamic advantage, its that tight pants are not in keeping with the integrity and long 15 minute tradition of snowboard motocross racing, which apparently requires a certain anti-establishment look that can only be accomplished by very baggy $500 designer jeans provided by such anti-establishment sponsors as General Electric and British Petroleum.  Now that's just good humor.  (On the other hand, imagine snowboarders racing down the mountain, jockeying for position in their skin tight aerodynamic body suits, and you kind of get his point.)

Let’s face it.  It’s rare to be able to gather the entire family around the television these days… and the Winter Olympics present just such an opportunity.  Plus it seems to be the only time I can have sports on TV nonstop with impunity.  I'm watching nordic skiing right now and my wife just gave me an affectionate kiss.  That never happens when I'm watching other sports.  

So I say, go family, go sports, go Winter Olympics!