Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Thoughts on the Olympics

Greensboro, NC -- I believe that I've tuned in more to these Winter Olympics than any of the prior games in my life.  Coincidentally, the USA is performing mightily at these games between hockey, skiing, speed skating, and ice dancing.  At every Olympics, an American star is born -- somebody who we either never heard of or heard very little about prior to the games.  I must admit, as a sports junkie, I've never heard of Apolo Ohno before.  The only reason I've heard of Bode Miller was that he was an alcoholic, and it costed him heavily in the Torino games.  The wonderful ice skaters on TV last night have been non-existent until they took the ice this week.  There is very little exposure on these athletes, yet the way that they're able to perform certain tricks, fly down a mountain or ice luge at 90 mph is not only very brave and breathtaking, it is commendable.  The boundaries of their comfort zones must have no limits, or they were shattered at an early age.

With either the Russians or the Canadians being eliminated tonight in hockey, the Americans have an excellent shot to capture Olympic gold.  Germany has begun to catch us in the medal count, but there's only a week left.  I'd love to see the gold for men's hockey -- it would show just how far the team has come from the pitiful performance at the 1998 Nagano games.

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