I watched. And I took notes.
Today I present a comments about the Olympics in general.
1. The last winter Olympics I paid attention to were the ones where Bryan Boitano won gold in figure skating. That was, what? '88?
I only watched them this time because of this kids. We went out and got the digital TV converter and antennae just so Gemma and Josh could enjoy them. And they did. We all did.
2. But I didn't enjoy the same sports I remember liking back in 1988. The Olympics. . . just one more thing to lose its luster with age.
2B. Nor did I ever realize how insanely dangerous the Olympic games are. Human bodies, hurling themselves down mountains in a variety of ways. 2 weeks of it. Crazy.
3. The "proud Olympic sponsors" cracked me up. After McDonald's commercials, I'd scoff. Gemma would ask why. I'd tell her, "Because Olympic athletes don't eat McDonald's food."
4. Except for Steve Holcomb, perhaps. The first American to win Bobsled gold. He was also, probably, the tubbiest gold medalist in Vancouver.
Hey. More power to him. And to squeeze himself into that sausage casing/bobsledding onesie took real courage.
5. How did they decide winners of Olympic events before the age of digital timers? When most of the races were decided by tenths of a second--sometimes even hundredths--I marvelled. To time that now, no sweat. How did they do it a hundred years ago?
6. The kids could not watch any sport and remain seated at the same time. They kept getting up and spinning around in our family room, or leaping off of things, or wrestling each other. Their bodies seemed to be inspired by the idea that motion could be harnessed to accomplish greatness.
And when we went sledding on a gorgeous Colorado day with temps in the 50's and a hill full of snow, Gemma shouted, "I'm going to ride this like a bobsled!"--though it was Josh who was the first to master the run and jump and keep sliding form. It look a lot more like skeleton, actually. . .
7. Skeleton? See what I mean? These games are crazy!
8. I enjoyed Bob Costas. He did a great job interviewing the athletes, though he didn't do anyone tough. An interview with Plushenko, the Russian who landed a quad in figure skating, won silver, then whined to the Russian press that he should have won gold because the guy who didn't hadn't done a quad. That's the kind of guy I want to see interviewed.
But I have plenty more comments to offer on the stuff that did actually happen. You can look forward to a few days of them. Because this is what a post-cancer life looks like, friends. These are the things I have the energy to think about now.
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2 comments:
OK - again, so funny, especially the part about the kids hurling around the living room - mine did the same - did you catch the special about Gander in Newfoundland and 9/11 and all they did - not really appropriate watching for the kiddos, but Dan and I did watch it later. LUke saw a brief instant of the plane into the World Trade Tower and kept asking what made that fire ball b/c it was not, he insisted, just a building on fire, as I tried to assert - anyhow, a really moving, touching, interesting, and I think, little known about, piece to those events that unfolded 9 years ago now. Glad we talked the other day - see you soon.
-Sarah
Amy, did you watch the Olympics online? Because I thought you didn't have TV reception, just a dvd player for the TV. Anyway, yeah, our U.S. gold medalist in men's figure skating did not have a quadruple spin in his program BUT his program flowed better and just looked better than Plushenko's. The Russian skater is fantastic but is unfortunately a very sore loser. A jerk, really. We didn't see any of the opening ceremonies but caught some of the closing ceremonies, and, man, those are just getting crazy. I don't think I'll tune in for them any more. Inflatable beavers?!? And moose? And Canadian mounties? And it ended ubruptly so we could see Seinfeld's new reality show and local news...I don't know yet of anyone who stayed tuned for the closing ceremonies' finale because it was just getting nuts and was on way too late. I enjoyed the ice skating, though (ice dancing is too boring), and have been a big fan of it since the Battle of the Brians in Calgary '88. It was nice to see Brian Orser of said battle now coaching, and coaching the female Gold Medalist, no less. He now looks like my maternal grandpa from his younger days. -Rebecca McKenna
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