/Portals/2/logos/cropped-a537ac2f-03da-4687-8695-a98853ac736e-logo for web.png en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 20:14:21 GMT 15 By Megann Vallely, Editor-In-Chief
Thirty-five sports, over 400 events, and enough snow and ice to make even the most hot-natured person chilly. Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” said, “it’s the best part of every four years,” and I couldn’t agree more. Since the opening ceremony, I have been hooked on the Olympic Games. I just can’t get enough of the speed skating, ski jumping, snowboarding, and my personal favorite, figure skating. Every night on NBC a magical mixture of winter sporting events comes floating across the airwaves into my living room to provide hours of entertainment for my family, or most of my family I should say. For some reason, my little sister isn’t as interested in the Games as I am. She would rather watch Grey’s Anatomy or the newest episode of Desperate Housewives instead of the history making, only-comes-around-once-everyfour- years combination of winter sports that has me so enthralled. But the Olympics has its own story line, filled with conspiracy and revenge. What happens at these games will be talked about for years to come. What’s more important, a network show that will be reduced to reruns in a few months, or the historical competition taking place in Turin, Italy? Watching the games is my way of contributing to the “Olympic spirit.” Even though I’m far from being the world’s biggest sports guru, and I don’t exactly know all the rules, I love the Olympics nonetheless. How can you not? Each sport is enchanting in its own way, and as I’ve grown older I’ve noticed that it’s not all about who takes the gold. Countries compete against others for the sake of redeeming previous discrepancies. For instance, in Men’s Speed Skating, it is possible that the two South Korean skaters that finished ahead of Apolo Anton Ohno were working together to shut him out as pay back for his first place victory at the Salt Lake Games in 2002. The Olympics isn’t just a bunch of sports, it’s a web of country pride and loyalty mixed with the excitement of competing against the most talented athletes in the world. It’s a race to see how many medals a single country can bring home, not only for the individual competitors but for the sake of the country for which they competed. And in my eyes, it’s the most interesting thing that’s been on television since, well, four years ago. ]]> Wed, 22 Mar 2006 14:46:00 GMT