With glowing hearts

You know, when the Winter Olympics start, I always make a point to myself how much less interesting they are than the Summer Olympics. The Summer Olympics, after all, have so many delightful fringe sports like badminton and sailing...how could the far smaller competition schedule of the Winter Olympics even compete?

However, for whatever reason, I have been watching this year's Winter Olympics religiously. I've never taken the time to watch any other Olympics this much, although I do admit I've kinda kept it to two sports: hockey and curling.

Hockey is a kind of a no-brainer for me to watch. It was the first sport I ever got into when I was very little, and I'm really starting to follow and appreciate it more and more. I think any fan of soccer can appreciate hockey and vice versa. There are a lot of tactical similarities and the low scoring is definitely an acquired taste. But I'll stand by it. The euphoria from one soccer/hockey goal is completely unmatched by most touchdowns, home runs and...three pointers?

I confess that the appeal of basketball is really starting to be lost on me. Sorry Badgers. I'll probably get back into it during march madness.

Heck, right now the reason I'm up this late for blogging is that I'm watching the Czech Republic take on Slovakia in hockey. The west-coastery of Vancouver makes for some pretty late live hockey, but this has been quite a good game. Not to mention the added storyline of former countrymen. It's like if the South had won and the Confederacy was playing the Union. Czechoslovakia didn't break up all that long ago.

But the Czechs are taking it right now, 3-1. Surely it is due to Jaromir Jagr, who at 38 years old is still sorta the man. He was the best in the league when I was little. It's hard to cheer against the Czechs when they have the nostalgia points. Of course the USA is my first choice though.

The other sport, curling, is more of a surprise. Yes, a lot of people watch curling ironically, because it is admittedly pretty funny that such a non-physically demanding competition can be considered an olympic sport. However, the strategy is actually pretty interesting once you give it a chance. It's like a weird oversized game of chess on ice.

The thing that draws me to it is the makeup of the teams. The American team (which actually ended up being pretty terrible this year) is from Duluth, Minnesota, and it's made up of 4 regular joes who curl and drink beer together with their free nights. That's it. It's basically a glorified suburban bowling team, competing for medals on international TV.

And that's really appealing to me. I think it would be really fun to take up curling with some friends. I know that Madison has a curling club with leagues and tournaments, and I envision it basically being like a tighter-knit version of a bowling league. Sure, we'd be competing, but the idea is to go out with the guys and just hang out, shoot the bull. All the while rolling a stone down a sheet of ice and sweeping in front of it. We could wear flannel, and have a cigar outside afterward. It just strikes me as a great northwoods man-bonding experience.

I think I'll make my way over to the Madison Curling Club some time and figure out how feasible it is to pick up curling as a hobby. So thanks, Winter Olympics. Every time you come around, I doubt you. But you find a way to set me straight. You're a cool customer, Vancouver.