The Unbearable Nothingness of Turin

In a few days, NBC will try and convince us that the world has a vested stake in ice dancing and those special athletes that can cross-country ski and shoot well...at the same time. The winter Olypmics are an age old tradition that date back to ancient Greece when Apollo challenged Athena to a sledding match on Mount Olypmus and won. Barely. Zeus was too busy shtumping a cow that would later birth Alexander the Great to compete.

Since then, world sporting officials have wisely constructed an elaborate series of sporting events that the vast majority of the world cannot compete in due to natural climate conditions. The winter games are basically a throw away to the sport insecurities of northern Europeans. I find it wholly uninteresting that some Norweigans may be able to go down the side of a mountain on thin flat fiberglass slats better than anyone else in the world. Curling? Since when did feathering hair because a sporting challenge? Am I missing something?

Winter sports are the provenance of the elite. They are also a theater of boredom. Wake me in a couple of weeks.