No More Olympics

I feel lost. Now what do I do? What valid excuse do I have to tell the missus, "Can you please let me watch this, it only happens once every four years!" I'm going to miss them. I guess it's good that they're only every four years so they keep their mystique and allure. Still though, that doesn't soften the blow on Dark Monday - the day after the Olympics are over. I've always been a huge Olympics junkie, so huge in fact that I have to fight the urge to make impulse buys after watching these seldom-seen sports.

"Hey, I should get some cross-country skis! And maybe a high-powered, low caliber rifle. I could be a biathlete!"

"Wait, it's not snowy enough around these parts long enough to get good at skiing. Ooh! I can get a pair of cross country roller skates and poles and practice on the bike path during the warm times! Or I could buy a Nordic Track. I'd ALWAYS use that."

"I bet I could get a cheap pair of speed skates on eBay."

"Perhaps I should buy some curling stones and start a club at the local ice rink. I could wear a tennis shoe on my right foot, and a flat-bottomed dress shoe on my (left) slide foot."

Yeah, luckily I have a significant other who I (typically) run by proposed purchases.

Olympic highlights include:

-Hockey. Seriously, I rarely watch hockey but even I could see that it can be compelling TV given the proper circumstances. Maybe in honor of Canada's win, I will go home and change out of my dress shirt in favor of a red and black checkered flannel. I hate Sydney Crosby.

-Cross Country Skiing. I don't know, I'm a sucker for endurance sports. So much so that I'll even endure Al Trautwig announcing them and NBC's horrific and sporadic coverage of the events. By and large, all of the finishes fell under the "Epic" category.

-Figure Skating. I'm man enough to admit it. Figure skating is just plain exciting. All the athletes are under immense pressure and know they'll be subjected to subjective judging. Hell, even Johnny Weir. That flamboyant dude was like a car wreck - repulsive on the surface but tough to look away from.

-Curling. Like much of the nation, I got caught up in it. It was one of the few sports they showed (thanks to it being on "minor league" channels MSNBC and CNBC) in it's entirety. Really though, I think it's great appeal is that it seems that ANYONE could play it, given the rocks and the ice, right?

Bye bye, Olympics. See you in 800-some days in London. OK, where's my speedo and water polo cap?