Olympic Thoughts

Olympic Thoughts

Is it just me or does anyone else's eyes tear a bit when they do presentations of the Olympics medals and they play the American national anthem? Yeah I know, I'm a dork. I was watching the bobsledding event and the Russians got into a bit of trouble during their run. Since I know absolutely nothing about the nuances of bobsledding I was a bit surprised when the commentator said that the Russian team had only narrowly avoided a situation that would have been highly dangerous for the team AND the spectators on the side of the track. Huh?!? You're telling me there's a chance those metal things going 90 mph could fly off the track into the crowds and people STILL stand on the sidelines to watch?? Yeah, this paragraph belongs in my Crocodile Hunter post because guess who does that?? Everyone else would be like "Yeah, I'm going to stand back and watch from the lodge, or my hotel room, or Denver."

It's really awesome that the International Olympic Committee decided to award the gold medal to Canadian skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who skated one of the best performances I've ever seen but were initially awarded the silver medal. The Russian team that fucked up so much gets to keep their gold medals as well, which is a complete copout since they didn't deserve them in the first place. One thing that I think sucks is that the Canadians didn't get to stand on top of the podium and hear "Oh Canada." I think they need to re-do that entire presentation ceremony so they get to hear it. You have to guess that these athletes live for that moment and it's not fair that they should be robbed of it just because some judges bowed to pressure from their respective skating federations to vote for the Russians. Figure skating has always been pretty corrupt I think...I remember watching it a lot when I was young and thinking that the people who often gave the best performances rarely got a chance against perennial favorites. Now as an adult, individual skating events bore me but I still like to watch the pairs skating sometimes.

So Sale and Pelletier will be awarded their gold medals before tomorrow's "ice dancing" event. Have you ever seen ice dancing...okay let me rephrase that since no one would actually ever admit watching this event. "Hypothetically speaking, have you ever been channeling and accidentally stopped on a channel that showed a man and woman on ice skates....dancing?" If the answer is a reluctantly given "yes" then you know what I'm saying when I say this sport is weird. It's just so boring...everyone knows the best part of figure skating are the triple axles and toe loops...what is left when you take those away? Ice dancing.