Teri Silver: Commen"Teri"

I love the winter Olympics and are glad to have something to watch, now that football season is over, it's not time for March Madness and the crack of the baseball bat won't be heard for a few months, yet.  I don't get this excited over the summer Olympics... in fact, I barely watch any of that... but winter is good.  Why?

I can be the skater. I can be the skier, I can be the ... um curler. Yeah, that's it.  Well, first, we have to get past the Olympic opening ceremonies.  No matter how fancy they are and for all the pomp and circumstance, for me they are a snooze.  ZZZZzzzz.  Let's just get down to business, shall we? 

I love figure skating and until a few years ago, I had lived vicariously through Michelle Kwan. Those days are done but there's a new host of U S. team skaters on the horizon and we can only hope they'll bring home some metal.... in the form of medals.  Anyone who doesn't think skaters are athletes, well, it ain't easy to manage the jumps, spins, spirals, lifts and then some, do it all to music and keep fresh for more than four minutes of hard skating.  Although I still don't like the "new" judging system,  it's still great to watch the women, men, couples and ice dancers compete from countries all over the world on Olympic ice.

Skiing ... the last time I was on skis, well, I won't say how many years ago it was but I was in college then, having joined the ski club. I was then as I am now ...  no skier but I learned to do simple stuff and we had a blast.  If I thought I could do it now without seriously injuring anything, I would jump back on the snow covered slopes. But I damage so easily ...  In any case, watching the pros on snow skis is, if you pardon the pun, very cool.  

Curling, now that cracks me up.  I don't understand it, don't know the rules, but it looks like something I can do myself. Olympic sport?  Huh?  It's like shuffleboard on ice.  OK, I shouldn't make fun of it, but you know ... since my hair is naturally curly, I can't imagine curling anything ... period. 

And then there's Luge, bobsled, snowboarding and a few other fun things to watch during the Olympics, mostly different from anything we see day-to-day.  That's one of the reasons why I love the Olympics... every four years. It's enough.  

Now, it's time to get some corn popping and settle in to watch .... something "Olympical."

 And so, there you have it!

Teri Silver, February 12, 2010.