I love the Olympics. Really, really love them. 
In general, I’m pretty luke-warm about sports. Actually, usually I’m just plain uninterested in sports. But there’s something about the Olympics that gets me so excited and hopeful and happy and obsessed.
Since the opening ceremony on February 12, we’ve been watching the evening broadcast each night. That first weekend, we watched it during the day too. Then on day four, Tuesday last week, I needed a break. So I wrote the Olympics a note:
Dear 2010 Winter Olympics,
These last four days have been great. Really, really great. I’ve laughed, I’ve yelled, I’ve even gotten misty-eyed. So thank you.
But, my dear Olympics, I think I need a break. Just a night…a little time off. It’s me not you. Things have just been moving so fast…
So I’m making a choice to skip the men’s figure skating short program and women’s super G and some speed skating. I may regret it, but I think it’s the best choice for me tonight.
See you again on Wednesday!Love,
Althea
Since that one night away from Olympics, I’ve been back 100%, and it’s been great. I love the variety of events. The skiing is great. And short track speed skating really makes me excited. I love figure skating too, although I’m not nearly as devoted a fan as I was in the ’90s.
I wish I had a photo to post of myself at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. Terry and I went together just before little Joe was born; I was 10 years old. My favorite parts were collecting pins, walking around the Olympic village, meeting the mascots Hidy and Howdy, watching a lady use her fur coat as a sled to slide down a hill, and drinking hot chocolate at the cross-country event while listening to the Swiss folks ring their enormous cow bells. My least favorite parts were losing my hat on a bus on the way to a skiing event and then discovering that my pink moon boots weren’t waterproof and getting so wet and cold that I cried.
It’s too bad that the 1016 summer Olympics won’t be in Chicago…it would have been a lot of fun to take the kids! My brother Joe is an Olympics-lover as well, and he hopes to go to London in 1012. I hope he does so I can live vicariously!
What’s your favorite part of the Olympics? Do you prefer summer or winter? How do you feel about Bob Costas? What are you going to do when they’re over?
Love,
Althea
I, too, used to be a fanatic Olympics fan. But when they went to an every-two-years rotation between summer and winter, I became much less enamored. It just seems so *common* now, not nearly as special and unusual.
Plus I hate Bob Costas and the whole “soft lighting back story” stuff they do on the athletes. Just show me the sports, NBC!
This year all I watched was part of the opening ceremony, and that only because I was in a hotel room and therefore had access to a television.
You know, Karen, I used to be pretty anti-Costas, but for whatever reason, this Olympics, I’ve become a Bob Costas fan. For me, they’ve struck a good balance of human interest stories without going too sappy and sentimental.
It kind of helps me that it’s every two years because then I’m not burned out for the summer Olympics. My marathon TV sessions are spread out over time.
If you’ve missed the Olympics this year, I’d say, you’ve missed some fun sports. There’s still something like four days left! Karen…there’s still time!!
Yay, Olympics! I think I watched 40-50 hours of Olympics the first week. I’ve tamed down a bit now, though. I’m still watching it every night, just not as much during the day as I was. (Did you get to see any curling? It was really cool. It sort of feels like chess on ice to me. Maybe Bryan should give it a try.)
What am I going to do when they are over? Not look at a TV again for a month. I watched the summer Olympics in Wisconsin, and my TV habits are a bit different there so I never felt bad about what I was doing. But watching this much TV at college makes me a little ill. Not ill enough to stop watching, of course. Just ill enough to swear off TV until I graduate.
Joe, you make me laugh. 40-50 hours!?? Wow. And I love hearing about your conflict about watching so much TV during college. Glad we are sort of together in our Olympics television watching, Kid. Looking forward to seeing you for real in March!
Hugs!