All that is gold does not glitter*
by chuckofish
So last night was the first night of televised Olympic coverage. Did you watch?
Traditionally I have always enjoyed the Winter Olympics–all that skiing and those other Nordic events remind me of my mother who was such an enthusiastic winter athlete in her youth.
I remember the Lillehammer, Norway Olympics in 1994 most fondly. The Norwegians were great hosts. My kids were old enough to be interested then and that was around the time when the boy got into speed skating.
He was pretty good and, had we decided to send him to live in Colorado so that he could skate year-round, who knows, maybe he would have gone to the Olympics with Apolo Ohno. But that was never our style. And I could never picture him with those huge thighs.
Anyway, I can’t say I’m too excited about Sochi, a beach venue located on the Black Sea near the border between Georgia/Abkhazia and Russia.
As you recall, Sochi was established as a “fashionable resort” area under Joseph Stalin, who had his favorite “dacha” built in the city. (Fashionable resort in conjunction with communism seems like an oxymoron, don’t you think?) But, hey, Stalin’s study, complete with a wax statue of the leader, is now open to the public. Oh boy. I can just picture the NBC color coverage of this. No thanks.
However, chances are I will find myself glued to the telly anyway for the next two weeks. I will probably get a lot of needlepoint done. And maybe I’ll sort through those giant piles of magazines.
Bottom line: I like to root for the home team. Go, U.S.A.!
Team U.S.A., opening ceremony, 2010 Olympics
* J.R.R. Tolkien
dual personalities 
I think the reason I liked speed skating so much in the beginning is because I got that cool sweatshirt with all the patches. Lots of cool gear too. I’m having a hard time getting excited about these Olympics though. Stupid, ugly Russia I guess. I’ve read that it’s an absolute mess in Sochi too. Oh well. Hopefully the Americans dominate!
Last night I opted for a very mediocre Sean Bean movie. I was tired and couldn’t be bothered to look very far on Neflix. I doubt I’ll watch much of the Olympics, but I have fond memories of watching it when we were kids. Remember Jean Claude Killy (sp?) and how we loathed him? And Ingemar Stenmark and how much we liked him?
How could I have forgotten about Ingemar Stenmark?! I loved him! I am a purist and I don’t have much use for these new “sports” like snowboarding. Just give me a good slalom or downhill race thank you very much…
I think I will keep it on in the background a lot, though I don’t feel very excited about it (I agree that Sochi is a total downer). I also agree that Wheeler would not look good with huge thighs!!
My cable is broken and stuck on Channel 7. I can’t change it. It is torture. Also, I’m unenthused by this coverage–but amused that Bob Costas has an eye infection and has to wear old man glasses.
The Old Man said, “What’s with his glasses?!” Funnily enough, they are exactly like the Old Man’s.
I know–last night I said “Why is Bob Costas wearing old man glasses?” Then we googled and found out he had an eye infection.
PS TV is fixed. Had to talk to a very chatty Time Warner lady for awhile.
‘Eye Infection’ speaks volumes about the sanitary conditions in Sochi. Yeccchh!