Podium Ponderings...

As the resident Canuck Girl, I will say straight up that I'm proud Canada is hosting this event. I want us to go out there and kick Olympian butt.

But, some of the sports... I just don't know. I will freely admit that I don't really get some of it.

Like men's figure skating--I certainly don't understand the scoring--I'm not sure anyone does--but I particularly don't get the costumes. Seriously. Is that... maribou? You look like a muppet in a Vegas strip joint.

Actually, there's a lot about Olympic-wear that kinda gives me the wiggins. Speed skating uniforms for example. They just look like they would chafe horribly. How long does it take you to get into something like that? And where does the sweat--and I imagine there is a deal of it--go?

Curling pants... what does one say about curling pants besides... "Eep." Except maybe "Ow my eyeballs!" and "Why? Why??"

The hairstyles of the snowboarders.

There are other things, non-sartorial things, I also just don't get about some of the events.

Double's luge? Who thought that would be a good idea in the first place? What's the guy in back contributing to the process?

Skeleton is, quite obviously, a sport for the certifiably insane. "I'm gonna luge. But I'm gonna do it on my face. Yeah."

Ice-dancing. That's... different from ice-skating. I think. And I still don't get the scoring.

I get sympathy knee-aches watching slalom events. Do those guy even have any cartilage left once they reach their 20's?

Is bobsled really a sport? It just kinda seems like... steering fast to me. And what do those other three guys do after the initial push-off??? Aren't they just... ballast? Honestly. I really don't know. If there is something here I'm missing... please let me know.

Like I say, some of it just leaves me scratching my head.

But--here's the other thing. I also get kinda... verklempt... watching the Olympics. Particularly the individual contests. I can't stand it when skaters fall, skiers crash, boarders wipe-out... I feel nervous and clenchy and palm-sweaty when it's one athlete out there busting their hump, striving to achieve and I feel bad--really bad--when they lose. Or come up short. And there's always that shot of slo-mo heartbreak that they show over and over again. Which I guess, is kind of the point. It's the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.

But then there's the hockey. Wherein everything (except the officiating--but that's to be expected) makes sense. Hockey. That, to me, is what the Olympics is all about. GO CANADA GO!!